Originally Posted by moonwork42029
I usually have enough on hand for a couple weeks and a little longer on canned items. This was very useful when we had the ice storm in 2009 and didn't have power for 13 - 20 days (had a generator for nighttime allowances).
they (family) don't laugh quite so much any more since we had everything pretty much.
Wow! That's a long time to go without power! I sure hope you own a treadle machine! But your point is a good one - regardless of why you stock up, if you're in a situation like that, I'm sure you're happy to have what you need on hand.
I went through our deep freeze and pulled out roasts and canned beef stew. Pulled out chickens and chicken breast and canned that too. Now if I'm in a rush, I can open a jar of chicken, toss it with veggies and pasta and there's dinner! The beef stew just needs some thickener and seasoning and voila - instant dinner.
A couple of years ago my husband saw a neighbor throw out brand new kerosene heaters - complete with instruction manuals. He brought them home and we used them when the power went out for a couple of days. I was initially skeptical because I thought they'd stink, but they didn't and I was warm. We have oil heat and I've used one during the day rather than heat the whole house with oil. We saved so much $$$ on oil that the oil delivery company called me to see if there was something wrong.