Apartment Prepping for Heat and Light

Living in an apartment is a whole different thing when prepping.  Space is at a premium and there are likely municipality rules about storing things like propane. Generators are not feasible.  

In terms of light, I never thought candles were a good idea.  Especially if you have small ones and/or pets.  I invested in two things that came in handy during the 2003 Northeast blackout.  First was an emergency radio with a flashlight, siren, AM/FM, Shortwave reception and NOAA channels.  The brand I bought was Kaito.  It is solar powered and rechargeable.  It can also run on batteries and crank.  It also has a flip up lantern that offers enough light for me to navigate my 11'x17' livingroom.  I also invested in a Coleman camp light which runs on batteries or crank.  

I also have small flashlights all over the place.  Two at my computer hutch, one in the medicine chest, one in my nightstand, two in my kitchen, one in the small drawer of my receiving table next to my front door, one in my catch-all bowl by my knitting chair, one in my yarn cabinet and yes... even one in the cat toy basket on top of my entertainment unit.  There is a small flashlight no more than six feet away from me at any given time.  One can by a dozen of them cheaply on Amazon.  

I have two tealight wall sconces, one in the living room and one in the bathroom.  I don't use tea lights but small battery operated electric tea lights.  I turned the ones in the bathroom on and it was plenty of light to navigate.

I also have a headlamp. and a neck type flashlight that hangs around my neck with lights at either end.  The headlamp takes button batteries and the neck lamp is rechargeable.  Both of these live on the same shelf of my yarn cabinet which is directly across from my knitting chair.

In terms of warmth... having had the heat go out over a three day winter storm a few years ago, I swear by stadium heaters.  Hotties can be purchased by the box/case cheaply on Amazon.  A few of those in the bed made all the difference.  Since then I've invested in a mid-weight down comforter.  Talk about cozy!!  

During the day time, I kept warm with layers.  You'd be surprised how warm leggings are under a pair of sweat pants.  Heavy sweaters, shawls, fingerless gloves and a double felted couch blanket my niece made me a few years ago.  I also knit and crochet so I always try to have a big project to work on.  I also kept a stadium heater under my sweater and one for my hands.    Those Hotties go a long way to make cold bearable when the heat goes out.  

If you're able, look into a solar charger.  I have several.  One about the size of my phone, another which is about the size of a notebook and an Enloop solar charger to recharge batteries.  I use these to keep the tablets and phone charged.  I also have several battery chargers that are always charged and a large camping battery pack for things like the cpap machine.  I've gotten two nights out of it before I had to recharge.  

I also bought a car lighter charger.  I don't own a car but I figure I can trade off car battery power for recharging with neighbors who do own cars.

The most important thing, is to check things regularly.  Crank the radio, make sure the batteries are fully charged, etc.  

I have a very cheap $10 tiny radio that takes 2 AA batteries. it gets a surprisingly good reception, so I have that and a box of AA batteries. I also have a small power bank that can power up anything with either a cell phone connector or a USB plug. It holds enough power to recharge my cell phone twice. My children also have one each and I'm encouraging them to keep them charged.

I went to a public talk on earthquake preparedness and at the q and a session afterwards, someone asked about keeping their freezer frozen in a power outtage, and the three people giving this talk all said that they have lined out the inside of their chest freezers with a wall of stacked icecream containers filled with water. The idea being that this frozen ice wall will help keep the freezer colder for longer as the dense blocks of ice take ages to melt, and then once melted, this water is fine for drinking. I thought that was a great idea.