Wanna Chill

             You never know how thankful and reliable we are to the new technology we have now a days until something happens that we no longer have any access to it. One invention that everybody around the world uses today is the invention of the light bulb and electricity. Today we couldn’t even last a whole day, not even 5 hours without both of them.

A handful of my town got affected by a power outage early one morning. At least for me, my house was without power for about 3 hours. It was such bad timing because my family needed to get ready for school or work, my dad was trying to leave the house but couldn’t because our garage door couldn’t open, and it wasn’t like the sun was up and providing some light; it was pitch black throughout the house. We had to turn to the old fashion method; using flashlights and candles and having them be scattered everywhere to be able to see.

Not having any sort of power is extremely hard to live off of even with the 3 hours that it was out. Our internet was disconnected so we couldn’t go on social media, there was no source of news especially that early in the morning, but mainly it was a challenge to find something to eat for breakfast. On a typical day, I have either oatmeal, a pancake, scramble eggs, toast, or a shake. But, with no running electricity, my breakfast options were extremely limited.

One of the more important problems with a power outage is keeping your refrigerator food cold. Because the power is out, the food within the fridge or the freezer has no way of keeping it cold. The best solution is by trying your best to keep the refrigerator doors closed as much as possible to keep the cold temperature inside, and not letting it escape.

Foods that are supposed to be chilled become very moist and soggy if it is not being refrigerated for a certain amount of time. Foods with a little extra moist, for starters won’t taste as good as it would with being kept at the proper temperature, but as well as you might get a little “upset stomach” after eating something that is warmed and mushy. Take string cheese for an example: It’s the best when it just came out of the fridge, but if you have it laying out on the table for a tailgating party, it becomes extremely soggy and no one’s going to want to eat it. After being out for maybe an hour or so, you usually put it back in the cheese drawer to gain back its coldness and texture. If you can imagine how cheese tastes after 1 hour of being out in room temperature, just think about the taste of it after being at a little under room temperature for 3-4 hours. NASTY right!

Yes, all the food in the cupboard didn’t get affected by the power outage, but there were also a handful of foods from the fridge that wasn’t affected as much including the breads and some of the jams and sauces. Having the sauces and the breads be exposed to room temperature doesn’t really cause any mushiness. The foods are actually in perfect condition to use. Because they have a sealed cap on top, it prevents anything from going in and coming out. So when you do have a power outage, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is the way to go.

Power outages could happen at any time so always be prepared when it comes to keeping the food cooled as well as thinking a head to what you can eat with no help of electricity.