Making an Emergency Kit for a Gift

[Deleted]

I want to make an emergency kit for a family that includes necessaries for a power outage.  They live in a remote wooded area, so could get isolated with trees coming down during fall/winter in addition to losing power.

What should I include?  I'm thinking things like mag-lites or good quality lantern, batteries and things like that in a sealed bucket (so the batteries don't get raided for non power outage activities).  And maybe a second bucket with some long life water packets and food stuffs?  

What have you tried and found most valuable during power outages?

[Tiny]

You can google  --   Red Cross Emergency Kit.   They have a great lists of stuff for the type of emergency your area might experience.   They also sell ready put together kits.

That said,  I have bad Battery Karma - which means if I really need a battery to work - it won't --- even if I bought it the week before and it has a 'use by date' 8 years from now.
 Because of this problem I have several different  Shake Lights.   They aren't pretty and they don't throw the same kind of light as a regular flashlight- they throw a focused blueish very intense LED light so they won't brightly lite a room.  But they are perfect for getting to the basement or the garage or other dark area  or just put on a table to give a room enough light to navigate the furniture.   They always work even after sitting on a shelf for 2 years - 30 seconds of shaking gets it going - but 3 minutes of shaking will give 40 minutes of light.  My shakelights are atleast 10 years old - and still working nicely.

You can also get 'survival blankets' - the mylar ones at places like WalMart or on-line thru Amazon for little money.   I use them to line the "Feral Cat Shelters" I set up every winter - to help keep the neighborhood cats safe and warm.  

I live in a very urban area -- where power outages usually last a few hours (although when the transformer in the alley blew up about 8 years ago - we didn't have power for 36 hours... the electrical backlash from that fried my microwave and my cordless phone/answering machine.  Thankfully all my other appliances were OK.  My neighbor's washing machine motor died, as did one of their TVs - almost everyone lost some electrical appliance      The Fire department went door to door checking houses with a thermal camera - for potential fires in walls -- if the old wiring in the houses were doing a slow smolder -- it was very scary for a few hours.   once the Firemen cleared all our houses - most of us grabbed our "adult beverage Go Cups" and started a neighborhood booze "crawl" to help other people effected by the power outage drink their beer and wine before it got warm   So, disasters in my area are dramatically different from other people's disasters.  

A shake light and a Go Cup are really the only "emergency equipment"  I need.   

Meant to add I also have a 2000 year old 'hand crank" radio that doesn't have a battery in it (remember I have Bad Battery Karma).   I like mine it's easy to crank and will run for 45 minutes with 2 minutes of cranking OR it can run on solar if you can set it in the sun.  The newer ones are cheezy and don't seem to work very well and have NiCad battery in them     They are  hard to crank and then only run for 15 minutes.  I'd do some serious  research on any sort of 'emergency radio" or even an 'emergency light' that doesn't use batteries before buying one.

[Deleted]

Sroo, if i put scotch in there, i suspect there will be an emergency as soon as they figure that out!

I like the look of the RC crank radios but have not bought them before.

Tiny - where to get the shaker lights?  I have hand crank flashlights which are very awkward to use so I don't want to get those for he kit.  I like the sound of your shaker lights.  I could put multiple in the kit, one for each family member.  

The house kit would be mainly for power outage & inability to get out to the store (the common issue in the way out woods where they are).  Lets assume the trees have not wiped out the house :-)
- Shaker lights are one of the things I would consider ideal, because they will occupy kids for quite a while exploring/shaking/looking around/shaking and so on.  It's good to have things like that to distract kids.  

[Tiny]

It's Shake flashlight - no R at the end of Shake.    Google should show a bunch of different ones/places to purchase.

I see Amazon and Walmart offer them for under $10.00.     I bet even walgreens or the local hardware store might have them.   

Here's a website with some videos and an explanation for how they work:  
www.vat19.com/dvds/nightstar-forever-flashlight-shake-flashlight.cfm

My oldest shake flashlight is a Nightstar - it still works fine - but I will admit I like the more 'ergonomic' shape and bigger on/off button of the newer styles better.  

I've used the Shake Light as a nightlight for the nieces/nephews when they'd spend the night -  Yeah, it would go off after 40 minutes - but then the plugged into the wall nightlights were still going.  The flashlight helped the kids with enough lite to get over the initial strangeness of a different bed/house.   They also had fun playing with the silly thing.  

 

[Tiny]

I don't know much about the different types of Radios.   I mostly got a Solar Am/FM Radio years and years and years ago - because I wanted to use it while I was out in the yard gardening or messing around in the garage or (after cranking it up) in the Basement.      It still works great.

I live in a place where the biggest disaster is a few hours of no electricity (and maybe having a Go Cup that leaks )   so I don't need shortwave reception or NOAA channel or emergency whatevers.   There's a nuclear power plant about 30 miles away and a Big City about 10 miles away - so I figure I'm pretty much dead if an unnatural disaster happens (power plant fails - or some country bombs my Big City).    So, I can't speak to the radios with all sorts of bells and whistles.   I just wanted AM/FM stations, and that it run off sunlight or after being cranked and NOT having a battery (it's the Bad Battery Karma thing)
ADDED:  just to clarify the radios/flashlights with a NiCad or some other rechargeable type battery -- when you crank them you are charging the battery and then the device is powered by the battery... if the battery won't hold a charge - the radio/flashlight becomes next to useless - because you have to keep cranking to keep the music or light going.    Be sure to determine HOW the radio or flashlight uses the battery/batteries before you purchase it.

My crank radio - winds up a spring and then as the spring slowly 'unsprings' it winds a dohicky in the radio that generates enough power to make the radio work.   There's a bunch of Engineers on these boards so if you need a more technical explanation you can probably ask for one.  "Unsprings" is a technical term I just made up. And everyone knows what a dohicky is 

Why not google SOLAR Radio (most of them have cranks) and then check out which one works for you.   I also bet Wal Mart would have them - or any sporting goods store.

[cronewitch]

We are moving where power outages might be longer than in the city. We don't need a bucket of stuff. We have a half dozen or more lanterns, matches, candles and plenty of regular foods you can eat in a power outage. We have blankets and coats. The propane fireplace may need electric for the fan but may give a bit of heat. We also have a camper with propane stove, generator, air conditioning and everything so could camp in the yard. I have a Karasun heater that will heat a space but burns oxygen so you can't close doors in small spaces. I could use it in the living room and turn it off when we weren't watching it so we have one warm room, leaving all the bedroom and bath doors open so it has about 1500 sq ft of oxygen. We can use the radio in the camper or the TV to get news or cell phones to call people with power.

What I am considering getting is a small/medium solar panel and battery to power small things like the well pump and recharge batteries.

A to go emergency kit is better for evacuation emergencies than at home electrical outages. I would stock that with the shake lights, solar blankets and survival foods and candy. You need candy to cheer up the children and even a small teddy bear if they are losing everything going away for a hurricane or something.

You might in that case pack a flash drive with photos and insurance records and copies of all important papers like wills and power of attorney.

[Peace77]

Another good item is a large round candle that comes in a metal can with a matching cover.  They usually have at least 3 wicks and can put off enough heat to warm up a cup of water or soup. (Use a cooling rack over the candle to hold whatever needs to be warmed up.).

They are available from stores that carry emergency supplies and camping gear.  

A box of waterproof matches goes good with it.

[imawino]

Oct 5, 2013 17:41:41 GMT -5 Tiny said:

You can also get 'survival blankets' - the mylar ones at places like WalMart or on-line thru Amazon for little money.   I use them to line the "Feral Cat Shelters" I set up every winter - to help keep the neighborhood cats safe and warm.   

Awwwwwww!!! 

[techguy]

Oct 5, 2013 18:57:27 GMT -5 Tiny said:

It's Shake flashlight - no R at the end of Shake.    Google should show a bunch of different ones/places to purchase.

 

OMG!!  I googled Shake Fleshlight and it was totally different than what I thought.

Hmm... it does look interesting though...

[tskeeter]

Oct 5, 2013 17:07:25 GMT -5 @rockit said:

I want to make an emergency kit for a family that includes necessaries for a power outage.  They live in a remote wooded area, so could get isolated with trees coming down during fall/winter in addition to losing power.

What should I include?  I'm thinking things like mag-lites or good quality lantern, batteries and things like that in a sealed bucket (so the batteries don't get raided for non power outage activities).  And maybe a second bucket with some long life water packets and food stuffs?  

What have you tried and found most valuable during power outages?

Rock it,  an idea I read about for lighting was solar powered landscape lights.  Charge during the day and provide several hours of light at night.

For power outages around here, before I saw the landscape lights idea, I got a couple of  Coleman lanterns with rechargeable batteries.  They sit on the closet shelf, plugged in and ready to be used.  Would work fine if the outage wasn't going to last more than several hours.

Ditto the sterno idea.  You can buy them by the dozen from restaurant supply places.  Include one of those propane starter wands for lighting charcoal to light the fuel.

For water, if they are on a well (needs electricity to run the pump), there is a pretty good chance they have a water storage tank that the well fills.  Even if they run directly off the well, they most likely have a water heater that holds 40 to 80 gallons of water.  So, they probably have a source of drinking water that would last for several days at a couple of gallons of water per day per person.

For really long lived food stuff, you can't beat rice.  As long as it stays dry, it will keep forever.  Beans are good, too, but not a forever item.  Then fill in with other items that have very long shelf lives.  I think canned tuna is pretty good.  I know people joke about Spam, but a situation like this might be the place.  Generally, anything in a can or a glass jar will keep longer than food in paperboard boxes or plastic bags.  Might be worth seeing if you can find shelf life information on stuff like peanut butter, pickles, olives, salsa, and the like that are often packed in glass jars.  Call the consumer response phone number on the label and ask.  I can just imagine it!  Nosh on some pickles and olives, use some of the pickle juice to flavor your rice and you dine on pickled rice and Spam.    If they were changed out every year or so, things like Hamburger Helper or the dried potato side dish things would work.  As would a case of Ramen noodles.  You could probably extend the shelf life of these products by wrapping each package in several layers of plastic wrap and then in well sealed tin foil.  The additional wrapping would help prevent moisture and air from getting to the contents and causing them to spoil.  (Metal is a great air/moisture barrier, and the additional plastic helps, too).  For food that you are storing for several years at a time, you should generally avoid products in paperboard boxes that contain lots of fat, such as cake mixes.  (Note that under normal household conditions, cake mix is usually good for at least a year.)  The fat in the mix is usually the first thing that oxidizes/spoils.  Spoilage also happens much more quickly when the products are exposed to high heat.  So the emergency supplies shouldn't be stored in the garage that gets up to 120 degrees during the summer.  A basement that is nice and dry would probably be the best choice, followed by main floor closets, etc.

By the way, I'm not a survivalist.  I just spent nearly 25 years working in a variety of food processing plants, and along the way I learned quite a bit about food packaging and shelf life issues.     

[Peace77]

Recently heard that peanut butter is good for several years past the printed date if unopened.

[tskeeter]

Oct 9, 2013 17:51:01 GMT -5 Peace77 said:

Recently heard that peanut butter is good for several years past the printed date if unopened.

I would expect so.  Especially if you can get PB is a glass jar, rather than one of the plastic ones.  Glass has the best barrier properties of any material commonly used.  On top of that, the jar top is sealed with a metal foil backed safety seal.  The metal foil is also one of the best barrier materials, after glass.  And, if you're lucky, the manufacturer has used an inert gas, such as nitrogen, to displace the air between the top of the PB and the safety seal and improve the shelf life of the product.  Good God, I've turned into a total packaging geek

[Tiny]

Oct 9, 2013 16:49:21 GMT -5 techguy said:

Oct 5, 2013 18:57:27 GMT -5 Tiny said:

It's Shake flashlight - no R at the end of Shake.    Google should show a bunch of different ones/places to purchase.

 

OMG!!  I googled Shake Fleshlight and it was totally different than what I thought.

Hmm... it does look interesting though...

LOL!   Thankfully, Google anticipates my searches and corrects my spelling... I'd be alittle afraid of what might come up with search of Shake Fleshlight   especially if I was searching images       if Google didn't take into account my delicate sensibilities and fix the spelling I'm sure I'd see all sorts of stuff I wish I could un see.          Hopefully you found light sources and not something else.

[Tiny]

Oct 9, 2013 17:11:36 GMT -5 tskeeter said:

Rock it,  an idea I read about for lighting was solar powered landscape lights.  Charge during the day and provide several hours of light at night.

 

Ive heard of the Landscape lights being used as emergency lighting as well. It's an interesting idea.

[kittensaver]

I agree with the good ol' fashioned matches! They were one of the most useful things we had (and shared) after the '94 Northridge quake.

In our emergency kit, they are in a glass jar with a tight lid. And a circle of sandpaper is glued to the outside of the lid (for easy striking).

[Peace77]

If you are planning to buy solar lights to use indoors, get the kind with the flat bottom.  
Otherwise, plan on where you can hang them up.  I knew one lady who used a solar light in her bathroom everyday to save on her electric bill.