What Should Be In A Power Outage Kit?

People inquire about what should be in a power outage kit when cold weather and storms move in. A friend of mine lives in Northern Idaho. As the winter weather set in, a terrible windstorm came with it knocking out the power. Her family had to figure out how to stay warm during a power outage for 10 days! Could you keep your family safe and warm for a week without power?

So, what should be in a power outage kit? There are several essential items to consider when preparing for a power outage during the winter: light, warmth, radio, charging electronics, etc. Below is a list of 10 categories to help you get organized and ready for the winter.

What Should Be in a Power Outage Kit

damage transformer

1. Heating Options

The Big Buddy is a portable propane heater that is safe for indoor use and heats up to 450 square feet.  It has an auto shut-off if:  it’s tipped over, if the pilot light goes out, or if it detects low oxygen levels.  Click here to see five emergency heating options.

Emergency Indoor Heater - What should be in a power outage kit?- What should be in an emergency kit?

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2. Power Failure Lighting

Tip:  When there’s a power outage, place an active glow stick in each bathroom. It makes it easier to find the bathroom, and you won’t need as many lanterns. Lanterns stay in the main gathering place for your family, like the kitchen or bedroom. Keeping the family together in one room will save on resources. Luci Solar Inflatable Lanterns are my preferred off-grid lighting source. With battery-powered lighting, you can go through a lot of batteries. These can last up to 50 hours and recharge quickly with a bit of sunlight. I’ve used them for over seven years in my car, at home, and camping. Unlike flashlights and battery-powered lanterns, there was never a problem with battery acid leaking.

Camping Toilet

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3. NOAA Radio & Flashlight

My preferences for an emergency radio are:

  • digital station finder
  • AA battery operated
  • FM/AM/NOAA
  • battery life indicator
  • note: I only use the radio’s energy for broadcasting radio stations, not for recharging devices or any other unique features it comes with.

Power Outage Kit - Radio


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4. Battery Bank or Power Station

It is common in this era to rely on our mobile phones for so much. In a power outage, you are more likely to use your phone even more for texting, calling, entertainment, reading, taking notes, taking photos, etc. So it’s essential to have a backup power source! A 20,000mAh battery bank can charge a smartphone several times.

I’d recommend saving up for a minimum 500wh power station if you can afford it. It can charge a smartphone around twenty times, so if you have multiple phones, tablets, earbuds, and smartwatches, this option would be a better fit.

You’ll need a minimum 2000wh power station with solar panels to attempt to power a fridge during a power outage.

Power Station

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5. Cooking Stove

The first day without power is fun. You get to eat the ice cream before it melts in your freezer and have cereal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (before the milk goes bad). For the next couple of days, you eat through the soup, crackers, bread, and any snack items in the house. On day 4 of no electricity, that’s where people start to panic because they haven’t prepared. It’s typically not safe to use a camping stove because of carbon monoxide poisoning, so be sure to have a carbon monoxide detector close to a propane camp stove. Below is a photo of a flameless cooking pot and a propane camp stove.

Flameless Cooking System - Power Outage Kit - What should be in an emergency kit? What should be in a power outage kit?

Related Article:  6 Methods to Cook Indoors Without Electricity

This article does not cover a meal plan with off-grid cooking options, but it can be a helpful prep to consider. I personally don’t keep food and water in this kit because I keep it in a different location, but it’s accounted for. The list of basic essentials doesn’t all need to be in your emergency kit as long as you have a plan for it.

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6. Matches

Matches can light candles, cooking stoves, and the propane heater if the igniter fails. Burnt matches are also helpful in covering up funky smells in the bathroom.

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7. Batteries

Batteries are used for the radio, flashlights, carbon monoxide detector, smoke detector, and fan on the propane heater. The radio, flashlights, and headlamp all use AA batteries and the propane heater fan uses 4 D-cell batteries for the heater.

The following three items are not stored with this kit but should be mentioned.

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8. Food

Some examples of easy meals are oatmeal, soup, tuna on crackers, peanut butter on pancakes, chili, pork & beans, and premade meals. Below are emergency meals that last 30 years, unlike typical boxed and canned food that goes bad after 2-5 years.

9. Water

A power outage doesn’t typically affect the water unless your home gets water from a well with an electric pump. However, water pipes can freeze and break during the winter, making it necessary to turn off the main water until the pipes can be repaired.  Note: Stored water should be rotated by adding fresh water routinely.

Click here to learn more about it.

10. Hygiene Supplies

DIY Hygiene Kit - Home List - Preppers Survive

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Where to Store Emergency Kit

What Should Be in a Power Outage Kit - What should be in an emergency kit?

You’ll want to keep your kit in a place where the temperature doesn’t fluctuate too much.  This will prolong battery life which is said to diminish with every 15-degree increase or decrease.

  1. coat closet near the entry door.
  2. in your off-grid room
  3. basement (stacked on totes or on a shelf to prevent water damage)
  4. under a coffee table

Adding glow-in-the-dark duct tape, stickers, or paint can make your emergency kit easier to find in the dark.

What should be in a power outage kit?- What should be in an emergency kit?

Emergency Kit Dimensions

What should be in emergency kit? Power Outage Kit

  • 16 inches tall
  • 22 inches across
  • 16 inches wide
  • weighs 24 lbs

Items also in the emergency but not listed above:

  • two extra propane tanks (seen in the picture above)
  • a hose that allows the heater to connect with a twenty-pound propane tank
  • Mr. Heater storage bag – the bag is sold separately.

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Power Outage Kit - What should be in an emergency kit?

Originally posted on Nov. 28, 2015.  Updated and reposted March 7, 2017.

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About PreppersSurvive 234 Articles
Welcome to my site! My name is Nettie and I started this blog to provide simple tools to help Preppers.  I am a Girl Scout Prepper. “Be prepared! A Girl Scout is ready to help out wherever she is needed. Willingness to serve is not enough; you must know how to do the job well, even in an emergency" (the motto, in the 1947 Girl Scout Handbook). Being a Prepper has been a blessing to me, my family, and friends on more then one occasion. You'll find these stories throughout this blog.  You will also find prepper supplies checklists, prepper events, cheap food storage ideas, emergency heat sources, survival books recommendations, reviews on power outage lights, printable prepper pdfs, and articles on emergency disaster preparedness.  

5 Comments

  1. I live at 7000 ft. the propane big buddy indoor safe heaters dont operate well or at all at high altitudes.
    I use my natural gas stove as an emergency heat supply. With ventalation of course. I also keep two 2000 watt inverters, two 250 watt heat lamps, two elec. Blankets, 5 gallons of gas, 2 bulk propane bottles and a Dyna glow jet tube heater. The dyna glow will heat a 1000sq. Ft. House in 15 minutes. I drive a two wheel drive, so in winter i leave 10 cases of water in the back of my campershell to aid in traction. Also, dont forget that your vehicle is a minature house in extreme circumstances complete with heating and air. In my case my pickup with a shell is also sleeping quarters.

  2. Still relevant in 2023. I have all these items but these tips for getting it all together were helpful. Love the lady preppers! Are you still active? I didn’t find a follow button but I’d like to!

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