Because we live in a rural area, with a lot of trees, winter storms frequently leave us without electricity. And when our power goes out, we are not at the top of the priority list. Which is as it should be - get the power lines fixed for the hospitals and nursing homes first - most of our neighbors are Amish or have generators, we can all wait. Over the years, I've learned a few tricks to make weathering the storm a bit easier.
15 Things To Do Before The Power Goes Out:
- Fill extra containers with water - drink pitchers in the kitchen, 5 gallon buckets in the bathrooms. I'm generally adverse to plastic water bottles, but I will usually buy a case to keep on hand - great for brushing our teeth, etc.
- Charge all of the cell phone battery packs, and keep cell phones plugged in as much as possible while we still have power. (Tip - Watch TJ Maxx for the battery packs, sometimes they are really cheap there!)
- Use plastic window insulation kits - to cut down on drafts before we lose heat. (Ideally I do this in December, but often I don't get to it until I'm worried about the temps dropping really low, in January or February.)
- Turn the temp up a few degrees - so if we lose heat, the house is already warm (we typically keep the house fairly cool)
- Bring a cooler into the laundry room - to store frequently used items & keep from opening the refrigerator door if the power is out.
- Make sure the grill is close to the front door (protected on the porch) and that we have propane. We also have a camp stove (the portable kind made for camping trips) that I like to keep handy and prepped - we can use that in the kitchen if it's too blustery to be outside.
- Cook up a few quick foods that we can eat cold, or heat up easily on the grill or over a campfire. (Suggestions below) If you live in town a campfire in your yard is probably not normal - but here it's very normal, and as long as the snow is not too deep or too windy, it's another method for cooking food.
- Before bed, open up all the closets & cabinets that hold pipes - Under the kitchen sink, the bathroom closet, etc.
- Check all of the oil lamps, make sure the wicks are trimmed and they have plenty of oil. We lose power frequently enough that I started collecting pretty, and unique, oil lamps at thrift stores and flea markets, and incorporating them into our decor.
- Place flashlights and lighters (for the oil lamps) in the nightstands, and in the living room side table. I usually pick up a pack of cigarette lighters and stash them around the house.
- Check your battery supply. What batteries do your flashlights use? Do you have extras? Battery operated candles - do you have extra batteries for those as well?
- Battery operated candles are fantastic for "nightlights" around the house when the power is out.
- Make sure all of the laundry is caught up. We'll go through a lot of extra towels when things thaw out and the dogs are wet and the washer throws water on the floor because the drain wasn't completely thawed when I tried to use it when the power comes back.. If I think of it a week before a storm, I like to wash the throw blankets in the wash so they are all fresh and fluffy and smell good. My washer is also the first thing to freeze and the last thing we thaw - so having the laundry caught up helps.
- Fill the extra gas cans in the garage. We've never actually needed extra gas during a storm - but in theory, if the power was out long enough, we could use the cars for heat and to power the cell phones back up.... This is one of those things that I just think needs done, for no real logical reason.
- Stock up on books & games. As avid readers, this might just be an excuse.. but we download extra ebooks before the storm, and I keep a stack of "real" books on hand in case we need to save power. We also have a bookshelf full of board games and packs of playing cards - our family plays a lot of cards and games normally, but it's nice to have everything handy when we're stuck inside with "nothing to do". (Suggestions for our favorites, below)
My storm prep shopping list:
- Peanut butter
- Batteries
- Lighters & matches
- Clorox wipes (for quick clean up - when you have a well pump, if there is no power, you have no water)
- A case of water
Food Prep
When you are eating cake and playing cards around an oil lamp, not having power doesn't seem all that terrible...
- Peanut Butter is the perfect storm food. Peanut butter on crackers, PB&J sandwiches..
- Eggs - hard boiled... and quiche can be served hot or cold. Don't think of a quiche as "fancy" - load it with maple sausage, mushrooms, onion & cheese.. or make one with salsa & diced chicken.. the combinations are endless. It's a farm staple when the hens are all laying, here. Hard boiled eggs can be made into deviled eggs, or into egg salad. Clafoutis is another favorite here- a crustless custard made with eggs, yogurt, and fruit.
- Baked goods. If you have time, this is a great time to bake a couple of loaves of bread, a cake, and some cookies. When you are eating cake and playing cards around an oil lamp, not having power doesn't seem all that terrible... If you don't bake, pick up a few extra treats when grocery shopping. Consider stocking up on your families favorite candies, and put them in the back of the pantry in a box saved storms.
- Soup. I usually fill a crock pot with soup before a storm. It will keep warm in the crock pot for awhile if the power goes out, but it is also easy to warm up on the grill or over a campfire. And it's a no fuss meal when we come in from the last minute farm chores before the storm hits, even if the power is still on.
- Think about picking up a cheap french press coffee maker and learning how to use it. You can heat hot water on the grill, and still have coffee!
Some Of Our Favorite Card Games:
In our car we have an adapter originally meant to run laptop computers from a cigarette lighter. Mine is a lot older, but it's the same concept. This will run a crock pot. So if you want to leave your car running for awhile, you could, theoretically, warm up a meal. That is not why I bought ours - I bought it way back when it was actually handy to charge my laptop on trips.. and then I discovered that I could take meals, like bbq, to the kids sports practices with the crockpot keeping everything warm while I was driving.
These are another item that I love - oil filled electric radiators. We have them in the bedrooms here, because our furnace struggles to adequately heat a couple of the rooms in this old house. Because they are oil filled, they stay warm for awhile after the power goes out.
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