Folks, it’s summertime, which means you never know when a hurricane can hit, a tornado can take out all the electrical transformers in the neighborhood, or a massive state-sponsored, Russian cyber attack can cripple our electrical grid, financial networks, and food distribution systems. So, time to prepare!
First: yes, the risk is low, but so is the relative cost of doing everything on this list. If anything, you are creating a cushion for yourself, and giving yourself an ability to help others.
Second, let’s get ready, by breaking it down into what you need, by priorities:
- Water. You can either store drinkable water, or get the means to purify dirty water. Do a bit of both. First, get some plastic water bottles and fill them about 2/3s full of water; squeeze some of the air out, put the cap back on, and then store in the freezer. If you have the room, fill up some washed out jugs. You can keep a few gallons this way, enough to hold you and your family/friends for a few days. Second, get a small bottle of chlorine bleach and find an old silk scarf or handkerchief. Pouring collected rain water through a folded over silk scarf will remove most particle like contaminants, and a couple of drops of bleach to a gallon of water will kill off the bacteria. It’s great to have a camping filter, but we are talking about what’s cheap. Cost of all this: less than $5.
- Food. Buy some food in bulk, by the case. It helps to have canned goods here that can be eaten without being cooked. What you buy is up to you, but look for: things that are shelf stable; things that you like to eat, so you will be rotating out in the normal course of your life; things that have some water in them, to lessen your need to drink things; and things that have nutrients and calories. Examples: tomato juice, apple sauce, peanut butter, jelly, crackers, canned veggies, and canned tuna, sardines and anchovies. Cost: maybe an extra $20-50 on your next grocery run.
- Medicines and Medications: Double check your home first aid kit, and restock and replace what’s missing. A hiker’s first aid kit from REI runs from $25 to $40. Personal medications are dependent upon your personal condition, but having a two-week supply on hand, or being appropriately prepared to go two weeks without a refill, should be thought about.
- Cooking. You will want some way to cook/heat your food, and to make hot drinks like coffee. This is where your living quarters really come into play. Cooking indoors creates many problems: carbon monoxide from the combustion; unexpected combustion from improper fuel storage and use; and problems with your landlord and neighbors. If you have a porch or patio, it can be as simple as a small hibachi with a large bag of charcoal, some newspapers and some matches. Make sure you have a tea pot or other container for heating water over an open flame. While in ice storms and tornados we rely on our gas lines, it is not certain that natural gas will always be flowing. Having an auxiliary source of cooking heat is important. Cost: $25 to $175.
- Cooling. You will want a way to keep your cold food cold, for as long as possible. Remember the frozen water bottles from point #1? They come in handy again here. If you have room in your freezer, you can freeze washed-out gallon milk jugs, refilled with water. This is really about all you can do: freeze water in advance, keep the fridge/freezer doors shut tight, and eat the perishable foods first,
- Lighting. You will need light to see, and some lights are better than others. Candles provide a really nice glow, but if there is a gas leak they really don’t help much. Consider getting something like a $20 Luci inflatable solar lantern, which provides a lot of light for little cost—you can run it all night, and then charge it up the next day. Headlamps are helpful as well, handheld flashlights less so. My set up is one inflatable solar lantern and an LED headlamp, powered by AAA batteries (easier to find and replace than camera cell batteries). No lamp, lantern or flashlight should be anything but LED bulbs.
- Power. Here, we are talking only about the power needed to run your essentials. Running your refrigerator/freezer/HVAC is going to happen unless you are willing to spend a fair amount of money and time to set up a generator. Instead, I am talking about powering your phone, radio, and lighting. Having a sleeve of ten-year batteries. If all of your electrical equipment runs on AAA batteries, then you only need one large sleeve, at about $15. Since they last ten years, you will find uses for them.
- Power, Part II: Keep your car gassed up, as close as you can to full. Don’t run below a half tank. You may be stopping to top off the car more often, but that’s just a little inconvenience. Cost here: time; maybe $25 more to top off the car.
- Power, Part III: consider getting phone charger batteries, one that will charge your phone two to five times. Solar charger work slowly, but also work anytime the sun is shining. Cost: $20 to $50.
- Money. Cash works, nothing else really does or will if there is a general shutdown of the electrical grid. Your Apple Pay won’t work. Your credit cards won’t go through. Your hoard of gold and silver will not be accepted at Safeway OR Kroger. Small bills to twenties. You aren’t going to need much over a five to ten day period, except to buy what you don’t already have. Cost: whatever you can afford, and afford to keep safely around the house.
- Treats. You are going to need these, especially if you have kids: cookies and chips are shelf stable but too tempting. Think concentrates here: powdered drink mixes and if you drink alcohol, higher proof (less volume for the punch). Cost: $20-40.
- Books, cards and board games. If the power is out, you want to get your entertainment the old fashioned way. Make sure you have something around to keep you and your family busy, together. Almost always available at a Goodwill or a second hand store. Cost: $10.
- Community: Last, but not least: Humans have a much easier time surviving within a community, especially in times of hardship. Get to know your neighbors now, particularly those who might have the hardest time coping in an emergency. Plan a block party or some other informal get together, where people can see each other face-to-face. Establish any sort of friendly connection with those nearest around you, so that when you need them or they need you nobody will be asking for help from strangers.
There are more resources are Ready.gov and the American Red Cross.
Good luck and enjoy the summer!