What would you do if your power went out for several days?

Fuel and a safe place to burn it to keep warm would be a good idea for those up North, and for that matter some of it for those of us down here too. Having food that is able to be cooked (and the ability to do so) on an open fire without necessarily having a timer. Blankets and candles and matches would be good. Books would be nice but not necessary. The most important thing would probably be a fully stocked first aid kit. I've lived without power as a camp counselor for several months at a time. Staying calm and remembering the basics of survival are the most important things to keep in mind.

Candles and flashlights will help with the lighting issue. A gas grill would be good for cooking. You could boil, fry and grill what ever meat you had in the refrigerator or freezer. Hopefully some form of heating would be available, such as a kerosene heater or a fireplace.

If the power went out for several days I pretty much have it covered. At least once or twice a year we lose power for a day or two because of snowstorms. Once we were without power for almost a whole week because of a non-stop blizzard. I had all the neighbors here so they wouldn't freeze. They didn't have any heat source, etc, and they were delivered here by snowmobile. I think I had 3 families besides mine. I have a big chest freezer and keep it full of all kinds of foods. Some I've made ahead of time, and just need to be warmed up, and some are just things that are easy to thaw and cook quickly. I have a gas grill out in the garage with a full tank of propane so that we can have hot meals and tea, etc. I keep jugs of frozen drinking water, an extra jug of frozen milk (for cooking), extra bread, and frozen lunchmeat. One thing we will never do is starve around here, lol. To keep the house warm I have a kerosine heater that will keep the whole first floor of the house warm. Usually, when it happens, we abandon the living quarters on the upper floor and all stay downstairs where we are able to keep it warmer and liveable. For water, I have a large storage/holding tank downstairs that I can gravity drain for drinking water, the only difference is that it hasn't been through the water softener yet. If they say a bad storm is on the way, I have 5 gallon buckets in the basement that I fill up so that we can continue to flush the toilet, or give water to the animals. I have a hurricane candle decoration in each room that is functional, as well as decorative. There's always matches hidden nearby for just in case. Of course, we also have a supply of flashlights and spare batteries. For entertainment while we're snowed in and unable to leave, I have a game cupboard with all kinds of board games, card games, and jigsaw puzzles in it. All in all, we're pretty much set if it should happen again. We lost power the other night 3 different times because of 60 MPH winter winds, luckily it wasn't off for more than 10 minutes each time. Out where I live in the snowbelt, it only makes sense to be prepared because more likely than not, it will at least be out for one whole day once or more during the year. I would much rather be stuck without power on the farm here than in the city! I can't imagine the panic of those who get stuck in elevators, or live where a gas grill, etc, isn't an option.

Probably, I would go to bed early and do without for awhile.

I had one for two weeks in Kansas City due to an icestorm a few years back. Two..weeks..! I tried to stay here with my animals, then I talked my brother into allowing me to take all my kids to his place. It got down to around 40 in the house, so we came home during the day for a few hours to check on things and left at night. I hope we never go through another outage that long again.

I've been stuck without power for a couple of days, and it was alright. We have plenty of perishables and batteries and candles, and a battery operated television. Our stove is gas so we were still able to use that. The biggest fear was the food in the fridge. Luckily this happened in winter, so we just wrapped everything up and kept it outside in the cold to keep it fresh.

If the power is already scheduled i would go out of city to enjoy the power cut something like hillstation.

After Hurricane Rita swept through we had no water or electricity for several days. It was hot and humid and we did suffer. I had just restocked my deep freeze and we lost everything we couldn't cook. I learned a lesson from it: 1. Keep bottled water on hand 2. Keep laterns and flashlights 3. Have new batteries 4. Have a means to cook like a Coleman Stove and fuel 5. Keep a supply of paper plates and cups 6. If possible, get a generator When a disaster strikes, it is too late to think about getting things fromt ehstore...everything is already gone. Plan ahead!

This is my 2nd reponse since our furnace just went out and now even though we have power, we have no heat...so we are burning candles carefully and using 2 space heaters...put blanket over the door and are using extra blankets in bed tonight. We can cook so while baking a few desserts, it is the holiday anyway, that is lending heat so that we can do fine. We have a couple of candles, thank God we put many away near my houseplants so they will not freeze and so far we are making it. Sure do miss my solar and wind powered house tonight...

If the power goes out for several hours i would simoly prefer my IPOD , as nothing else would work me without power....but the only problem is the generator, which opens automatically once the power is failed

I've got a ton of nuts and dried fruits stored away, so food would likely not be a problem. Blankets and all that are good, so I'd be able to stay warm. And I have candles, and a fireplace. I have wood in the back yard; it wouldn't be too bad to go get some when I need it.

yes i experienced that as i lived in Surrey, Bc Canada. and it was a major snow storm in Canada's history and we're out of electricity for 2 na half days. we bougth campers stove for little bit cooking but it was only helpful only making tea. first day was very horrible as we dont have anything to preapre tea and warm our food and second day there're problem of heating as room temprature was falling we put 2 blankets beneath and heavy comforter over our selves and just stucked in our beds. it was like night mare.

Lit the candles read some books and tell ghost stories.

i will do my best to save my self and to help others

I think the longest we were ever without power in the USA where I lived, because of ice storms, was three days. We used a gas heater to keep warm and cooked outside on our barbeque grill. We used a battery and inverter for running a radio or small TV for short periods of time and had candles on hand. Here in Nicaragua, the electricity goes off frequently. In some parts of town 3 to 4 hours every day is normal for the electricity to be off. We keep candles and a flashlight handy at night for such reasons. It makes you appreciate the times you have electricity.

I would buy a lot of candles which I do anyway. Bring my jenarater in. buy some ice put my frozen meats on ice. Relax and just mellow out. Maybe even have a party.

this happened to us already because of a signal no. 3 storm! we had no lights for like 1 and a half weeks. it was the worst days. n way to charge phones, all electricity lines are scattered on streets, it was really hard, and i have to bring to the office all our cellphones so i could charge them in the office with generators. no problem with food though since market is open. it was just the electricity that made the life worst.

wahahahahahahahah I would be depress live wothout electicity. If there is no electricity, there will be no water since my water pump aloso die. T___T Umh.. suply a lot of water, a lot of candle, and always sleep early. lol

Well, we just got hit recently by a powerful tropical storm and our power went out for days. I forgot how many days it was..maybe 4-5 days. It was a total blackout and the streets were literally dark. The storm still cloud the sky so the moon isn't present. Good thing we got stocks of batteries for our radio to keep us informed. Even our telephone was out. As for food, we always keep an ample amount for stock so we were ok.

well...i'd do something i can do in the dark, like having a candlelight dinner with my girlfriend.