10 Items to Have on Hand for Your Next Power Outage

 

1. Toilet Paper, trash bags, and a plastic 3-gallon or larger bucket—your toilet substitute if you can’t flush the real one.
2. A pond, stream, or other water source.  Did you know you can flush a toilet by pouring liquid in the bowl.  If you have a well and no electricity, your pond or stream is your best friend.
3. Cash—it may be the only way to buy what you need.
4. Gas camp stove with extra gas canisters.
5. Matches
6. Canned food.  I keep Chunky Soup, Chow Mein, Baked Beans, and Minute Rice (OK, that’s not canned, but I can make a nutritious meal with any of the other canned items).
7. Bottled Water and water purifier for your stream, pond, or lake.
8. Battery operated radio with a crank power source.  Look for one that will also charge your cell phone.
9. In winter, it is good to have a wood stove or fireplace and an available source of wood.
10. Flashlights and plenty of batteries—whether you are cooking or preforming other necessary acts, you will need light. 

What’s on your list?  Have I forgotten anything?

 

 

Benoit Serrier [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC-BY-SA-2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons