Every household should make whatever efforts are possible to prepare to go 72 hours without power, and possibly without water, in case of emergency. But how to do so if you are single, low-income, and move frequently (that is, can’t own a lot of stuff)? Here are my considerations, mid-implementation in the face of depleted stores and a storm watch.
Light and Heat
I have stockpiled candles and three tins of Sterno-type fuel (“canned heat”), safe for indoor use. Total cost was around twelve dollars. These will give enough heat to take the edge off a room.
Where else can you get warm? Here, the fire station is a safe place to seek help. One of the university buildings also has a large wood fireplace. It’s good to have a mental list of places to go – a library or school, a community centre, a store, a church or house of worship. Each of these can help, or at least, point you toward better resources. I should hope there would be no cost involved in finding a place to warm up, except possibly the cost of transportation.
For light, there are a few options, such as candles, oil lamps, battery-powered lamps, flashlights, and headlamps. Hurricane lanterns are cheap – I found one for two dollars once, but they are ten or fifteen dollars at the hardware store. Wicking and small bottles of oil may be found at a big-box store or hardware store. Flashlights are cheap, batteries a little more. They are handy. I have a Coleman LED lantern that cost about twenty-five dollars. It is compact and bright, and takes 4 AA batteries. I like having it, because it gives a good light without having to hold it the way I would a flashlight.
Candles are fine for sober, responsible adults who will not leave them unattended. I would love to have a party during an extended outage, but not a candle-lit one. It makes sense to invite friends and neighbours, and share food before it spoils, letting body heat warm a room. If people bring instruments, so much the better, and they will certainly bring stories. It would be a night to remember. Open flame must be off the list, though, because tipsy elbows would create a disaster.
Barbecues, Sterno stoves, and outdoor camp stoves are the likeliest options for cooking. There is a pretty awesome barbecue on our porch, which I imagine would be the primary cookstove in any extended outage. It’s easy enough to make meals wrapped in tin foil and grilled. I am already craving chopped up root vegetables with sausage and spices, and maybe apples with cinnamon baked for dessert or a snack. I would like to have a little stove so that I can cook safely with Sterno fuels inside, but the barbecue does the job.
Extra clothing and blankets for keeping warm – do your best. Spare blankets are a luxury of the settled, but most people with internet access probably have more clothes than they can wear at once. I do know how to layer clothing and move around to help stay warm. Even if you don’t own long johns, you can wear an undershirt, t-shirt, long-sleeved t-shirt, sweater, and vest or jacket all together.
Communication and Emergency
I have a hand-cranked radio. I’m not sure everyone needs one, as long as they have other ways of staying informed (like neighbours with a radio). It is useful to have access to a phone, not cordless, not requiring electricity. If there is a pay phone nearby, that may suffice. If you buy a phone, they are cheap – maybe ten dollars, maybe less if used. Have the number of the power company and other emergency numbers written down where you can easily find them.
How can you physically access help? Keep this in mind when considering warming centres as discussed above.
Do you have a plan to evacuate the area in case of disaster? This step only needs planning once, each time you move. What is your route out of town? What if that road is blocked? How about transportation? I have no car, but I know people who do, and could catch a ride if needed. I am healthy and have a good idea how far I can hike or walk under different conditions. Know your limits, make a buddy plan if that helps.
If you take medication, maintain the stores as best you can.
A first aid kit is good, and doesn’t have to be purchased as such. Get bits at a time. Evaluate what you need, and what you have, and what roommates may have, and put supplies in a central location. Some sterile bandage is important, but you may already have tweezers and scissors and the like.
Change the batteries in your smoke detectors.
Food and water
Many recommendations are for two litres (half a gallon) of water per person per day for drinking and cooking, but this is a pitiful minimum. During the summer, I often use more than that in drinking water alone. Given my low risk of being without water, and my low storage space, I would like to store around 16 L of water, but for now, I have only six.
I am a believer in a stocked pantry. Not all dry goods are easy to cook with limited fuel, but I have enough for a few days. At a minimum, granola bars, jerky (meat or soy), other snacks, and heat-and-serve foods will get you by. At the moment, I have stew in the freezer, root vegetables and storage fruits in the pantry, pitas, and a few snacks. I can eat or cook or heat all of these things without power, and they (mostly) avoid pre-packaged foods with preservatives. This is my general preference for eating. If yours leans toward boxed foods, then your food preparations may be even easier.
The main thing is to avoid, if possible, having a box of foods that are only for emergency. It’s a tricky skill to keep food on hand that you like and regularly eat without actually eating all of it (so that it’s on hand for emergencies), but if you can find a system that works, then you avoid spending extra money on special food.
Cost
For myself, all supplies except the canned heat and the lantern are things I like to use or have anyway. Batteries are probably the most expensive item. I don’t count them as an emergency item, since I use them anyway, but I am still out the money. Reckon your budget as you will.
The total dollar cost of specific items for emergencies should be very low – if you don’t have a lamp or flashlight, then provide for that; first aid items; perhaps a phone; a source of heat. If you have any discretionary income, these items should be within your reach, one at a time, for a total of under fifty dollars, considerably less in an urban area with discount shopping options.
It takes time and money to build up a food reserve, but you can eat it when you move. Use the water, and recycle the containers. Even a rented room probably has enough space. When you move, almost nothing has to come with you that you wouldn’t take anyway.
Shout-out to Sharon Astyk, whose blog focuses on learning to live with less fossil fuel in more permanent ways. Many of her ideas are difficult for a wanderer like me to consider implementing, but I appreciate the challenge to do my best.
and the sock.” In this particular project, the Klein-IV group representation is almost incidental to a larger discussion of modular arithmetic and symmetry. I like this project for its accessibility in introducing quantitative thinking. Crafted representations of geometric or topological curiosities are invaluable for teaching spatial reasoning and teasing and stretching the mind, but these socks have a humbler appeal. There is a lot of nuts-and-bolts reasoning behind a sock pattern that would be within the reach of any knitter old enough to follow it.
