in his book, fuhrman says he shops for canned beans, canned vegetable and bean soups, and canned chinese vegetables such as water chestnuts, bamboo shoots.....the most important thing to eat is leafy greens, you should be able to pick up a day's supply from earthbound farms. carrots and potatoes, yes, those should keep awhile. What about a cooler? When we went to Nebraska we took a couple of coolers, went to the store and got dry ice. put a really small piece, maybe 4-6 oz, in a big brown grocery bag, and put it on the bottom of the cooler. You have to seclude it or it will freeze things. Also, if you have a Whole Foods store, you might stop by the salad bar and load up. If you don't eat some fresh raw food you will probably get pretty tired.

I'm sorry that you have to be without electricity for a while. Without your kids too. Though that should give you more time to shop for food, if it's available.oh, what about sprouts???? Sprouts are easy to make in quart jars with those screen lids and don't require refrigeration, just make enough to eat. You can also sprout beans and grains a little before cooking them to give them more nutritional value.

Kombucha tea from the health store doesn't need refrigeration, as long as you stick to the original.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm still not sure what to do about leafy greens. The health food store two towns away is open, but there's no gas so I can't keep driving there.Nowhere to shop that I can walk to, though that might change by the time I'm back. I'm trying to see this as a lesson in being flexible.

This is an adventure of sorts - and I'm glad to have you guys 'along for the ride.' We're going to prevail...!!

Sprout! do you have any alfalfa or radish or broccoli or cabbage seeds? If not, maybe some beans you can sprout. I love lentil sprouts. What a difference making lentil soup with sprout vs the unsprouted bean.

Wait, I sense you are concerned about pesticides and sprays. Fuhrman says to stop worrying. He says the amount of pesticides on produce is minimal. Most of the pesticide occurring in the diet is from the accumulation and concentration happening in beef, pork and chicken. Whole Foods estimates that 95% of pesticides in the grocery store are in the meat section.

Then Fuhrman gives the list of things to avoid unless they are organic and suggests peeling non-organic veggies such as carrots and potatoes. The most toxic produce, according to the USFDA, fda.gov, is in order of toxicity from worst down, is strawberries, green and red bell peppers, spinach, cherries (USA), peaches, cantaloupe (Mexico) celery, apples, apricots, green beans, grapes (Chili) and cucumbers.

He says washing produce with plain water removes 25-50% of the pesticide residue.

Also, every study done to date on the consumption of food and its relation to cancer has shown that the more fruits and veggies people eat, the less cancer and heart disease they have. All these studies were done on people eating conventionally grown, not organic produce. So don't worry about it and you just eliminated stress as a cause of dis-ease! :-)

Wow, does Furhman know about BPA? I understand about staying alive during a crisis, but no way would I ever eat canned foods on a daily basis, during a crisis like after a hurricane, yes.

http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/news/20100518/canned-food-may-expose-people-to-bpa

If you can't do fresh (not during a crisis) then frozen is the way to go. These foods are frozen when they are ripe! I never heard of a good level of pesticides. I live in the country and see the pesticides being sprayed all over the veggies. lolol.....

I avoid canned; for power outage how about some soft packaged goods? On the road I do packets of tuna & salmon. Also many soups come in recyclable plastics and soft packaging.

Dehydrated friuts & veggies?

I don't use canned food much either. I do get canned tuna, salmon and tomatoes, but as soon as I open the can, they are used up or moved to a bottle.

I remember getting meals in bags for camping from the camping store. Just add water. They aren't too bad in a pinch, especially if you doctor them up a bit.

THanks, guys. We have power, and I can store food again. I haven't written 'cause I'm sick with a miserable chest cold. Hard to breathe without weezing. I;m drinking lots of hot water with lemon and ginger. And tonight I was strong enough to take my kids trick or treating (the town rescheduled Halloween now that the lights are on) What most American kids eat is scary. THough my older daughter is getting to the peer pressure/wanting to fit in stage where it;s getting not ok for me to trade her for health food sweets. (Other years I've planted organic, agave sweetened chocolate with the neighbors so they can eat some of what they bring home). So fa r niether of my kids have had refined sugar or food additives (that I know about). They eat 88% dark agave chocolate, or raw brownies. I'm trying to relax about the fact that this won't last forever.

oh, Brigid, too much stress!!! Hope things get better soon.

I knock out a cold with Vitamin C. Take 1000 mg every hour or two until you reach bowel tolerance, then back off. I used to use EmergenC, but now I mix my own.

http://www.orthomed.com/titrate.htm

Thanks, Shadow.
Also, I'm done with c ans for now (except of beans) but it is great info.