[TechPrepper]

I live in Florida next to a canal (yeah I know) in an area where basements aren't possible due to zoning restrictions. Moving in this economy isn't an option, so I'm left having to make due with what we have.

I don't have any illusions that our home will hold us over during a hard core SHTF scenario, but I am trying to prep for Hurricane season.

My biggest issue is that when the A/C goes out the house can get pretty hot, perhaps into the 80's or 90's during the day. I am most concerned about stocking up on canned goods when the room they are stored in might reach very high temperatures.

What kind of food can be stored and not suffer from these temperatures?

What might I be able to do to keep the room at a lower temp without power and A/C?

 

[Starfire5]

Hello from another Floridian!

What we do when a hurricane is approaching is turn the a/c WAY down to "pre-cool" the house in anticipation of the power going out. Back in 2004, we learned after the first hurricane to do this. We get the temp in the house down to about 60 degrees - yeah, it feels FREEZING and we put on flannel pants and sweatshirts, but once the power goes out, you will stay comfortable alot longer if you start at 60 degrees instead of 78 degrees inside. Just be sure to keep doors closed and blinds closed, especially once the sun comes back out. We actually managed to stay comfortable during the last two until the power came back on using this method. Hope this helps.

 

[Category5]

Greetings from Central Florida. Don't know how long it would take the AC to get the house to 60 degrees in Florida!

 

[Starfire5]

You'd be surprised - it doesn't really take that long. Only a couple hours. At least at my house.

 

[Chey's Daddy]

worse case/most expensive

get a small window a/c unit and a generator you can keep comfortable in at least 1 room.

you can also keep your food preps in there.

we are storing our food preps(99% bulk dried) in 20gallon isis airtight tubs and keeping in our room, which is the coolest place in the house.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Starfire, that's a nice temperary solution, but that would last a couple hours, not day(s).

The only real solution is a nice generator, some gas, and a cooler/refrigerator... If anyone else has any ideas outside of this I'm all ears, but, as Floridian's know, there is no escaping the heat.

As for long, long term food storage, your guess is as good as mine. You need air conditioning to live here.


Chey's Daddy has a good idea too... the window A/C unit... Kept me alive in Gainesville without central air...

 

[germantrader10]

florida just suxs time to get out of here

 

[Starfire5]

Starfire, that's a nice temperary solution, but that would last a couple hours, not day(s).

Wrong! It lasted for 2 days for us. Long enough for the power to get back on. I KNOW it won't last for an extended outage, but it worked for us and we were ALOT more comfortable than we were during the first one that year!

 

[Roger Wilco]

Well, my house is almost all windows, and not much shade... Cool Air doesn't last very long for me.

 

[POPPALUV]

My AC unit went out last week. It took 24 hours in 99 degree weather to climb up to 82 from 72...

 

[seawind]

Another option would be to bury it about four feet down. If you want to do it long term buy a "dock box" to place the food supplies in.

 

[SouthernBell]

Find the coolest closet in your home is, add some extra insulation, have a portable A/C unit, a power inverter and a deep charge marine battery on hand for your supply area.

 

[kev]

I have a set of shelves setup in my sons closet that I store supplies in.

 

[Odessa]

If you are not at risk of raiders you can obtain cargo parachutes online for relatively cheap, get you a bunch of 550 and literally blanket your house. Sounds silly, looks silly but while in Iraq, we had huge white sheet like fabric we set up over our GP Large tent systems and then had camo netting over them to keep as much shade on the tops as possible.

While living in Minnesota, we used propane operated stoves and refridgerators. We had two tall canisters outside and ran the lines inside and the fridge worked like a normal electric one. When one canister ran out, we swapped lines and a moment or two later, all was normal again. Next time we ran to town, we got a new full canister and brought it back.

A drop freezer or aka chest freezer, load your food stuffs in it and get you some dry ice and layer it on top of the food.

A battery operated fan like http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Electric-Portable-Inches-1071/dp/B002VEDG5Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1308930005&sr=8-1 Hope this link posted......

If not go to amazon.com and search for " O2 Cool Battery or Electric Portable Fan, 10 Inches, 1071". Nice fan and will last a full weekend on a single set of batteries.

I strongly suggest you order you several 72 hour kits from Mountain House Foods. All meals but two are 2 servings, only requires hot water. And if you are a prepper then youll have a heat source Im sure. Hope this post helps. For I live in Northern Florida and know of the basement issue. On a last note, if you live near a creek, nothing says you cant put canned food, with the lids of the cans marked with a sharpie permanant marker inside a squat drum, barrel, very sturdy netting staked off to solid land via solid cordage to the high bank and tossed into the creek or river to keep canned goods cool and able to fulfill their expiration date for later use. This method is how I used to hide my beers from my parents before going out "camping" with my highschool buddies.

 

[nomadjanet]

I live in Florida next to a canal (yeah I know) in an area where basements aren't possible due to zoning restrictions. Moving in this economy isn't an option, so I'm left having to make due with what we have.

I don't have any illusions that our home will hold us over during a hard core SHTF scenario, but I am trying to prep for Hurricane season.

My biggest issue is that when the A/C goes out the house can get pretty hot, perhaps into the 80's or 90's during the day. I am most concerned about stocking up on canned goods when the room they are stored in might reach very high temperatures.

What kind of food can be stored and not suffer from these temperatures?

What might I be able to do to keep the room at a lower temp without power and A/C?

What do you think people did before air conditioning? I grew up in south Texas I never even saw an air conditioner until I was in junior high. My mom always kept lots of home canned goods as well as store goods. We were poor & got commodoties and horded them through the summer to make it through the winter. The food did not spoil, we were not unhealthy. If your food does not freeze and thaw and if it stays below about 110 if will still last a very long time at least until the expiration date. All those who say it won't must have been born after 1970.

 

[SouthernBell]

Odessa the 02 cool fans are awesome... We have several of the battery operated / rechargable 10 inchers in our hurricane kits.
Some can be recharged by either outlet or a cars cigarette lighter.
We found ours at Wal-Mart several years ago in the fan isle.

 

[Lowdown3]

Here's storage food 17 years old from high heat and high humidity environments in Florida and Georgia.

High heat is a problem, but not the albatross everyone makes it out to be. Package correct, use real oxygen absorbers (not that handwarmer BS), mylar liners (not chip bags, mylar party balloons and misc. stupidity) and your whole grains and legumes should be fine 20 or more years into the future.

Oxidation is a much worse problem with food storage than high heat at least in my 2 1/2 decades experience storing and packing food.

In other words, don't let lack of AC space keep you from storing food!!

Good luck! :thumb:
Lowdown3

 

[Odessa]

Odessa the 02 cool fans are awesome... We have several of the battery operated / rechargable 10 inchers in our hurricane kits.
Some can be recharged by either outlet or a cars cigarette lighter.
We found ours at Wal-Mart several years ago in the fan isle.

yeah these little suckers rock, I take the family camping both public and primitive and to keep the peace I load the fans up so the little ones dont keep us up all night saying now hot they are. Glad I found a fan of the ..... fan!

 

[MikeK]

I wouldn't worry about canned goods. They're going to be in a cool environment right up until the power goes out. And those temperatures aren't unsafe for canned goods anyway. If they were stored long term at those temperatures, they wouldn't last as long. But a few days/weeks isn't going to hurt them a bit.

As for comfort, spend some time acclimatizing and get used to the heat. Today, people live in climate controlled homes, travel in climate controlled vehicles to other climate controlled buildings. As such, most of them have lost the ability to function in the very nature that we were once part of. This is not very conducive to survival. That makes it a dangerous addiction.

 

[Starfire5]

Odessa the 02 cool fans are awesome... We have several of the battery operated / rechargable 10 inchers in our hurricane kits.
Some can be recharged by either outlet or a cars cigarette lighter.
We found ours at Wal-Mart several years ago in the fan isle.

Another fan of these fans here, too! We have 3 of them in our hurricane prep bin. They are amazing. Got ours in the camping dept. at one of the big box stores, Target maybe or Sports Authority?