Build a Picnic Table - wikiHow

How to Build a Picnic Table

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

One of life's pleasures is eating a simple outdoor meal when the weather is pleasant, whether you cook on a grill, or just prepare sandwiches and a salad for a light lunch. Here are the steps to build your own sturdy, functional picnic table on which to enjoy your meal.

Steps

1. Obtain a durable lumber suitable for the project. The project in the photos uses pressure treated southern yellow pine, recycled from an old deck. Choosing premium lumber, or even a synthetic material made from recycled plastics will afford a higher quality finished project. The table built for this article is 72 inches long, 32 inches wide, and 32 inches tall, and required the following materials:
   
   • 14 - 2x6 72 inches long.
   • 5 - 2X4 30 inches long.
   • 3 lbs. 12d (3 1/2 inch) hot dipped galvanized nails. (Substitute 3 1/2 inch exterior (deck) screws for greater strength)
2. Cut the following boards, using a rafter or speed square to scribe the correct angles:
   
   • Cut 12 2X6 boards 72 inches long. You may purchase 6 foot boards, but they will need to be cut to length and the ends squared so they will be uniform. Using 12 foot lumber will likely cost less, and because they are halved, there will be little waste.
   • Cut 3 2X4 boards, 30 inches from long point to long point, with 45 degree angles on each end.
   • Cut 4 2X6 boards 35 inches long from long point to short point, with a 25 degree angle on each end.
   • Note that you will also have to cut the diagonal bracing underneath the table top, but it is best to scribe this board to fit after the rest of the top is fastened together.
3. Lay out the top boards on sawhorses, setting them so the best side (least knots, cracks, etc) is down, since this will be the bottom of the table top.
4. Nail the 2X4 boards with the 45 degree angle cuts to the bottom of the table top, spaced 4 inches from either end and the third centered between the ends. Toenail these to hold them in position until the table is flipped over, when you can finish nailing the top.
5. Position the 35 inch 2X6s so they are centered over the short point of the table top end rails as shown in the photo, and nail them securely to the rails.
6. Measure up (down from the top when the table is flipped) 17 inches. Drive a nail into the leg at this mark, half way to the head. This will support the seat rails, which you will install next.
7. Center the seat rails (also 2X6 72 inches long), centered between the inverted table legs, resting on the nails you have driven in at 17 inches. Nail these through into the legs.
8. Mark the centers of both the table top middle rail and the seat rails. Scribe a 2X4 to fit diagonally between these marks, as shown in the photo. Cut these, and nail them securely into place.
9. Invert your table so it is now standing on its legs. Lay your seat boards (again, 2X6s, 72 inches long, on the seat rails that should be sticking out from beneath the table on each side. You will want to try them out for size, shifting them in or out along the rail until they are comfortable for you. When you have these rails in a desirable position, mark the location of the outer seat board, remove them, and saw a 45 degree angle on the rail so none of it will protrude from beneath the seats.
10. Reposition the seat boards and nail them off. Drive nails through the table top boards into their rails to finish securing them.
11. Cut the corners of the table top at a 45 degree angle about 2 inches from the corners so they are rounded, to make it less likely anyone will bump into them.
12. Sand and finish the table as you want. You can use a silicone waterproofing sealer, an exterior polyurethane (many so-called polyurethane products actually degrade in ultraviolet light), or a semitransparent exterior wood stain for this purpose.
13. Set your table up in a shady spot and enjoy it.

Tips

• Using bolts and wood screws for the described connections will offer a stronger finished product.
• Use a weather and rot resistant lumber, or even a synthetic decking material for a long lasting table.

Warnings

• Do not build anything that a child can touch out of wood pressure-treated with chromated copper arsenate, or CCA. Most pressure-treated wood produced before 2003 contains CCA.
• Avoid breathing sawdust from pressure treated lumber.
• Wear safety glasses when using a circular saw and hammer.

Things You'll Need

• Lumber
• Nails
• Circular saw
• Hand tools including measuring tape, hammer, and square

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Build a Picnic Table. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

Did you know...

Michael Jordan having "retired," with $40 million in endorsements, makes $178,100 a day, working or not.

If he sleeps 7 hours a night, he makes $52,000 every night while visions of sugarplums dance in his head.

If he goes to see a movie, it'll cost him $7.00, but he'll make $18,550 while he's there.

If he decides to have a 5-minute egg, he'll make $618 while boiling it.

He makes $7,415/hour more than minimum wage.

If he wanted to save up for a new Acura NSX ($90,000) it would take him a whole 12 hours.

If someone were to hand him his salary and endorsement money, they would have to do it at the rate of $200 every second.

He'll probably pay around $200 for a nice round of golf, but will be reimbursed $33,390 for that round.

He'll make about $19.60 while watching the 100-meter dash in the Olympics, and about $15,600 during the Boston Marathon.

This year, he'll make more than twice as much as all U.S. past presidents for all of their terms combined.

Amazing isn't it?

However...

If Jordan saves 100% of his income for the next 500 years, he'll still have less than Bill Gates has at this very moment.

Game over. Nerd wins.

Missing HAL.DLL or Invalid Boot.ini

After messin around with uTorrent a little too much I received the following error message on boot in Vista 64 bit...

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\system32\hal.dll.

Please re-install a copy of the above file.

After searching the internet a bit (on my Mac) I found these tidbits of information and thought I would share them...

If you are using Vista you can boot to the CD and choose "repair your system" and then "startup repair". Thats it, vista should auto repair your boot up problem.

Windows XP:

Boot from your XP Setup CD and enter the Recovery Console Run "Attrib -H -R -S C:\Boot.ini" Delete the C:\Boot.ini file Run "Bootcfg /Rebuild" Run "Fixboot"

Hope this saves someone else some time :)

109 Random Facts You Should Know.

1. Look at your zipper. See the initials YKK? It stands for Yoshida Kogyo Kabushibibaisha, the world's largest zipper manufacturer.

2. A duck's quack doesn't echo. No one knows why.

3. 40 percent of McDonald's profits come from the sales of Happy Meals.

4. 315 entries in Webster's 1996 Dictionary were misspelled.

5. On the average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily.

6. Chocolate kills dogs. True, chocolate affects a dog's heart and nervous system. A few ounces is enough to kill a small sized dog.

7. Ketchup was sold in the 1830's as a medicine.

8. Leonardo da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time.

9. Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World War II were made of wood.

10. There are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos.

11. Leonardo da Vinci invented scissors. Also, it took him 10 years to paint Mona Lisa's lips.

12. Bruce Lee was so fast that they actually had to slow a film down so you could see his moves. That's the opposite of the norm.

13. The original name for the butterfly was "flutterby".

14. By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you can't sink in quicksand.

15. Mosquito repellents don't repel. They hide you. The spray blocks the mosquito's sensors so they don't know you're there.

16. Dentists recommend that a toothbrush be kept at least six feet away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush.

17. The first product to have a bar code was Wrigley's gum.

18. Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than the entire Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.

19. Marilyn Monroe had six toes on one foot.

20. Adolf Hitler's mother seriously considered having an abortion but was talked out of it by her doctor.

21. The three most valuable brand names on earth: Marlboro, Coca-Cola, and Budweiser, in that order.

22. To escape the grip of a crocodile's jaws, prick your fingers into its eyeballs. It will let you go instantly.

23. The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.

24. The "pound" (#) key on your keyboard is called an octothorp.

25. The only domestic animal not mentioned in the Bible is the cat.

26. Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.

27. The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.

28. Dreamt" is the only word in the English language that ends in "mt".

29. It’s impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

30. In Chinese, the KFC slogan "finger lickin' good" comes out as "eat your fingers off".

31. A cockroach can live for 10 days without a head.

32. We shed 40 pounds of skin a lifetime.

33. Yo-Yos were once used as weapons in the Philippines.

34. Mexico City sinks about 10 inches a year.

35. Brains are more active sleeping than watching TV.

36. Blue is the favorite color of 80 percent of Americans.

37. When a person shakes their head from side to side, he is saying "yes" in Sri Lanka.

38. There are more chickens than people in the world.

39. It's against the law in Iceland to have a dog.

40. The thumbnail grows the slowest, and the middle nail grows the fastest.

41. There are more telephones than people in Washington, D.C.

42. The average four year-old child asks over four hundred questions a day.

43. The average person presses the snooze button on their alarm clock three times each morning.

44. The three wealthiest families in the world have more assets than the combined wealth of the forty-eight poorest nations.

45. The first owner of the Marlboro cigarette Company died of lung cancer.

46. Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

47. The world's youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.

48. Our eyes remain the same size from birth onward, but our noses and ears never stop growing.

49. You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching TV.

50. A person will die from total lack of sleep sooner than from starvation. Death will occur about 10 days without sleep, while starvation takes a Few weeks.

51. Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.

52. The Mona Lisa has no eyebrows.

53. When the moon is directly overhead, you weigh slightly less.

54. Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, never telephoned His wife or mother because they were both deaf.

55. A psychology student in New York rented out her spare room to a Carpenter in order to nag him constantly and study his reactions. After Weeks of needling, he snapped and beat her repeatedly with an axe Leaving her mentally retarded.

56. "I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.

57. Colgate faced a big obstacle marketing toothpaste in Spanish speaking Countries because Colgate translates into the command "go hang yourself.”

58. Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different.

59. "Bookkeeper" is the only word in English language with three consecutive Double letters.

60. Right handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left handed People do.

61. The sentence "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every Letter in the English language.

62. If the population of China walked past you in single line, the line Would never end because of the rate of reproduction. 63. China has more English speakers than the United States.

64. Every human spent about half an hour as a single cell.

65. Each square inch of human skin consists of twenty feet of blood vessels.

66. An average person uses the bathroom 6 times per day.

67. Babies are born with 300 bones, but by adulthood we have only 206 in our Bodies.

68. Beards are the fastest growing hairs on the human body. If the average Man never trimmed his beard, it would grow to nearly 30 feet long in his Lifetime.

69. According to Genesis 1:20-22, the chicken came before the egg.

70. The longest place name still in use is: Taumatawhakatangihangaoauauotameteaturi- Pukakpikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenua---anatahu - a New Zealand hill.

71. If you leave Tokyo by plane at 7:00am, you will arrive in Honolulu at Approximately 4:30pm the previous day.

72. Scientists in Australia's Parkes Observatory thought they had positive Proof of alien life, when they began picking up radio-waves from space. However, after investigation, the radio emissions were traced to a Microwave in the building.

73. Wearing headphones for an hour increases the bacteria in your ear 700 times.

74. More than 40,000 parasites and 250 types of bacteria are exchanged during a French kiss.

75. Generally, men can read smaller print than women, but women can hear better.

76. Coca-Cola was originally green.

77. The most common name in the world is Mohammed.

78. The name of all the continents ends with the same letter that they start with.

79. There are more than two credit cards for every person in the United States.

80. TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.

81. Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

82. You can't kill yourself by holding your breath.

83. It is impossible to lick your elbow.

84. People say "Bless you" when you sneeze because when you sneeze, your heart stops for a millisecond.

85. It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.

86. The "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language.

87. If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die.

88. Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history. Spades - King David, Clubs - Alexander the Great, Hearts - Charlemagne, Diamonds - Julius Caesar.

89. 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321.

90. If a statue of a person in the park on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle.

91. If the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle.

92. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

93. Question - This is the only food that doesn't spoil. What is this? Ans. - Honey.

94. A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.

95. A snail can sleep for three years.

96. All polar bears are left handed.

97. American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first-class.

98. Butterflies taste with their feet.

99. Elephants are the only animals that can't jump.

100. In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.

101. On average, people fear spiders more than they do death.

102. Shakespeare invented the word 'assassination' and 'bump'.

103. Stewardesses is the longest word typed with only the left hand.

104. The ant always falls over on its right side when intoxicated.

105. The electric chair was invented by a dentist.

106. The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.

107. Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over million descendants.

108. The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.

109. Most lipstick contains fish scales.

Unclog and deodorize drains

The combination of vinegar and baking soda is one of the most effective ways to unclog and deodorize drains. It's also far gentler on your pipes (and your wallet) than commercial drain cleaners.

To clear clogs in sink and tub drains, use a funnel to pour in 1/2 cup baking soda followed by 1 cup vinegar. When the foaming subsides, flush with hot tap water. Wait five minutes, and then flush again with cold water. Besides clearing blockages, this technique also washes away odor-causing bacteria.

Windows 7 direct links...

If your having problems going through the regular MS web page...

Direct download links:

32-bit

64-bit

My new favorite soup recipe...

16 Bean Soup

4 cups 16- Bean soup mix
5 quarts water 2-3 Tbs. cumin
2 onions 1/8 tsp. cayenne
3-4 diced potatoes 1 Tbs. salt
1 lb. baby carrots or diced carrots 1-2 tsp. Italian seasoning
½ - 1 lb. ground beef (or chicken) 1 tsp. pepper
3-4 Tbs. bouillon (I use chicken)
3-4 cloves minced garlic

Brown ground beef (or chicken)and onions in large soup pot. Add remaining ingredients and bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook about 8-10 hours.

All seasonings are really to your taste. Add your favorites and omit the ones you don’t care for. Be creative, you can hardly mess up beans!

Prepare for a Power Outage - wikiHow

Prepare for a Power Outage - wikiHow

And finally, here's one for "next time"...

How to Prepare for a Power Outage

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

If you need to know how to prepare for a power outage, then this is the article for you! Look to see what to do, the tips on preparation, and more.

Steps

1. Gather all the things that may provide light, such as a flashlight, candles, Glow in the dark objects,etc.
   
2. If there is a big chance of a power outage, you may want to tape the Glow in the dark objects along the wall.
   
3. Be sure to have the things you'll need nearby.
   
4. If the power outage occurs, turn on the flashlight or other light-up appliance that you have.
   
5. Put your power company's phone number into your mobile phone's contact list or speed dial. Then, if the power outage is due to a fault in the power grid, you can call the power company and inform them of the problem so they can fix it.
   

Tips

• If the outage may last for a long time, be sure to have some snacks close if you are taking shelter.
  
• Making your self glow in the dark can be useful.
  

Warnings

• You may not want to light candles in a room with carpet as it may increase the chance of a house fire if the candle is knocked over.
  
• IF you smell gas, hear gas, know of messed up gas lines, do NOT use candles.
  

• If your water depends on a well it wont work with the power out. Fill your tub with water if an outage is likely. Then you can pour it into the back of the toilet for flushing.
  

Things You'll Need

• Radio
  
  • Preferrably a "Self Powered Radio" - This does'nt use batteries. Some are also solar powered as well as being "hand cranked"
    
  
  
• Flashlight
  
  • Preferrably a "Self Powered Flashlight" - Same as the radio mentioned.
    
    • Some models of both the Self Powered Flashlight AND the Self Powered Radios can now keep your cell phone charged.
      
    
    
  
  
• Glow Sticks - SAFER than candles
  
• Matches
  
• Candles
  
• Snacks
  
• Keep a house key in a combination lockable key storage device OUTSIDE of your home. Electric garage doors do not work in a power outage.
  

Related wikiHows

• How to Evacuate a Building in an Emergency
  
• How to Make a Power Outage Bearable
  
• How to Prepare Your Family for an Emergency Evacuation
  
• How to Prepare to File an Insurance Claim in the Event of Disaster
  
• How to Find and Use Self Powered Radios and Flashlights
  

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Prepare for a Power Outage. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

Make a Power Outage Bearable - wikiHow

Make a Power Outage Bearable - wikiHow

Here's another good one for our weather...

How to Make a Power Outage Bearable

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Power outages are more than just sitting in the dark. The refrigerator stops running and everything starts to defrost. If you live in the tropical climate, the air conditioning is the first to shut off and so are the ceiling fans. Then of course, the power that opens the garage door stops working, so you are stuck with the car remaining inside the garage. Out comes the flashlights, and portable fans, and you just sit quietly, waiting for the power to return. During the day of course, you can and should get out of the house, even if it means lifting the garage door by hand. Some power outages are caused by accidents that hit the power lines and are usually repaired in a day or two. We are talking about normal power supplies being cut off, and not when due to hurricanes and tornadoes, which might last for days or weeks.

Steps

1. Consider the type of emergencies your particular home is most likely to face. A blizzard-prone area will be different from one in a tropical area that commonly faces hurricanes. Urban areas face different challenges than rural areas.
   
2. Keep the cold inside. If the temperature rises, take anything out of the refrigerator that might spoil and prepare to cook it or consume it before it warms up. Eat perishables before spoilage can occur.
   
3. Have stable food that does not require refrigeration. Those that do not require cooking are even better. Canned meats, fish, soups, vegetables, and juices will work, and can be kept for months at a time. Crackers, cookies and snacks for the kiddies are a necessity. Eat these items after the perishables are eaten or are unsafe to eat.
   
4. Have a back-up method of heating food and water. A camping stove is ideal (and be sure to know how to use it safely--see warnings). A barbeque grill will work quite well, but do not bring it into the house. A gas stove can often work if you have matches for ignition. Remember to have plenty of fuel on hand for you camp stove or barbeque in case this adventure lasts several days.
   
5. Water is actually more important than food, and if your water supply is pump-driven, it may give out in a power failure. Put aside many gallons or liters of drinking water. Fill your bathtub or pails with water for flushing the toilet, washing, and so on.
   
6. Have a back-up method for heating or cooling your home during a blackout, depending on your climate's needs. Do you need to stock up on wood for the wood stove? You should consider buying portable fans, and cold water rinses to stay cool? If your home runs on natural gas or propane, install a gas fired fireplace that has it's own thermopile electronic ignition. Should you get a gas-powered generator?
   
7. Prepare by equipping your house with automatic power failure safety lighting so that it does not go dark when the power goes out. Many of the commercial style emergency lights look pretty bad on the wall of your kitchen or living room, and they typically only last 90 minutes - day or night. Try to find power failure safety lights that sense darkness before going on otherwise the batteries will be dead before darkness comes. Some new power failure safety lights are either on the market or about to enter the market that deliver light for long periods of time because of the improvements in LED brightness and battery life. Look for power failure safety lights on the web and find ones that you can install in any room of your home without being an eyesore. Start with the kitchen and bathrooms - the two most used rooms of the house.
   
8. Power outages can mean 'get out of the house' during the day if it is safe to do so. Go to the mall, or take in a movie. Have a few good meals at a nearby diner or at a fast food restaurant. Unless you are snow bound, or ill, there is no reason to stay indoors and be uncomfortable. Plenty of time for that when it gets too late to stay out.
   
9. Remember that there will be no TV, no light, and games that need reading will not be able to be played. Turn on your flashlight only when you need to move about. You can make up your own games, sing songs, or talk to each other. Now is the time for 'togetherness', lost when each sit at the TV or at the computer.
   
10. Read a book to pass the time, but remember, this can only be done during the daylight hours. At night, the best thing is to go to sleep. Time passes faster when you sleep, especially when there is nothing else to do but wait.
    

Tips

• When the power does fail and the lights go out leaving you in pitch black darkness, do not jump up immediately to find your flash lights. Take a minute or two to let your eyes adjust to the darkness before moving. You'll be surprised how much better you can see and you won't be as likely to hurt yourself by walking into a table, wall, door, etc.
  
• Put luminescent stickers on flashlights. Have flashlights out where the stickers can "charge" when lights are on: bookshelf, next to the TV, bedstand, and so on. When the power goes off, your flashlight's location will be obvious.
  
• Remember that portable phones don't work during a blackout. Make sure you have at least one wired phone in the house. A cell phone will usually work, but keep a car charger handy in case your battery runs low.
  
• At the first notice of a loss of power, phone the power company to inform them. At times, you might be the first one to notice when others are at work, and if you do not alert them early, they will not start fixing whatever the cause might be.
  
• Don't keep phoning the power company to find out how long you will remain without power. Once is really enough. The power company is most likely full of dedicated, trained individuals who know that your power is off, and are trying to fix the problem. Nagging them isn't somehow going to make the power go on any quicker, and can tie up phone lines in a true emergency.
  
• Keep some board games like chess, checkers, or puzzles in the house...handy and keeps you and kids busy when no video or TV is available. Think of the ways in which people amused themselves before the invention of electricity.
  
• Purchase and use "Self Powered Radios" and "Self Powered Flashlights" and glow sticks. Find these at the local Wal*Mart (for the self powered lights and the glow sticks), and at the local Radio Shack (for the self powered radios). These do not use batteries at all, and are safer to use than candles, and you'll be informed about what caused the failure, like some idiot who hit a pole, or an animal got into a transformer, shorting it out, or when power will be restored.
  
• If you live in a area that has this problem chronically, it is a good idea to get a wind powered generator and solar panels, and a generator that uses "eco-friendly" fuel, such as "Bio-Diesel", a lot of 12v Deep Cycle batteries, power inverters, and make sure all of this is installed in a manner to AVOID killing line crews, and that you will have "Auxiliary Power"
  

Warnings

• This guide refers to regular, few day long power outages only. This does not refer to hurricanes or tornadoes, or other storms that also cause power outages and tear down and destroy power lines. The preparation is more intense when power goes down because of storms and breakages. If this is the case, it may be time to evacuate the home.
  
• Candles, if used improperly, can cause fire. More than 140 people die each year from candle related home fires according to the National Fire Protection agency - nearly one-third from using candles for lighting. Candles are not recommended as light sources during power failures. Flashlights are far safer.
  
• Gasoline powered generators kill people when used indoors or in attached garages that allow the fumes to flow into the home. Carbon monoxide is odorless and your CO detectors will probably not work when you have no electricity. Never use a generator in your home, garage, or other closed environment!
  
• Exercise extreme caution when using a generator and ensure all extension cords are properly sized and UL listed. Generators can and do electrocute people.
  
• Barbeque grills and camp stoves kill people - from fires and carbon monoxide emmissions. Use with extreme caution and never bring gas fired equipment into your house or garage.
  

Related wikiHows

• How to Stay Warm at Home Without a Heater
  
• How to Survive a Winter Storm
  
• How to Replace a Defective Electrical Switch or Outlet
  
• How to Prepare for a Power Outage
  
• How to Convert an Oil Lantern Into an Electric Lantern
  
• How to Be Safe During a Heat Emergency
  

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Make a Power Outage Bearable. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

Save Food During a Power Outage - wikiHow

Save Food During a Power Outage - wikiHow

This seemed very timely with our weather...

How to Save Food During a Power Outage

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

If the power goes out at your house, it is important to follow basic food safety rules. It is also possible to keep food depending on how long the outage is for and what you have done to prolong its ability to remain safe. Here are some suggestions.

Steps

1. Consume perishable food at room temperature within two hours. Perishable food is safe at room temperature for 2 hours when the temperature is below 25 degrees C (80F). Above that temperature, you only have one hour before bacteria start to grow in unrefrigerated food.
   
2. Keep your refrigerator and freezer closed. Open the doors as little as possible. An unopened refrigerator should keep foods cold for up to four hours, although you will still have to evaluate each item individually when the power comes back on. A freezer that is half full should keep foods frozen for 24 hours, and a full freezer should keep foods frozen for 48 hours.
   
3. Cover your fridge and freezer with thick blankets to insulate them and keep them as cool as possible.
   
4. For longer outages, try to find dry ice to pack into your freezer. However, you must take special precautions handling it. If the power outage lasts longer than 4 hours, remove milk, meat, and dairy products from the fridge and pack them into a cooler with lots of ice.
   
5. Have an instant read food thermometer. This is crucial to determining food safety after the power comes back on. If refrigerated products are still below 4C/40F degrees, they should be safe. Check to see if frozen foods still have ice crystals visible and that their temperature is below 4C/40F degrees. You can then refreeze these foods, but there will probably be some loss of quality.
   

Tips

• Consider having an instant barbecue to save some of the food, and have the neighbors over. Feast under candlelight. Cooking outside during a power outage on your charcoal or gas grill is a great way to keep the temperature inside your house cooler in the summer months.
  

• If it is cold outside, pack items into a cooler and place outside.
  

Warnings

• And remember the most basic rule: When in doubt, throw it out. Any cost savings you may gain by keeping questionable food will cost you much more in terms of doctor and hospital bills if someone gets sick.
  

Things You'll Need

• Blankets
  
• Cooler with ice
  
• Dry ice
  

Related wikiHows

• How to Make a Power Outage Bearable
  
• How to Prepare for a Power Outage
  
• How to Have Fun when It Is Night and the Electricity Has Gone Out
  
• How to Avoid Food Poisoning
  

Sources and Citations

• Original source of article VideoJug, FioNate4ever1, Food Safety. Shared with permission.
  

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Save Food During a Power Outage. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.