The Journalist’s Guide to Hurricane Survival
There’s not a reporter, anchor, photographer, producer, assignments person or anyone else involved in long hours of hurricane coverage I’ve run across who can’t relate to this!
Long hours at work + little sleep often = a poor diet. Add to that, the tendency to eat more unhealthy foods during stressful times.
Caffeine for me. Sonja Bailes can tell you about her not-so-special “hurricane diet”. She can’t get back on track. A newspaper photographer friend of mine worked 16 straight days. After covering Gustav in Lafayette, she and I were working out and she said, “You know, the MREs aren’t bad. They’re just so fattening.” I remember covering Hurricane Ivan, using my fingers to ravage cold ravioli out of a pop-top can. For breakfast. No electricity. No restaurants. No stores. After a while, the dish on the satellite truck was lookin’ good to me.
So, many of us in the newsroom are looking for ways to avoid a personal health crisis during crisis coverage. What non-perishable food items can we keep in our desks or take on the road with us that are healthy?
September 10th, 2008 at 10:13 am
mmmm enchiladas
September 10th, 2008 at 10:25 am
Even as a childless 26 year old, I stockpile banana (and other) baby food. Convenient, delicious, nutritious, and full of vitamins. I’ll warn you, though, there is a high probability you’ll be endlessly ridiculed by your peers. Small price to pay if you ask me!
September 10th, 2008 at 11:09 am
POP Tarts…not healthy…but they sure are tasty. OOOO! What about those Pita chips???
Think about it, MREs are better than Vienna sausages. I don’t care how hungry I get, I will never use my finger to pierce the congealed layer of goo just to get to one of those…GA-ROSS!
September 10th, 2008 at 11:11 am
skeptic: Great idea!!!! I never thought of that! I’m already ridiculed…not a problem. But there is the checkout line and the rumor factor. Oh, who cares. Thank you!
September 10th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Hillary, I just threw up a little bit in the back of my mouth after I read about the congealed stuff in the Vienna sausage cans. What is that stuff? Never tried the pita chips, but will now.
September 10th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
ya got to dip the vienna sausage in mayonaise and take a bite of it along with a bite of ritz cracker. chew a little and wash it down with grapette soda. dont worry about congealed stuff…..thats probably the most “un-nasty” ingredent in viennas.
September 10th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Here’s what I Googled up:
Almonds, toasted soybeans (personal favorite)
Crispbreads - whole grain rye crackers, like Wasa are loaded with fiber and often fat-free.
Fresh Minneola oranges, Clementines. Dried apples, bananas, apricots, raisins, strawberries, cherries, dates, raspberries, and blueberries. There’s also a line of dried veggies out there. I’ve seen them at Sunshine Health foods.
Canned fruit in water, applesauce
Canned beans
Pomegranate juice
Dry oatmeal mixed with brown sugar (I don’t seem to like “wet” oatmeal as much). They say McCann’s Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal has more fiber, iron and vitamin B than other oats and they have like a nutty taste (I haven’t tried them yet).
Tuna, beef jerky, soy jerky
Energy bars, Kellogs Special K strawberry protein bars(Katee loves these)
September 10th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Back when I had to work for a living (now retired) on line crews, we would heat up cans of prepared food by placing then in the engine compartment for about 30 minutes. Crude, but at least warm food. Also stock up on plastic silverware during good weather for the bad weather. Just a thought.
September 10th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
I’ve got a couple of tips from my time on the air on the Florida coast. Don’t eat the meatloaf MRE’s. It gives a whole new meaning to term “mystery meat.” My favorite MRE is the chicken tetrazzini. You’ll want to duke it out over that one.
I also find that if whatever food you have is cold, just sit it in front of the remote transmitter equipment antenna. It does the trick! Mmmm… Hot Biscuits.
September 10th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
These are excellent in-the-field or trapped at your desk survivor ideas!
During Ivan, my photog and I were able to somehow rig up the hotel coffee pot (no electricity there) to an oulet in the car. Nice.
Skeptic, it happened as I thought it would. Here’s how it went down today. I’m checking out. The older woman behind me: “I can’t help but notice you have baby food…(question mark implied). Me: “Yes ma’am, I’m going to eat it.” The woman: “Oh (forced grin).”
September 11th, 2008 at 8:26 am
I took along the applesauce like Kathryn mentioned. Didn’t eat it, though. Should have. Packed the 90 calorie granola bars, too. Ate one for breakfast. I could have maintained my healthy eating if we didn’t find “Papa’s” on Front Street in Natchitoches open. Man, that fried shrimp po-boy and onion rings were good! And THAT, my friends, is the problem …
September 11th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Don’t beat yourself up, Sonja. You didn’t know where your next meal was coming from in that situation. You were in survival mode and you were surviving. So, I see that as a huge success!
September 11th, 2008 at 9:23 am
The problem in houston is logistics. We have 4+million and they all responod at the same time. Just getting gasoline is a big problem. Took me almost 2 hours just to get to work today. With Ike heading right toward us I’m hunkering down starting tonight with some peanut butter and honey sandwiches.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Take care, HRB. Keep us informed. If you have power, jump on the internet today at 3pm. We’ll fire up the live webcam/chat and you can tell us what’s going on there.
September 11th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
There are all kinds of granola bars etc. that taste good now, not like the old cardboard ones. Also, they make lo-fat pop tarts and nuts are always good to have around, besides the ones already in the newsroom.
Hunker down HRB!
September 11th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Oh, and don’t let that commerical for Soy Joy fool you where the person is dragging until they eat one of the bars. They were handing out samples at Target and they suck!
September 12th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
here are some suggestions from me & my office manager for healthy, easy snacks that travel well. we like to take stuff with us when we are out on the road all day traveling for work. whole wheat crackers & cubed up cheese, V-8 juices, if you can get hot water, beef or chicken bouillon with some crackers really helps, dark chocolate, raisins, celery & carrots hold up pretty well,too. (get a tiny cooler to carry with you) we like the envelopes of tuna, peanut butter and a spoon, oh and they make organic pop tarts at sunshine and they are really good. green apples, granola bars and beef jerkey. peanuts and trail mix. oh and make sure you take some vitamins or at least vitamin water with you. also they make those cans of ensure that arent bad.
September 12th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Andrea, thanks. Nice timing. Looks like we’ll be able to use your tips Saturday! Ha…when I clicked on your name, I expected to see a website for a nutritionist. You rock.
September 13th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
I’m so proud of myself for eating right today, thanks to your help here… while pulling a 14 hour shift on the webcam, I ate Subway! I had a handful of peanuts for a snack. I drank water all day. My only downfall was a Coke about mid-day, in an effort to stay on pace. But…I did have good intentions. I packed a bag full of healthy stuff. Only, I left the house, bag inside, and locked myself out of the house. Had to call for a ride to work sans healthy snacks. Oh well.