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Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: Honest Abe on October 26, 2012, 05:34:07 PM

Title: Mustachian Hurricane preparedness - East Coasters!
Post by: Honest Abe on October 26, 2012, 05:34:07 PM
Oy vey.. I just paid $15 for a case of water at the gas station. The same case would have cost me maybe $8 at Costco.... however Costco as well as every supermarket is cleaned out due to this storm.

I gladly ran my card and paid this stupid amount of money because I have a family to look after.. but I was curious if any of you had your own mustachian ideas for hurricane/disaster prep..
Title: Re: Mustachian Hurricane preparedness - East Coasters!
Post by: Jack on October 26, 2012, 05:42:23 PM
Yeah... have all the emergency supplies you need in your basement (or wherever) months/years before the hurricane comes.
Title: Re: Mustachian Hurricane preparedness - East Coasters!
Post by: prosaic on October 26, 2012, 05:44:44 PM
Lessons learned from losing power for 4 days during Irene last year:

Fill your bathtub with water.
Save water jugs over the year, long before the storm, and fill them in the days before. Store them in the basement.
Charge all your devices (smartphone, laptop, etc.) NOW. Even if you lose power but can get to a coffeeshop/library, 200 other people will fight for the same 8 outlets.
Keep your propane tank full.
Always have a jar of instant coffee somewhere, or a camp coffee maker.
You can scramble eggs on a gas grill if you have a cast iron pan.
Know your neighbors.
Don't go to work assuming they're open (lesson learned the VERY HARD WAY. Check work email before heading to work!)
Look at your freezer and fridge. Start eating perishables and cooking perishables that might go bad if you have an overabundance of food. If you lose power you can eat a cold, cooked burger. Can't eat raw burger meat.
A little wine helps. A lot of wine hurts. A lot.
Have birth control readily available (seriously -- unless you're TTC).
Get a hand-crank flashlight/radio/battery charger.
Title: Re: Mustachian Hurricane preparedness - East Coasters!
Post by: Another Reader on October 26, 2012, 05:49:49 PM
Can't speak to storm preparation, but here in California we have earthquake preparedness drilled into us from an early age.  A minimum of 72 hours of food and water, plus blankets, flashlights, first aid kit, crank radio, medications, etc are stored in an easily accessible location in the house.  More like 10 days of water.  We use bottled water anyway for portable drinking, so there is always a case or two on hand.  I also carry water, blankets, flashlights, a tarp and and a few other items in the car.

Having watched some of the hurricane aftermaths on TV and going through the moderate disruptions of the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989, I believe in always being prepared for disaster.  No one is coming to help you in that first 72 hours.  Depending on where you are and how widespread the damage, it could be a week to 10 days before help arrives.

Title: Re: Mustachian Hurricane preparedness - East Coasters!
Post by: LeighinCT on October 26, 2012, 06:29:46 PM
Feeling your pain! Live in coastal CT. Here are some of the lessons we learned after Irene last year...

- Don't assume the power company knows that your power is out. We learned this lesson the HARD way last go round. 15 homes w/o power. Everyone assumed UI new about it. Alas, they did not. It took a week to get power back.
- Don't assume that the power company truck parked in your neighborhood is staffed by electricians. We discovered that the 2 guys sitting in the truck near us were from the finance department. They were simply recruited as a "show of force" to keep customers from complaining that nothing was being done. When really, nothing was being done.
- Beware the allure of portable, gasoline fueled generators. We had neighbors who ended up spending more $$$ to pay for gas to keep the generator running than it would have cost to resupply the fridge/freezer.
- Refill prescriptions. Fill up the gas tank. Run your dishes and laundry so that everything is clean.
- If your library still has power, and they offer wifi, sit in the parking lot and still catch the wifi signal without elbowing for space inside the building.
- We skipped lanterns and used our headlamps at night for reading and moving around the house.
- If you have a gym membership you might be lucky enough to still get a hot shower if they have power and you don't.
- Prepare bills that come due at the end of the month. You might not be able to pay them online later.
- Finally, get cash. If power is out so are the credit card/debit card machines.  Have a stash of $1s, $5s and $10s on hand.


 
Title: Re: Mustachian Hurricane preparedness - East Coasters!
Post by: jrhampt on October 27, 2012, 08:00:21 AM
I'm also in CT.  I don't think there's any need to buy bottled water; as others have said, just fill up whatever water bottles you already have lying around beforehand.  Here's what I'm doing:

-removed screens
-doing my laundry
-moving all the crap on the deck indoors
-filling up a cooler with ice so can store food if needed
-last trip to the library for reinforcements
-also trip to the package store for some wine :-)
-will cook up some chicken and steaks in advance of storm
-charging cell phones and trying to find car cell phone charger
-gassed up cars

Other than that, we should be fine.  Last October when we were without power for several days because of that giant snow storm, we had the fireplace going, food stuck in a cooler in the snow on the back step, and we were grilling up salmon and drinking wine by candlelight and reading our books.  It was actually pretty luxurious.
Title: Re: Mustachian Hurricane preparedness - East Coasters!
Post by: ErinG on October 27, 2012, 08:02:12 AM
Irene knocked out our power for 4 days as well. We needed (more) ice and I couldn't find any. I got lucky at an out of the way bait and tackle store. Luckily, I had a store of batteries already. We used candles and gave the kids flashlights. We had plenty of propane, so I cooked and heated water on the grill. We actually feasted to use up all the frozen meat in the freezer. I also made grilled cheese and canned soup using Sterno. (That was a real nice little comfort!)
I had filled all of our empty bottles and pitchers with water before hand, but it didn't end up being an issue.
I had sanitized then filled the tub with water as well. Didn't need it for flushing the toilet or drinking. I ended up using it near the end to stand in and sponge off. Room temp water was better than the really cold stuff out of the tap and easier than hauling around hot grilled water.
I had fun, but it was over in the nick of time. I think I would have crossed the line into irritation after 1 more day.
We were lucky that the roads were not impassable. I could travel to towns that had power and fresh food. If it had become unbearable, I could have stayed with my mom, who had power.
Title: Re: Mustachian Hurricane preparedness - East Coasters!
Post by: starbuck on October 27, 2012, 11:27:28 AM
We're in eastern MA, and probably won't get much besides rain. But who knows with Mother Nature. It doesn't take us much to prepare though. Our neighborhood loses power quickly and easily it seems. We have a gas stove though, so we're still able to cook without power. We also have a wood burning fireplace, so can camp out in one room of our house if we lose power during winter. We go camping regularly, so we've got a camp stove, headlamps, an electric lantern, all that good stuff.

To prepare for Sandy, we've already put away all the lawn furniture and planters, and taken down the string lights we've got on the back patio. We have a chest freezer, so my main concern is always losing all the food if we lose power for too long. So when planning the meals for the next week, I've focused on using up what we've already got tucked away in the freezer, and things that can be cooked on the stove top, not in the oven. For example, we didn't buy any ice cream today, and instead I'll bake some type of dessert this weekend. We'll fill a couple jugs of water just in case, and keep laptops and phones charged.

And we went to the library today to stock up on books. That's always part of our storm prep.

Title: Re: Mustachian Hurricane preparedness - East Coasters!
Post by: starbuck on October 27, 2012, 11:31:30 AM
Oh! I forgot about one of my favorite storm prep steps we took this year: buying an old manual coffee grinder at a flea market a few months ago for $20. We're big coffee drinkers and have a french press for weekend coffee making, but once the powers out the electric grinder is useless. I think we've got some starbucks instant coffee packets left over from camping trips this year, but I foresee the manual grinder being VERY useful during these big storms. Now I feel truly prepared. :)
Title: Re: Mustachian Hurricane preparedness - East Coasters!
Post by: Jamesqf on October 27, 2012, 11:52:58 AM
We have a chest freezer, so my main concern is always losing all the food if we lose power for too long.

Those gallon jugs you're filling with water?  Put as many of them in the freezer as you have room for, ahead of time so they will freeze and so keep the food colder longer.
Title: Re: Mustachian Hurricane preparedness - East Coasters!
Post by: jrhampt on October 27, 2012, 12:53:54 PM
We have a chest freezer, so my main concern is always losing all the food if we lose power for too long.

Those gallon jugs you're filling with water?  Put as many of them in the freezer as you have room for, ahead of time so they will freeze and so keep the food colder longer.

Bonus tip!!  Yes, I forgot to mention this, but I do this too.  They can then double as extra ice and potable water.
Title: Re: Mustachian Hurricane preparedness - East Coasters!
Post by: c on October 27, 2012, 02:56:22 PM
It's hard to know what to do as I don't want to waste money and be left with a ton of crap. Our stove is electric, so if we lose power that's an issue. We do have a gas grill outside.

We just stocked up on stuff we usually eat when we're too lazy to cook, like tinned sardines etc. We got in extra cat food and litter too. I bought a radio and lantern for Irene, so that's still good. The lantern has come in handy a few times. All we really needed was extra water and batteries. I try not to drink the water in our building as we have lead pipes and no one wants to pay to replace them.

For Irene I filled the tub and a bucket just in case, but we were fine. We're on the other side of the block from the evacuation zone. During Irene a lot of friends got flooded (Red Hook area). We're at the top of an incline and though we're on the ground floor, we're slightly raised. I'm very worried about the garden as I have drainage issues.