What else are good foods to eat (and keep) at room temperature?

Fruit

peanut butter sandwiches
crackers
popcorn
Chocolate
Canned goods

already tested my generator and gasoline for several days

marmelade stays good without being cooled
so does margarine, as opposed to butter
nutella
bread doesn’t need a fridge as much as toast does, doesn’t grow mold as quickly
...hope this helps and hope you get through the storm well!

You probably have at least 4 days worth of food around the house right now. Just use that up.

Nuts, carrots, apples, oranges, celery, kale, powdered milk

You can put food in a picnic cooler even without ice and it will last longer.

During power outages, keep your refrigerator door closed as much as possible and most food will last a day or two.

Be sure to stock up on water – lots and lots of water.

Don’t do what I did. I was staying at a motel when Hurricane Floyd came through. I stocked up on microwave meals. Ha, ha – no power to cook them or freezer to keep them frozen. I ate thawed out TV dinners for two days.

Versions of GORP. Apples, bananas, whole wheat crackers, almond and cashew butter (as well as PB). Dried fruits. In a pinch, you can open a can of soup or chili or stew and eat at room temperature.

I found a few good suggestions online that I will pass along here. Jarred grilled aegplant, red peppers and zucchini. Also, Kraft parmesan cheese needs no refrigeration even after opening.

@marinelife I bought a Coleman camp stove. It’s got four burners and runs off those small propane cylinders. It folds up for storage and is only a few inches high when closed.

You can stock up on some Meals Ready to Eat (MRE’s). You can get them at camping stores. Like These

If you like Indian food Tasty Bite and Trader Joe’s have very good vacuum pouches with yummy curries which taste good at room temperature, especially if you scoop them up with pita chips.

As long as you eat some of these next items and finish them (don’t have leftovers because they won’t keep) most canned beans taste pretty good at room temperature. Also Spaghettios, Canned Hummus or Baba Ganoush (which can be spread on tortillas) Deviled Ham, canned tuna or chicken (Brunswick makes small individual sized servings with crackers) I happen to love room temperature canned peas.

Then there’s bananas and peanut butter sandwiches on bread or tortillas, individually packed containers of applesauce, pudding and jello. Lancers makes some tasty cheese and crackers and peanut butter crackers and several other varieties that are good and convenient. Nuts, dried fruit, fruit roll ups, granola bars (I especially like Lemon Luna Bars) dare I say chocolate candy bars? Crackers of all kinds, including graham crackers which are very tasty with peanut butter, as are rice cakes or popcorn cakes (which would also be good with the canned meats and/or hummus).

According to This Article there’s a few cheeses that can withstand a few days without refrigeration.

Get lots of bottled water and juice boxes.

Be safe and Bon Apetite!

I forgot the most important thing…I have four gas burners on my stove. I need a match to start them but I can light the burners.

Jars of salsa and packages of corn chips work also.

@marinelife Also pizza places might be open if you get desperate and it’s safe to travel. If it’s safe to travel is the big thing.

It turns out that when reminded that gas stoves could be lit with a match, I realized that we have a gas stove and will be able to cook.

@marinelife: The problem is with not being able to wash the pot or pan.

I agree with @LuckyGuy you probably have quite a bit around the house already. I never buy a ton of stuff before a storm. Buying a lot of snack food, means I wind up eating a bunch of junk. Buy, a few packaged items, but don’t go crazy. Also, make sure to buy or bottle some water.

I know you didn’t ask, but here is a quick list of things to do:

Fill your cars with gas.

Have some extra cash on hand.

Plug up your bath tub full of water (this is so you can flush your toilet if there is any troubles with the water system).

Have a couple weeks or more of meds on hand if you take anything daily.

Make a lot of ice. If you have igloos or styrofoam containers, food will keep colder longer in tightly packed containers of ice, than in a fridge or freezer. I am not recommending to take food out of your fridge as soon as electricity goes out, but once 6–8 hours have gone buy it is usually time to start moving it out of the fridge and freezer to keep it cold. Move the ice right away though, into one container packed tight so it doesn’t melt, once you move food then you can divide up the bags of ice into two or three containers with food.

See this question from earlier today for lists of things to do.

http://www.fluther.com/151507/what-mistakes-might-people-make-in-preparing-for-the-frankenstorm-or/

@gailcalled, you can. You just have to do it a little differently. Heat a big pot of water on the stove. Use a dishpan. Use the hot water sparingly.

If it’s cold outside, some things can be kept pretty cool on the porch, in the garage, or on a windowsill next to a chilly window. Cheese, for example, can do pretty well for a while in a cool place even if it’s not at refrigerator temperature. Some bread, cheese, and fruit can keep you going for a while. Cold cereals that you can munch on, such as Cheerios (not too sugary), various kinds of hearty crackers such as Triscuits, and staples such as rice and noodles that you can cook on a gas range would be good to have around.

I remember one time we actually put a little hibachi stove in the fireplace and cooked hamburgers over charcoal. I’m sure we could have heated water on that as well.

Every now and then I take a general inventory of on-hand supplies. I typically find that we have about 3 weeks’ worth of provisions and that some amount of them are the kind of canned goods that @gailcalled mentioned: they’re already cooked and you can eat them cold if necessary, not just stews and soups and chilis but also all kinds of canned vegetables and fruits. And of course tinned tuna fish.

@YARNLADY

I was staying at a motel when Hurricane Floyd came through.

Was that in North Carolina or the Bahamas?

@Brian1946 Virginia Beach

If you have gas burners you can heat water on there for washing up other pots and pans.

As I just said. ^^^