Summer preparedness is forgiving. If something's missing, you drive to the store, or you sweat a little, and that's the end of it.
Winter isn't. A blackout in July is an inconvenience. The same blackout in January is a burst pipe, a cold house, and a fridge full of food you can't save.
The good news: the gap between the two is about a weekend's work. Here's the list.
1. Run the generator
Not look at it - run it. Fuel goes stale, carburetors gum up, and the moment you find that out shouldn't be the moment you need it. Start it, let it run under a small load for fifteen minutes, then top it off and stabilize the fuel.
2. Count your water in days, not containers
One gallon per person per day is the working number. Four people for two weeks is 56 gallons. Go look at what you actually have and do the math. Most people are surprised, and not in the good direction.
3. Find a second way to cook
If your stove is electric, a blackout takes your hot food with it. A camp stove, a pocket stove with fuel tablets, even a sturdy kettle you can set over a flame - anything that doesn't depend on the grid.
4. Check the flashlights, then check the batteries
Every drawer in the country has a flashlight in it that hasn't worked since 2019. Test them. Toss the dead batteries so they don't confuse you later. Put a light in each bedroom and one by the breaker box.
5. Sort out the heat plan before you need it
Not a whole-house solution - one room you can keep warm. Blankets, a safe indoor-rated heat source, and a rule about which room everyone goes to. Deciding this ahead of time is the whole point.
6. Clear the gutters and check the roof line
Boring, and it prevents ice dams, which are expensive. Twenty minutes on a ladder in September saves a ceiling in February.
7. Winterize the outside faucets
Shut them off, drain them, disconnect the hoses. A frozen hose bib splits the pipe inside the wall, and you find out in spring when the water comes back on.
8. Put a kit in the car and actually leave it there
Blanket, water, snacks, a light, a phone charger that doesn't need the engine running, and something to dig with. A winter breakdown is a different animal than a summer one.
9. Restock the pantry with food that needs nothing
No water to rehydrate it, no long cook time, no refrigerator. Canned protein is the obvious one - it's ready to eat, or you warm it up if you feel like it.
10. Tell someone the plan
The best-stocked house in the county isn't much use if only one person knows where anything is. Walk your family through it once. Ten minutes.
None of this is dramatic. That's kind of the point.
Preparedness has an image problem - all bunkers and worst cases - when most of it is closer to changing the oil. Small jobs, done before you need them, so a bad week is only a bad week.
Work down the list this weekend. You'll be ahead of the weather, and you won't think about it again until spring.
3 comments
You guys have the best content. Thanks for writing this
All good. But if your prepared for any kind of emergency then your covered no matter what happens.
Great info.