Light is the easy part. A few flashlights solve the first hour. What decides whether a blackout is an inconvenience or a real problem is everything downstream of the light: the fridge, the phone, the heat, and in many homes the water, since well pumps stop when the power does.
Official food-safety guidance supplies the two numbers worth memorizing. An unopened refrigerator holds for about four hours, a full freezer for roughly 48 and a half-full one for 24. Keep the doors shut, judge by a thermometer rather than by smell, and discard perishables held above 40 degrees for more than about two hours. The other hazard is carbon monoxide, and it is the reason anything that burns fuel arrives with directions about where it may be run. The Consumer Product Safety Commission publishes guidance for outages specifically, and it is worth reading before you need it rather than during.
Charge everything at the first sign of a storm rather than when the lights flicker. A full power bank and a full phone buy you a day of information you cannot otherwise get.
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Decide in advance what actually needs electricity: phones, medical equipment, and the fridge, in that order for most homes. Battery capacity goes much further when the ranking is made before the outage.
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Portable Power Station (500Wh)
Rated for indoor use, unlike a fuel-burning generator, and enough for phones, lights, a laptop, and small medical devices over a day or two. Store it charged, not empty, and follow the manufacturer's instructions.
Outage updates, restoration estimates, and weather warnings when cell service and wifi are both down. A crank model never needs the batteries you forgot to buy.
Manage food by time and temperature, not by smell or appearance. A thermometer in the fridge is what turns guessing into a decision.
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Cooler with Reusable Ice Packs
Move what you actually want to save into a cooler in one go, rather than opening the fridge repeatedly. Every opening costs you time on the four-hour clock.
Outdoors only, per CPSC and Ready.gov guidance on fuel-burning appliances. Any such stove produces carbon monoxide, and an enclosed room concentrates it fast.
The cheapest item here and the one that decides what you keep. CDC guidance is to discard perishables held above 40 degrees for more than about two hours.
The dangerous part of an outage is usually the improvised heat or power rather than the dark. Ready.gov and CPSC both single out fuel-burning appliances indoors as the hazard to plan around.
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Battery Carbon Monoxide Detector
Hardwired detectors go down with the power, exactly when carbon monoxide risk is highest. CPSC recommends battery-powered or battery-backup CO alarms on every level of the home.
1Freeze jugs of water now and keep the freezer full. A packed freezer holds cold roughly twice as long as a half-empty one, and the jugs become drinking water later.
2Unplug electronics as soon as the power drops. Restoration often arrives as a surge, and a surge into a plugged-in TV is a second, avoidable loss.
3Pick one room as the warm room in winter and close the rest off. Body heat, blankets, and a shut door hold a small space far better than any attempt at the whole house.
4Write your utility's outage-report number on paper and keep it with the kit, along with a note of CPSC's generator rule: outdoors only, at least 20 feet from the house, never a garage. You cannot look either one up with no power and no signal.
Common questions
How long does food last in the fridge without power?
CDC and FoodSafety.gov put it at about four hours in an unopened refrigerator, roughly 48 hours in a full freezer, and about 24 in a half-full one. Keep the doors closed, monitor with a thermometer rather than judging by smell, and discard perishable food held above 40 degrees for more than about two hours. Frozen food that still has ice crystals can generally be refrozen; when in doubt, throw it out.
Is it safe to run a generator in my garage?
No. CPSC guidance is that portable generators are for outdoors only, at least 20 feet from the house, with the exhaust directed away from doors, windows, and vents, and never in a garage, carport, porch, or shed even with the door open, because opening a door does not provide enough ventilation. CPSC also recommends battery-powered CO alarms on every level of the home and letting the generator cool before refueling.
How do I keep my phone charged during an outage?
Charge phones and power banks fully as soon as an outage looks likely rather than after it starts. During the outage use low-power mode, drop the screen brightness, and close background apps, since a phone hunting for a weak signal drains quickly. A car charger or inverter gives you a second source, and a portable power station is safe to use indoors where a generator is not.