The Budget Preppers

I got this email today saying bad weather and high winds are coming. I’ve made a check list you can follow as well. Prepping for bad weather makes it so much easier to find things when and if the power does go out.

We are a family of 5 with 2 younger children, so my first priority is making sure they are squared away. By all means if you do not have younger kiddos adjust your list to make it suit your family’s needs. In no particular order here is the exact things I did to prep for bad weather.

Water

I’m not saying go run out and buy a bunch of water right before a storm! If your already out and can grab a gallon or a case of water it’s never a bad idea. Once you are home here are a few tricks you can do to stretch your supply before an outage happens.

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• Fill up the tub, you can use one of these waterbobs to make the water drinkable or the water can be used to flush toilets
• If you have a top load washer fill it up and turn it off, water can be used to flush toilets
• Refill up kettles and let sit, you wont be able to heat the water but it will be drinkable
• Fill up pitchers of water
• Be sure to know where you have your water filtration systems at. We have these portable LifeStraws in our prepping bucket so they are readily available.

These are of course short term water solutions. You can jump over and read 3 Ways To Store Water Long-Term.

Food Prep

I always like to make sure I have a few items on hand that are more convenience food than what I would typically have. We do a lot of scratch cooking here which is not ideal for a few days with no power. Also, doing dishes during an outage is not an easy task either and scratch cooking definitely creates a lot of dishes. Having easy grab and go items that only require you to open them or warm them is much easier than full blown meals.

Easy Food to Have Ready

• Canned Goods, items like spaghetti o or canned soups are perfect. Just be sure you have a manual can open or pop top canned goods.
• Freeze Dried Meals. We use are Harvest Right freeze dryer and have a few different meals on hand. You could also grab a few “camping meals” or start building your own stock pile of freeze dried foods.

• Snack Items. If your family is like mine, no electricity and being cooped indoors means lots of boredom eating is bound to happen. With younger kids I try to keep a box of cheese its or gold fish handy which is an extra special item because we don’t normally eat those things.
• Consuming your refrigerator items. Probably the worst part of loosing electricity is knowing you may loose everything in your fridge and freezers. The day before a storm go through and have a leftover day or use up what you can. Hold off on buying your monthly or weekly groceries until the storm has passed. Once the power does go out DO NOT OPEN YOUR FRIDGE, if you can help it. Keeping the cold air in will help keep things from going bad.
  • If you know you will be without power for awhile you can grab a bag or two of ice and fill up a cooler to place items in to keep them from going bad.

Let There Be Light

When prepping for bad weather lighting is high on the list because, sitting in the dark is no fun! We make sure we have a few different lighting options on hand at all times. These are some of our favorites.

• Rechargeable hanging lights, we have a 2 pack of these and I have them hanging. One is in the kiddos bathroom and the other I have hanging in the hallway. I leave them there at all times so they don’t get broken or misplaced. If I know an outage is coming I simply give them a recharge and hang them back up.
• Rechargeable Light Bulbs, these are so nice if you just want to have something already in place. They are perfect for when you don’t get a warning before an outage as they will automatically come on and that saves you from scrambling in the dark.
• Solar Lights, These are by far my favorite. The solar lights are rechargable. You can charge your phone from them as well! They put off a lot of light too.
• Flashlights, grab some extra flashlights and batteries and have them handy.
• Glow sticks! these are mainly for the kids but hey, they could be fun for adults too. I get the big 3 pack of 300 of these and have them on hand but you can also find them at your local dollar store for cheap. We do have 3-5 of these “Big Daddy” glow sticks. They are perfect for emergencies and prepping for bad weather.

There are also a few other things I make sure to have handy, or readily prepped just in case.

Electronics

Lets face it, we love our electronics. Before a storm make sure you have your phone, laptop, gaming consoles, emergency radios, and any other electronic you use daily fully charged. If you live in an area that has frequent extended outages investing in solar or backup banks could be helpful. Another thing to mention, is once power does go out, be sure to unplug any items you don’t need plugged in right away. These items could include but certainly not limited to, wax warmers, washing machine, lamps, alarm clocks, or dvd players. By unplugging these unused items, when the power is restored it helps the grid from being bogged down too quickly which could result in another outage.

Medications

I have lupus, and although I am not currently on any daily medications for it I do try to make sure we have extra medications on hand. Make sure you always have a 90 day supply of your daily medication. This is another way you can be actively prepared. We also try and have a stash of our daily vitamins and multivitamins on hand. Having these on hand can also be helpful if there is ever a shortage of your medication. Have your first aid kit readily available.

One thing I would call a medication but is certainly a NEED for me, is contacts. I am blind as a bat without them and get EXTREMELY nauseous wearing glasses even if it’s just for 3 minutes. I always make sure I have extra of my prescription on hand.

Sanitation Prep

It’s a good thing to have extra hand sanitizer and baby wipes on hand for when the power goes out as you don’t want to be using up your bottled water for washing your hand unless you have to. Keeping clean is extremely important when prepping for bad weather because, even when there is no power and can help keep your family from getting sick. We personally prep these bathing wipes which are similar to what they use in the hospitals.

Dishes and Laundry

I have a personal preference to switch over to plastic wear once we know a storm is coming. I make sure all the dishes are done and put away because that’s the last thing I want piled high with no electricity. If you have enough warning in advance, I do laundry as well. Those are personal preferences/pet peeves of mine, because the dishes and laundry stack up FAST. If you do loose power you can hand wash your laundry with these AMAZING laundry sheets. They are so good, I use them regularly just so I don’t have to worry about having them on hand. They can be used in all washer types, or for hand washing. Perfect to stash away too because they aren’t bulky and wont spill!

Have A Plan

When bad weather does hit, it’s important to have a plan of where you are going to shelter. If you plan to shelter in place, be sure to have it ready and set up. We don’t have a basement unfortunately, but we do have a closet under the stairs that is set up with two sleeping bags and a few pillows just in case. I also keep a case of water in there and our emergency tote that keeps all my basic supplies. Having the tote in one spot also means that in case we do need to leave our home we can quickly grab that tote and have some basic supplies on hand.

In Closing

I hope these ideas give you a quick run down of what you can do if you know bad weather is coming. Going through and double checking is also a great way to make sure you have all your items prepped and ready for those times we don’t get notice of an outage. Prepping for bad weather doesn’t have to be stressful or take a lot of time. You can easily go through this list within an hour.