How to eat if you have no power

[Crochetandcoke]

Hi, I wanted to start a thread for people who have no power temporarily or who don't have a fridge or freezer, or only have simple cooking facilities eg. Just a kettle, toaster and/or microwave. I thought this would help people who don't have money for the meter, or who are suffering from temporary brown or black outs, or just generally people who want to cut back on energy bills and consumption. Also might be some ideas for what to donate to a food bank. The obvious thing is bread and sandwich based things, which are ok in a temporary fix but not that healthy or satiating for more than a meal, day or two at a stretch, or due to a short ish power out. Thank you for any more healthful and creative contributions 😊

You may find this useful?
Thrifty Lesley

Packet pasta and noodles often only need a kettle. Can add veg to it to make it go further
Microwave rice is the same
To a tin of soup in a microwave, add tinned potatoes, veg, lentils etc to make it go further

Noodles and cous cous only need a kettle. As does frozen veg. Boiled eggs can be done in a kettle.Wraps and pitta bread in a toaster.

Tinned beans are ok, but dried beans should be cooked.

No, most beans are fine. Kidney beans aren’t.

That’s not correct. Rice and beans absolutely need to be cooked, you risk getting very ill by eating them raw.

A little fire outside and make toast, baked potatoes etc..

Raw dry pulses are cheap, nutritious, and can be turned into sprouts with water, a glass and a cloth. Soak in the glass of water overnight, rinse and drain daily. It starts to sprout, then makes a crunchy salad item. Do them one type at a time, though. Don't mix chickpeas and haricot beans, they sprout at different times.

Mung beans are the usual kind used for beansprouts, but all the whole pulses do it.

Cous cous and bulgar are good, if you have a kettle.

You can soak rice to cut down cooking time, but it does need to be boiled.

Pasta carries on cooking if you boil it and then let in the boiling water.

I'm not a fan of overnight oats, but a lot of people seem to like them.

Today I'm refusing to roast a chicken so am having chicken kebabs instead because the cooking time is so much shorter and my oven seems to be the least economical appliance on the planet.

Tinned food is already cooked, and can be eaten cold.

Tinned fruit, lots of vitamins, but high in sugar.
baked beans, very good for protein and fibre.
Custard and rice pudding- protein, calcium, energy.
Fish- some is really cheap and tasty. Sardines, pilchards, mackerel, kippers. Old fashioned things! Tuna and salmon are expensive.

Crackers of various kinds are good with fish!

Kelly kettle if u have access to outside obviously as literally just needs a handful of sticks and fur cones for lots of hot water and you can cook on it too.

If you have no power - you have no kettle or microwave or toaster..... we used to get power cuts regularly, but luckily have a gas hob. Pasta featured heavily. Also if pushed, I could live off salads... I would happily have morzarella or feta, tomato, olives etc in a salad every day. Again if you have your gas hob, fried bacon on a bed of salad, with a fried egg on top, and fresh bread. Not that cheap though I concede.

Cheese, bought in small quantities, doesn't need to be kept in the fridge.

Pepperoni and mattesons style smoked sausage doesn't need to be kept in the fridge until it's opened.

Omg are you saying bean sprouts are literally beans that have sprouted? Mind blown!!

I would say look out for yellow sticker eggs. Microwave packets of rice are cheap (35p Tesco basmati) taste good with work soy sauce and some grated carrot/frozen peas or a scrambled egg mixed in (egg fried rice)

I lived like this for months, in a shared flat with no kitchen.

Went shopping every day for small amounts so didn't need a fridge.

Ate bread based meals.
Lots of cheese, cold meat, fruit, raw veg eg carrots.
Lots of junk (crisps/ chocolate too tbh)
Cereal
Tinned fruit
Salads
Crackers

Real butter keeps longer than spreads.

If I wanted something hot I'd get chips from the chippy or a carry out pizza.

Yes microwave, kettle and toaster obviously do need some power, some great ideas. Soaking and then cooking is a good point, and camping stove and kettle would obviously be a great alternative for people with outdoor space. I have seen lots of people online purchasing air fryers, but can't see how that makes that much difference to energy consumption especially if you're feeding a whole family. For one or 2 people makes sense not to run a full oven, but once you get beyond that, better to fill the oven more not use an air fryer repeatedly.

I wonder if there is any way of getting just a small amount of energy to a property, I know people can do it at like fair ground or festival or whatever with generators, but there must be some kind of battery option? Idk

Not in the SE at the moment.

fire service already over stretched!

bonus you could cook eggs in/on the car/patio.

I would ask the caravan/prepping people

Toaster pockets are great for toasted sandwiches made only on the toaster. They are a papery type pouch that can be used about 100 times and don’t cost much. Could be a good donation item to the food bank if anyone wants to do something a bit different.
We recently got a smart meter and I was amazed how much power cooking dinner uses!

Solar powered battery and camping equipment? Maybe second hand?

If you go into work, filling a flask there?

If you do get power, and electric pressure cooker is very efficient- but again, cash outlay.

dried beans are poisonous if not cooked properly.

You can buy self heating meals in packets (often used for camping). However, I think they can be quite expensive to use regularly, might be ok as a one off especially in winter when needing a hot meal. I've never actually used them so can't comment on the taste, I've just read about them.

If it's for a blackout or to avoid using energy during peak time (I read somewhere they are considering paying people not not use energy between 4.30-6.30pm this winter) then a camping stove/kettle kettle/BBQ if you've got access to an outdoor space. Camping gas would be very expensive long term though and there would be an inital outlay for camping kit.