How to Be Prepared for a Power or Water Outage

Although it does not always seem practical to have large amounts of bottled water , food, clothing, blankets, etc. in your house when you cannot use them, you will feel like a fool if you have a power outage and you do not have what you need.

Recently we had our water out for a few hours from 3:00pm to 9:00pm. It was the worst time because I needed to make dinner. I thought I was covered because I had a 1 gallon bottle of emergency water that I had been staring at in my cupboard for months. I had truly under estimated the situation. Once I had given everyone 1 glass of water to drink, the one gallon jug was almost empty. Don't let this happen to you. Depending on the number of people in your home, you will definitely want at least 1 gallon each. If you have an emergency that lasts longer than a few hours, you will definitely need it. Once or twice a year you will want to replace the water with new bottles of water .

Easy to make food is another handy item. If you have a power outage, you may not be able to cook anything. For those of you that have a wood burning stove, at least you can heat up a cup tea or something else. Canned food is always good, don't forget the opener . Also, I like to have protein or nutrition bars handy. They are easy to prepare and serve. I like to have all of my emergency food in one container, so that no one eats it before the need arises.

Of course you will always want to have flashlights with batteries available. I recently received an electric candle as a gift and it was so handy during our last power outage. I was able to put it in the bathroom to keep it lit without the worry of a fire starting.

A battery powered radio is a must so that you can keep in touch with what is happening in your community during the emergency. You can even get a hand cranked powered radio.

Most likely if you are at home, you will already have all of the clothing or blankets that you need to keep warm. If you are in the car, you may want to take extras.

All of these tips are helpful for your vehicle also. If you regularly travel through an area that does not have phone service or are going into the mountains or desert, you just might want to have some emergency gear in your car.