over 2 years ago • Seattle

emergency kit?

My emergency kit guide is up. Complete coincidence that we published this just as Texas was thrashing around with extreme cold, lack of water, and power outages.

freshchalk.com/d/home-emerg...

Any more tips? Liz Pearce was hoping for recommendations on warmth, power and first aid. I don't have great suggestions for those... Up until quite recently I was toying with installing a failover gas generator, but it might be moot since Seattle is planning to phase out natural gas.

One item that didn't make the guide is the SolarPuff, which Nathan Kriege used heavily during the outages in Austin. Haven't used one yet.

16 replies

over 2 years ago

Liz Pearce

Julie Joyce FYI :)

over 2 years ago

Amy Woidtke

As the product of two fire fighters, Thank you for putting this together. I am very safety and be prepared-minded. We have go bags but they are so heavy it’s hard to carry them. Lol.

Our mini go bag consists of take the cat, extra masks, ID, etc. We had a fire alarm during covid- that was definitely interesting. Put on mask securely is just one more thing in an emergency. Oye!

over 2 years ago

Julie Joyce

Great info!! We have already purchsed things we wished we had in house last week.

over 2 years ago

Meredith Fife

When it comes to food, we keep Omeals around for emergencies. They don't require clean or hot water so they are nice to have on hand if anything goes wrong. I actually find them to be quite tasty as well. I'm not a fan of Mountain House, so I prefer to take these on backpacking trips. The one drawback is they generate more waste then some of their competitors.

see - Omeals Self-Heating Portable Meals

over 2 years ago

Nathan Kriege

It's a good idea to give some thought to light. During our prolonged power outage, we were very happy to have a few Solar Puff solar-powered lanterns. We got them years ago for backpacking and never imagined we'd need them around the house, but they worked great and easily recharged each day. We also had some long-burn emergency candles that we burned every evening.

see - Solarpuff Solar-Powered Lanterns

over 2 years ago

Nathan Kriege

Of course another thing that quickly became an issue for us was warmth. We didn't do anything specific to prepare for this, but just having a ready supply of sleeping bags, blankets, and winter gear paid off. A month ago I never would have guessed that I'd end up wearing long underwear at home for days on end.

over 2 years ago

Meg Solley

For extended bone-chilling cold, I recommend real natural wool. I found a 100% alpaca sweater in the bottom of our cedar chest, and it kept in the heat better than the technical down jacket that I bought for mountaineering. My neighbor wore a pair of wool pants from the 70s and I super jealous as my legs were never all the way warm.

Also emergency candles are legit nice to have in an emergency. Eating and playing family games in 40 degrees felt almost pleasant in their warm glow. Good complement for the solar puffs!

over 2 years ago

Galen Ward

Waiting for the Iodine to work, then adding Vitamin C tablets really eliminates the flavor.

For electricity, many of the electric cars coming out in the next couple of years will have power-out options as well. A friend powered his fridge and a few other items in his house for days with a (warrantee-breaking) addition to his Chevy Bolt a couple years ago.

over 2 years ago

Shannon Garbaccio

Fantastic list thank you so much Adam Doppelt.

over 2 years ago

Julie Joyce

We have a small generator that we were able to charge in the car. Wasn't strong enough to run the space heater, but strong enough to power a lamp at night. We also were lucky enough to get some button lights that are adhesive. Stuck above the kitchen sink and in bathrooms. We have purchased a battery powered lamp. Light in the evenings was a big issue.

see - Button Lamp

over 2 years ago

Victoria Grinde

This is a great list! I have been wanting to put together an emergency kit for my home/family. I will be looking into some of the stuff that has been shared here!

over 2 years ago

Dustin Orrick

As Galen was saying I was using this Pure Wave Inverter with my electric Nissan Leaf. I didn’t have to do it but was prepared to run the furnace controller off of it. -

see - Renology Solar Power Converter

over 2 years ago

Nathan Kriege

Dustin Orrick have you done the math to figure out how long you could have run off your Leaf? Do you have a gas furnace with an electric controller or is the whole thing electric?

I like Galen Ward's idea of powering a fridge this way. Our house stayed cold enough during the recent outage that we didn't lose any food even after four days. A different time of year, though, I could definitely imagine being desperate to keep our chest freezer running as long as possible. We have a lot of meat in there that would be sad to lose.

over 2 years ago

Dustin Orrick

I did Napkin math last summer when I bought it but thought just 2-3 days, but 80% of 24KwH Leaf battery and a fridge consuming 2.4kwh a day; maybe 8 days if lucky? Though I wouldn’t run the fridges non stop either and since it’s going through the 12volt battery instead of Lithium Traction battery I assume some loss there as well

over 2 years ago

Dustin Orrick

Oh for the furnace a Gas furnace with just electric controller and blower

over 2 years ago

Anja Castillo

I always add those pouches of salmon since they're high in protein and fats but compact and light weight. Add a lifestraw too so you don't have to worry about keeping as much water!

see - Lifestraw Pitcher

over 2 years ago

emergency kit?

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