Long-Term Emergency Preparedness: Water, Food, Power and Heat When Everything Stops

Cover the basics for everyone in the house: a gallon of water per person per day, three days of food that needs no cooking, flashlights or lanterns with spare batteries, a battery or crank radio, a first aid kit, a week of prescription medicine, phone power banks, some cash in small bills, and copies of IDs and insurance papers in a waterproof bag.

Pack a go bag too, in case you have to leave: water, food, a filter, a first aid kit, clothes, a light, a radio, medicine, documents and cash. Our power outage kit checklist lays out this stage tier by tier with prices.

Water: 14 gallons per person, in stackable jugs or a 55 gallon drum, plus a bathtub bladder to fill on a warning. Our emergency water storage guide covers containers, filters and disinfection.

Food: about 28,000 calories per adult, mostly canned food and pantry staples you already eat, plus a manual can opener. Our emergency food storage guide does the calorie math.

Cooking and heat: a propane camp stove with fuel, used outdoors only, and a plan to stay warm without the furnace. Our cooking without power guide sizes the fuel, and our best heat source for a power outage guide covers indoor-safe heaters and keeping a gas furnace running on backup power.

Sanitation and health: toilet bags and a bucket toilet, soap and sanitizer, a full first aid kit and a bleeding control kit. Our sanitation and first aid guide covers what to stock.

At this stage, storing everything stops being realistic and making things takes over. Water comes from rain, a well or a nearby source, run through a filter and disinfected. Food becomes bulk rice, beans, oats, oil and canned protein sealed for the long term, plus a garden if you have land. Cooking fuel becomes stored propane, then wood and sun.

Power becomes solar. A generator is great for a week, but fuel runs out and gasoline goes stale. A LiFePO4 power station with 400 to 1,000 W of panels can keep a fridge or freezer, lights, phones, radios and medical devices going for as long as the sun shines. Our solar power for a long grid-down guide sizes it.

Communication becomes two-way: GMRS radios to coordinate with family and neighbors, and a satellite messenger to reach people far away. Our emergency communication guide covers what works when cell towers are down.

Skills beat equipment. Learn first aid and bleeding control, how to shut off your home's water, gas and electricity, how to purify water, and how to cook on your stove before you need it. Practice a weekend without using the grid. It will show you every gap in your plan.

People beat stockpiles. Know your neighbors, agree on how you will check on each other, and plan for anyone in the house with medical needs, small children or pets. A street that shares a generator, a well and watches out for each other does far better than one house with a full basement.

Keep it quiet and keep it rotating. Do not advertise what you have stored, eat and replace food and water on a schedule, and check batteries and fuel twice a year, when the clocks change.