ReadyHarbor

Power's out

The power is out and it is getting dark

What you actually need for power's out — 15 things to cover, each with a pick.

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A lantern that lights a whole room

A phone flashlight points at one thing and blinds everyone looking at it. A lantern throws light in every direction, which is what turns a dark kitchen back into a room people can sit in.

What to check
  • Rechargeable saves you hunting for batteries in the dark, but a model that also takes batteries keeps working on a long outage
  • Check the runtime on its lowest setting, because that is the one you will actually leave on

3 options — pick the one that fits, then tap through for the current price on Amazon.

A headlamp so both hands are free

Everything you do in an outage takes two hands: the fuse box, the tin, the stairs, the child. A torch held in your teeth is how people end up doing all three badly.

What to check
  • Look for a red-light mode - it keeps your night vision and does not wake a sleeping house
  • Check the strap adjusts small enough for whoever else in the house will end up wearing it

3 options — pick the one that fits, then tap through for the current price on Amazon.

A power bank that can refill a phone twice

The phone is your light, your clock, your news and your way of telling someone you are fine. It is also the thing draining fastest, because everyone in the house is on theirs.

What to check
  • Read the capacity in mAh and divide by your phone's battery to get real refills, not the marketing number
  • Check it has USB-C output, and that it can charge a phone while it is itself charging back up

3 options — pick the one that fits, then tap through for the current price on Amazon.

A way to charge from the car

If the outage runs long, the car in your driveway is a battery you already own. Most people discover their car charger is a slow one at exactly the wrong time.

What to check
  • Look for USB-C Power Delivery and a stated wattage
  • A 60W-class charger fills a phone in a fraction of the time an old socket adapter does
  • Check the cable is long enough to reach the back seat if someone is sitting there

3 options — pick the one that fits, then tap through for the current price on Amazon.

Batteries in the sizes you actually own

Smoke alarms, torches, remotes and the radio all take ordinary batteries, and an outage is when you find out the drawer is empty. It is the cheapest thing on this page and the one most likely to be missing.

What to check
  • A variety pack of AA and AAA covers most of a house
  • Check the printed expiry date, because alkalines sitting in a drawer for years lose charge whether you use them or not

3 options — pick the one that fits, then tap through for the current price on Amazon.

A radio that does not need the grid

The single most frustrating part of an outage is not knowing how long it lasts. A hand-crank or battery radio gets you the local emergency broadcast when the internet is gone with the power.

What to check
  • Look for NOAA weather bands if you are somewhere with storms, and a hand crank as the fallback for when the batteries also run out
  • Many carry a USB output that will trickle-charge a phone in a pinch

3 options — pick the one that fits, then tap through for the current price on Amazon.

Flameless candles for the stairs and the bathroom

Real candles are the leading cause of house fires during outages, and the places you most want light - stairs, the bathroom, a child's room - are the worst places to leave an open flame.

What to check
  • Look for a timer function so they come on at the same hour each evening without anyone touching them
  • Check they take a common battery size rather than a coin cell you do not stock

3 options — pick the one that fits, then tap through for the current price on Amazon.

A manual can opener

Every no-cook meal in your cupboard is behind a lid. A household that has only ever used an electric opener discovers this about ninety minutes into an outage.

What to check
  • A side-cut opener leaves no sharp edge, which matters when you are working by lantern light
  • Check the handle is comfortable to turn, because a stiff one is genuinely hard work

3 options — pick the one that fits, then tap through for the current price on Amazon.

Food that needs no cooking

An electric hob is out and a gas one may need a match. Having a shelf of things that can be eaten straight from the tin or pouch is the difference between dinner and a takeaway drive in the dark.

What to check
  • Choose things your household will genuinely eat, not survival rations that sit for a decade and get thrown out
  • Check the shelf life and put a reminder in your phone to rotate the stock once a year

3 options — pick the one that fits, then tap through for the current price on Amazon.

A cooler to save what is in the fridge

A closed fridge holds for a few hours and a closed freezer for longer, but every time someone opens the door the clock resets. Moving the milk, the meat and the medicine into a cooler once means the fridge stays shut.

What to check
  • Check the stated ice retention in hours rather than the size on the front
  • A hard-sided cooler holds cold far longer than a soft bag if the outage runs overnight

3 options — pick the one that fits, then tap through for the current price on Amazon.

Ice packs that live in the freezer anyway

A freezer full of frozen blocks stays cold for close to twice as long as a half-empty one, so these are working for you before the outage even starts. Then they move into the cooler.

What to check
  • Solid blocks last longer than gel sheets
  • Check they are sized to fit the cooler you own, and buy enough to fill the gaps in the freezer rather than just two

3 options — pick the one that fits, then tap through for the current price on Amazon.

A fridge and freezer thermometer

After the power returns, the real question is whether the food is safe. Guessing by smell is how people get ill. A thermometer that has been sitting in there the whole time answers it in one look.

What to check
  • Look for a model that records the highest temperature reached, so it tells you what happened while you were asleep rather than only what is true now

3 options — pick the one that fits, then tap through for the current price on Amazon.

Water you are not carrying in jugs

If you are on a well, the pump is electric and the taps stop with the lights. Even on mains water, a boil notice can follow an outage, and boiling is exactly what you cannot do.

What to check
  • A collapsible container stores flat and fills from any tap before the outage bites
  • Check it says BPA-free and has a spigot, because pouring from a full container is a two-person job

3 options — pick the one that fits, then tap through for the current price on Amazon.

A carbon monoxide alarm

Outages are when people run a generator too close to the house or bring a grill or camp stove indoors for warmth. Carbon monoxide has no smell and the early symptoms feel like an ordinary headache. This is the one item here that is genuinely about safety rather than comfort.

What to check
  • Get a battery or plug-in-with-battery-backup model - a mains-only alarm is off during the exact event you bought it for
  • Check the printed end-of-life date, because the sensors expire on a fixed schedule regardless of use

3 options — pick the one that fits, then tap through for the current price on Amazon.

Something to protect what is plugged in

The damage often happens when power comes back, not when it goes. A surge on restoration is what kills fridges, televisions and computers, and it happens just when everyone is relieved.

What to check
  • Check the joule rating - higher absorbs more before your equipment sees it
  • Check the label actually says surge protector, because a plain power strip offers no protection at all

3 options — pick the one that fits, then tap through for the current price on Amazon.

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