The Healthy Hurricane/Disaster Cookbook
But what sort of food have you squirreled away?That's a question
however that ate at Marcia Magnus after watching people grab food from grocery-store shelves in advance of one of five tropical cyclones that hit Florida in 2004.
"People were getting as much canned meat as they could find – Spam, sausage, corned beef," says the assistant professor of dietetics and nutrition at Florida International University in Miami, Fla., and a consultant to UNICEF. "That's the worst thing you can do."Shoppers cleared out the meats section of the canned-goods aisle while virtually ignoring shelves holding canned vegetables, as well as canned and dried beans and peas – to say nothing of the fresh fruit, vegetables, and whole-grain products still available.
The outcome of that experience: "The Healthy Hurricane/Disaster Cookbook," an 18-page set of tips for gathering and storing food in advance of a storm, as well as several pages of recipes that take no electricity to prepare.Out are foods heavy in fat, salt, and sugar. In are crab dip, shrimp cole slaw, or cashew chicken-salad sandwiches. Breakfasts? Try oatmeal laced with raisins, dried apricots, and cranberry sauce, and moistened with low-fat soy milk.
