Power Outage Survival Kit + Preparedness Checklist

Build your power outage survival kit

A power outage survival kit keeps your household self-sufficient for 72 hours, the planning window this guide uses. Tap each item as you gather it, or print the list; this device keeps track of what you have.

What to do in a power outage: hour 1 through restoration

The first hour sets up everything after it, and the moment power returns can bring surges that damage appliances left plugged in. The steps in between are straightforward if you know them ahead of time.

1. 1

   First 5 minutes

   Verify the outage is not just your home: check a breaker, look at a neighbor’s porch light. Report the outage to your utility by phone, text, or its outage page. Note the time. Enable phone battery saver mode now, not later.

2. 2

   First hour

   Turn off major appliances that were running (dishwasher, oven, AC) so they do not all surge when power returns. Move the most perishable food into a pre-chilled cooler. Keep the fridge and freezer closed otherwise. Check on neighbors who rely on medical equipment or are elderly.

3. 3

   First 24 hours

   Use your lights, not candles. Use your phone sparingly, not as a flashlight. If the outage is expected to last, follow the fridge rule: with the doors closed, food stays safe up to 4 hours in the fridge and 48 hours in a full freezer. Start non-electric temperature management for the season (layers in winter, shaded rooms and hydration in summer).

4. 4

   Day 2 to day 3

   Discard refrigerated perishables (meat, poultry, seafood, milk, eggs, leftovers) that have been above 40°F for 4 hours or more. If conditions at home become too hot or too cold, the CDC’s advice is to seek shelter with friends or at a community shelter; check with local officials for open warming or cooling centers. Keep monitoring WEA and your utility’s restoration estimate.

5. 5

   When power returns

   Plug appliances back in one at a time; Ready.gov notes that power may return with momentary surges or spikes that can cause damage. Check every refrigerator and freezer item individually: when in doubt, throw it out. Reset clocks, the WiFi router, and the modem. Document any damage from power surges for insurance.

Hot weather outage vs cold weather outage

Season changes the stakes as much as outage length does. A 24-hour outage in mild weather is an inconvenience. A 24-hour outage in a heat dome or a deep freeze is a medical emergency for vulnerable household members. Our extreme heat guide covers cooling a home without power and spotting heat illness.

Do I need a generator?

A well-stocked power outage kit is built to carry a household through 72 hours. A generator becomes worth the cost, complexity, and fuel storage in three specific cases:

• Someone in your household depends on medical equipment (CPAP, oxygen concentrator, home dialysis).
• You live in an area where multi-day outages are routine (rural, wildfire PSPS zones, extreme-weather corridors).
• You rely on a well pump for water, because no power means no water beyond your storage.

Safety non-negotiables for any generator:

• Never run a generator indoors, in a garage, or within 20 feet of any window, door, or vent. Carbon monoxide can cause sudden illness and death.
• Store fuel in approved containers outside the home, in a cool, ventilated area, well away from ignition sources.
• Plug appliances directly into the generator using heavy-duty outdoor-rated cords, or have an electrician install a transfer switch. Never back-feed through a wall outlet.

Power outage alerts for your address

Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) reach your phone during an outage as long as the local cell network is still running, and FEMA says they are not affected by network congestion. The National Weather Service sends its most critical warnings through WEA, including the hurricane, extreme wind, and snow squall warnings that can come before an outage.

You do not need to sign up for WEA, but alerts can be switched off in phone settings, so it is worth verifying:

• iPhone: Settings → Notifications → scroll to Government Alerts and enable every category.
• Android: Settings → Notifications → Wireless Emergency Alerts and enable every category.

WEA tells you severe weather is coming. Your utility tells you power is out. BeAware layers both on top of the FEMA risk data for your exact address, so you see a single coherent picture instead of three apps and a phone tree.

Outage duration and what it means

Outage length changes what you need to do. Use this table to calibrate your response as the hours tick by.

Power outage preparedness FAQ

Sources

The safety guidance on this page follows these sources. For food safety and generator use, the CDC and FDA set the rules; if this page and theirs disagree, go by theirs.

• Power Outages — Ready.gov

  Supports: the refrigerator and full-freezer timings — Ready.gov states "The refrigerator will keep food cold for about four hours. A full freezer will keep the temperature for about 48 hours" — the generator and carbon-monoxide guidance ("Use a generator, but ONLY outdoors and away from windows"; "Do not use a gas stove or oven to heat your home"), and the power-return step: "Turn off or disconnect appliances, equipment, or electronics. Power may return with momentary surges or spikes that can cause damage."

• Keep Food Safe After a Disaster or Emergency — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

  Supports: the food-safety windows on this page: "If the doors stay closed, food will stay safe up to: 4 hours in a refrigerator, 48 hours in a full freezer, 24 hours in a half-full freezer."

• What to Do to Protect Yourself During a Power Outage — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

  Supports: the no-candles rule ("Use battery-powered flashlights and lanterns, rather than candles, gas lanterns, or torches to minimize the risk of fire"), the too-hot-or-too-cold advice ("If conditions are too hot or too cold, seek shelter with friends or at a community shelter"), the fan warning ("While electric fans might provide some comfort, when temperatures are really hot, they won’t prevent heat-related illness"), the power-line rules ("Never touch a fallen power line. Do not drive through standing water if downed power lines are in the water"), and the vehicle rule ("Never leave the motor running in a vehicle parked in an enclosed or partially enclosed space, such as a garage").

• Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Basics — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

  Supports: the gas-stove answer: CO "is an odorless, colorless gas that kills without warning"; "Each year, more than 400 Americans die from unintentional CO poisoning not linked to fires"; "Never heat your house with a gas oven."

• Wireless Emergency Alerts — FEMA

  Supports: the WEA explainer: "WEAs are not affected by network congestion" and "Wireless Emergency Alerts are not subscription based".

• Weather warnings on the go! (Wireless Emergency Alerts) — National Weather Service

  Supports: which NWS warnings go out as WEA: "Warnings for Tsunamis, Tornado, Severe Thunderstorm (only when the damage threat is destructive), Flash Flood (only when the damage threat is considerable or catastrophic), Hurricane, Typhoon, Storm Surge, Extreme Wind, Dust Storm and Snow Squall."

• Food and Water Safety During Power Outages and Floods — U.S. Food and Drug Administration

  Supports: the discard rule: "Discard any refrigerated perishable food (such as meat, poultry, seafood, milk, eggs, or leftovers) that has been at refrigerator temperatures above 40°F for 4 hours or more."

Deep dives from our article library

Each of these goes deeper on a single part of power-outage preparedness than a single page allows.

For longer outages, read the grid-down and long-outage guides, and get outage alerts for your address.

Complete Power Outage Survival Guide

Pillar article for this topic. Goes deeper on every section on this page, with concrete household-size math and a seasonal preparation calendar.

Food Storage During Power Outages

The 4-hour fridge window and 48-hour freezer window explained item by item. Exactly which foods to save first, which to discard immediately, and which survive longer than you think.

Generator vs. Power Station: Which Is Best for Winter Outages?

Real capacity math, runtime data, and cold-weather performance metrics. The "do I need a generator?" section above, with the actual spreadsheet.

Winter Power Outage Survival: Essential Items Checklist

Winter-specific gear beyond the generic checklist above, item by item.

How to Create a Backup Power Plan for Winter Storms

How to plan backup power for a multi-day winter outage: prioritization, sequencing, and cold-weather fuel storage.

Non-Electric Alternatives for Daily Life

Can openers, hand tools, French presses, analog clocks. The manual substitutions that keep a household functional when the grid does not.