Some residents at the Hammel Houses in Rockaway Beach have been without gas for almost three weeks.
"My children are very picky and they don't want the fast food. You know, they want the vegetables, some solid meals," said Hammel Houses Resident Darrell Wilson.
Wilson says preparing meals for his three children has been a struggle since a suspected gas leak forced the shut off.
There is still hot water in the building and NYCHA has provided residents with hot plates but Wilson says it's not enough.
"In order to prepare a meal, I have to do one pot at a time. One pot of rice or spaghetti and then I have to switch over and then do the meat. By the time I'm done everything is cold," Wilson added.
Councilman Donovan Richards says he believes damages from flooding during Hurricane Sandy is what caused the gas lines to rupture.
"As Sandy has shown, and the salt water corrosion that's happened obviously in these buildings before, the infrastructure is very vulnerable here," said Councilman Richards.
A NYCHA spokesperson said in part, "The agency takes gas outages very seriously, particularly when there is a suspected gas leak. While we understand that this is an inconvenience for our residents, we cannot afford to put the safety of the community at risk."
"We need the city to move faster because these families are really worried about the holiday season approaching and not being able to have meals for their families," Richards added.
"We're urging NYCHA to do something more than a hot plate, as this is taking a long to be fixed," said Lisa George, a Constituent Liaison for Sen. James Sanders Jr.
NYCHA says the necessary repairs will begin next week and the work should be complete by November 14th.
The residents say if all goes according to plan, they'll be thankful to not need a hot plate to prepare Thanksgiving dinner.