[think of a something thursday!]

Oh Wilma. What a hurricane. My first Big One. Power out for a week or more. Driving to my sibling’s house while trying to not break curfew because they have power and cousins to keep my little one busy. Realizing we are unprepared despite all the planning when hit by the real thing.

But we survived. Heck, after Andrew folks were glad each successive hurricane wasn’t Andrew. By then we were also glad it wasn’t Katrina and Rita. We drove home a few days later, hoping the power would be back soon, and ready if it wasn’t.

Shortly after I did get home, I started washing dishes. A multi-day process, as I had to purify all of our washing water first.

But once I got everything washed - the power came back on. Lovely. So I jotted an entry to file in my “blog about someday” folder, of course: All I know about washing dishes with no running water I learned in food handler’s class.

  • One bucket of soapy water (bleach optional).
  • One bucket of bleachy rinse water (one capful per gallon).
  • One bucket of clean water. (I was using purchased bottled drinking water)

To purify water when you have a boil water order, use 8 drops per gallon.

Using all those bits of information and our restored water pressure, I filled up several empty water jugs on Day One and purified them. We were under a boil water order although pressure was back, but the water was the clearest I’ve ever seen.

Day Two, I set up a table with all those buckets (reminded me of Scout camp) and washed all the dishes I could, mostly a few plates and bowls I’d used for food prep. The baking I’d done ahead of time needed some attention, too, but I put those to soak in the sink for the next day’s load.

After I got the dishes done (too much bleach; my hands burned a bit), we lost the daylight, so I came in and hung out while the we ate fruit and cheeses for dinner.

I realized that the better option for hurricanes, especially now that the kids are getting older, are dunk bags, just like at camp. Go to the dollar store or Wal-Wart or Target or something with the kid. Pick out a few colorful items - plate, bowl, spoon, fork, knife. Put in a small mesh bag (you can make one by sewing up three sides of two dishtowels or use a mesh “delicates” bag). Glass and ceramic are not good options; if you pick plastics, pick food-safe plastics and BPA-safe plastics.

After you’ve eaten, wash as above and hang the dishes in the “dunk bag” to dry. Wash after every meal, or have one set for each meal, or two sets: one for a meal, and one for snacks. But if you get the kids to wash after every meal, they’ll keep busy that much longer. ;)

Dunk bags aren’t just for the hurricanes, though. Take them along on camping trips, day trips or “picnic dinners”, too. When the kids want out of the house and I don’t want to cook, out come the “picnic supplies”. We make sandwiches and eat at the park, on the grass, bugs and all.

You can also carry them in the car - you never know when you’ll need an extra knife and fork. Keep it with an emergency bag, or emergency food as the situation warrants. Now that I live in the middle of this uber sublurbian sprawl, I don’t have much in my emergency bag that isn’t simply a change of clothing, a few extra bucks, and snack crackers. But an extra plate or cup while out and about on my own or with the kids? You never know when it might come in handy for an impromptu picnic or two.