A non-prepper's prepping

In the wake of the LA fires, I'm trying to be more prepared for emergencies. I live on the east coast, so the disasters I'm preparing for are hurricanes and snowstorms (and associated power outages).
How I'm preparing:

• extra water and food at home
• extra water in the car
• 0 degree sleeping bag (in case of loss of heating)
• car is awd (so should function a bit better in snow)
• carrying more cash (~100) on my person and keeping a small stash (~a few hundred) at home in case I need to leave and can't access atms or whatever [this is not accomplished yet]

What do you think about my preparations?
What have you done to prepare for emergencies/natural disasters?

When we have power-outage events here, which are frequent, people find these things super helpful:

- a method of recharging your cell phone. (An Ankor power bank or something)
- a method of cooking that doesn't require power, and doesn't asphyxiate you
- food supplies that require minimal prep/cooking
- high-efficiency LED lanterns
- a supply of pre-ground coffee, or a hand grinder :-)

Where are you?

I ask because a friend of mine who lives in NY, lived through a hurricane that took out power to his area. The number of people who couldn't eat/drink, because no power for ATM's/CC machines, while he paid cash in a local joint that was selling off stuff (still able to cook due to gas), but had no way of charging it.

Also, there are some batteries that charge cell phones, that have a built in solar panel (my father has one and left it in a window to recharge). If not there are some small solar panels designed for people who play with things like Raspberry PI's, that could be used to charge a cell phone.

What about the wind up radio's? Have a spot outside for a grill? A fireplace and wood stash? A lot depends on where and how you are living (different in downtown NY, to the country size in other parts of NY state).

Good timing on this thread. I'm sort of doing a pantry clean-out, but at the same time, I am trying to do re-stocking with "prepping" in mind.

I keep a lot of flashlights around. Also water, because we lose water if we lose power. Gas the car when it falls to half full. Try to get ahead on medicines if you can.

Last year I purchased a wireless solar charger and a solar powered emergency NOAA weather radio.

I make sure I have at least a half a cord of wood or more at any given time.

I can't stock much food but I do have a lot of rice!

I maintain good relationships with my neighbors.

I have sterno and a little folding stove to use with it. I have a small apartment and no outside space to use a camping stove. I can use sterno inside to heat water for tea or canned soup.

okay--keep enough instant rice and hot sauce to put on it, amd you'll be fine. Yup.

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Originally Posted by ToomuchStuff

What about the wind up radio's? Have a spot outside for a grill? A fireplace and wood stash? A lot depends on where and how you are living (different in downtown NY, to the country size in other parts of NY state).

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I live in the 'burbs, but next to a park which always has fallen wood. A wind up or solar powered radio (like catherine said) makes sense.

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Originally Posted by bae

- a method of recharging your cell phone. (An Ankor power bank or something)
- a method of cooking that doesn't require power, and doesn't asphyxiate you
- food supplies that require minimal prep/cooking
- high-efficiency LED lanterns
- a supply of pre-ground coffee, or a hand grinder :-)

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Really great list. Lanterns/flashlights (@tybee) is important, I don't have any of those (besides for my phone flashlight which I'd obviously want to conserve).

We get power outages every winter, sometimes for a few hours, occasionally for a few days.

We use a wood stove to augment our minisplit all winter, so firewood, paper, fire starters, and matches.

We have a propane cookstove. In a power outage, I use a "clicker" instead of matches to light the stove. It doesn't wear out, have parts/fluid to replace, and that means I can use whatever matches we have for the wood stove. You need 3 gallons of water, per day, per person, so we store 6 gallons and water to flush the toilet. Re coffee? A French press works, if you have a way to hand grind coffee.

We also have a large cooler, that lives out of the way in the kitchen. When it's obvious the outage is going to last, we transfer the most perishable food to it with snow or ice cubes.

Getting ready for hurricane season. Cleaning and organizing pantry, checking batteries and any size needed. Checking solar/battery/handcrank/plug in radio and light. So far so good.
checked large collapsible water containers. Have extra containers on hand. Hot tub water to flush toilet
have 2 good hand crank can openers.

any advice for good solar phone chargers. I no longer trust Amazon reviews as some is counterfeit so want to get from REI or other good source. Bae said Angker was good.

coleman stove working and we have two unopened canisters to cook with plus grill. Have Old metal drip coffeemaker and ground coffee. Of course will get several large toilet paper packs Cause that seems to cause panic buying as we all saw during the pandemic. Plus will be more for others.

If storm is coming I take every available pot, container, glass, bowl etc and fill it with water, with a piece of cling wrap over it so the cats don’t drink or play in it. I use as little plastic as possible but will in this circumstance.
also freeze large ice blocks in some rectangular containers I have just for that purpose. Also put a bowl of ice cubes in the freezer. If the power goes out you can see if the ice cubes melted at some point so food likely spoiled. Not a time to take chances.

would like to be extra well prepared this year. There have been FEMA changes as well as other federal changes this year and there is a chance of way less government help to get things going again in natural disasters so really thinking it over carefully to be able to be on our own for a longer length of time. .

Anker is good. Also make sure you have something like a Jackery. I have the 300. They are battery generators. You can charge them off solar or regular wall plug. I could charge my phone something like 35 times off mine. I have nowhere to charge solar here. Having multiple smaller backup battery packs for your phones is a good idea.

Something else I remember from reading about Sandy: use charged laptop of charge your phones, not to play movies.

Make sure you have plenty of paper books or a Kindle, which is much more power efficient than reading on a iPad.

Headlamps are very good as you can do stuff hands free.

You can also get small rechargeable LED lamps that you can move around. I have this one. $10-11 from Amazon.

https://a.co/d/5nEM045

Flowers, I would get more canisters for the Coleman grill. They’re not that expensive

I can really recommend getting a couple of rechargeable fans. I have two of these. I use like that they're so portable. Easy to move around my place when I need more breeze.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...0?ie=UTF8&th=1

The local government here is having a presentation this week on emergency preparedness for this area. We signed up to attend. Will be worthwhile if we learn anything!

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Originally Posted by frugal-one

The local government here is having a presentation this week on emergency preparedness for this area. We signed up to attend. Will be worthwhile if we learn anything!

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Please share what you learn, if it's anything interesting beyond the usual.

Thank you Tradd. Hope you het some good ideas frugal-1. Please share.

I think it's really important to think about what are you preparing for? I'm in southern Oregon and wildfires are a real fear. I have a TO-GO bag with the most necessary paperwork. Some extra clothes, some water and snacks first aid kit and medications ready to pack, and a couple of emergency foil blanket things. I have a pretty good backpack, and it's amazing how FAST it fills up! I have pets, so I need a couple of things of them, including leashes, and food and papers. A carrier for the cat. Always have at least a half tank of gas. Extra cash. Once I nearly evacuated and I only have an old sedan, and it filled up fast with blankets and gear. I have emergency water and snacks. Also, it was interesting because there weren't a lot of directions to head out because of geography and all the motels and hotels a hundred miles out were all booked up. So, WHERE are you going?

At home, if I have to shelter in place, I have a water and food for at least 2 to three weeks and a portable camp stove and some alternative cooking methods. I have several alternative light sources. Candles, lighters, matches, sterno's flashlights, batteries, LED's, both battery and solar. I have an old car so a lighter adapter for charging the phone. I also have a back up of paper goods, including paper plates and disposable cutlery and plastic trash bags. And a fairly good supply of alcohol. I don't actually drink it, but it may come in handy later.