What do you all do to be prepared for long term power loss?

[shooterdon]

Thank you. World is already going to crap as it is.

Always find it ironic how "real" Christians seem so fearful of Heaven when you have to kill others to stay alive

We will kill to defend our family, friends and homes. We will kill those who intend to take the resources we have put aside to stay alive.

I will die instead of watching animals raping the people I love.

BTW, that was my approach long before I accepted Jesus in the later stage of my life.

 

[Yander]

I've been making it a point to stop and meet my neighbors over the past 3 years. I've met all of them within about a half mile of my house. All seem like very good people, most are younger than me. I think that is important if things get dicey to be able to rely on neighbors to help each other out.

Sounds like some of you guys are very prepared. I lived through the blizzard of 77/78 as many of you did most likely. That changes your mindset about preparedness.

 

[BlueKnife]

Curious what you all do to be prepared for a long term power outage due to weather, grid damaged by whatever.

I live fully off the grid. Solar power, with occasional generator use to run heavier draw items or to charge the batteries in the winter. DC freezers and fridge. Wood heat. Several years worth of canned food. Propane and wood cook stoves.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

A 15kW generator and between 800 to 1,600 gallons of diesel should keep the lights on for a while.

Then there's probably another 200 or so gallons in vehicle tanks. Worst case, I can go get more fuel from one of the many neighbors that have 200-500 gallon tanks. Most of them don't have diesel generators, so they'll be trying to find propane instead.

 

[otlski]

The longest we've been out is 13 days (Oct 2012). The house is set up to handle it well. Gas stove is lit by hand. Coffee is made on stovetop. Always have 15-20 gallons of water for drinking that we refresh as any significant storm approaches. Lots of canned goods in the pantry to minimize opening the freezer. Three large coolers to offload food into; pack with snow in winter. We have a brook outback for flush water. A stockpile of baby wipes for "showers". Wood for wood stove is moved closer to the house.

Test 3500 watt 30-year-old Coleman genny (have not used it in years) - might need it for well pump but have taken other measures to not need well pump. Test Honda 1000 watt genny; Honda sips gas. Stock 15 gallons of gas for Honda. Do not use either genny to "live normal life"; instead treat usage of gas like its gold and primarily use gas to run freezer in summer. Freezer is chest freezer in garage. in winter it does not need power to keep food frozen. In summer, opening it has minimized impact because it is a chest freezer. Freezer is kept full so thermal mass keeps cold longer. An ice cube at the. top is the "tell" to indicate melting occurred. Keep valuable meats at the bottom, veggies at the top.

Charge up all Milwaukee M18 batteries. Charge up laptops and cell phones. Charge up flashlights. Do not use flashlights unless emergency.

Gas up vehicles beforehand. Keep 15 gallon of diesel for tractor, etc.

 

[ultrarunner]

Generator theft during outages happen here…

I’m afraid if the food supply was impacted it would only be a matter of time for lawlessness to expand.

 

[BlueKnife]

I've been making it a point to stop and meet my neighbors over the past 3 years. I've met all of them within about a half mile of my house. All seem like very good people, most are younger than me. I think that is important if things get dicey to be able to rely on neighbors to help each other out.

An excellent point, one of two (the other being physical fitness) that are far too often overlooked by many self proclaimed "preppers".

 

[garry1p]

Water and med's will be the down fall for a lot of people who think they are prepared including myself.

In the winter I can handle a month off grid and will be eating a lot of dried beans and rice after that I will be SOL.

In summer I have a small garden but don't have enough canning supplies to stock up for winter and haven't canned anything in years.

Long enough without power those without will pry on those that are prepared.

 

[ultrarunner]

Know quite a few with bags of rice in metal tins plus things like powdered milk and freeze dried hash browns plus a pantry of canned good...

Unless you produce your own by farming, raising livestock or hunting most would be in a world of hurt shortly...

Mom was big on fruit and nut trees and always had a big garden with something most of the California year... plus for years we had free range chickens out in the day...

None of the neighbors have anything similar...

 

[dodge man]

I plan on panicking and calling Washington DC for help. If that doesn’t work I have a gas generator to keep the fridge and freezer going. I would need to be able to get gas after a few days unless I could somehow get it out of one of my vehicles.