Scenario · 33 entries

Blackout

The power is out and nobody knows for how long.

A blackout starts three clocks at once: the food in the fridge, the water pressure in the lines, and the heat in the house. What you do in the first 45 minutes matters more than anything you buy afterward.

What to do in the first 45 minutes, the first 3 days, and after

First 45 minutesFill every container with water. Confirm the scope. Stay out of the stores.

First 3 daysEat from the fridge, then the freezer. Shrink to one room. Run power in short rotations.

Beyond day 3Water becomes a system. Ration power. Decide, calmly, whether to stay or go.

How long the fridge, the freezer and the air give you

Fridge: About 4 hours

Eat or cook what will spoil first while it is still cold.

Freezer: 24 to 48 hours

Full lasts about 48 hours, half-full about 24. Keep the door shut.

CO: Minutes

Any indoor combustion can kill fast. Detector in every heated room.

Eat in this order

1. Fridge first Most perishable
2. Freezer next As it thaws
3. Shelf-stable last Cans and dry goods
4. Cook what may spoil While it is safe

The pages for each problem a blackout brings

What each one covers, why it matters here, and when to open it.

Read these first

Three pages that cover the whole outage, in the order the problems arrive. If you read nothing else, read the first one.

GuideThe blackout guideThe first 45 minutes, the first three days, and beyond day three, as one plan: water first, confirm the scope, shrink to one room, ration power, decide whether to stay.Start here the moment the lights go out.GuideWhen the power goes outThe fridge, the freezer, the well pump and the furnace: what each one does without power and the order to save them in.The appliance-by-appliance answer.GuidePower outage gearWhat to own for the first hour, the first night and the first week: light, a way to charge, a way to cook, a way to hear the news.The shopping list, cheapest first.

Light and power

A blackout is a power problem before it is anything else. The real answers first, from a power station you carry to the whole house; the candle trick is at the end for the night you have nothing.

Guide PDFPortable solar powerA power station and a folding panel run the fridge, a CPAP and the phones for days with nothing to wire. How to size one, which panel fits which port, and the plug-in order.The first real power purchase. Prints as a 16-page field guide.Guide PDFHome backup power systemA battery and a hybrid inverter wired to the whole house: the well, the furnace blower and the freezers keep running and nobody has to flip anything. The wiring, the mistake I made, the settings.When the house has to run normally for days. Prints as a 20-page field guide.GuideSolar power basicsThe one equation, the four parts, sun hours by region and a calculator that sizes a system from your own list of loads.Sizing any of the above to your house.GuideSolar and backup power: the mapEvery power page on the site with three doors by situation and a portable-against-wired comparison.Not sure which size you need.GuidePropaneThe fuel that stores for years: how much to keep, where it can sit, and the tank math for a generator, a heater and a stove.The gray week the sun does not cover.SkillCrayon candleA crayon burns about 30 minutes, so a box is a few hours of light with nothing to buy.The fallback, not the plan.

Food and water

The fridge clock runs four hours, the freezer two days, and the water pressure in the lines drops the moment the pumps stop. Fill containers first, then eat in order.

GuideWater: storage and purificationOne gallon per person per day, the containers that hold it, and the pool shock that makes thousands of gallons safe when the stored water runs out.The first 45 minutes, and every day after.GuideClean water: which method makes which water safeBoiling, chlorine, iodine, filters and UV, matched to the water you actually have.When the tap water is in doubt.GuideCooking, fuel and fireHow to cook with the power or gas off: the stoves, the fuels, how long each one lasts, and what never comes indoors.Cooking what will spoil, safely.GuideThe camp kitchen in a caseEverything to cook anywhere, packed so it is ready: one case that goes from the shelf to the table in a minute.A kitchen that does not need the house.Guide PDFThe food shopping listWhat to store, how much per person per month and how long it keeps, on one printed page with checkboxes.Being ready before the next one. Free PDF for subscribers.SupplyMREsA hot meal with no stove, no pan and no water: what is in one, how to heat it, how long they keep.The first day, or a cold house.SkillSource, carry and filter local waterFinding water outside the house, carrying it, and filtering it well enough to drink.Day three and beyond.

Heat

A furnace is a fan and a thermostat; without power it is a box. The house loses heat slowly, so the job is one warm room and a safe way to heat it.

GuideStaying warm and sheltered when the heat goes outShrink to one room, layer the body before the house, and the heaters that are safe indoors against the ones that are not.The first cold night.GuideStaying warm with limited gearFor mild climates and thin closets: what works when there is no wood stove and no propane heater.A cold snap in a warm place.GuideWood stove installationThrough a ceiling and a roof, done right: the stove that heats and cooks with no power at all.The permanent fix.SupplyWoolThe fiber that stays warm wet, does not burn like synthetics and lasts decades. What to own and what to skip.The clothing side of staying warm.

Communication

Cell towers have a few hours of battery. After that the phone is a flashlight. Radios and a satellite dish do not care.

GuideCommunicating with no cell or internetGMRS radios for the family and the neighbors, a scanner for the news, and what each one can and cannot do.Staying in touch when the towers go dark.GuideOff-grid communication optionsEvery option from FRS to ham to satellite messengers, with what each costs and reaches.The full comparison.GuideGMRS vs FRSSame channels, different power: which radio to buy and why the license is worth the ten minutes.Buying the first pair.GuideBackup internet with Starlink MiniInternet from a dish the size of a laptop, powered from a pocket power station: plan costs, standby mode, and runtimes.News, weather and a way to reach people, from anywhere.SkillHow to get a GMRS licenseOne form, one fee, ten years, the whole family covered.Before the radios arrive.

If it is more than a blackout

Most blackouts end. The ones that start with a surge or a solar storm can take the electronics with them. Two pages for the outside chance.

GuideEMP: what actually happensThe grid, the truck and the phone, separated from the myths: what an EMP or a solar storm does and does not do.Deciding how much of this to prepare for.GuideThe Faraday bagA sling bag and a full case for the radios, a phone and a drive, tested, and what to keep in them.Insurance for the gear above.

Before the next one

The outage is the test; these are the pages for studying before it. Each one is free to read, and members can print any of them.

GuidePreparing your home: the seven systemsWater, food, heat, power, light, sanitation and communication, and what keeps each one running without the grid.The whole-house checklist.PageWhat to stock: the master listEverything that is not food, by the need it covers, with real shelf life and where to buy it.The supply side.ToolThe walk-around auditWalk your own place and score fifteen systems from 1 to 5; the weakest one is where the next dollar goes.Finding the gap before the storm does.Field guide PDFStockpile Essentials field guideEverything to keep on hand, category by category, with the power and light checklist. 39 pages, built to print.The binder version. Members download it.GuideThe survival bucket for under $300One trip, one bucket, the first 72 hours covered.The cheapest complete start.GuideSweden's crisis pamphletWhat a government that expects a week without power tells its citizens to keep at home.A sanity check on the list above.

Stay Ready

New entries, updates, and useful instruction.

Stay one step ahead on your preparedness journey.

Sign up