Disaster Preparedness

Does anyone use their charcoal grill as part of their disaster preparedness plan?
In the event of an extended power outage would you be prepared to use your grill to do all of your cooking?
Any tips on what to have on hand, other than plenty of charcoal?
Are there any tricks to boiling water, pan frying etc. using a charcoal grill? I imagine it would be similar to campfire cooking.

Interesting question. I COULD use charcoal, as I try to keep at least 4-6 bags of charcoal on hand. I would probably use my Genesis in a situation like that, because I always have 3 - 20# LP tanks in rotation at all times. I'm lucky that I have an RV place that fills propane literally 3 minutes from my house.

I remember several years ago during that extended power outage on the east coast, we had lost power for like 5-6 days, and I used the gasser to cook everything. As far as your questions about boiling water, pan frying on charcoal, that would be easy, I would use my Lodge cast iron skillets and dutch ovens - which I use all the time even when the power is on!

The biggest problem that I could see is keeping meats, vegetables, dairy products etc. fresh during an extended outage. My friend keeps telling me I need to pick up a Yeti cooler - maybe I should heed his advice??

Hmmm , never thought of it that way. I currently have about 8 bags of kingsford in the garage , so I could cook a lot....and I have my gas grill with spare tank. As jim pointed out , you would get down to canned food and dry pasta pretty quickly. Short power outages are one thing , but if the zombie apocalypse happens , I am in serious trouble.!

We were without electricity and water after Hurricane Katrina (gas and land line phone still worked, but our house is all electric). We used my old propane grill (this was before I got a Weber) quite a bit, for cooking and heating water for cleaning. I guess we could have done the same with charcoal, but unless we had thought to move the charcoal into the house or garage, it would have been wet.

J Follick said:

Does anyone use their charcoal grill as part of their disaster preparedness plan?
In the event of an extended power outage would you be prepared to use your grill to do all of your cooking?
Any tips on what to have on hand, other than plenty of charcoal?
Are there any tricks to boiling water, pan frying etc. using a charcoal grill? I imagine it would be similar to campfire cooking.

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I'm a big time prepper! My biggest fear is flooding, as my back yard is literally the Willamette River! With that said, I also live in a small subdivision outside of town, and all of us down here know, we tend to be overlooked when it comes to electricity outrages or anything else. I have a portable 2 burner Camp Chef stove, 3 gas grills with side burners, 2 smokey and a jumbo charcoal, as well as a performer and a OTG. So I'm set, in the heat source dept. for cooking. I also have a vast collection of cast iron cookware, and a Mojoe Griddle and a camp stove coffee pot for heating water as well as making java.
I don't store water, because of the river, but do have a handful of water filter thingy's I got off Amazon, that make for cleaning the water for drinking in short order! I also have a couple of Sears Die Hard Power Packs that have lights, battery charger, air, and usb charging ports for cell phones or laptops as well as 2 a/c plug ins to plug freezer into that supposedly will keep them running for 3 days. I think I paid $150 for each on sale. Well worth the piece of mind, for me anyway.
I also have a back pack full of wind up flash lights and radios in case I run out of batteries. And here's one no one ever thinks about, in case I have to move to higher ground, I also have a fold up toilet seat with a 5 gallon bucket stuffed with toilet paper that the cardboard rolls have been removed for more room.
I also have 2 plastic 32 gallon garbage cans with lids, that are solely used for water, in case a storm blows in, and I loose water for some reason. Just pop them in the bathtub and fill them with the shower head removed. (an old Alaska trick I learned living on a float log camp 36 years ago). Now food...that's a whole different topic, but I have that covered as well.

Don't forget something to light the charcoal with!
With practice you can make almost anything in your kettle that you can make on a stove top or in an oven.

Good Point Greg! I forgot to mention that! I buy those big long BBQ with 2 in a pack, when ever they are on sale, and have a few of them in my bug out bag!

This is my disaster plan:


Even though it has a 2 burner stove and a microwave I prefer cooking on a SJ.

We have a camper trailer too and try to keep it stocked for emergencies also. I keep freshwater in the tanks, always have at least a case of water in there, have one of those emergency back pack that has food and things to purify water. There are flashlights and and emergency radio in there too. Plus it is pretty much ready to go camping as is.

The water filter on Amazon is called Life Straw, I believe. $15-20 bucks. Good for a hundreds of uses drinking out of dirty mud puddles, ponds, rivers, etc.

During the tornados when power was out for a week, I used the Kettle and WSM for all food prep. I used the RV as home base: Gen for TV updates every hour and kept the garage fridge and freezer running.

Great topic! We live in the New Orleans area and so have to be prepared for storms and long term power outages. In general my disaster plan is to run away and get my family to a safe location. When we bug out I bring food with me and one of the charcoal grills to feed us for a while (usually we bug out inland for a few hundered miles and wind up coming back home as a group a couple of days later). If the situation turns into a long term one (like Hurricane Katrina did), I return to the home and begin securing, repairing, and protecting once the storm danger has passed. I lay in supplies including lots of charcoal, propane, gasoline (my portable generator has been converted to use both), non-perishable food, water, etc. at the beginning of hurricane season each year (which we use up right after the end of the season). We also reduce the amount of frozen food in our deep freeze and I add about a dozen 2L bottles of water to freeze (the extra ice mass will keep the freezer safely frozen/cold for up to a week without power and I can drink the water once the ice finally melts). For cooking, I have my charcoal grills (the mini is especially efficient), two propane camp stoves, fire wood, and the gas stove in the house (which may or may not be functional). With this approach and equipment set up I can keep the house and food safe for several weeks without outside assistance.

Regards,

John

We had some bad storms come through yesterday that blew some train cars off of the railroad bridge. We were without power all day. I was ready with the Summit if we needed to cook though (we wimped out and found a Subway sandwich place that had power).

Greg Y said:

We had some bad storms come through yesterday that blew some train cars off of the railroad bridge. We were without power all day. I was ready with the Summit if we needed to cook though (we wimped out and found a Subway sandwich place that had power).

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Greg - I could see that train from the window in my office. That was one crazy storm! Even by our standards around here...

Regards,

John

Last winter, we were hit with a ice storm that brought down most of the power in the city. We lost power for about 12 days. No hot water. Weather during the time was about -30 Celsius (-22 Fahrenheit). Put most of the food in coolers and threw them outside. Took me about 2 days to chisel the ice off my car so I can open the doors. Bought the Weber Q2200 by the 5th day. I couldn't bare the cold starting the performer and cooking over the charcoal. Used my Smokey Joe silver with the minion method to keep a large stock pot always full of hot water. (No such thing as having too many BBQs). Used my car battery booster to keep my phone charge to keep up to date with the news. My house is built during the WW2 era so their is no insulation in the walls. Inside the house was about 1 degree. My priority was just to keep my son warm. Setup a tent in my living room to keep warm. The tent retained heat really well. Kept a steady temp of 22-24. The most invaluable item was having a CO detector. The 7th night, while we were sleeping it kept ringing. I believe we had too many candles lit and it created too much carbon monoxide. Opened all the windows, but it wouldn't stop ringing for 2 hours. Decided not to risk danger to the family and slept over at the inlaws.