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Power Outage Supplies I Wish I Had When I First Lived Alone
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items My first blackout in my own apartment lasted 14 hours. I ate cold cereal in the dark, my phone died at 22%, and I couldn't find a single candle. If you just moved into your first place and haven't thought about what happens when the lights go out, le...
Sections
6
Lighting That Won't Leave You Stumbling Around
Keeping Your Phone Alive When There's No Outlet
Food and Water When Your Fridge Goes Dark
Staying Warm Without Heat
Info and Communication When WiFi Dies
A Go-Bag So You're Not Scrambling in the Dark
Lighting That Won't Leave You Stumbling Around
I tripped over my coffee table twice and stubbed my toe on a doorframe before I finally accepted that my phone flashlight wasn't going to cut it. These would have saved me a lot of bruises.
Keep one in every room. I was fumbling through drawers looking for matches like it was 1842. This thing runs for hours and collapses flat for storage.
Energizer Vision LED USB Lantern - 1200 Lumen's
Toss this in your bathroom and forget about it until you need it. For anyone who lives alone and doesn't want to navigate a dark hallway at 2 AM during a storm.
Rayovac, Floating Lantern, Waterproof, 6V Battery Included
Grab this over the cheap dollar store ones that die after twenty minutes. I burned through three flimsy flashlights in one outage before I learned my lesson.
Maglite 3 Cell D Led Flashlight Black St3d016
Strap this on and suddenly you have both hands free to cook, clean up, or dig through closets. Felt ridiculous wearing it, but it was the smartest thing I did all night.
Energizer Hard Case Professional LED Spotlight
Pick up a couple before you actually need them. Smells good, burns for like 110 hours, and doubles as actual emergency lighting when the power drops.
Yankee Candle, Clean Cotton Original Large Jar
Keeping Your Phone Alive When There's No Outlet
Watching my phone battery tick down from 22% to 8% while I had no way to charge it was genuinely stressful. No phone meant no flashlight, no weather updates, no calling anyone.
Charge it once and it'll fill your phone three or four times. I keep mine topped off in my nightstand drawer now. Would have saved me a full panic spiral during that first outage.
Anker Portable Charger 20000mAh Power Bank 2-Port
Use this if your outage stretches past a day and your power bank runs dry. Unfold it near a window and slowly juice your phone back up. Works better than you'd think on cloudy days.
Customer reviews for Goal Zero Nomad 100 Watt
Tiny enough to forget it's in your bag. For the person who always means to charge their backup battery but never does. This one's small enough that you'll actually keep it ready.
Anker Nano Power Bank - 12W / Built-In Lightning Connector
Waterproof and rugged, so toss it in your go-bag without worrying. I dropped mine in a puddle during a storm and it kept working like nothing happened.
myCharge Adventure Plus Portable Charger 15000mAh
Hang it on a balcony railing or prop it in a sunny window. Two USB ports so you and a roommate can both charge at once. Paid for itself the second time I needed it.
Nekteck 28W Portable Solar Charger
Food and Water When Your Fridge Goes Dark
By hour six, everything in my fridge was getting warm and I had nothing shelf-stable to eat. I literally Googled ‘can you eat warm yogurt’ on my dying phone.
Stash this in a closet and don't touch it until you need it. Just add hot water. Way better than cold cereal at midnight, which was my only option the first time around.
Mountain House, Emergency Food Supply, 14-Day
For anyone on well water or worried about contamination during extended outages. Weighs nothing, fits in a drawer, and filters basically anything sketchy out of your water.
LifeStraw Personal Water Filter Straw
Throw your perishables in here with some ice the second the power drops. I lost about $80 in groceries because I just left everything sitting in my dead fridge hoping the power would come back.
Igloo Latitude 52 Blue 52 qt Cooler
Pair this with a small camp stove and you can heat soup, boil water, make coffee. I would have traded my firstborn for a hot cup of coffee at hour ten of that blackout.
Sterno Canned Heat Gel Cooking Fuel - Pack of 6
Keep this full in your fridge at all times. When the tap gets weird during storms or the pressure drops, you'll be glad you have a few liters of filtered water already sitting there.
Brita, Water Filter Pitcher, 6-Cup, BPA-Free White
Staying Warm Without Heat
Nobody warned me that my apartment would drop to 55 degrees in four hours without the furnace running. I ended up wearing three hoodies and sitting in my closet because it was the smallest room.
Wrap yourself in this and you'll forget the heat is out. Thick wool, not that thin fleece that does nothing when it's actually cold. Worth every penny when January hits.
Made in USA Wool Blankets & Throw Blankets
Toss a couple in your pockets, a couple in your socks. They stay warm for ten hours. I bought a box after my first outage and I've used them during every cold snap since.
HotHands Hand Warmers, 10 Pair, Up to 10 Hours of Heat
Crawl into this on your couch and you're set down to 0 degrees. For anyone whose apartment turns into an icebox fast. I slept better in this than under my regular comforter.
Coleman North Rim 0°F Sleeping Bag
Use this in a ventilated room and it'll take the edge off fast. Has a built-in safety shutoff so it won't tip and burn your place down. Check your lease first, but this saved me.
Mr. Heater Portable Buddy 9000 BTU Propane Radiant
Pull this over your head and neck when the temperature drops inside. You lose so much heat through your head. Sounds obvious but I sat there shivering for hours before I thought to cover mine.
Fleece 2-In-1 Headwear
Info and Communication When WiFi Dies
No power meant no WiFi, no smart speaker, no TV weather alerts. I had zero idea what was happening outside or how long the outage would last. That uncertainty was the worst part.
Crank the handle for a few minutes and you get weather alerts, AM/FM, and a phone charger. I didn't even know weather radios existed until after my first blackout. Now it lives on my shelf.
Midland ER310 Emergency Crank Weather Radio
Keep a pair and give one to your neighbor or partner. When cell towers get overloaded during big storms, these still work. Range is solid enough for an apartment complex.
Motorola Talkabout T200 FRS/GMRS 2-Way Radio - 2 Pack
Swap out the battery twice a year. If you're burning candles or running a propane heater during an outage, you absolutely need one of these that works without power. Non-negotiable.
First Alert CO710 Carbon Monoxide Detector with 10-Year
Write down emergency numbers, your landlord's info, and utility company contacts before you need them. Sounds old school, but when your phone is dead, paper doesn't need a charger.
Customer reviews for Rite in the Rain Weatherproof
Stock up on these right now while you're thinking about it. Every single device on this list needs batteries. I had exactly two dead AAs in my junk drawer when the lights went out.
Energizer MAX Double A Alkaline Batteries (24 Pack)
A Go-Bag So You're Not Scrambling in the Dark
After that night, I packed a bag and stuck it in my hall closet. Took twenty minutes. Now when the power drops, I grab the bag instead of running around opening every drawer in the apartment.
Fits everything on this list that's portable. Tons of pockets so you're not digging through one big compartment in the dark. Built tough enough that you can toss it around without worrying.
5.11 Tactical RUSH 24 Hunting Backpack, Sandstone
Throw this in the bag and hope you never open it. But if you cut yourself on a can of soup by candlelight like I almost did, you'll want bandages that aren't buried in your bathroom cabinet.
Swiss Safe 2-in-1 First Aid Kit for Car, Travel & Home
Pliers, knife, screwdriver, can opener, all in one thing the size of your palm. For the person who owns zero tools and would otherwise be trying to open cans with a butter knife.
Gerber Suspension NXT 15-N-1 Multi-Tool with Pocket
Tuck these in the bottom of your bag as backup. They weigh nothing, fold tiny, and reflect your body heat back at you. Not luxurious, but they work when you're desperate.
TITAN Two Sided Mylar Emergency Survival Space
Fill it and toss it in the bag. Simple. During my outage I was drinking from a coffee mug I kept refilling because I couldn't find a clean cup. Having water ready to go is just one less thing to think about.
Nalgene 32 oz Wide Mouth HDPE Water Travel Bottle