Most people own a flashlight and call it prepared. Then the power goes out and they find out what they are actually missing: water, a way to hear the news, heat, and a plan for the first night. This is the short version of that plan. Print it, or keep it on your phone.
Water: 1 gallon per person per day
That is drinking and basic hygiene. A family of four needs 12 gallons for three days. Store it before you need it, and own at least one way to make more: a filter straw, purification tablets, or a gravity filter. A bathtub holds 40 to 60 gallons if you fill it the moment the warning comes.
Light and power: the first four hours
One light per person, one light per room you use, and a headlamp so your hands stay free. Batteries that match, not a drawer of mystery sizes. A charged power bank for the phone, because the phone is your map, your contact list, and your bank.
News and communication
When the towers are overloaded, texts get through and calls do not. A battery-free radio is how you hear the weather service without a signal. Write down three phone numbers on paper: two local, one out of state. In a regional outage, the out-of-state call often connects when local ones fail.
Warmth and shelter
Assume no heat for three days. Sleeping bags rated below the forecast, a way to block one room and heat only that, and layers you can sleep in. A house loses heat fast, but a small closed room with bodies in it holds warmth for hours.
Food you can actually eat
No cooking, no fridge, no microwave. Canned goods, peanut butter, crackers, dried fruit, and a manual can opener. Three days of food per person that you already like eating, rotated once a year. Do not buy survival food you have never tasted.
The one-hour setup
Put it all in one place you can reach in the dark. Fill the tub at the first warning. Charge everything. Put shoes by the bed. Tell one person out of state your plan. That is the whole thing, and it beats a shelf of gadgets you cannot find.
Do not forget the boring items
First aid kit, seven days of any prescription medication, cash in small bills, a physical copy of IDs and insurance, and a printed list of who to call. Card readers die with the power, and pharmacies close.
Built by Bouyea Bargain, a small US shop for the night the lights go out. Everything we sell ships free from a US warehouse, typically in 5 to 10 days, so order before the storm is in the forecast.