A non-prepper's prepping

[NewGig]

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.

[flowerseverywhere]

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. .

[Tradd]

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.

[Tradd]

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

[Tradd]

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

[Tradd]

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

[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!

[Tradd]

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!

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

[flowerseverywhere]

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

[Tiam]

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.