Preppy Power Outage Preparedness Kit: Everything You Need to Handle The Unexpected with Ease & Grace
This post contains affiliate links. As an #AmazonInfluencer, these affiliate links support my work at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your ongoing support!The last thing I had on my agenda for the long weekend was camping with my in-laws as we navigated 38 hours without power in sub-freezing temperatures.
For weeks, I had been looking forward to a long weekend with no plans, no obligations - and after the holidays - no people! I’m notorious for keeping the weeks between New Years and my birthday blissfully plan free. It’s my much needed time to hibernate after the over-socialization of the holidays, to rest and rejuvenate before we welcome back the sunshine, holidays and endless activities that come with spring (oh, and this year we’re adding a newborn to the spring sprint!).
So you can sense my disappointment when my weekend of cross-stitch, reading, baked snow crab and slow cooked dinners came to a crashing end when our power went out late Friday night.
Snuggled together, we went to bed and hoped for the best - that the power would return by morning. When we woke, the house was noticeably colder and with no estimation of when power would be restored, we began to go through our mental checklist and make alternate plans.
Now, THANKFULLY, while we lose power often, it’s generally isolated to our special spot in the neighborhood, meaning that we generally have the option to stay with nearby family and we appreciate their selfless generosity immensely. Most of the time our next door neighbors will even have power if we need to plug in or charge phones, etc. For that, we are eternally grateful and completely understand how fortunate we are for the generosity of our family, friends and neighbors in these times of inconvenience!
However, the length of this latest outage and additional freezing temps had me questioning if our family was really prepared to handle this type of emergency on our own. What if everyone was out of power? What if the roads were impassable? We have the basics - flashlights, candles, etc. but could we make it two, four or even five days without power?
I’m not confident we’d be in a great spot!
When it comes to etiquette, I talk a lot about POISE. To me, POISE = Preparation + Practice. While I generally liken this to things like having a go-to outfit formula, the right beauty products for the season, a lipgloss that suits you just perfectly and a few hairstyles you can quickly fashion, POISE also comes into play in major emergency situations!
While I’m convinced that a positive mindset, good attitude and sense of adventure is critical when it comes to working through emergencies, I know that it also requires practice and preparation so that these stressful situations can be navigated with ease and grace (to the best extent possible).
As a mother, this is especially important to me, as I believe it’s my duty to not only keep my children safe and healthy, but to model and teach them how to handle these situations in the best way possible as well.
So after much research, I’ve created a plan to create a Power Outage Emergency Kit to add to what we already have on hand and to keep it better organized. Since I believe these situations can also be handled with a sense of style, I’ve selected practical items that are also preppy and cheerful because… why not?
Please note: these items can be included in addition to essentials such as bottled water, nonperishable food and snacks, pet food, prescription medicine and vitamins. It’s recommended to store enough of these items to last each member of your family 3-5 days. You can reference FEMA’s Guide to Building an Emergency Kit here.Preppy Power Outage Emergency Preparedness Kit
YETI Tundra 35 Cooler: The first thing we do when the power goes out is do our best to empty the fridge/freezer to try and save food when possible. The bonus of winter is that the outside temps are usually cold enough to keep food safe and animals don’t tend to come up on our deck. In the summer, that process is a lot more difficult. Either way, a larger cooler is helpful in keeping essentials cold and preserving some food. This time around we were using as many cold/freezer Trader Joe’s bags we could find - I would love to upgrade to a bigger/more utilitarian cooler!
Analog Watch: Apple Watches don’t go far without power. This water resistant watch with military time would be good to have on hand - especially with kids and needing to log or keep an eye on feeding times, medicine dosages, etc. over a long period of time without power.
EverBrite 6-Pack LED Flashlights & 2-Pack LED Headlights: It’s helpful to have a small flashlight handy in nearly every room of the house, plus a few extra. Headlights can be extra helpful when you need to your hands to work with, too. I love the bright colors which are not only cheerful, but easy to spot.
Swiss Safe Emergency Mylar Thermal Blankets: After 12 hours without power, our home was sitting at about 56*F. Not awful but not great. After 38 hours, it was down to 40*F! With sub-freezing and dropping temps, any longer and we would have started getting into a danger zone, especially with small children. These emergency thermal blankets are designed to retain 90% of your body heat and are weather resistant. I keep some in my car and will be adding more to our emergency kit - and since they come in a variety of colors, why not make it pink?
Emergency Crank Weather Radio: Another helpful tool for long-term outages and emergency situations, this crank radio also operates as a phone charger and light source.
Waterproof & Stormproof Matches: While we have a fire place and outdoor fire pit, neither are particular useful without an accessible supply of wood, fire starter and matches. We’ll be keeping waterproof matches in our emergency kit from now on - and my husband has been charged with keeping a stockpile of wood within reach!
BLINGSTING First Aid Kit: With our active kids, we have first aid kits stashed in every Scout and sports bag, in each car and a house kit as well. However, I’ll probably add another one to our emergency kit so there’s a fresh one available! There are a million options, but this one was particularly fun in design and seems to be a great place to start.
Portable Butane Stove Camping Stove: This seems like a reasonable addition to our emergency supplies, and since we have an electric stove, would give us the ability to move beyond PB&J sandwiches and allow us to cook and warm food more easily in a pinch.
STANLEY Adventure All-In-One Boil + Brew French Press: There are a lot of luxuries I can do without, but coffee is not one of them. I’ll be adding this to our emergency/camping supplies so at the very least, we can charge through with a pep in our step.
Waterproof Solar Charge Power Bank: We have plenty of travel chargers, but we tend to misplace them and they are never actually charged for an unexpected outage (great for Disney trips, though!). These Solar Charge power banks came up time and time again in my research, so I’ve ordered a pair to keep handy.
The Battery Organizer and Tester with Cover: Sometimes it’s not so much that we don’t have batteries - it just seems like we don’t have enough or the right ones when an emergency pops up! This nifty organizer keeps everything visible so we will know exactly what we have and what we need to stock up on.
Disposable Coffee Cups with Lids: Helping others can help reduce your own stress in emergency situations. We are so grateful for all the ways our friends, family and neighbors have helped us in the past. The least I can do is be prepared to share a hot cup or coffee or tea with a neighbor!
I’ve included even more options and additional ideas in my Preppy Emergency Preparedness List featured in my Amazon Storefront. #AmazonInfluencer.
The above items are things that I’m adding to our existing emergency supplies based on my own research and the generous recommendations of friends who have found themselves in similar situations.
For example, we are pretty well stocked with flashlights, candles, first aid kits, blankets and sleeping bags, a natural fireplace and outdoor fire pit, propane grill, books & toys for the kids, winter clothes, etc.
I will also note that we are fortunate and privileged to live in an area that rarely experiences extreme weather (although that seems to be changing). We have access to safe housing, incredible city services and generous friends and family close by.
I still believe in being as prepared as possible so that we’re able to keep our own family safe and return that generosity whenever possible.
It’s important to do your own research and consider the challenges (and advantages) of your particular climate and living situation. I hope this list is a helpful place to start, but it is no means exhaustive of every time of emergency.
Have you found yourself in an unexpected emergency? Do you feel like you are experiencing more extreme weather and power outages in your community?
I’d love to know if you have additional recommendations or ideas for handling the unexpected with poise and grace! Leave your thoughts below!
