Last week I realized how very important it is to have an emergency box prepared with all the necessities that you would need in the event of power loss. You should keep all these items in a box together in an easy to find location.
- candles
- matches (sometimes lighters fail)
- flash lights with at least 2 sets of batteries
- radio with battery (I didn’t have one of these!)
- corded home phone (in case cell phones are out; we only have cordless phones which don’t work when the power is out)
If you have anything else in your power outage emergency box, please share it!
Wanna learn how to save even more money? Be sure to read through all the Let’s Save Some Money posts.
We are lucky enough to have a basement. Most homes in the midwest do. We keep a bag of things in the basement for tornado season and a bag at the top of the steps that we can grab and take down. Our basement bag has flashlights ( crank ones) one for everyone. I think we also have a couple of candles, But remember if your house got hit by a tornado, Not to light a candle unless you know FOR SURE that your gas meter is in tact. You could end up blowing what is left of your home sky high! We also keep a few gallons of water and some big blankets/quilts to cover up with, Just incase. at the top of the stairs bag we keep shoes, meds for those that are on them and a pair of pants of PJ pants for everyone, Alot of times my daughter will only be wearing a t-shirt or nightgown to bed and the boys wear shorts, I want to be sure they have something warmer if we would need it! I also will throw my cell into this bag and put the laptop next to it if we know we are in for sever weather… If the siriens go off, I will grab the weather radio and take it with me. We take the lap top so that we can watch the updated weather on the TV stations website in the event we loose DIRECTV, Which we usually do cause it will be raining so hard!
Also… Someone was not sure why to have shoes ready to go in your bag. The reason is if you are hit with a natural disaster and you need to leave your home, Chances are you will be walking through glass and debris, You dont want to hurt your feet, you need to get out. So make sure the shoes you have “ready” are tennis shoes and not flip flops!
And on the helmet thing… Also a good Idea, I know someone that keeps her kids bike helmets in the kitchen by the basement door if we are expecting bad weather so she can grab them on her way to the basement. Any bike helmet would do, it protects their heads from falling/flying debris!
Sorry for the book! Hope everyone has a safe Spring!
In our chest freezer we keep 2-3 gallons of water (frozen of course). It will keep things cold longer in a power outage and can be used for drinking water later.
I Plan on adding helmets, whistles, and tags to pin on with name, address, and phone #’s to the bag. Next storm, this will be the first thing (besides shoes) we put on!!!I live right outside Pleasant Grove that was hit really, really hard. I have heard more stories of children being seperated from their parents during the tornado than I can remember. You physically cant hold onto to them with 200 mph winds! In talking with one mother she told me how horrible it was to see her son 25 feet up in the air and nothing she could do. The main thing that saved this dear baby was the fact that he had on a batting helmet!!! Done as a joke, but saved his life. I never thought about that. Another family of four that were huddled together in their closet got thrown into seperate corners of what was left of their house! Luckily they found each other quickly.
We keep a couple of gallons of water in the cupboard and a spare bag of charcoal around. When we lost power for 4 days we lived off from the charcoal grill and used water from the pool to flush the toilets. I really should keep more water around but its the whole issue of where to store it. 2 or 3 gallons really doesn’t last that long with 3 people and 2 dogs.
Next time there can be a power outage from a storm I’ll make sure I have a few things on hand. Like: A dinner cooked for that day that doesn’t need to be hot, paper plates and plastic forks, bread, and peanut butter, cookies and filling snacks.
My dad has always kept a gallon or two of water around, in case there’s ever an issue with water supply. We rarely ever get tornadoes up in MA, but we do get hurricanes and blizzards.
Here’s a list from FEMA
http://www.ready.gov/america/getakit/index.html
I am in the Chicago area, land of multi-day power outages from storms. My kit has grown quite a bit over the years. I find that the bulk of these storms here hit during summer. I have battery operated fans. They make the world of difference when it is 90+ degrees outside. The fans that I have use D cell batteries and can run for a good 20-40 hours. I also went wonky the first power outage with no coffee. So I have one of those french press pots and my stove is gas so I can boil water for it. I always have a bag of ice on hand. it is enough to buy time (also have 3 coolers). After a tornado relocated a tree on top of my house, I used some of the insurance money and bought a TON of battery operated led candles on timers – I got the outdoor plastic ones. They make nice ambience in general but when there is no power at night, they are enough to light the way so you dont trip. I tried solar lights last year and they failed miserably, you cant count on them. For replacement, I did manage to find a bunch of led lanterns for 5 bucks.
needless to say I have a lot of batteries always and this time of year, i make sure my cell, backup batteries for the cell, kindle, netbook, etc are always at full charge. and i found amazon unbox movies to be a saviour at night. I download them when they go on sale and store them on my netbook so I can get a movie per night for about 3 nights before the netbook needs a charge.
Might I suggust instead of batteries you spend the little extra and get a good wind up flashlight, that way you don’t have to worry that your batteries are weak, or continue to check and rotate them. Also it’s good to have one of the solar/wind up emergency radios, we have a coleman one that also has a light one, we use it camping mostly, but in a power outage it’s great, you can catch up on the news and play cards by the light
We only have cell phones so we quickly realized we needed atleast one car charger or a battery operated charger.
At christmas time I buy a few strands of the battery operated Christmas LED lights ( $1.99 at target) they take AAA batteries so make sure you keep some of those too for them. They are great since you dont have to worry about starting a fire and they last really really really long!!! We used them the entire christmas season for like 6 hours each day and never had to change the batteries. Also the glowlights are a great idea.
My kit also includes a container of the Wet Ones anti-bacterial wipes. We lose water when we lose power (we are on a well) so they are super nice to have. I would suggest these and/or some kind of anti-bacterial waterless cleaner. I like the wipes since it makes my hands feel cleaner after using the bathroom than the other stuff.
Thank you for the info. I will make sure to have these items ready, I will also make sure we have plenty of water, just incase..
A list with important telephone numbers such as your electric service provider to call and report the outage. Also important to have hand held can openers for can goods and plenty of bottled water for those who have an electric water pump. In out garage we have a Coleman camper stove. Oil lamps are also handy along with the battery operated push button lamps.
DH reminds us all to turn OFF appliances that were on before the power outage so that when power is restored there won;t be a sudden burst of power surge through-out the house.
Looking forward to reading more suggestions as I too need to be better prepared!!
GREAT POST !!!
-MISSY-
Here is a tip for the kids. We keep the green glow sticks. The kind you snap to activate. You never need batteries for these and they are safe for the kids to hold when it is dark. It acts as a night light and they can keep it with them all night. We also keep the crank flashlights that way you don’t need batteries. You also need a WEATHER radio instead of just a radio. It gives you the weather alerts.
Having lived in an area known for horrible weather(Oklahoma) most of my life, we were always told to have at least one pair of shoes for everyone in the family. I think it is in case of quick exit or having to leave your home in the night and not being able to see well enough to find shoes. I now live in Tennesse and when the storms came thru last week I made sure we all had our shoes!
The best matches to buy if you are keeping them for emergencies are the water proof ones. Its fine to have regular matches if you are just using them for normal power outages but in instances such as hurricane/tornado/severe storms if you have to evacuate and use these items later (such as in a tent,etc) then the water proof ones are the way to go.