The storm blows through, trees are downed, the power goes off.  No big deal, right?  Wrong.  Most people are not prepared for the power to fail, and some even panic when the lights go out.  How would your family deal with this emergency situation?  Here are some helpful tips that will guide you toward preparing your home for the inevitable inconvenience of a power failure.  Don’t wait until that situation arrives – get prepared today.

Lighting:

• Flashlights- Place reliable flashlights with working batteries in strategic locations – the kitchen cabinet above the
  

  Are you ready for a power outage?

  phone; the hallway closet with the coats; bedside drawers, the kids’ rooms (drill the kids on this fact); garage shelf by the door; utility room.  Think: “How can I easily find this in the dark?”

• Lamps – Provide longer term ambient lighting to cozy up the home and make the kids feel comfortable by investing in some affordable wick-style lamps.  They are the old-fashioned sort that may remind you of train engineers or an antique store.  Look for a round metal base with a hook for your finger and a hurricane glass.  Or, a hanging style “train” lamp that might be red or black.  You can also find glass bottomed home-style lamps that rise tall and give off a nice glow.  The unscented lamp oil is about $6.00 for 32 ozs at WalMart and will last quite a while.  Make sure you have a couple lamps for the big room in which the family will gather.  Maybe one for each bedroom.  Never leave these unattended as they have a live flame.  And, keep the wick low enough that it doesn’t give off any flicker or soot.
• Emergency Flame Pots – you can also find little lamp pots that will work just fine.  They have a simple flame, not as much room light or near as much fun, but practical for the short run. Look for “liquid candle”.
• Heat – If you have a wood or gas fireplace, then the issue of heating is not too difficult.  Grab the family sleeping bags, make some fun pallets around the fire, bring in the pillows and extra blankets and enjoy the time together.  However, without the fireplace, the issue gets a bit more inconvenient.  It’s possible for your insulated home to get down to 40 – 50 degrees depending on where you live and the weather conditions outside.  The harder the wind blows, the colder the house will get.
• Clothing – It’s time to layer up.  Put on your polypropylene undergarments, fleece or wool pullovers, thin insulated gloves, a wool beanie and extra fuzzy socks and slippers.
• Sleeping Bags – Even if you’re not a camper, this is the reason you should keep a zero-degree sleeping bag around the house.  Pull the family together in the warmest room of the house and bundle up.  Make a big cozy pallet with the bags, blankets and pillows and stay warm.  Don’t have the bags?  Then, grab all the comforters and blankets you have and build your nest.  For night time, circle the chairs and create a tent with blankets.  All the body heat will encourage everyone to sleep in.
• Cooking - A full tank of propane is a must at all times for the prepared household.  A heavy cast iron dutch oven and
  

  This Camp Chef double propane burner stove will work well, as soon as the snow is brushed off.

  a propane cooker out-of-doors is really all you need to keep the family fed during or after the storm.  Of course, it’s inconvenient to get out in the wind, rain or snow and stir the stew, but at least you have a hot meal to feed the kids.   If you have a one or two-burner camp kitchen, make sure you use it outside.  Cook under the eaves or on the covered patio but NEVER leave it unattended.

• Refrigeration – When the power goes out, the food goes bad.  Grab your ice chests and throw in your thawed meat, and cover with ice from your freezer.  Make sure you have extra ice bags or frozen water jugs (think big juice and milk jugs) for this reason.  Have one cooler for the meat and one for any other spoilable items.  After your family is nested and ready to ride it out, start cooking the meat so it can be stored outside at below 40 degrees, or put the meat back in the ice chest after it’s cooked, cooled down and contained.  Leave all the frozen foods in place and stay out of the freezer!  After a day, when you start to see signs of thawing in the freezer, start cooking.  You may have to spend your multi-day power outage cooking, eating and feeding the neighbors.  At least it gives you something fun to do.  Imagine a set of ovens cooking up stews, gumbos, soups and chowders for a big crew.  Get everyone to throw in their own meats. You and the neighbors will talk about it for years.  Relax on the situation and try to enjoy the challenge.
• Foods – Longer term survival situations (weeks following a hurricane or earthquake) require a good stash of canned and dried foods. Check out this article for tips on cooking with storage foods.  It can be important  to have a variety of dried beans, rice, pastas and powdered options on hand. Check out my other story on this subject:
• Water – Some well-publicized warnings about impending storms will encourage residents to fill up a clean bathtub with tap water. But, if you are caught without warning, you’ll want some back up solutions with stored water.  Count on two gallons per person per day for drinking, cooking and sanitation.  Some folks have bigger 20-gallons or more containers.  But, you can also store water in recycled gallon juice jugs.  Look for the numbers #2, #4 and #5 on the bottom of your juice jugs for the ones recommended to use for a short amount of time.  If in doubt about a jug, don’t use it.  Keep the water clean by using 1 teaspoon of food grade chlorine to 10 gallons of water.  And, you can always boil your water. Once the water reaches the boiling temperature of 212 degrees, that has killed everything that boiling will take care of.
• Filters – A water filter is a very effective addition to your preparedness efforts. Make sure it has the capacity to purify large amounts of water. The most effective water purification method may be boiling, so make sure you have a reliable heat source available. Read my other story on this subject:

Bottom line is to expect a power outage and take some steps to prepare your family for the inconvenience.  It’s a lot less troublesome to head into this emergency fully prepared to ride it out.  Your family will appreciate you for it and you might even make a few new friends in the neighborhood!