The ice storm taught me several important lessons one of which is to have alternate cooking options in a power outage. During those 3 fateful days and nights, sun was rare, so a solar oven wouldn't have helped at all, though I do plan on buying one anyhow, because I have no doubt it will come in handy.
When we lost power, I dragged our Coleman cook stove outside to the deck, so I could cook food which proved to be a fruitless and potentially deadly endeavor. Even with the wind shield, the wind and flame were battling each other. Restarting it several times was required. We tried to do what we could to block the wind, but it was nasty outside. We couldn't even get food started.
Bent over the stove, I could feel snow and ice dancing with the wind around me. I knew I was beat even as I tried to keep it going. The sun was playing hide and seek with the clouds. I remember wishing it would just stay out and warm things up. Little did I realize the consequences of that happening.
Something hit my head. I pulled off my glove and felt it. Ice. Next to the deck is a tall pine tree. Looking up, I realized that ice was literally hanging off of the 50+ foot tall pine tree's branches that were canopied over me. Another icicle fell, hit the edge of the picnic table I was cooking on and dented it. It's hard plastic. 6 kids have not damaged it. I don't know whether it was the sun warming the tops of the trees, the weight of the ice itself, or a combination of both.
I decided that it was time to go inside and make sandwiches. Another fell and this time hit me hard. I managed to keep hold of the stove, but my yell brought people running. The kids' dad, who had been trying to clear ice off the vehicles, grabbed the stove from me and my eldest daughter helped me inside. My head was sore for almost two weeks. That's when I realized I could have been seriously injured.
The "fun" of finding food for the kids will be detailed another post, but it wasn't an experience I care to repeat. It caused me to scrimped and save for a year in order to buy a dual-fuel stove with double ovens. I needed the double ovens with 6 kids. Since gas ovens only use a heater bar (meaning you can't light it with a match), I went ahead and got electric since I prefer it for baking. The stove top is for either propane or natural gas. We don't have natural gas, so I had a local propane company come out, install a tank and hook up the stove.
Now, my family would get hot meals in an outage and we wouldn't have to brave icy roads again. The relief was enormous. I could now make spaghetti, chili, soups, etc. The tank is filled every 6 months. I discovered that our tank will literally last us for 2+ years without refilling. It sounds a bit odd, but I can't even describe the security of knowing that I can cook food in an outage. It was a huge weight off my shoulders.
I still have the Coleman stove and the small propane canisters to run it, but it will be more for summer emergency cooking if the house is too hot.
In the future, I'd like to get or make a solar oven for baking. Due to dietary issues within our family buying commercial bread is no longer an option for us. It would be nice to be able to make some if the power goes out for a couple of weeks. We also need to replace the grill. It has rusted out. I'd also like to buy a wood stove that has a cooking section on it for baking when there isn't any sun.
Lesson #1 - Water
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