Baton Rouge runs out of bread ahead of storm

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-67750

Bummer. Another reason to always keep a loaf in the freezer I guess...

I guess that means their recommended 72 hour food supply may be exhausted before the storm even makes landfall.

It would be easier for me to be sad if it weren't so predictable.

Doesn't anyone make their own bread any more? I bet the flour and yeast were still available in the store, especially the wholemeal flour. Home baking skills today appear to be a dying art.

Ah, what a friend of mine calls "French Toast Syndrome" - EVERYONE (no matter if they need it or not) runs out before a storm (usually winter storms here in the Northeast) and buys bread, eggs and milk. (even if they haven't used more than an egg in a month, and never drink milk)

During/after the storm, you can make nice french toast

Hey, it was 7 year old yeast. What did you expect?

I think bread runs out so quickly because a lot of people can't figure out how they would fix a meal without power or at least expect that it's something that won't go bad immediately if the power goes out and the refrigerator dies.

Speaking of bread, I wonder if that store stocks B&M canned Brown Bread and if so if it was sold out as well. I was telling a friend about canned bread recently and she didn't believe that it existed even though it was next to the chili starter sauce that she often buys.

On a side note, I'd always like to see if the local Wal-Mart is sold out of Coleman Stoves.

Don't overlook the other items mentioned in the"sold out of list", flashlights, batteries, bottled water. At least there's still time for 1 more resupply of stores/gas stations before Gustave arrives.

I caught several comments in Louisiana chat rooms last night, that gas stations in Calcasieu Parish (Lake Charles) were already running out of gas.

DW was curious and researched hotel/motel reservations. She confirmed that all hotels/motels are booked as far north as Little Rock, Tn.

I have some perturbing thoughts in regard to the people being evacuated via bus. What are their temporary destinations and accommodations be??? Foolish thoughts or not, I wouldn't be too enthusiastic about accepting a bus ride from my dear ole Uncle Sammy. Think back to 1 or 2 threads that we've had about the "Crisis Relocation Camps" that FEMA has been building.

I, personally, will assume HurCon III tonight. My DW will make the "stay or Bug Out decision" by noon tomorrow based on the latest predictions. Right now, we are directly in the bullseye. For my location, a hurricane will have dropped 1 category from when it makes landfall to when it reaches us.

Once again, my DW has time to take care of business because she has a husband who has preps in place. What a compliment for a hubby to receive from his DW!!!!

Another report for whom it may concern:

Brookhaven, Ms & McComb, Ms (both on I-55) are out of gasoline.

Walmart Stores in the affected areas have approx. 5,000 trucks enroute to their Louisiana and Mississippi stores to resupply them. Those trucks were leaving their warehouses last night (Thursday).

1 hotel in Natchez, Ms has increased their daily rates to $300.00 and they are sold out.

Wait a second... They raised the rate for a special "sleep in the rain for all we care" promotion just for Gustav? Last time I looked, most states still had profiteering laws on the books.

They seem to be alive and well in my bread-making machine. Although I'm a bit stuffed if there's a power cut.

Brown bread French Toast???

"...profiteering laws..."

That should apply to the gas companies, who raise the price of fuel every holiday, when summer is approaching, when a storm is approaching off shore derricks and that "might" effect their oil production. That list could go on and on...

My wife bakes bread all the time. In fact, that's how we met. I was the sous chef/kitchen mgr and she was baker/pastry chef for a restaurant we worked at. It's good to be the boss!

We always have a stash of flour and yeast.

Fear not!!

Though there's no sliced bread on the shelves, I saw tons of French Bread!!!

Time for peanut butter and jelly po-boys!!

Err... I've never had Brown Bread French Toast, or are you asking me if Brown Bread is French Toast?

Here is a link. Scroll down about half the page and you'll see the canned Brown Bread.

A nice change is always welcome even a forced one.

Yeah but does it taste good forever? Do you need to vacuum seal it or just ziplock freezer-bag it?

It tastes fine. The real key is how it is thawed.

On the boats, we hang it from the end that opens and the condensation doesn't occur.

No. Someone above mentioned French Toast, you mentioned brown bread, I just put the two together, kinda joking...

Did the New Orleans people make a bad name for themselves during Katrina? Houston said they could not come to the Astrodome. Rumors in Dallas are that the people trashed the Astrodome costing millions to clean up. Even New Orleans is not allowing the Superdome to be used.

I doubt all those motels up to Memphis are full and wonder if they are just saying that so people don't "move in" to their motel in the event of Katrina: Part Deaux. Feel free to disagree and set me straight.

I suggest that people make their own bread. It's very easy and it's almost impossible to fail. I used to make my own bread, very barebone when I was broke. I just used 3 cups of white flour, 3 tea spoon of instant yeast and about 1 cup of tepid water... Don't forget to at least add 1 tea spoon of salt or else it really doesn't taste good. You can naturally improve on it and buy flour meant for making bread which has more gluten or something, and go fancier with regular yeast and so on but this is a really quick and easy method that works.

So next step after storing water would be to learn to make bread and soup, since you cannot survive only with bread but you can with bread and soup.

Frankie

Made some "Ray Mears" aussie camp bread one time after watching an episode online. Spelt flour, water, powdered milk, and a little trail mix thrown in. (forgot the baking powder, oops) Mixed it in my MSR stainless cook pot, covered it, threw it in the oven and 45 min. later had (dense) but tasty bread. A little honey and some salt would have made it even better.

Their running out of sliced bread is a good sign and a very good thing. It means that people are laying in extra, just in case. A loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter is actually a very good start. It every family would just meet this standard, and lay in a couple of gallons of water, it would go a long way to making them at least minimally prepared.

Preparedness, as with just about anything else, gives you the most bang for the buck when you first start. The difference between nothing and minimal supplies is huge. The difference between six months supplies and nine month isn't so great.

My Houston contacts told me that within 4 hours of the first buses arriving at the Astrodome, a number of business and homes were broken into by the new arrivals.
Many hotels and motels were trashed, the refuges caused a lot of break in's and vandalism in many areas. Refuges would not leave some emergency housing/hotels and had to be forced out.
I'd say a number of areas are sorry they took in Katrina refuges. Sigh

There is a lot more I was told by people who were there, including LEO's, but this isn't the place,

What a mess.

You'll probably find tons of bread in the local dumps shortly after the storm passes.

Scrape off the mold, it still toasts well...

Baton Rouge has been resupplied with bread, flashlights, batteries, etc as of this afternoon.

I did a last minute ice run this morning.

The Wallyworld near us (O'Neal) was stripped bare of batteries except AAA's and a few AA's. They were closing at noon.

Our Albertson's had D's out the whazzoo. There seemed to be a surprising amount of ice available, even though there was a LSU home game yesterday.

Things seemed pretty calm at Albertson's but Wallyworld had some anxious scurring going on.

With the exception of putting up my plywood on the southern and western windows, we're as good as we're gonna get.

My only anxiety is whether I will be able to get home Monday afternoon. I'm ready to stay the night at the hospital, but I really want to be home with my wife and child.


We'll see what the conditions are at that time, but my impulse is to say "screw the hurricane, I'm getting to my wife and child".

Will ere on the side of caution of course.

I am a little ticked at the media though. They spend all their time on NOLA, but it looks like Morgan City, and Grand Isle are the ones that are going to get clobbered. I guess NOLA is the poster child for hurricane drama and the more interesting.

Maybe they hang around NO awaiting for the mayor to mess up again...

It wasn't his fault, just ask him.

Morgan City and Grand Isle aren't near as news worthy as NO. Most Americans know where NO is, not near as many know about Morgan City and Grand Isle.

Didn't see anything out of Grand Isle, but what I saw of Morgan City on the news looks like they've had 100% evacuation of all non-emergency personnel. Saw pictures of the best boarding up I've ever seen, to- used 2x4s wedged again parking lot bumper curbs to enhance the mounting of the plywood. They're doing it right, so there is no news there.

NOLA on the other hand is a fiasco, always will be. I could toss in my pet theories which have been developed after dealing with customers in that area, but I'd get in trouble if I did.

And if you can't make soup, you're trying to fail.

Easy soup recipe for two people:

2 packets of chicken ramen
1 small can of chicken
2 cans of vegitables, or 4 small cans, or a double handful of fresh ones
1 packet chicken, turkey or mushroom gravy mix (low salt if possible)
garlic and/or onion if available (fresh or dried)

Empty the veggies, chicken, seasoning packets, gravy mix, and a can of water into a pot. Bring to a boil, stirring. Add the ramen, cover, turn off heat. Let sit for five minutes. Stir. Ladle into bowls. Only soup you'll ever want a fork for.

If people can't make soup when it is that simple....

"...2 cans of vegitables..."

Veg all is great stuff for soup...

Raven, you have to remember this is a country where there is a "warning" label on Pop-Tarts,
(Quote)
1. remove pastry from wrapper
2. place in toaster on lowest setting
3. remove from toaster (caution pastry contents will be hot)
If cooking in microwave cook no longer then 3 seconds (caution contents will be hot)
This warning comes from a generic brand of toaster pasteries

Heating Pop-Tarts? Who does that???

Agreed, Veg-All is an awesome soup starter. The Veg-All Site has some really great recipes. One of my favorites that I've tried is Veg-All Black Bean soup. The only variation I take from this recipe is to add a can of diced tomatoes and several shots of Sriracha Chili Sauce or Tabasco.


It's really hard to go wrong with these simple recipes.

I put them in the toaster, that way the butter I put on the non-frosted side can melt in better. It actually makes it a more healthy meal!

"...It actually makes it a more healthy meal!..."

Really? From the butter I presume. My problem is, when I resort to eating them, I am far from a toaster. If toaster (and electricity) is handy, there are other things I eat...

I used to take them along when I went windsurfing for refueling. That was back in the day when I had enough stamina to need food before I was too tired to hang on.

On hot days I would put them on the dash, and in the foil packets they would get as warm as if they'd just come out of the toaster.