As the 21st century progresses onwards, it seems like so many things that seemed like they ‘would never happen’ in our lifetime, are becoming commonplace and an everyday occurrence. One of these things is power outages.
Due to the strain on our power grid system, many cities experience power outages in the summertime regularly. How to survive a power outage then if you live in an apartment or suburbs? There are some easy ways to do it, but only if you plan and prepare beforehand.
Read on to see some tips on stocking your apartment to prepare for these frequent power outages.
Food and Water Supplies
The first thing you will need a sufficient supply of is drinking water and food, especially when you are potentially dealing with long power outages. You don’t know when you will be able to get to a grocery store to stock up and the power outage will result in water supply shortages as well. Your water will probably be turned off altogether.
The best way to do this is to have a supply of bottled water. You will need to have 1 gallon of water per person, half of which will be for drinking (more if it’s hotter and you are sweating a lot), and the other half for hygiene and other purposes.
If you live in an area where you have access to a stream or some other source of water, then you don’t need to worry as much, as you can use them to supplement your drinking water. You can also use rainwater in areas where rainfall is frequent.
Always ensure you have a way of purifying all these extraneous sources of water, otherwise, you might end up getting direly sick from the bacteria and viruses in them.
You will also want to have a few weeks’ worth of non-perishable food items in your apartment or house. Canned goods, like canned tuna, beans, and fish, works well in this regard. Also, beef jerky, dried fruits, nuts, and seeds are great options to have on hand.
Off-Grid Lights
The other thing that you will want to have on hand is a light source. It can be fun to be without lights for an hour or two, as you can make a game out of it. But going a day or a week without lights is difficult indeed.
Even if you have big windows that let in light during the day, you will want some lighting system for the nighttime.
Off-grid lights are a great option here as they get powered by something other than electricity. You have four options with these:
- Battery-powered lights
- Solar-powered lights (not suitable in a storm)
- Gas- or oil-powered lights
- Candles and flashlights (headlamps are really useful here)
Check out our article The best Off grid lights for home and emergencies there you will finds some cool lighting option in case of an emergency. We also recommend you have one of each option mentioned above. If one mode fails, you have some fallback options.
Cooling Options and Power Generation
You can use a magazine or a book as a fan to cool you down for a few minutes, but after that, you are going to need something a bit more efficient, reliable, and less exhausting. You don’t want to lose too much of your energy by sweltering away in the summer heat.
When you lose power, you are going to lose all cooling (and heating) options, so you will want to have something else on hand. Ecoflow River Portable Power Generators is a great option here (they are solar-powered). ALP generator is another option to consider.
These generators will bring clean energy to you wherever you need it. This way you can still charge all your devices, have a small fan going to cool you down, and heat your food.
You can survive a day or two without entertainment, hot food, and cooling systems. But as power outages become longer, lasting a week or more, you will want to have your smart devices charged up so you can watch movies when you get bored, or have a fan or two going so you don’t die from the summer heat.
Try not to get generators that rely upon diesel fuel or gasoline, because not only are they expensive, but it’s also hard to store these fuels long-term in your apartment or house. Also, without stabilizers, these fuels will gum up and become useless.
Another thing you could search for are cooling options, radios, or other devices that can be powered with a crank, so you don’t have to worry about the sun going down or running out of batteries.
Try not to overdo things when you are in a power outage and it’s sweltering outside. Don’t exercise or move about too much. Keep yourself hydrated and try to rest during periods when the sun is at its peak.
Satellite Communicator
A power outage can affect telecommunication signals and stations as well. This means your cellphone, which you rely upon to communicate with friends, family, and other loved ones, isn’t going to work anymore.
Having a Zoleo satellite communicator is essential then. You can use them to text family and friends when cell service becomes spotty or nonexistent. A satellite communicator uses transmit radio waves up to satellites in Low Earth Orbit to send texts.
So if you can see the sky, you can send messages using a satellite communicator. The clearer the path to the sky, the better the connection will be. And always ensure your messages were sent, before dumping the satellite communicator back into your drawer or backpack.
Hygiene and Sanitation
Another thing that people forget to plan for is hygiene and sanitation during a power outage. You won’t be able to flush the toilet as per usual.
One thing you could do is fill up the bathtub with water, as they can usually hold up to 100 gallons of water. You won’t be able to drink this water. But you can use it to flush the toilet (refill the tank of your toilet manually), wash your hands, brush your teeth, and help you stay as clean as possible.
You are not going to be able to take showers when in a power outage, but you can use baby wipes, and the water in your bathtub to clean your body. Personal hygiene might not seem like the most important thing to worry about when in a power outage, but it can help you prevent the spread of diseases.
It’s also respectful towards the people who are staying in the house or apartment with you, and it can prevent tempers from rising due to body odor or other personal hygiene issues.
Medication and First Aid
If you are just at home, you will probably not end up getting any life-threatening injuries. But you need to ensure you have all of your long-term prescriptions filled up and ready to go.
Keep at least 30 days of stock at home. This way you don’t have to worry about exacerbating any of your chronic illnesses.
In some states, if the government declares a state of emergency, you can even get an additional 30 days of prescriptions filled up, to tide you over until the disaster or emergency period ends.
Ensure that you have a fully-stocked up first aid kit, as you will not be able to visit a doctor during the power outage, no matter how serious your injury might be. Also, hospitals are going to be understaffed, undersupplied, and overloaded, so you wouldn’t want to visit one unless you are at death’s door.
If your child suffers from asthma or is allergic to anything, make sure you have a longer supply of his/her medication and some additional EpiPens at hand. You don’t want to end up running out of such a crucial item due to an extended power outage situation.
How to Survive a Power Outage in the Summer Heat
You don’t want to wait until it’s too late to start planning for a power outage, extended or not. It’s better to start working towards building your survival kit now so that you are not scrambling at the end, trying to beat hundreds of other people at the nearby Costco to get your bottled water and battery supply replenished.
If you wish to live a preparedness lifestyle (and learn about how to survive a power outage), then you need to visit and contact Renegad today. I have lots of content on my website (I’m a one-man show) and product reviews that will help keep you safe and sound during any natural disasters or national emergencies.
This way while others are lamenting that they didn’t prepare enough for something that seemed so obvious (climate change is coming), you and your loved ones will be sitting pretty.
