Need some ideas please, no running water and in area with a flood.

[Hellokittymania]

Hi everyone, first of all, I am fine. I’m a very very strong person, and if I can get through this, I can get through anything. I am nearly totally blind, just so everybody is aware and can take that into consideration, I bought a home back in March, involve Laos, and central Greece, which has just been hit by a very bad flood. I have been managing through this on my own, I lived in Vietnam for many years, and that has helped hugely here. I managed to go to the supermarket yesterday, and found things like baby wipes, some things that I can fry like Origenes and peppers, I bought wooden cutlery, I have paper plates and cups here. I’m doing what’s easiest at the moment.

as far as the water situation goes, do you have any ideas for recipes on the stove top that don’t require water but I can just use oil, because I lived in Vietnam, crispy noodles came to mind if I put them together with the peppers and tomatoes and aubergines. I can make salads with what I have, I do have a slow cooker as well, and we have electricity in our building, thankfully.

as far as trying to keep things clean, I do have that all another cleaning supplies that I can just wipe down things with. For the pots and pans, I learned yesterday that you can cover things with salt or baking soda to remove the oil, and then go over them with vinegar, lemon or vodka… I don’t have any vodka, I should’ve picked that one up yesterday ha ha. I could clean and drink at the same time. Yes, I do still have my sense of humor.

thankfully I’m very old-fashioned and have a radio with batteries, so I’m getting the news from there because our Internet is still very sketchy, and I’m blasting the music and dancing. It helps.

I have managed to clean up most of the inside of my home, I’m on the top floor but unfortunately the roof in our building leaked and it was like it was raining inside… Not to mention parts of my ceiling were also leaking as well. What can I do about water that got on the furniture so that it doesn’t get moldy? None of the shops are open yet, and apart from the supermarket, which also has limited supply, I don’t have access to much at the moment.

i’m sure I will come back with other questions, but for right now, anything you can contribute that would help, would be greatly appreciated.

also, some good vibes would be really much appreciated. The sun is coming out today, thankfully. They were playing happy by Pharrell Williams on the radio earlier and I was blasting it. Many of my friends have neither electricity or water, so I’m trying to cheer them up. Also, whenever I’m learning a life hack that will help at the moment, I’m sharing it. Many people are on their own, like me, and it’s important to get through this thing in one piece and keep smiling.

Sorry, I am using dictation. That should have read in Volos, in central Grease

Gosh how awful - it sounds like you are an absolute pillar of strength, though.

I don't have any suggestions I'm afraid but I hope the sun shines and that you can begin to pick up the pieces soon. Hoping someone will be along with actual advice soon.

Thank you, and everybody, please excuse the typos, dictation doesn’t work at the best of times, never mind when the Internet is on and off.

Eek what a nightmare

I'm not sure what you have access to, but how about

• tinned soup
• stir fries
• sandwiches - you can fry meat in a little oil
• anything tinned heated up on the stove
• if you can get eggs (which I know may not be possible) - omlette, scrambled egg

Pickle, they have rationed the amount of things people can buy in certain areas, I know bottle of water is definitely rationed, will check with the other thing someone wants available. The closest supermarket didn’t have a lot of things, there is a supermarket further away, which has electricity and things in its fridges and freezers. So I will see what I can find. If anyone has spent time in Greece, and knows the supermarkets a little bit, have you noticed things like canned soup? I know there are things like rice and pasta, but you usually have to add water. I will try and find something like soup in a can that I can heat up.

and yes, as a new homeowner, you don’t expect for your place to be flooded within six months of owning it, it will be six months tomorrow… Oh well, you live, you learn, and you keep going.

One of my next adventures when things are slightly better will be to check what my insurance covers, thankfully I have home insurance but since we had a big problem in the entire building… I’m not sure how that works.

I'm so sorry that this is happening

If you could get tinned soup of any sort you could maybe add pasta / noodles to it to cook that and then split it in to more than one meal

I wonder if the building has additional insurance included in your service charge - I know in the UK this would be the case x

The whole situation sounds awful, but you are evidently a strong person who is coping well.
Can you buy:

Tins of veg to heat up
Things to fry such as
Mushrooms
Eggs
Potatoes
Mince and tomato sauce to make bolognese? You could fry pancakes and eat with the bolognese sauce.

Things to eat cold such as salads, olives, cheese?

Things to stew in their own juice such as apples?

Good luck with everything.

Crikey. You sound prepared and stoic though. One of my fave teas is mushrooms with halloumi and maybe tomatoes all on the pan with olive oil til cooked. Also omelettes would work.

Sorry, our Internet is really bad. It has its moments where it works well, and then it goes down again. I will try and find the things everyone has mentioned at the supermarket, I hadn’t thought of soot apples, I have never stewed apples, but that sounds delicious. I have some sugar, do I just need to add some sugar and put it on a low heat? I’ve never sued fruit. Now will be the first time to start

i’m really sorry about the typos. Please forgive the dictation. I’m trying to make my friend laugh, and she told me her hair looks a mess, I said don’t worry everybody is in this situation, everybody looks a mess, just don’t worry about it. We’re still here, that’s what counts

Sorry to hear you’re in such a predicament OP! Hopefully there’ll be some help soon with getting some clean water to people affected.

in the meantime, I’d be concerned about dehydration - what access to fluids do you have? (Alcoholic ones don’t count unfortunately…)

Do you have no access to water at all or is the problem that tab water is currently contaminated/not drinking quality? If it’s not too grim you might still be able to use it for steaming rather than boiling veg for example. Put a good inch of water in a pan, hang a metal sieve in it (ensuring that the bottom of the sieve is not submerged in the water). Then add veg into the sieve, put a lid on and bring the water to the boil. The steam will be „clean“ and not contaminated.

Other ideas:

Tinned chickpeas make a filling base for a substantial salad. Add other bits from tins or glasses, such as tuna, olives, pickles etc. If you have, sdd Olive oil, lemon, vinegar, mustard or anything like that to bring it all together.

So tins and glasses are your friend if those are available in the supermarket.

Can you buy ready made dolmades in the supermarket?

Sorry you're going through this. Can you tell if the water is dirty? If it has come through a ceiling in the UK it would be likely to be. If it is and you don't want it to stain, you need to clean whatever has got wet. It maybe that staining isn't that important in the big picture.

Air flow is your biggest friend in this situation. Open all windows and doors, pull anything like curtains out of the way. If you have a fan and electricity and can afford it, then aim the fan at things and keep moving it.

Wipe down all wood etc as best you can and anything seriously wet try and get closer to the window/s and if possible sunlight.

Fabric sofas chairs or chair pads; dry out manually by squeezing against towels, and again get as close to windows and direct sun as you can.

Wiping with a VERY MILD (very mild is capitalized) bleach solution will help prevent mold and doesn't have to use more than a cup of water if it isn't too precious for that use.

I have never been to Greece (sadly) but live in multi culture land including a Greek/Turkish Cypriot community and lots of tinned and jarred Greek food. I'm vegetarian so a bit limited, but I believe there is a specialty chicken soup in tins.

I am assuming a language problem and or lack of help in supermarkets, as well as visual issues, so if not forgive me for writing this with that assumption.

When water is scarce, lick your plates and any pan used for sauce, clean, before wiping! A spatula can be used to remove as much oil etc as possible.

If you can get loo roll and kitchen paper, do. I would also in your position look for cling film and plastic bags, including dog poo bags and disinfectant. If your toilet isn't working plentiful supplies of newspapers and bags are going to become important.

Wine would be my first go to, assuming you mat be able to get it- you can cook a great deal in wine, as well as just drink it and thank the Gods!
I'm not aware of our Greek supermarkets here having cider, but it will also do nicely for cooking. I've never tried beer.

Pasta, rice, and potatoes, if you can get any, can all be cooked in wine. The trick is to heat it to nearly boiling and with a lid on simmer at low heat. Breaking up pasta, crushing rice, and very thinly slicing potatoes all help with cooking with limited fluid.
You can also, once simmered a bit, take the pot off the stove and wrap the pan in if possible foil first, a large towel or anything similar, and it will continue to cook and soften, (If you have a heavy duty cooking pot it is particularly effective) if your capabilities allow it.
The texture may not be perfect but after you've made the sauce from the wine, you really wont care. You do need to balance out any alcohol content with food or you will speed up dehydration.
Rose water tends to be small bottles but it is cheap and may have been overlooked in any scramble.

Tins of stuffed peppers and stuffed vine leaves, okra, chicory, onions dishes, spinach giant beans, and aubergine come in tins about 3 to 4 inches high, by 5 to 6 wide. Many are in a sauce. Add any sauteed fresh veg you can get to them.

Most foods I have found in these sized tins are vegetarian. However I believe fish may also come in similar tins. I do know there are small flatish oblong ones that are sardines, and similar but with rounded corners are likely to be mackerel or herring.

If the shelves haven't been cleared out, I'd also expect to find peppers, olives, capers, vine leaves and other vegetables, and sun dried tomatoes, in jars with fluid which can be used as a base for a sauce and liquid intake. Beware of mistaking tomatoes with jars of chili!
Tomatoes, are usually in oil, vine leaves and peppers may be in oil or vinegar, the rest are usually vinegar. Sugar and a little orange juice, or even honey or marmalade added to any vinegar solution, will give you a basic sweet and sour liquid to cook in or make into a sauce if you have flour, or you can reduce fluid by cooking.
Stale bread can be dried and turned to crumbs and used to bulk, or ground down to a form of flour replacement.
Rice can be cut and crushed and also ground down.

Tinned chick peas and butter beans and similar, you can mash finely and add tahini and preferably lemon or lime juice to them, to make hummus, which will also add fluid to your intake.
Six sided jars are likely to contain sweet preserves. You can use them as a sauce base with vinegary fluids.

I hope the supermarkets aren't bare, and this is some use.

Thank you so much for your advice and suggestions, plates, I have some juice, last night I managed to find some almond milk in a box, so I have that, I really try to avoid soft drinks except for the very occasional treat, but I do have a bottle of lemonade as well. And I managed to find two small ready-made coffees, those are treats because I love my morning coffee. And they help to get through this.

I will look for the things I mentioned at the supermarket, my Greek is decent, but I do struggle with items that I haven’t bought before, yesterday when I had to find baby wipes, I was trying to explain what I wanted by describing it, usually the people try and understand what I mean,

OK, we are expecting a good day of sunshine tomorrow, so I will try and move my furniture next to the window. I have cif, I think this might be OK to use, I don’t think it’s a strong product is it? And I believe it has some bleach in it.

Tinned chickpeas and beans will be good. If you conserve the liquid you can use that to cook rice /noodles.

Yes Cif has bleach in it. Cif cream isn't as strong as Cif liquid. If it's liquid I'd give it a sniff for if it would need to be diluted or not.

Not having coffee would be my misery. You can dissolve instant coffee in a tiny amount of boiling water and add the almond milk and very gently heat it. Don't overheat or boil.

If you can get canned cider for cooking, decant from can and keep in fridge.

This post is just ways of cooking apples with low or no water. Ignore if not useful.

Stewed apples: Normal recipe would be: approx three apples to 1 tablespoon of sugar, and normally one tablespoon of lemon juice and one of water and half a teaspoon of cinnamon.
Off the top of my head you could replace the water with anything like lemonade, fruit juice, cider, etc or double the amount of lemon juice and balance it out with extra sugar. Lemon juice could be replaced with lime juice, or if you have jarred lemons (mine are Greek) the fluid from them. cinnamon could be replaced with nutmeg, or finely diced sultanas, raisins or nothing.

You could also saute them by slicing and using butter, or marge, combined with maple, pecan, vanilla, syrup or anything like them, if owned or obtainable.

If stewing; put the apples, and anything else into a pan
If enough liquid, cover and cook over a medium heat for 5-10 mins, or until they're tender when pierced a knife. If you don't have enough liquid, go for a low heat and longer. Try not to lose moisture lifting the cover more than you have to.

Baked: 3 apples Core the apples and score round circumference of each with a knife
1 and a half tablespoons of ideally light muscovado sugar or whatever you have.
half a teaspoon of cinnamon if possible
Approx three quarters of a tablespoon of butter or marge.
handful of sultanas if possible.
Put apples onto baking tray. Mix whatever you have keeping a bit of butter or marge back, and push mix into the center of each apple.Put a bit of butter or marge onto the top of each apple and if you have enough sprinkle with sugar.
If you can cover do. Put in oven with whatever else you're cooking at gas mark 6,
for approx 20 mins or till soft.

Thank you for the Apple post! No, that was great, I will have to try some of those things. It might take my mind off what we’re going through…

It sounds pretty grim, and I assume from the pictures I've seen that there will be issues on the street from a visual impairment perspective with all sorts of stuff dislodged. I gather you got pretty much all of autumns rain in 24 hours!
Glad you have electricity, internet (ish) and batteries still, it must make life a lot less unpleasant than it could be right now.

I have a fair amount of experience of to having to adapt to whatever we have, especially food, and shortages for all sorts of reasons.
Also in a wheelchair and very aware of how difficult some changes can be for a fiercely independent person who's used to just getting on with it, suddenly having to compete with lots of other people for supplies.

Not saying you'll get it, but is there anything anyone here can realistically do for you other than answer contents questions/suggestions/ recipes etc waft good vibes and keep your spirits up?

Do you have a microwave? You can steam vegetables using a tiny amount of water in the microwave.

Thank you so much for asking, but the good vibes and suggestions are helping a lot. Thank you. I have put a fan in the bathroom, since there are no windows and it was the worst hit area of the apartment. I’ve opened up all the windows, all the doors, put things outside one possible and tried to move as much as I can so it’s closer to the window.

it has definitely been a challenge, and yes, the roads with all the mud and water, and… Snakes, or daunting, but not impossible. I’m kind of glad I hadn’t known about the snakes until today… I walked through an area of mud yesterday, and my shoe got stuck in it. For a moment, I was a little bit afraid I wouldn’t be able to move my foot, but I did, and thankfully somebody came along and pointed out an area with less mud. and I made it back-and-forth to the supermarket, which is about a 15 minute walk each way, without falling, it felt like a real accomplishment given the circumstances… I think it would have been pretty daunting for somebody in a wheelchair as well, I don’t even know if the tires you use for the beach would have been able to tackle the mud, sorry I don’t know much about wheelchairs. You do really have to think of creative ways of doing things in situations like this, it kind of reminded me of the start of the pandemic. And on the radio this morning, funnily enough, they even played Jolene. Totally 2020!

by the way I think it may have been you who asked about the water, no we don’t have any water at all. I have been given the information where the public can get free water, and I have been told there is somewhere where you can go and fill up your containers if you have them, but that would mean finding a creative way to get them home… I am 40 kg by the way. I’m not sure if I want to try and balance a heavy container of water well try not to fall in the mud… That really is not some thing I want to do.
The municipality said they would try and Russian some water, until they can get it fixed, don’t know how long that will be, or when they will actually ration it. They said 6 PM last night, we didn’t get an a thing at 6 PM… I kept trying, and trying, and at about 940 the water came on for 20 minutes and shut off, so I filled everything I could with buckets and tried to fill up the bathtub. But the water, I found out from my mom, is…. Dirty looking. some areas don’t have electricity either. Even in the center of town

it’s a tough one, but we will get there.

For the water, they told us it would probably take a week to get fixed. Nothing is open except for the supermarket and pharmacy, and they have to close by 6 PM.

no, I don’t have a microwave, I do have a slow cooker though and I used to have a steaming basket for it, I don’t know if I can find it though.

Hope things improve. We are on Skiathos and the rain on Tuesday was the worst the island has ever seen. We were lucky as up a hill so weren't flooded but no electricity for 24 hours which wasn't great. Volos has been so much worse.

Music, I’m glad you’re OK. Do you have water? A

I worked for many years in emergency response. You are considered a vulnerable person due to your sight so additional help should be made available to you. Try the local Red Cross chapter as they are often very good at mobilising. You should be able to get assistance with food and water.

Collect rain water if you can, it's clean enough to drink and definitely fine for pot washing/personal washing etc.

Finally, please ask for support from your community. The people closest to you are best placed to support as they know what's available, where and when. It's going to be a rough few days.

Is there some sort of helpline or authority in place that you could contact about not having realistic access to drinking water? Or friends or neighbours who could bring you some? You don’t need masses but best be careful not to dehydrate, you’ll need your strength! Sounds like the tap water is not fit for drinking.

Dog days, I will try and find the information for the Red Cross, I’m not sure what other people with disabilities or vulnerable groups do here, my language skills are decent, but not good enough when somebody is speaking at me at 100 miles an hour and using words I don’t know. And I’m finding that some of my neighbors who do you speak English a little, and very fluent. So I try as much as I can in Greek, they try in English, but it’s not the easiest.