Food For Thought For Those Stockpiling Food For Y2K, Don’T Forget To Throw In A Few Vitamins, Sweets And Spices

One year from today, you could be wondering which restaurant to go to after catching the latest Adam Sandler flick.

Or you could be trying to decide which can of soup to open for dinner — heated up, if you’re lucky.

It all depends whether the dire predictions come to pass about the Y2K programming glitch that theoretically could cripple computers come Jan. 1, 2000.

Optimists expect nothing more than some minor nuisances, like maybe a malfunctioning microwave oven.

Pessimists say supermarkets will empty because of a complete breakdown in communications and transportation systems. Not that you’d be able to get gas to drive to the store, anyway, or have the electricity to turn on the stove once you got back.

Caught in the middle, plenty of people — ranging from the cautious to the scared — are stocking up on food in case of serious societal disruptions.

Some suppliers are becoming overwhelmed. Orders placed now with Walton Feed, a longtime vendor of bulk foods in Montpelier, Idaho, likely won’t be shipped until summer.

Business has boomed before following such anxiety-provoking events as the eruption of Mount St. Helens, the Los Angeles riots and the Gulf War, says Walton manager Steve Portela. However, he says, “Y2K is bigger than all those other things combined.”

Adds Portela: “I don’t like to see people go into debt. I don’t like to see them panic over this. But a lot of people are.”

At A&T Specialty Foods in the Spokane Valley, which carries a wide variety of bulk and dehydrated foods, business has increased by about 15 percent each month since June, says co-owner Andrea Martello.

“People have a lot of questions, and you need to spend a lot more time with them,” Martello says of the newcomers. “When you have 10 times as many customers in the store, that makes it a little bit hectic.”

There’s no easy answer to the biggest question: How much food do I need to put away?

“People just have to go on their gut feeling, what they’re comfortable with,” says Denise Hansen, a Spokane dietitian who has been giving workshops on Y2K food storage.

For some, security means a year’s worth of food. The World Wide Web is full of companies like Walton Feed which offer complete packages, in long-lasting bulk and freeze-dried form, for around $1,000 per person. Civilian versions of the military Meals Ready to Eat (MREs), which require no cooking, cost considerably more - $280 for a month’s supply on one Web site.

If that sounds extreme, you may at least want to follow the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s recommendation that everyone keep two weeks’ worth of emergency food on hand at all times.

“You don’t need to go out and buy unfamiliar foods to prepare an emergency food supply,” says a FEMA brochure. “You can use the canned foods, dry mixes and other staples on your cupboard shelves.

“In fact, familiar foods are important. They can lift morale and give a feeling of security in times of stress.”

Hansen agrees that an emergency is no time to learn how to grind grain into flour or try to acquire a taste for textured vegetable protein.

And, she says, “If you’re concerned about not having any way to heat it, not much water, canned and packaged foods are the way to go.”

Even with more familiar foods, planning an emergency supply takes some thought.

If water may be limited, avoid stocking overly salty foods so you don’t get too thirsty, says Elaine Mayes, Spokane County agent for Washington State University Cooperative Extension.

Emergency or not, Mayes adds, aim for as balanced a diet as possible. “You still need to think about variety in your diet, eating some protein, some carbohydrates, some fruit, some vegetables,” she says.

Because vitamins are the main nutrient lost as canned foods sit on the shelf, a daily multivitamin supplement is good insurance, says Hansen.

Mayes expects to see more people canning food at home this year, some of them for the first time, to prepare for a potential crisis - which poses its own dangers.

Fruits and high-acid vegetables like tomatoes can be safely canned using a simple boiling-water bath. But meats and most vegetables must be processed in a pressure canner to kill bacteria, including those that produce deadly botulism.

“We throw out home-canned food every food drive,” says Al Brislain, executive director of the Spokane Food Bank. “Ninety-nine out of 100 are probably OK, but that 100th one could kill you.”

Along with canned foods, your emergency stash should include such packaged staples as cereal and crackers. Don’t forget the cookies and candy; survival is as much about keeping your spirits high as your stomach full.

A good supply of spices is important, too, says Brislain.

“We live off flavors,” he says. “People sometimes forget that. They go for the basics and forget that they need spices.”

Other potentially overlooked essentials include extra pet food, plenty of paper plates and plastic utensils and a few Y2K-compliant can openers - the kind that don’t require electricity.

Heat also helps. “The thought of eating soup out of a can unheated kind of turns me off, although I guess you could do it if you had to, to survive,” says Mayes.

Cooking options if the power goes off include wood stoves, camp stoves and charcoal or gas grills. Keep a fire extinguisher handy, and only use barbecues and portable stoves outside for safe ventilation. Food can be heated right in the can, but be sure to open it and remove the label first.

If you’re going to stock some emergency foods that require cooking, consider cooking times. Mayes prefers grains, which simmer at a low heat in relatively little water, to pasta, which has to boil in larger amounts of water.

Couscous, a grain-like pasta that swells up in a few minutes after you add boiling water, is particularly efficient. The same method is used for an increasing variety of processed foods in single-serving cardboard containers, from soups to grain and pasta mixtures to mashed potatoes to hot cereal.

Freeze-dried backpacking foods are another relatively quick-cooking option, although they tend to be pricey.

Whatever you put away to eat, make sure there’s enough of it to satisfy you and fuel your needs. “If you’re chopping wood, living in a cold house, you might be burning more calories,” Mayes says.

Hansen recommends planning an average of 2,600 calories per person per day to account for increased activity, as well as waste. If you end up with a little extra, she adds, “That way, if you had to share some, you could.”

Households with only one or two people, though, need to be careful what quantities they buy. While bigger cans may cost less, they may not be bargains if the power is out - meaning no refrigerator - and there’s no way to safely store leftovers.

Those looking to stockpile lots of food for longer periods might save money by buying bulk and dried foods, like those available at A&T.

“We’ve got dehydrated vegetables, dehydrated eggs, dehydrated sauce mixes,” Martello says. “You can make gourmet meals without a refrigerator, just water and one pot.”

She suggests that new customers work up a one-month menu plan. “Multiply that by whatever amount of time you want storage for, and you know exactly how much you need,” she says. “You don’t waste money on things you’re not going to use.”

While similar foods are available from businesses on the Internet, Martello advises checking them out carefully.

“The whole situation is prime for scams,” she says. “Be very, very cautious about ordering something where you pay up front and they have you at their mercy.”

Look for companies with reasonable prices and proven track records, suggests Walton Feed’s Portela. “A lot of people are hanging around, waiting for the next opportunity to gouge the public,” he says.

Although increased demand may mean it takes longer to get orders processed, there’s plenty of food available, both Portela and Martello say. Powdered eggs and hand grinders for grain are among the exceptions, Martello says, because the companies that make them are small.

“If people want those items, they should order them now,” she says. “You’re looking at three to six months for delivery.”

It’s not too early to start stocking up on supermarket foods, says Hansen, particularly given fears that last-minute panic buying will wipe out stores’ supplies as the new century approaches.

“The best way to do it is to buy a little bit extra during the year,” she says. “A little bit at a time, and the grocery stores aren’t really going to notice it.”

Most canned foods are safe to eat for at least two years, though many experts recommend using them within six months to a year for best flavor. All foods, canned or not, last longer if stored in a cool, dry, dark place.

Hansen suggests buying the best brand-name canned foods you can afford if you’re going to keep them for a while.

Still, she says, “Don’t sweat it too much. This is 1999, and we’re talking about 2000. If we start pawing through our pantries, there’s stuff that’s been sitting there for a long time that we would not hesitate to eat.”

Ideally, the preparedness advocates preach, people would keep an ongoing supply of emergency food and work it into their regular menus when it started getting old, replacing it with new stock.

But if Y2K passes without incident, many people probably will go back to their old, day-to-day dietary ways, and maybe donate their surplus provisions to charity - which wouldn’t bother the Food Bank’s Brislain.

“We would love that,” he says. “It would mean that everybody is OK, and a lot of hungry people would be getting fed.”

This sidebar appeared with the story: WEB, FEMA BROCHURE OFFER INFORMATION ON Y2K Some sources for more information about Y2K and food storage: The FEMA brochure “Emergency Food and Water Supplies” is available online at www.fema.gov/library/ emfdwtr.htm. Spokane County Cooperative Extension (533-2048) will make printouts of the FEMA brochure for people without Internet access (15 cents per page plus tax and postage), and offers other information about food preservation and storage. The Cassandra Project’s Web site (CassandraProject.org/home.htm) has information about individual preparedness, as well as links to major emergency food companies. Information and links are also available through the Spokane-based Health Improvement Partnership’s Y2K site (y2k.hipspokane.org); there’s also a telephone hotline, 742-3646.