I understand about throwing out food. We were without power for 5 days so everything had to go from two fridge/freezers and both were packed. Boy was that stuff heavy. I could only put a little in each trash bag before they got too heavy. All frozen veggies/fruits and juices went on the compost pile.
Soups and sauces were thawed and went down the disposal. What a mess. At least this was a great opportunity to clean the fridges and freezers from top to bottom at one time.

Our kids go to Hilton Head every year and they said its so sad there. So sorry about losing your food. Just glad you all are safe

Thank you. Yes, Hilton Head took the direct hit, it is still a mess but I believe they started letting homeowners back on the island yesterday.

rocklady said:Happy everyone made it through the hurricane with minimal damage. We were extremely fortunate. We have almost 3 acres and it is mostly trees. We lost some trees, however, none hit the house or the garage so we are extremely grateful. The yard is filled with debris and for the last three days DH and I have been hauling debris out to the curb. We were without power from Friday morning until Sunday night. As we sat down to eat dinner in Pensacola on Sunday night, we got a call from Duke Energy that our power had been restored. Had to throw out contents of refrigerator. No sense making yourself sick over bad food. I am bone tired, but thankful that we came through it unscathed. Yard people will be here Monday to take care of cutting and hauling away damaged trees.

The food in the refrigerator can be easily replaced. Thank goodness nothing worse happened!!

As soon as we lost power I drove around the neighborhood until I found a large family out in the yard and gave away the food from the freezer on the first day while it was still frozen so it did not go to waste. They had an outdoor grill and were happy to take the food.

Still have to clean the refrigerator which is a job I do not look forward to. Yuck. I'd rather dig a ditch in the rain than clean a frig.

greene said:As soon as we lost power I drove around the neighborhood until I found a large family out in the yard and gave away the food from the freezer on the first day while it was still frozen so it did not go to waste. They had an outdoor grill and were happy to take the food.

Still have to clean the refrigerator which is a job I do not look forward to. Yuck. I'd rather dig a ditch in the rain than clean a frig.

I do hate loosing food when power goes out for days but you did a good thing.

My stove is gas so at least I can cook. During Sandy I ate all the stuff in my fridge first and then worked on stuff in the freezer.

See how resourceful and foward thinking we all are. Sometimes we get bogged down but common sense prevails and we look at the bright side. That is what makes this country great and maybe I am prejudiced, but I think our generation rocks!

Giving the food away while it was still good is a terrific idea. There are always folks who can use it. Sadly we couldn't get back home for 5 days. Ours was beyond safe to use or give away. Our freezer was up to 58 degrees.

The family was happy to accept the frozen meat and fish but was especially happy when I told them there was also Italian Lemon Ice in the package! I love Luigi's Lemon Ice.

http://www.luigis.com/

This is strange - I laid this cactus down on the ground before the hurricane, and set it back upright once the bad weather passed. Yesterday, I noticed this:



It's calloused over, and the hurricane was a week ago, so maybe it happened during Matthew? I think I would have noticed if it was there before the storm, or if it had happened while I was laying the plant down. So very weird.

I did have to toss out the rest of whatever was in the freezer afterwards during Hurricane Sandy. But I was thankful that the loss of power for a week was the worst of it here at my house.

I see the pictures of the truly scary stuff during hurricanes and always hope they would just go out to sea and not hurt anyone.

@greene If we had been in FL when the power went out, we could have salvaged most of our food by cooking it. Our generator would have kept our small refrigerator going. Good for you for being able to give your frozen food away.

Rosie I agree we are a great generation. I wonder sometimes if our children and grandchildren would fare as well and be as self sufficient.

They are what we make them, Ginny. I sometimes wonder if my kids are teaching my grandkids how to do anything except what can be done on a computer . .

I know. I tried to teach my kids how to can and freeze and garden. They wanted nothing to do with it. Now they are starting to cook more and I still tell them I'm happy to show them.

One of my sons has followed in my footsteps when it comes to gardening and living as sustainably as reasonable. However, where cooking is concerned he has far surpassed me; he should have become a chef. He and his beloved have chosen not to have children so those skills will not be passed on.

Sometimes getting old is funny. Here I sit several days after the storm and I just now realized that I had a way to cook food. I own a travel trailer with a propane stove. Duh.
Feel free to laugh along with me.

Well, now we can remind each other, greene. And thanks! We have a little gas barbecue, too. Never thought about it but we certainly could cook on that in a big power outage.

Ad my cooktop is gas!

With an electric starter