Kyushu mom involves children in disaster prep

Living as they do in a “land of earthquakes,” Japanese mothers with infants and toddlers should stockpile supplies wisely.

“Stock things that you and your family would be in trouble without, if they suddenly disappeared,” said Aya Kuroya, 36. Kuroya is a representative of Bisai Mamastars Fukuoka, a group comprising 10 mothers in Fukuoka Prefecture that provides tips about disaster preparations.

Kuroya, who is a mother of three children, was referring to such supplies as formula, baby food, allergy-free food and diapers. She said it was necessary to stock at least three days’ worth of meals.

“Even in an emergency situation, children sometimes won’t accept food that they’ve never tasted before,” said Kuroya. She said mothers should buy food that their children are used to eating, or items packaged in containers bearing their favorite anime characters.

Buy slightly more portions than you need and restock them as you consume them, Kuroya said, a practice called “rolling stock” in Japanese, in order to avoid storing food past its expiration date. Keep instant noodles or retort pouches in addition to regular emergency foods, she added.

Kuroya also suggests putting wet tissues and bags that will keep in the odor of used diapers in emergency backpacks, and place those backpacks in such locations as the entrance of your home and in your car, so you can access them easily in an emergency.

“Putting plastic bottles of water and snacks in the bag that you usually carry is the first step to prepare for disaster,” said Kuroya, who also carries a small light and a whistle. “It’s vital for safety, to prepare enough that you can tell your children, ‘We’ll be OK.’”

She also recommends trying sleeping in a car and eating emergency food with your family, to prepare for the idea of an emergency situation.

“It’s important to think about what to do if a disaster happens. Be aware of disaster preparation on a regular basis and make it a habit,” Kuroya said.

Emergency baby food using rice flour

Baby food ran short after the Kumamoto Earthquake in April 2016. Some mothers at evacuation shelters are said to have given their babies bread dipped in water to get by, but babies who are allergic to flour or dairy can’t eat it. Rice flour played a big role at that time.

“Mix rice flour and vegetable juice and heat, that’s it. Infants can get dietary fiber and vitamins from this meal,” said managerial dietitian Haruhi Aito, 52, from Uki, Kumamoto Prefecture.

At the time of the earthquake, Aito cooked baby food using rice flour and delivered it to several evacuation centers for about three weeks.

Regular baby food made of rice and vegetables takes time to cook. But it takes a few minutes to make baby food cooking rice flour. You can make it if you have a portable gas stove and a small pot. The flour is made of raw rice and needs to be heated thoroughly.

The earthquake destroyed Aito’s house, forcing her to sleep in a car. On April 16, 2016, she got a phone call from a friend at a Kumamoto shelter who said, “A mother here doesn’t know what to feed her baby, who has a food allergy.”

Aito once served as a judge of a cooking contest that used rice flour and hit upon the idea of adapting the contest’s recipes to baby food. She asked farmers to give her rice flour and then bought additive-free vegetable juice for nutrition. She cooked meals for about 20 infants and sent them to the shelter where the friend was, so that other displaced infants who had an allergy could eat it.

She later changed the flavor, for example by cooking with dashi stock and boiled vegetables, and cooked meals for about 100 infants a day.

Aito remembered a father at one evacuation center telling her: “I’ve never seen this service in other shelters. I’m really grateful.” This made her glad she had made the food.

Rice flour can also be used for regular meals. You can make roux for white cream stew by mixing rice flour, milk and consomme cubes. The flour also can be used for batter for deep-fried chicken, bread and cookies.

“Always have it ready for daily and special use,” Aito said.

Recipe for baby food using rice flour

1. Pour rice flour and vegetable juice into a small pot to dissolve the flour. To make the food stickier, add rice flour dissolved in water and cook it. To make the food thinner, add more juice.

2. Cook the mixture at low heat and keep stirring. It’s done when it starts to bubble.

You can also use dashi stock, watered-down miso soup or simmered vegetables in place of juice.Speech

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