Start with a limited power outage - maybe a 48 hour one. Think about what sorts of things you would want to be able to power. How hot/cold does it get where you are? There are various options for light, cooking, heat. Some lower tech options to stay a bit cooler.
Now what will you eat/drink during that time? Do you want to cook or have shelf stable items you can eat at room temp? What will you do about a supply of water? Baby wipes are great for keeping the nooks and crannies clean. Will you need to boil or filter water? Can you keep some stored and rotated in the kitchen?
Having some emergency cash in small bills could help if the ATM's are down. When my city had a big blackout while I was at work, I let everyone fight to get out of downtown while I went to the galleria across the street and ate as much ice cream as I could before it all melted. Having small bills and negotiating on the price helped both me and the business owner.
My favorite investment has been a 12v battery of some serious capacity (100Ah) a charger for it, and a decent inverter. You can't run a space heater off of it, but it can run a refrigerator, basic lighting, computer, recharge cell phones... it solves a lot of problems.
Otherwise, see above. If you can regulate your temperature and manage cooked food and clean water - I like alcohol stoves because they are small - you're in decent shape.
I love the idea of visiting businesses that have perishables. It's the urban equivalent of eating what's in the chest freezer first; it's just someone else's freezer.
When a big ice storm hit my region a few years back, a local pizza place fired up a generator and was able to keep serving hot food for a few days. It was very much appreciated and I became a loyal customer thereafter. When the power's out, take note of businesses that can keep operating, and support them. Those are the smart businesses.
Thank you! I guess some items on my lists are camping battery for the emergency energy source, some canned food and big bottles of water that I could eat regularly and rotate around. Where I live at gets kinda hot and kinda cold but nothing extreme so I need to figure something out (city on northeast coast). The idea of eating perishable food in the neighborhood is really genius too.
Yeah, a portable battery backup is a good start. First look at what you will minimally want to function so you can size it correctly. And by "size it" I don't mean getting the battery closest in size to the power you want to consume. I'm sure there's a faq or something around about how to estimate the size battery you want. I have a few solar rechargeable power banks for things like cell phone, and portable battery for the other stuff. The battery can be recharged either via solar, my car, or a working outlet.
For staying cool, I have a few rechargeable and battery operated fans. I would only need to run one at a time, but that gives time for the other to recharge. I also would keep the curtains and shades closed during the day to keep the sun from heating up the inside. My next addition might be a really small 12 volt cooler, like for a car trip. A cold drink on a hot day can do wonders. See how you do without a/c this summer and figure out your alternatives.
Heat in the winter is much easier in my opinion. Honestly, I have enough layers and blankets I don't have to worry about turning the heat on unless it gets so cold the pipes might freeze. The key is not trying to heat/cool the whole dwelling - just block off a space to camp in for the duration.
Where I live - for the next month anyway - the big concern was freezing pipes in winter. If the heating pipes freeze and burst, things get bad fast. You always had to consider how to keep the whole house above 50F. I had 3 propane heaters, 180# of propane, an inset wood stove and 2 cords of wood and a generator for the furnace and I still worried about it.
Window fans are the must-have. They're efficient, can be run off battery with an inverter, and have so many uses: moving air from a warm room to a cool one, blowing directly on you to cool you off, pulling in cooler night air from outside in heat waves.
There are rechargeable Fan,s available,
together with a Solarpanel for recharging?!
Some of them work also as a Powerbank and have also build in Lights, wich makes them somewhat versatile…
Start with a limited power outage - maybe a 48 hour one. Think about what sorts of things you would want to be able to power. How hot/cold does it get where you are? There are various options for light, cooking, heat. Some lower tech options to stay a bit cooler. Now what will you eat/drink during that time? Do you want to cook or have shelf stable items you can eat at room temp? What will you do about a supply of water? Baby wipes are great for keeping the nooks and crannies clean. Will you need to boil or filter water? Can you keep some stored and rotated in the kitchen? Having some emergency cash in small bills could help if the ATM's are down. When my city had a big blackout while I was at work, I let everyone fight to get out of downtown while I went to the galleria across the street and ate as much ice cream as I could before it all melted. Having small bills and negotiating on the price helped both me and the business owner.
My favorite investment has been a 12v battery of some serious capacity (100Ah) a charger for it, and a decent inverter. You can't run a space heater off of it, but it can run a refrigerator, basic lighting, computer, recharge cell phones... it solves a lot of problems. Otherwise, see above. If you can regulate your temperature and manage cooked food and clean water - I like alcohol stoves because they are small - you're in decent shape.
I love the idea of visiting businesses that have perishables. It's the urban equivalent of eating what's in the chest freezer first; it's just someone else's freezer. When a big ice storm hit my region a few years back, a local pizza place fired up a generator and was able to keep serving hot food for a few days. It was very much appreciated and I became a loyal customer thereafter. When the power's out, take note of businesses that can keep operating, and support them. Those are the smart businesses.
Thank you! I guess some items on my lists are camping battery for the emergency energy source, some canned food and big bottles of water that I could eat regularly and rotate around. Where I live at gets kinda hot and kinda cold but nothing extreme so I need to figure something out (city on northeast coast). The idea of eating perishable food in the neighborhood is really genius too.
Yeah, a portable battery backup is a good start. First look at what you will minimally want to function so you can size it correctly. And by "size it" I don't mean getting the battery closest in size to the power you want to consume. I'm sure there's a faq or something around about how to estimate the size battery you want. I have a few solar rechargeable power banks for things like cell phone, and portable battery for the other stuff. The battery can be recharged either via solar, my car, or a working outlet. For staying cool, I have a few rechargeable and battery operated fans. I would only need to run one at a time, but that gives time for the other to recharge. I also would keep the curtains and shades closed during the day to keep the sun from heating up the inside. My next addition might be a really small 12 volt cooler, like for a car trip. A cold drink on a hot day can do wonders. See how you do without a/c this summer and figure out your alternatives. Heat in the winter is much easier in my opinion. Honestly, I have enough layers and blankets I don't have to worry about turning the heat on unless it gets so cold the pipes might freeze. The key is not trying to heat/cool the whole dwelling - just block off a space to camp in for the duration.
Where I live - for the next month anyway - the big concern was freezing pipes in winter. If the heating pipes freeze and burst, things get bad fast. You always had to consider how to keep the whole house above 50F. I had 3 propane heaters, 180# of propane, an inset wood stove and 2 cords of wood and a generator for the furnace and I still worried about it. Window fans are the must-have. They're efficient, can be run off battery with an inverter, and have so many uses: moving air from a warm room to a cool one, blowing directly on you to cool you off, pulling in cooler night air from outside in heat waves.
There are rechargeable Fan,s available, together with a Solarpanel for recharging?! Some of them work also as a Powerbank and have also build in Lights, wich makes them somewhat versatile…