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Household Preparedness Basics
Educational preparedness information for emergencies. Follow local laws and official guidance during real events.
Priorities in order
A useful ordering for any emergency: shelter and warmth, water, food, light and power, communication, security, sanitation, and morale. Most household emergencies are mundane — storms, blackouts, supply disruptions — so prepare for boring problems first and exotic ones second.
Water
Store a minimum of 4 litres per person per day; two weeks is a solid household baseline. Rotate stored water yearly. Have at least two ways to make questionable water safe: boiling (a rolling boil for 1 minute; 3 minutes above ~2,000 m elevation), a quality filter, and unscented household bleach as backup (about 2 drops per litre of clear water, wait 30 minutes).
Food storage
Build depth in food you already eat: rice, oats, beans, lentils, pasta, canned meat/fish/vegetables, salt, sugar, fats, coffee/tea. Store cool, dark, and dry; first-in-first-out rotation. Dry goods sealed in Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers inside buckets keep for years — note that sharp pasta can puncture vacuum bags, so pad or double-bag it. A pressure canner extends storage to meats and low-acid foods.
Backup power
Size backup power by asking two questions: what is the peak wattage of the devices you must run, and how many watt-hours per day do they consume? A small power station covers phones, lights, a router, and a CPAP; a ~2 kWh unit can keep a fridge cycling. A UPS (ideally line-interactive with automatic voltage regulation) protects routers, computers, and NAS boxes through short outages and dirty power. Fuel-based generators need ventilation, fuel rotation, and carbon-monoxide awareness — never run one indoors.
Heat, light, cooking
Blackout basics: headlamps beat candles for safety, wool blankets and sleeping bags concentrate warmth in one room, and a camp stove or propane burner (used with ventilation) covers cooking. A standard 9 kg propane cylinder holds roughly 18 litres of fuel — know how many you have and check fill levels rather than assuming exchange tanks are full.
Home security fundamentals
Fix the weak points before buying gadgets: solid doors with long screws in strike plates and hinges, locked windows, trimmed shrubs that remove hiding spots, exterior lighting, and lived-in cues when away. Cameras and alarms are layers on top of hardened basics, not substitutes.
Documents, cash, comms
Keep copies of key documents (ID, deeds, insurance, prescriptions) in a waterproof folder and encrypted digital backup. Hold some cash in small notes — card networks fail in blackouts. A battery/hand-crank radio covers official broadcasts; agree on an out-of-area contact person with family in case local networks jam.
Severe weather awareness
Learn your region's specific hazards and the warning signs. For example, tornado clues include a greenish sky, sudden calm after strong storms, large hail, a persistent rotating wall cloud, and a continuous freight-train roar — when in doubt, take shelter in the lowest interior room away from windows.
The 72-hour bag (bug-out / go bag)
One per person, packed and by the door — for evacuation (fire, flood, gas leak), not adventure. Core contents: water (1-2 L carried + filter or purifier bottle + chlorine dioxide tablets), calorie-dense no-cook food (nuts, bars, tinned fish — ~8,000 kJ/day), full clothing change with wool socks and rain shell, sturdy shoes stored with the bag, shelter (emergency bivvy or blanket + compact tarp), fire (lighter + ferro rod + tinder), knife or multitool, headlamp + spare lithium batteries, first-aid kit with personal medication for a week, hygiene kit, powerbank + cables, hand-crank/battery radio, cash in small notes, copies of documents in a waterproof pouch, paper map with rally points marked, whistle, work gloves, duct tape, heavy contractor bags (shelter, poncho, water carry — a dozen uses), and comfort items for children. Total target under 10-12 kg — a bag you can actually walk with. Review contents every 6 months (clothing sizes, medication dates, batteries).
Vehicle kit
Blanket or sleeping bag, water, snacks, first-aid kit, headlamp, jump pack or cables, tow strap, basic tools, work gloves, reflective vest and warning triangle, phone charger, paper map, seasonal additions (ice scraper, traction aid, folding shovel in winter). Keep the tank above half — fuel stations fail with the grid.
Community, cash, and barter
Lone-wolf survival is a myth: know your neighbors before you need them — skills nearby (medical, mechanical, electrical), who has generators or wood stoves, who is vulnerable (elderly, disabled) and will need checking on. Hold two to four weeks of expenses in cash at home in small denominations — card terminals, ATMs, and online banking all ride on the grid. Practical barter depth beyond your own needs: extra fuel canisters, batteries, lighters, water treatment, soap, salt, coffee, and skills — these trade better than gold in short crises. Guard operational security: casual talk about your supplies invites problems; the best preparation looks boring from the street.
Practice runs
Preps that were never tested fail in creative ways. Run a "grid-down weekend": main breaker off Friday evening, live on your systems until Sunday. You will discover which lantern eats batteries, that someone's medication is at half, and that the camp stove's regulator is missing — on a weekend when it's funny rather than fatal. Cook from deep storage occasionally; rotate and re-date as you go.