If the electricity goes out, Marcie Maynes and her family won’t have much trouble preparing hot meals. Her family of five would do pretty well even if an earthquake severed water and gas lines, too.

Maynes is well-equipped to cook during power outages with a butane-fired stove and two weeks worth of easy-to-prepare foods. Headlamps and sticks that give off glowing light can illuminate her Vancouver home, and more than 100 gallons of water are stored in plastic drums in her back yard.

Maynes recently shared tips for “Cooking in the Dark” in Kelso during a presentation sponsored by the Cowlitz County Department of Emergency Management. The mother of three has a home-based business giving such talks and selling survival supplies.

Maynes spent five years teaching social studies and language arts at Hockinson Middle School in eastern Clark County.

“What really changed me was Hurricane Katrina,” she said. She volunteered to help her son’s grade school get ready for disasters. “I learned quickly there was not a lot of adequate information,” she said.

“Most of my knowledge comes from tens of thousands of hours of research and my perspective of being a mom and a teacher.”

Maynes said that during a disaster, people can’t expect to get help by calling 9-1-1. “Prepare to be your own hero,” she advised.

In some disasters, like a forest fire, people will be asked to leave their homes immediately.

However, if the weather is bad or there’s an earthquake, “the higher probability is you will stay in your home” she said.

Following are some of her tips.

Water

Adequate water for drinking and bathing is the most critical supply to stockpile for a disaster, Maynes said. She once asked 100 people whether they had a 3-day supply of water at home, and only eight in the class said they did.

“The number-one reason people have to leave their homes is because of (a lack of) water,” she said.

Don’t plan to drain your hot water tank for an emergency drinking supply, she said. It holds “sediment and really crusty crud.” Unlike what some agencies recommend, Maynes never wants to drink the water out of her toilet tank.

A rule of thumb is to have one gallon of water per person per day, though that’s more than is needed for cooking and drinking, Maynes said.

“The number one thing I want you to do” is store a two-week supply of paper plates and plastic eating utensils, she told her audience in the Cowlitz County Administration Building. That way, you don’t need to use precious water for washing dishes.

“There are a lot of myths about water storage,” Maynes said.

Most containers typically found in kitchens won’t work well, she cautioned. Milk jugs can crack after six months. Residual orange juice in original containers will ferment when the jugs are refilled with water.

The thin, clear plastic bottles of purified water aren’t designed to last, but can be used if you rotate stock every few months. But they’ll crack if they freeze, Maynes cautioned.

She recommends hefty polycarbonate plastic bottles with a “7” or the word “other” on the bottom — they’ll last 20 years. A 5-gallon polycarbonate container may cost around $12, but in the long run it’s a good investment, she said.

Sometimes these bottles are sold with blue caps that can’t be replaced. She recommends getting white screw-off tops so the bottles can be refilled and sealed.

The No. 7 category includes some clear plastic bottles that contain bisphenol A. Despite a rash of negative publicity about bisphenol A last year, Maynes said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has stated that there isn’t conclusive evidence that the substance is hazardous. In any case, the concern was with smaller bottles that were heated or microwaved leaching BPA, not larger storage containers, she said. what are the supposed hazards?

“The FDA says polycarbonate is the best way and safest way to store your water,” she said.

Maynes also stores water in 55-gallon plastic drums that she keeps on her porch. She doesn’t top them up, and freezing isn’t a concern in our weather here.

She bought a couple of used water drums on Craigslist for $15 — the new price would be about $100.

The Maynes family has more bottles in the garage. “We have about a month worth of water,” she said. She uses a siphon to get water out easily.

Maynes recommends storing water in bottles of varying sizes so they can be packed easily if you do have to move. “It’s like your retirement plan — diversify your water.”

Stoves

If the electricity goes out, so do electric stoves.

Some gas stoves can be ignited by a match if the electricity goes out, though an earthquake or slide could cut the gas line.

“If it’s freezing cold outside, I want to have the an option for cooking inside without electricity,” she said.

However, the commonly used propane camping stoves are dangerous when used indoors because they emit too much carbon monoxide.

People have even died in tents in which propane heaters were used, she said.

Butane stoves give off a much lower level of carbon monoxide, and Maynes said they’re safe if used in a well-ventilated area.

She sells a Sun Star butane stove made in Korea because a safety valve turns the stove off if it’s bumped. The stove weighs about 4 pounds and costs $34 with four canisters of fuel that last at least four hours each.

Maynes built an oven by covering a cardboard box with aluminum foil; the box stove heats up to 400 degrees when put over the butane stove.

Many lightweight backpacking canister stoves burn a mixture of butane and propane — the propane supposedly keeps the mix flammable at colder temperatures. Maynes pointed out that backpacking stoves tend to be smaller and less stable than butane stoves designed for indoor use.

Winter backpackers and mountain climbers use white gas stoves, though the threat of spilled gas and the fumes they give off make them unsafe for inside use.

Menus

Maynes said many people have enough food on hand from regular shopping to last a week or so in an emergency.

She suggests making a menu to cover two weeks of post-disaster meals for your family, stocking up on everything you need, and rotating the supply every six months.

She relies heavily on rice, noodles and canned meats. Maynes stays away from freeze-dried backpacking foods because they’re high in sodium — and more expensive.

Lighting

They may have been necessary during log cabin times, but the most common cause of house fires after power outages these days is candles, Maynes said.

Her house is well-stocked with light sticks, tubes that emit an eerie green or red glow after they’re snapped. “My children all have a light stick taped to their bed posts,” she said, with others stashed under tables.

A good light stick like the Snaplight brand will last for 12 hours, though they aren’t sold in many stores, she said.

She’s also a believer in headlamps, which are now widely available at sporting goods stores.

Other supplies

To help stay warm during outages, she keeps a supply of 20-hour chemical hand warmers, along with sleeping bags and Mylar blankets.

Another challenge if the water supply is interrupted is flushing the toilet.

Maynes’ at-home survival kit includes a folding toilet chair with waste disposal bags.

Upcoming Presentations

Marcie Maynes’ two upcoming presentations of “Cooking in the Dark” in Kelso are full. The Cowlitz County Department of Emergency Management may schedule more sessions early next year if funding is available. For updated information, visit www.cowlitzcountydem.blogspot.com. 

The Department of Emergency Management offers downloadable information about preparing for winter storms, power outages and other disasters. www.co.cowlitz.wa.us/dem/Preparedness.

The DEM has free printed information available at its office in the basement of the Hall of Justice. It’s open 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. 577-3130.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency offers disaster information at www.fema.gov/areyouready

Marcie Maynes sells many of the disaster preparedness supplies she recommends through her Web site, http://simple-safety.com. Her number is (360) 690-5882.