prepare

 One of the worst things for me with Ida was how ill-prepared I was.  I still had a hatchet to get out the attic if I had to, but because I had just moved back to town I didn't have a lot of other things that would have made things easier.  

I'm remedying that.  It's expensive, but it is what it is.  Fan. Flashlights. Camp stoves with fuel (I now have two backups because I need caffeine).  Solar generator.

And now I'm eyeing this solar cookstove, with the secondary purpose of using it instead of my oven (or even stovetop) during our long very hot summers.  Now that I see I can bake bread in it, I'm sold.  I baked sourdough for the first time since my return yesterday because it was finally cool enough to heat up the kitchen with the oven.  

The last big thing I think I want to figure out is refrigeration.  I have a large and small cooler, and I could keep the large cooler with ice as a deep freeze, just pulling things out to move to small cooler and use once a day or so to conserve ice.  But alternatively, I've been eyeing the cooler units that refrigerate - most often used in cars but could be great with my little generator and keep things cooler at safe range.  Losing a refrigerator/freezer full of food is a big expense.  Though, I know this and plan accordingly, not keeping a lot of high value items during hurricane season.  I can food instead of freeze it.  I cook things up once a hurricane hits the gulf with a trajectory in my direction.  One of those coolers would have been a lifesaver on my 4,500 journey earlier this year though and I wish I'd have known of them then.

There are a lot of things to do at that stage to prepare and it gets a little frantic.  I'm adding "make ghee" to my list, as on-sale butter is always in my freezer but ghee is shelf stable.  

OK, I'm feeling a little panic again so I'll stop.  But I am excited about this solar cooker possibility for prepping but also eating in summer.