What to Cook During a Power Outage

41 recipes

In Ukraine, scheduled power outages are part of everyday life, and they change how you cook. A gas stove keeps working; with an electric one, no-cook dishes save the day. Here are recipes for both cases, plus what to cook ahead while the power is on, how to reheat food and what keeps without a fridge. The easiest place to start is a red cabbage salad — all you need is a knife and a bowl — and buckwheat, which cooks on gas in 20 minutes.

No gas: no-cook and make-ahead

With an electric stove, no-cook dishes save the day. Cabbage and raw vegetable salads: cabbage, cucumber and tomato salad, “Brush” salad, coleslaw, pickled cucumber salad. With cheese and cured meat: caprese, shopska salad, Greek salad, smoked chicken salad, prosciutto rolls with cheese and pear. On bread — garlic cottage cheese spread. For something sweet — no-bake cakes and desserts.

While the power is on, cook ahead dishes that keep for 2–3 days and taste good cold or reheat quickly in a pan: homemade pork patties, chicken patties, meatballs, crepes with chicken, chicken liver pâté, a cottage cheese or ricotta casserole, syrniki, and vegetable stew for lunch.

A thermos can stand in for a stove: pour the grain into it and cover with boiling water — that’s one way to make barley porridge. Boil the water while the power is on or on a burner. A thermos also keeps soup or tea hot for several hours.

With a gas stove or camping burner: 20–30 minutes

On a gas stove or burner, all of this takes 20–30 minutes. Porridges: buckwheat, lentil porridge, cornmeal porridge, oatmeal, semolina. Eggs: an omelet without milk in 10 minutes, fried eggs on tomatoes with cheese, Turkish cilbir. Pasta: spaghetti with canned tuna — straight from the pantry — and carbonara. Also fried potatoes, braised cabbage without meat, kefir pancakes, fried pollock and pork schnitzel. No toaster? Use a pan: pan-fried bread or garlic croutons.

Reheating and keeping food without power

How to reheat food without power

Reheat patties, meatballs and crepes in a covered pan with a spoonful of water so they don’t dry out. Soup, stew and porridge — in a pot over low heat, stirring. Without gas, use a thermos: hot soup poured in the morning while the power is on stays warm for several hours.

Your fridge in a blackout and food that keeps without one

A closed refrigerator keeps food cold for about 4 hours, a full freezer for about 48 hours (about 24 if half full), as long as the doors stay shut. That’s the USDA guidance; it also advises discarding meat, poultry and cooked dishes left without cold for more than 2 hours. Without a fridge, in a cool place, dry foods keep well, like homemade croutons and biscotti.

Winter and summer

In winter a balcony works as a fridge: if it’s no warmer than +4 °C (39 °F), a pot of borscht or patties will wait for the power to return. In summer, don’t cook ahead without a fridge: cut salads right before eating and don’t dress them in advance, and choose porridge, eggs and pasta made from pantry staples.