What's in YOUR pantry?

Between Monday's earthquake and the impending ire of Irene, this week in the DC area has been a bit of a "hide your kids, hide your wife" situation. It's times like these that make us all look in our pantries to see how emergency-prepared we are. While I typically have enough food to survive a small siege on my apartment (my boyfriend tells me, "You know, you have more food in your fridge than my apartment where three guys live?"), my entire fridge along with about 95% of what's in my pantry has to be cooked. Now, I normally try to stick to preparing my own food rather than buying processed foods, but I realized these would be utterly useless foodstuffs to me in the event of a power loss.

For some context: sheltered somewhat from the hurricane's path by the Chesapeake Bay and outer Maryland/Delaware, we in the nation's capital are unlikely to get gale-force winds and devastation that the coast will experience (I was sad to see my childhood beach, Atlantic Beach, pummeled on national news). However, sustained rain and stronger-than-usual winds -- not to mention any residual instability from Monday's quake -- make us more vulnerable to power outages than anything else.

So I took inventory: 13 (!) different pasta shapes, several cans of soup, wild rice, Arborio rice, jasmine rice, long-grain white rice, quinoa, farro, semi-pearled barley, steel-cut oats, lentils, dried beans, white flour, wheat flour, rice flour, rye flour ...you name a dry good, it's in my pantry. But it has to be cooked. Other than being all set for a serious world shortage of pasta, I'm relatively unprepared for a power loss.

So, the threat of power loss prompted me to start off my weekend with a full apartment cleaning and several loads of laundry (who wants to sit in the dark, dirty?), as well as a quick stop at the neighborhood Rite Aid where I picked up some crackers, cereal, peanut butter, and fruit cups. (Interesting aside: CNN reminded people this morning that electric can openers won't work during a power outage. Fortunately I'm an old-fashioned girl, and my can opener requires old-fashioned elbow grease rather than electricity.) I also picked up a lighter, which should allow me to light my gas stove -- to cook some beans, rice, or pasta? -- in the event of a power loss.

Okay, so I felt a little silly picking up an extra gallon of water at the Rite Aid considering that it was barely drizzling outside when I left my apartment...but I suppose you can never be too prepared. Everyone take care this weekend!