The Category 5 Cookbook ~ a memoir by Beth Hayes

Beth Hayes

The Category 5 Cookbook

This book is more than the author's personal experiences on St Thomas during and after two Category 5 hurricanes. It offers tips and more than 70 recipes to get you through the aftermath of a disaster with grace and humor.

After surviving a natural disaster what would you eat? We had no electricity and supermarkets were closed or poorly stocked. There were no fresh vegetables, meat, fish or dairy products.

So, in the early days after the storms, meals were whatever was quick & easy with on hand ingredients. When we ran out of those options and had to rely on poorly stocked stores, I made many recipes more than once. Writing down details for successful dishes meant not having to remember which spices and combos worked.

These recipes can be used by folks who camp, vacationers renting condos or efficiency suites, and anyone who needs to be able to "create something from nothing" using pantry staples & a few fresh ingredients. An Airbnb kitchen may not have much besides salt & pepper. But if you plan a couple of meals, premeasure the spices into baggies & make a quick shopping trip when you arrive at your destination, you'll have more money to spend doing the fun things that make a vacation memorable. And you can splurge on more fabulous restaurant meals when you don't need to dine out every night.

As we went through the days, weeks and months of recovering and rebuilding, I started to record observations as they occurred to me. There was no need to cover what happened during the storms or relate the destruction as this had been described by many others. Besides, I didn't want to look back at the pain, I wanted to look forward to a brighter future for us and everyone in our tropical paradise.

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Review by Donna Marie Decker - June 11, 2021 'beth Hayes, published, in 2018, "The Cat 5 Cookbook" Lessons Learned on St. Thomas During and After Hurricanes Irma and Maria: September 2017.

'beth's book also is a timely testimony to resiliency and grace. She shows how she and Roy creatively used very limited foods that were available -- without electricity -- to make nutritious and delicious-sounding meals which kept up their strength to build back their world.

From reading this book, I now have ideas on how to better maneuver food and supplies after the perennial hurricanes that pound this Florida coast.

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