Gluten-free during a hurricane or other disaster

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Where I live, because we get days and days of notice for the types of natural disasters that favor our area (nor'easters and hurricanes), we are a little spoiled. If our area got plowed by an earthquake or band of tornados, many of us would be caught flat-footed. And of course these things CAN happen on the east coast, so we should be prepared all the time anyway, right?

Like everyone else, those of us with celiac and gluten intolerance need to have ready the basics, like water, flashlights, candles, gas in the car, etc. We also need to know that we have gluten-free provisions to get us through potential power outages. At my house we have a non-electronic ignition gas stove and oven, so we could have kept cooking even if we lost power for an extended period. A natural gas disruption would have posed a big problem. Here are some ideas for foods to have on hand to get you (and us!) through a couple of days without electric. Be sure to have a can opener with your emergency stash! And of course check all your labels.

1) Canned beans. I eat these all the time anyway. Great source of protein, already cooked, Fine eaten cold.

2) A loaf of Udi's bagels in the freezer. I advise that you have this anyway, since Udi's bagels are a sturdy, versatile bread option that can meet a multitude of needs. It'll last the better part of a week once thawed, and will be a good delivery vehicle for your nut butter spreads and just to have.

3) Nuts/seeds and Nut/seed butter. This is a great source of healthy fat and protein to have around. Peanut butter, almond butter, soy butter and sunflower seed butter are excellent shelf-stable items. In our house we usually have something like this already all the time because we have kids that eat it. I'd need to be sure to have a stash of non-cross contaminated butters set aside for emergencies.

4) Raisins, applesauce, or other packaged fruit. If you are like me, you have some fresh fruit and veggies on hand all the time, but it would be good to have something on back-up if the fresh produce runs out before the power comes back on.

5) Canned vegetables. Generally no one's first choice, canned veggies can be eaten without cooking. 

6 and 7) Chips and salsa. Okay, these probably aren't part of your emergency stash, but maybe they should be.

8) Coffee. My backup plan if we lost power during Sandy (rendering my coffee maker useless) was to make sure my coffee beans were ground beforehand and to use a drip cone with hot water from the stove. If I thought I wouldn't have had access to hot water, I still would have wanted coffee, and instant coffee will mix up fine in cold water (that's my secret for low-labor iced coffee in the summer -- don't tell anyone I use instant!) In a disaster, even cold coffee is better than no coffee.

9) Kind bars or some other gluten-free meal replacement bar. They certainly don't fill me up for a meal, but they are good to have around.

10) If you are omnivorous, I'd advise you have some canned tuna or canned chicken on hand. It'll be good added to the salad below.

Hurricane Sandy's Southwestern Bean Salad

1 can pinto or red kidney beans, drained
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can corn, drained (or a cup of frozen corn)
1 can Rotel Lime and Cilantro diced tomatoes (or other salsa or canned diced tomatoes of your choice)
2 celery ribs (if you have it) chopped
1 small onion (if you have it) chopped
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon of cumin
1/2 teaspoon of chili powder
Cayenne pepper and salt to taste

Directions

Combine all ingredients. If you have time, let the bean/tomato/corn mixture sit for a little while so that the flavors can
mingle. Eat by candlelight and be happy you had all of those cans of beans in your pantry!

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