{"id":17042,"date":"2021-03-05T09:00:54","date_gmt":"2021-03-05T14:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=17042"},"modified":"2021-02-25T13:13:44","modified_gmt":"2021-02-25T18:13:44","slug":"coping-with-a-power-outage-as-a-vegan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2021\/03\/05\/coping-with-a-power-outage-as-a-vegan\/","title":{"rendered":"Coping with a Power Outage as a Vegan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Picture this \u2013 A freezer stocked with containers of homemade\nvegan entr\u00e9es, soups, and side dishes. It also holds bags of frozen vegetables,\nseveral pints of frozen desserts purchased on sale, and a half dozen packages\nof strawberries from last summer\u2019s trip to the you-pick farm. Sounds like\nyou\u2019re in a good place, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Now imagine\nwaking up at 1 AM and realizing that the house is dark and getting cold. The\npower is out for an indefinite amount of time. What can you do to increase the\nodds that you won\u2019t have to pitch everything in your freezer?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     If your freezer\nis full, odds are better that foods will stay frozen than if the freezer only\nhas a few things in it. If you are concerned about the possibility of a power\nloss \u2013 say, the forecast is for high winds later in the week \u2013 and your freezer\nis only partially full, you can fill containers with water and put them in the\nfreezer. Once frozen, they\u2019ll help keep the food in the freezer cold if the\npower goes out. You can take the water-filled containers out when you need more\nroom for food in the freezer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     According to the\nFDA, a full freezer<\/strong> will keep food cold enough in a power\noutage for approximately 48 hours<\/strong> (24 hours if it is half\nfull) if the door remains closed. The FDA suggests buying dry ice, if possible,\nwhich will keep food cold for a few days. When the power goes on, the food in\nthe freezer can be eaten (or refrozen) if the food still has ice crystals or if\nthe freezer temperature has remained at or below 40 degrees F. \u201cIf at any point\nthe food was above 40o<\/sup> F for 2 hours or more (or 1 hour if\ntemperatures are above 90o<\/sup> F) \u2014 discard it,\u201c says the FDA<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     If the power\noutage is in the winter and the outdoor temperature is consistently below 40\no<\/sup> F and if animal scavengers are not a problem, some foods can be kept\ncold by placing them outside in an ice chest. Try to keep them out of the sun\nto help keep the food at a low enough temperature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Remember, if the\nfood is thawed, it\u2019s not worth the risk of getting sick \u2013 discard it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reference:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FDA. Food and Water Safety During Power Outages and Floods. https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/food\/buy-store-serve-safe-food\/food-and-water-safety-during-power-outages-and-floods?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery<\/a>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information see: Disaster\nPlanning for Vegetarians<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD Picture this \u2013 A freezer stocked with containers of homemade vegan entr\u00e9es, soups, and side dishes. It also holds bags of frozen vegetables, several pints of frozen desserts purchased on sale, and a half dozen packages of strawberries from last summer\u2019s trip to the you-pick farm. Sounds like you\u2019re in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17042"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17044,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17042\/revisions\/17044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}