Emergency Supplies

[LuvOrlando]

Storm season is on it's way so I just started to think about emergency supplies and I wonder what other people keep on hand.
We are in a new place and lost power twice last year, so that's new for us.

 

[Southernmiss]

Storm season is on it's way so I just started to think about emergency supplies and I wonder what other people keep on hand.
We are in a new place and lost power twice last year, so that's new for us.

We always have propane for the grill to cook with. Our pantry and freezer have plenty of food to keep us going for a few days, if power goes out.

If a storm is on the way, we will add to our snacks and fruit. And add a couple of cases of bottled water. I'll freeze water in food storage containers and fill in the gaps in our freezers to keep the freezers cold as long as possible and for added cold drinking water. We would also top off our gas in cars and dh will fill 2 8 gallon gas cans we have.

We have paper plates and plastic utensils and cups.

After a small storm in 2020 where we lost power for 3 days, I realized that we needed to upgrade and get new solar lanterns and light sources and a solar/crank powered radio. We used up our candles at that time, so I bought a few more here and there to replenish our supply.

We also bought an RTIC cooler and new Igloo cooler which are much improved over our former 16 year old coolers.

Aside from that, we might consider a portable generator.

 

[LYSE]

20 gallons of water with the ability to fill a 55 gallon drum if anticipated,

A weeks worth of freeze dried emergency food and a tote full of canned/shelf stable food.

Camping style supplies, flash lights/lanterns/fire starter, life straw/ water treatments and extensive first aid kit.

Propane on hand for a small generator/grill

A portable a/c to run off the generator

 

[firefly_ris]

We have a portable generator and a transfer switch set up on the fuse panel. This keeps the fridge, upright freezer, HVAC, hot tub (needs to not freeze in winter), modem (though typically if power is down internet also down) and several lights on the first floor running and I don't have to run cords all over the place. We also have 2 natural gas fireplaces that can run if the HVAC is out.

I keep a lot of shelf-stable pantry staples stocked like rice and beans. Upright freezer usually fairly stocked.

Propane tank for grill. Stove is natural gas so that works during power outage too.

About 6 gas cans are kept mostly stocked. The standard selection of flashlights and candles.

The longest we had lost power here was about 6 days. It was March so it was still cold so at that point it's mostly about keeping the house at a reasonable temp.

For a more prepper type mentality, our property has a large creek and I have considered stocking the house with Life Straws and other products that make water drinkable but I haven't gotten them just yet. Firearms on hand. We already have lots of camping supplies, hatchets and other manual tools.

 

[LYSE]

We have a portable generator and a transfer switch set up on the fuse panel. This keeps the fridge, upright freezer, HVAC, hot tub (needs to not freeze in winter), modem (though typically if power is down internet also down) and several lights on the first floor running and I don't have to run cords all over the place. We also have 2 natural gas fireplaces that can run if the HVAC is out.

I keep a lot of shelf-stable pantry staples stocked like rice and beans. Upright freezer usually fairly stocked.

Propane tank for grill. Stove is natural gas so that works during power outage too.

About 6 gas cans are kept mostly stocked. The standard selection of flashlights and candles.

The longest we had lost power here was about 6 days. It was March so it was still cold so at that point it's mostly about keeping the house at a reasonable temp.

For a more prepper type mentality, our property has a large creek and I have considered stocking the house with Life Straws and other products that make water drinkable but I haven't gotten them just yet. Firearms on hand. We already have lots of camping supplies, hatchets and other manual tools.

Our kit has a life straw family, it's basically larger life straw that actually filters out even more bad things, It's pretty inexpensive considering the capability.

 

[HeatherC]

Generator and full gas cans if you lose power a lot. Best money we ever spent on house stuff. We are on a well, so without it not only do we not have power, but no water. Ours was like $800 and has paid for itself many times over.

We also have a camping stove we have used before we got the generator. That is great to have too because it allowed us to cook in the Winter. (Our regular stove is electric and not gas.)

The usual shelf stable foods are good to have as well.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Good ideas!

I like the squeezing waters into the freezer & am off to look up what a Life Straw is, never heard of it but it sounds like it would be useful on the show Alone.

 

[dvcgirl67]

Several cases of water. Starbucks via instant coffee and creamora powdered creamer (must have coffee). We have a natural gas stove and outdoor grill, so we always have a way to cook without power. I keep ice packs and small cooler in case we have an extended outage...my one dog is diabetic and so we have to keep her insulin cold. Other than that...not too much.

 

[nw6675]

Generator, gas, 2 emergency dried food kits, water purifier tablets and containers, matches, flashlights, etc.

 

[jo-jo]

I'll repeat a tip I heard years ago for those in hurricane areas. Person had an extra chest freezer. Every year filled it with gallon bottles of water. When he heard a possible storm was a few days away, he would plug in the freezer.

For us, we have smallish generation for fridge, freezer, etc. Always have canned food on hand. Our freezer has food but the first thing eaten will be the ice cream. For cooking we have a charcoal grill and about a dozen cans of sterno. Typical for us is to have 4 or 5 cases of water on hand This isn't emergency supplies,, just what we have as normal just in case. We don't have a separate stash under the bed or anything (that's where I keep my emergency dust bunnies)

 

[easyas123]

Admitting fully that even though we are in a hurricane prone area, we don't prepare that much. With that being said, we do have a generator that allows us to run the fridge/freezer/run the well pump/charge stuff if we needed. We have a basement that stays cool, and wood fireplaces if it gets cold. We keep a 500 gallon tank of off road diesel for the farm tractor so we have all the fuel for the generator we need.
I do not have a stock of water or food, other than what we normally have on hand I'm afraid. Probably should prep a bit I suppose -

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

Our solar panels and battery backup will keep our electric running other than heavy loads like dryer, oven, and AC/heat. So no worries about losing a fridge full of food or being without lights, fans, tv, or ability to charge cell phones. I always tend to keep a lot of food on hand regardless of storm season. We usually have a few gallons of water on hand as well.

 

[Mysterian]

I've got a generator. I still need to stock up on some food and water.

 

[Moliphino]

We always have flashlights and candles on hand. If a storm is coming we fill every available receptacle with water (we have a well, so no power means no water). We usually have a decent amount of food on hand, definitely enough to last a few days without power.

 

[Cadiewampus]

Nothing that we don't normally have on hand. Flashlights and propane and things of that nature. We have lived in our house around 24 years and have underground power. Can't think of but maybe 2 times we have lost power for a significant time.

 

[firefly_ris]

Our kit has a life straw family, it's basically larger life straw that actually filters out even more bad things, It's pretty inexpensive considering the capability.

I will check that out thanks!

 

[mrodgers]

Good ideas!

I like the squeezing waters into the freezer & am off to look up what a Life Straw is, never heard of it but it sounds like it would be useful on the show Alone.

Worthless on the show Alone because they know how to boil water in the pot they already have to use and it wouldn't be worth giving something else up to have the Life Straw.

 

[Praying Colonel]

If there's a hurricane heading our way we're bugging out. But if we can't for some reason:

--We have a whole-house water filter so we'll fill every pot/pan/jug/bowl/etc. we can.

--We have a couple of hand-crank radios with flashlights and USB ports to charge our phones, plus we have some other batteries for our phones.

--We also have a charcoal grill so we can cook on that if we need to.

We've decided not to get a generator but I've looked at portable power stations and we might get one of those.

We probably need to look at some food stores.

 

[Stratman50th]

We have an RV in the garage that's pretty well self contained. I keep the fuel tank filled which is 150gal of diesel. We have a generator which is enough to power the fridge and the AC's, actually everything on board. I can run a cord out from the house fridge and plug it in. I could probably wire in a place in the house electric to plug in the RV gen so that I can run the house AC as well. Biggest concern being mold and mildew from having the air of for an extended period. Aside from that just canned food, dry goods and the on board 100gal of water filled.

 

[Colleen27]

I really don't keep anything. We're not in an area prone to any serious natural disasters - tornados are exceptionally rare but possible, as is the occasional blizzard during snow season, but on whole the weather in SE Michigan just doesn't tend to the extreme. I have a mid-size Jackery (solar/car/wall rechargeable power bank) and a propane campstove in my camping kit that I could get to easily if we needed it, along with a couple of rechargeable lanterns and a couple Life Straws. We also have the backyard grill for cooking and there's usually a case or two of bottled water in the pantry at any given time just for the kids to grab on the way to school/sports/outings so I don't end up paying vending machine prices. The longest we've ever been without power in my lifetime has been 3-4 days and we're more than able to get through that long with what I have on hand.