Lessons learned from the power outage

[herbgeek]

A couple of people asked me to summarize my "lessons learned" from being without power for 6.5 days. Some of the following will be a repeat if you've followed my other threads:

1. When calculating how much water to have on hand, don't forget the amount needed for toilet flushing. Although we have low flow toilets, they still use about 3 gallons. Even being economical on when they were flushed, that's still a LOT of water. If we didn't have a hottub to draw from, I would have filled the bathtub, but then that would have prohibited showers. I had ample drinking water for a day or two (which is the longest the power had ever been out), but had to go to a store to resupply after that. Luckily stores were open and I didn't have to drive far.

2. I forgot that in a power outage, that gas stations may not work either. Luckily I had a mostly full tank when this started, and in the course of doing errands during the week, was in another town that had full power so I could fill up. We live about 5 miles from town, so need to have gas to get supplies, mail, find out what's going on in town....

3. Comfort items are super important for morale. I had some handheld camping showers from many years ago when we did a lot of camping. These were solar models that would heat their own water over the course of a day, but we just filled them with hot water heated on the woodstove. A hot shower, even a modest one like this (I think 2 liters), did wonders after clearing wood all day. I had some Ghiradelli squares of dark chocolate and wine on hand that were also soothing. :~)

4. Although we have multiple oil lamps and flashlights, I wound up picking up a work light at the hardware store. This had about 24 leds, so would provide good lighting and had a hook so you could hang it nearby. Flashlights are great, except you need one hand to hold them, and that isn't always convenient. We have both battery powered and wind up flashlights, as well as a half gallon of lamp oil, so we were covered in that area. I used this work light hung on my shirt, to be able to knit at night, bringing some sense of normalcy to the situation.

5. With all the other work to be done, just hauling in wood and water, trying to clean up during daylight hours, nevermind all the wood clearing tasks, I wasn't much in the mood for cooking. Plus, I tend to just freeze meats and everything else is fresh and/or made from scratch. I had to toss out all the meats- and the supermarkets were packaging meats like usual (enough for several meals). There was no point in buying a pound of hamburger, if I'd have to throw half of it out. I just wanted to open a can, throw it in a pan on the woodstove and eat. That isn't my usual diet. Even things like pasta become a pain to make: the water used is a lot, it takes forever to boil water on the woodstove etc etc. I now have some substantial soups (Chunky sirloin burger soup for example) on hand to just heat and eat. I also didn't want to be using a sharp knife in a dimly lit room.

Although we were physically comfortable with heat, I still got knocked off my rhythm and was pretty cranky, particularly after the 5th day. Everything took so much longer to do, and my patience ran thin. It wasn't just a snow day, with everything returning to normal the next day. The novelty of the adventure wore off much quicker than I thought.

[flowerseverywhere]

thank you so much. Reading all of the posts by those affected has really made me step it up. I agree about the soup idea, although I would prefer not to exist on canned soup it is a great solution and requires a small amount of fuel to heat. You could eat it cold. I added several boxes of crackers to my storage area. We also try to eat meals from scratch using fresh ingredients, but you do what you have to do to be prepared and not a burden on the services that will be available. I also spent $20 on gallons of H2o last night, as that is my biggest concern. It seems like an awfully cheap price to pay for some peace of mind in the most likely emergencies I am likely to face. I am reading Bradley's Handbook to Practical disasters and will be looking for a water purifier and purification tablets in the near future.

Another idea I had was to bake some breads, like banana nut bread, apple cake and pumpkin and wrap them well for the freezer, and maybe some oatmeal raisin cookies. They would be a welcome treat and I could pull one out of the freezer every few weeks to rotate them under normal circumstances, and they would be nutritious and add variety in event of an emergency. Every spare inch of space is taken up by ice filled containers, and they would also be a water source if the time came we had to let the freezer defrost. They are likely to be very helpful as well in keeping the freezer cold and minimize waste.

One more thing I plan to do this week is put a list on the door of the freezer of exactly what is on each shelf. We have a generator and would likely hook the freezer to it, and if I had to open it I would want to be very quick about it instead of rummaging around. My totally cooked meals, like soups and chili are all on one shelf and that would be what I would most likely pull out.

We already keep our cars more than half full after experiencing a power outage some years ago and not being able to pump gas. We also got an extra five gallon gas container that we keep full. Little things, little cost that could make a big difference.

I hope more people chime in.

[Marianne]

Good points. It is amazing how our perspectives change after we have to actually live for a while without power. Glad you're back on the grid now! :o)

I had forgotten about milk jugs with water in the freezer. You can freeze them outside during the night, then put them in the freezer in the morning. We also had a kerosene heater, but hardly any kerosene. None to be found even 30 miles away by the time we went shopping. Now, several years later, I STILL don't have it...but it's on the list.

I keep a big stock pot with water on top of the wood stove all winter long. It does take forever to initially heat up, but I have a constant supply of hot water if I add to it regularly plus it adds welcome humidity to the air. Coffee takes for-ev-er on a steel woodburner!! Especially if you're sitting in front of it, waiting for it to perk. I did have some camp fire recipes printed out, so we ate a few of those - skillet bread is good.

Ditto on doing stuff in dimly lit rooms. Playing cards by flashlight was pretty difficult, too. I did take the little solar yard lights and put them in the hallway and bathroom, but it sure wasn't much light at all.

Having enough water for pets/critters can be a problem. We didn't have barn cats or chickens when we were without power for 8 days, but we do now. The last time I was saving milk jugs just in case, I kept getting 'the look' from DH.

[Miss Cellane]

If you really need caffeine to get going in the morning, work out an alternative caffeine delivery system before the next power outage. Instant coffee, caffeinated soda, something. It is no fun struggling with no power and no water and the addition of a cranky, tired, headachey person suffering from caffeine withdrawal doesn't help matters any.

[Selah]

When I lived in the Southwest, my well was run by electricity, so when the power went out, so did the water. When I first moved there in 2003, the local energy co-op seemed to be run by The Three Stooges, and was always going out for some stupid reason or another, and sometimes for days at a time. A friend of mine got tired of that, and he paid some very good money to put in some mechanism by which he could pump the water out by hand if the power went out. It would involve carrying buckets of water from the backyard into the house, of course, but he is happy that he has that backup in place.

[redfox]

We heat with wood, and can cook on our wood stove, so we have that covered... However, I realized that I need to buy a battery back up for my CPAP machine, as I cannot go a night without it. Sooo, they are expensive! It's on the list for next month. In Seattle, we get a snow storm once a year that shuts things down, usually about 2-3 days. Getting some good LED headlamps is on the list too. Thanks for the post. Got me thinking...

[bae]

Redfox - I use a CPAP too, and instead of buying a dedicated battery pack for it, use two solutions.

1 - a Duracell Powerpack, which offers a 120v inverter, dedicated 12v out, built-in light and radio. It works for all sorts of things during outages, and isn't noisy/irritating like a generator, and you can jump start a car with it.

2 - 12v car batteries. I keep a couple of spares charged, and I have a 12v input on my CPAP. During an extended outage, you can always recharge them with your car, a generator, or with solar.

[Blackdog Lin]

Thank you VERY much for your post herbgeek. I learn lessons better if they're described by those who "have actually been there". We haven't had to do without power for more than 12 hours in the 18 years we've been in our house, and while I THINK I'm prepared for the possibility, reading a post like yours clues me in to think harder about areas I'm probably deficient in.

Thanks again.....and glad you're back to normal again.....

[Marianne]

When I lived in the Southwest, my well was run by electricity, so when the power went out, so did the water. When I first moved there in 2003, the local energy co-op seemed to be run by The Three Stooges, and was always going out for some stupid reason or another, and sometimes for days at a time. A friend of mine got tired of that, and he paid some very good money to put in some mechanism by which he could pump the water out by hand if the power went out. It would involve carrying buckets of water from the backyard into the house, of course, but he is happy that he has that backup in place.
I don't suppose you know what that's called? I need one!
AND CRAP - I completely forgot about DH's CPAP machine.

[flowerseverywhere]

Thank you VERY much for your post herbgeek. I learn lessons better if they're described by those who "have actually been there". We haven't had to do without power for more than 12 hours in the 18 years we've been in our house, and while I THINK I'm prepared for the possibility, reading a post like yours clues me in to think harder about areas I'm probably deficient in.

Thanks again.....and glad you're back to normal again.....

many years ago we lost power for 6 days, and thankfully the weather was warm, but it was almost comical as we tried to figure out how to get news (we ended up sitting in the car with the radio on) as we had no batteries for the radios. Making coffee took us several hours to figure out and then our neighbors were all so excited because we shared. After a week without power you learn so many lessons but you really need to be aware and think about it on a regular basis. Thanks to all.

[cdttmm]

One thing I learned from this most recent power outage is that I'm very glad we have a generator. On another thread, which I now can't find, someone was looking for information about buying a generator. I came across this website, which seems to have a solid, yet concise, overview so thought I would share.

http://www.smps.us/home-generators.html

[flowerseverywhere]

I revived this because one of my friends who was without power for a week and a half in the recent storms sent an e-mail full of good suggestions. They had water but they were told it was not safe to drink. There were so many trees down few trucks could get in to supply the stores and most remained closed down for the duration. It took a day or two for them to get up and running once power came on because they had to clean and restock.

among those not mentioned here:

Paper plates, bowls, spoons and cups. Helps with water conservation.
Foods that are easy to prepare such as pancake mix that you only add water to, canned ravioli and soup, cereal etc.
games, cards, coloring books etc for kids and adults- especially important if you depend on video games, TV and computers for your entertainment
Hand sanitizer. I use good old soap and hot water, but with limited water it would be very useful.
some of the things that she is planning on getting and learning to use are a solar cooker and water purifier.

One thing she mentioned that someone in her neighborhood had a lot of rice and dried beans but no way to cook them. Some had no gas in the cars and half a five gallon tank in the garage, so a generator would be no good. Others had no canned goods or water stored, luckily they were able to send a truck to the area that had potable water, but you had to have containers and get there, as well as having a radio to find out this information.

[Gregg]

For cooking, a two burner Coleman stove that burns white gas (Coleman fuel) is about $100 new, but I bet they are not hard to find cheaper at garage sales or on Ebay. Be careful to have adequate ventilation if you use one indoors. A gas grill with a full, spare propane bottle in the garage will do all kinds of cooking, especially if you have the side burner on the grill. In our experience solar ovens take a long time to heat water to a usable temp for cooking, but do a great job of pre-heating water for use on the stove or grill. That saves time and fuel.