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In the Face of Disaster - Keeping Food Safe · Talking FACS

• 0:01
  Welcome to Talking Facts.
• 0:03
  What you need to know about family food finance and fitness.
• 0:07
  This nationally recognized award winning podcast is hosted by the University of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program.
• 0:16
  Our educators share research knowledge with individuals,
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  families and communities to improve quality of life.
• 0:24
  Hello and welcome to Talking Facts.
• 0:26
  What you need to know about family food,
• 0:28
  finance and fitness.
• 0:30
  I am your host,
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  Mindy mcculley Extension Specialist for instructional support at the University of Kentucky.
• 0:37
  When natural disaster strikes,
• 0:39
  it not only impacts our own family but often entire neighborhoods or communities in the face of disaster.
• 0:47
  A disaster preparedness and response program presented by Family and Consumer Sciences Extension at the University of Kentucky seeks to give families the resources they need to prepare for a natural disaster before it occurs and rebound in the aftermath.
• 1:05
  My guest today is an Hall Norris Extension specialist for food safety and food preservation.
• 1:10
  Welcome an hall.
• 1:12
  Hi,
• 1:12
  Mindy.
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  Thanks for having me.
• 1:14
  We have been talking about natural disasters and keeping food and water safe after a natural disaster is so important because we do not want to get sick after all of the other things that have occurred.
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  So,
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  we're going to talk about that today.
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  If that power goes out and we have lots of food in our refrigerators or in our freezers,
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  what do we do?
• 1:40
  Well,
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  the most important thing is to not open the door and I know that it's tempting and I know that you minute that you hear the power is out,
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  you need something out of the refrigerator but try to keep that door closed because each time you open the door,
• 1:53
  you're letting that cold air out without power,
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  that refrigerator is only gonna keep temperature or hold temperature below 40 degrees for four hours.
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  So try to not open the door for four hours.
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  If the power has been off for longer than that and you have a thermometer in there,
• 2:11
  you can open the door and check that temperature because at some point,
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  you'll want to move your perishable items into a cooler with ice packs or gel packs to keep them a little bit longer.
• 2:21
  Ok?
• 2:22
  If you don't get anything from this podcast at all,
• 2:25
  please get that.
• 2:26
  You need to keep a thermometer in your refrigerator because you need to know when that temperature goes above 40 you know,
• 2:33
  and gets into that danger zone because your perishable items,
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  your meats and your eggs,
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  things like that need to be kept 40 and below.
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  And you can easily pick up a refrigerator,
• 2:44
  thermometer that will adhere to the side of the refrigerator or hang on the shelf.
• 2:49
  Yes.
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  It'll tell you the inside temperature just from looking at the outside of the door.
• 2:54
  And so those are readily available and not very expensive.
• 2:57
  Right.
• 2:58
  Yeah.
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  And I love,
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  I love having one just because I like to know what the temperature is because it does fluctuate.
• 3:04
  Yes,
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  it does.
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  So,
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  what about water safety and,
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  and quality that's inside the refrigerator?
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  How do we know if that's being maintained?
• 3:13
  Well,
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  you don't want that any of the food that's inside the refrigerator.
• 3:17
  You don't want it to be above 40 degrees for more than four hours.
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  So you don't really need to worry about the condiments,
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  the things that you might have on the door,
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  the ketchups,
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  the barbecue sauces,
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  you know,
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  things like that.
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  You want to get out any leftovers that you might have eggs,
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  uncooked meat or deli meats.
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  Those go get those things out.
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  If they have been over 40 degrees for more than four hours,
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  you're gonna want to toss them.
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  You don't,
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  you don't wanna keep those.
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  But if they haven't been out of that temperature for longer than four hours,
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  you can move them to something cooler.
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  Like if you have a cooler with ice packs or gel packs,
• 3:52
  you can still get a little bit more life out of them until the power comes back on.
• 3:56
  Ok.
• 3:57
  So our old adage,
• 3:59
  if in doubt,
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  throw it out still holds right.
• 4:02
  Yes,
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  that's Right.
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  And while we're talking about refrigerators,
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  I wanna bring up freezers,
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  you probably won't need to open your freezer door.
• 4:10
  So keep that freezer shut.
• 4:11
  That freezer is gonna stay colder longer than your refrigerator because it's zero and below.
• 4:16
  Um,
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  and it'll stay for 48 hours,
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  it'll stay for two days if it's full.
• 4:21
  If your freezer is just half full,
• 4:22
  it'll maintain zero and below for just one day.
• 4:26
  Ok.
• 4:27
  So that is a good reason to keep your freezer well stocked.
• 4:31
  Right.
• 4:32
  That's right.
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  Because the,
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  the fuller,
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  it is the colder it's gonna be.
• 4:35
  Now,
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  if your power has been out for several days and you haven't opened your freezer and you,
• 4:40
  you do open it to,
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  to check on things.
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  If there are still ice crystals in any of the food,
• 4:45
  it's safe to refreeze the quality of that product won't be as good,
• 4:49
  but it is still safe to freeze it again.
• 4:52
  If there are still ice crystals present.
• 4:55
  And I know when we talked with,
• 4:57
  um,
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  Doctor Huff about insurance considerations.
• 5:00
  If you do lose the items in your refrigerator or your freezer,
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  you need to document those for your insurance just like you do your other items in your home.
• 5:10
  Right.
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  That's correct.
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  And people don't think about that.
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  But right,
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  if you lost a TV or furniture,
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  you can put that on your insurance.
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  You can do the same thing with your freezer items and your refrigerator foods.
• 5:21
  What are some ways that we can prepare food without power.
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  Because oftentimes if we lose power for a long time,
• 5:29
  then we have to figure out ways to feed ourselves.
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  What are some ways that we can ensure that our family is still fed without power.
• 5:36
  Well,
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  if you have canned goods,
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  if you have an emergency kit and you have canned goods in your emergency kit,
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  you don't have to cook those.
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  You don't have to heat them up before you eat them.
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  So that is an option.
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  But if you do have items,
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  say you have some things in your refrigerator that you don't want to throw away,
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  that you wanna go ahead and prepare that day.
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  If you have an,
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  an indoor wooden fireplace,
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  you can cook over at that fire.
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  You can also have an,
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  a traditional campfire outside.
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  You can cook over a,
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  a grill outside or you,
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  if you have a camping stove,
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  you can do that all of those ways.
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  If you can get outside,
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  you can build a,
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  um,
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  a wood fire,
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  a campfire or even have your gas grill and use up some of those items that you won't have to throw away in your refrigerator or freezer.
• 6:22
  Oh,
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  those are great tips.
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  So you can use up that meat that might otherwise go bad.
• 6:27
  Uh,
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  if it's correct,
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  refrigerated and,
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  and so you can have a,
• 6:31
  a great family feast.
• 6:32
  Right.
• 6:33
  That's right.
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  Eat all of the meat in one meal.
• 6:37
  Those are great tips.
• 6:39
  And is there anything else that we need to make sure that people consider?
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  I just wanna remind everyone to listen to the podcast on,
• 6:47
  um,
• 6:47
  preparing before a disaster and what to put in your emergency kit and check out the rest of the uh podcast related to the pubs.
• 6:55
  Ok,
• 6:56
  great.
• 6:56
  And as you mentioned,
• 6:58
  recovering from a natural disaster can be a long and stressful process.
• 7:02
  And there are many considerations that we have not discussed today.
• 7:06
  And is there anything else that you'd like to add before we wrap up?
• 7:10
  Yes,
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  I would like to remind people that there are other resources including the cooperative extension offices,
• 7:18
  uh food pantries,
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  and a lot of faith based organizations will help after a natural disaster.
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  And even though you might not qualify for snap benefits before a disaster,
• 7:29
  there are special disaster snap benefits that you can qualify for if there's been a emergency declared.
• 7:38
  And so contact your extension office for information about the disaster snap benefits.
• 7:43
  I think that's a great suggestion.
• 7:45
  Thank you Anna to learn more about ways to recover when faced with disaster.
• 7:50
  Download the Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences extension service publication series in the face of disaster,
• 7:57
  which covers many ways to prepare for an emergency and ways to recover if affected by one.
• 8:02
  Topics include finances,
• 8:05
  food and water considerations,
• 8:07
  ways to protect your family and home and how to care for your mental health.
• 8:11
  After a traumatic event.
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  Thank you Anne Hall for joining me today.
• 8:15
  I know that this information is gonna be very valuable to our listeners if a disaster occurs.
• 8:20
  Thank you,
• 8:21
  Mindy.
• 8:22
  If you are just tuning in,
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  you are listening to Talking Facts and we are available on all major podcast providers.
• 8:30
  Thank you for listening to Talking Facts.
• 8:32
  We deliver programs focusing on nutrition,
• 8:35
  health,
• 8:36
  resource management,
• 8:37
  family development and civic engagement.
• 8:40
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• 8:42
  have a question or a show,
• 8:43
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• 8:43
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• 8:44
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• 8:56
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