Here in Florida, we don’t ask if the power’s going out — we ask how long it’ll be out this time. And whether it’s a hurricane, a summer storm, or a squirrel with bad intentions and worse luck, one thing doesn’t change: eight people in this house expect dinner.

So let me ask you what I ask every mama who tells me about her hurricane pantry: do you know what you’ll do when the stove isn’t working? How are you planning to cook all that food you’ve stored — or were you planning to eat it cold? This is something to figure out before the storm has a name.

Start with what’s already in your backyard

The simplest way to cook without electricity is the grill or fire pit you already own. If you cook out even a few times a year, you have a working emergency kitchen — you just haven’t thought of it that way yet.

The upgrade that makes it genuinely pleasant instead of survivable: a good set of cast iron, and ideally a Dutch oven. Cast iron cooks beautifully over open flame, holds heat forever, and if you take care of it, it will outlive you and probably a grandchild or two. I wrote a whole post on how to use a Dutch oven — if you only read one companion piece to this one, make it that.

The camp stove option

A portable camp stove with a decent camp pot is the other route, and it’s the one I reach for when it’s just coffee and scrambled eggs at stake. The catch is fuel: a camp stove with an empty canister is a paperweight. Stock the appropriate fuel ahead of time — in my opinion, propane is the better, more efficient option — and check your supply at the start of every June, when hurricane season opens.

The part I will not let you skip: carbon monoxide

Do not cook over an open flame indoors. Not the grill, not the camp stove, not “just for a minute” in the garage with the door cracked. Wherever you cook needs real ventilation, and your cooking area should have a battery-powered carbon monoxide detector. People die of carbon monoxide poisoning every single year after storms, and nearly every one of those deaths was avoidable. Your family needs you more than they need hot food. Outside, always.

What I actually cook when the lights are out

• Night one: whatever’s in the fridge, cooked first — the freezer stays shut and buys you another day or two.
• One-pot everything. Stew, jambalaya-ish rice, chili — the Dutch oven exists for exactly this.
• Pantry suppers: pasta with jarred sauce, beans and cornbread, pancakes for dinner (nobody has ever complained).
• Coffee. A stovetop percolator costs less than one week of drive-thru coffee and keeps the resident mama humane. Priorities.

Before the storm: the five-minute check

• Propane full? Spare canister?
• Matches or lighter where you can find them in the dark?
• Manual can opener? (Your electric one is about to become a countertop decoration.)
• Cast iron clean and seasoned?
• CO detector has batteries?

Whichever way you choose to cook, keep safety at the top of the list, and have a backup to your backup. You never know what a storm will bring, and you don’t want to find out your one cooking source failed while the bread aisle is still empty.

I’m putting together a printable hurricane-season kitchen checklist — subscribers to my Sunday letter will get it first.