Fair, 52°
Weather sponsored by:

Mise en Place for Irma

Blake Moody, Grill Guy
Posted 10/4/17

Hurricane Irma recently impacted the First Coast and I hope this column finds you and your family well.

My family emerged virtually unscathed besides some traveling expenses. Some of our friends …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Don't have an ID?


Print subscribers

If you're a print subscriber, but do not yet have an online account, click here to create one.

Non-subscribers

Click here to see your options for subscribing.

Single day pass

You also have the option of purchasing 24 hours of access, for $1.00. Click here to purchase a single day pass.

Mise en Place for Irma


Posted

Hurricane Irma recently impacted the First Coast and I hope this column finds you and your family well.

My family emerged virtually unscathed besides some traveling expenses. Some of our friends were not so lucky however, and experienced severe flooding.

Preparations for a storm like this can assist you in making the best of what can be a terrible predicament to be in. Using up what food you have on hand can save you and your family a lot of money.

As news of our impending doom started to come in from the news outlets, my wife and children headed north to Atlanta. I wasn’t too worried about the whole thing and made plans to stay home.

Knowing that my wife and kids were out of harm’s way, my biggest concern was what to do in case we lost power. My grills don’t use electricity so cooking would not be a problem. I did, however own two electricity-needy refrigerators and they were full of food that I hoped could be spared.

With ice being a hot commodity, it became increasingly difficult to find. An alternative would be to purchase buckets that I could fill with water to then place in my freezer. A large piece of ice (as long as you keep the fridge or freezer door closed) will hold your food at a food-safe temperature for an extended period of time.

The next order of business was deciding which food items to use first. If you go to the grocery store, the stock clerk is filling the shelves from the back. The idea is that you push the older product to the front in order to use or consume that first.

It was time to clean out my freezer anyway, so this presented the perfect opportunity. Let’s just say I found a lot of fish sticks and broth.

Overall, we were very lucky. We lost a couple of trees and power for most of the day on Monday.

My girls arrived home safely the very next day. The first dinner that was made when they returned home was what I am now dubbing a “freezer special.” I presented to them a plate of barbecue sauce glazed fish sticks, acorn squash and rice cooked in duck stock. They were happy to be home and I was happy to see them.