If you’re like me, and I’m sure you are, being self-sufficient is your primary goal. Every prepper needs certain supplies that will help you reach your goal. One of a prepper’s sub goals would be to make sure you will not rely on electricity from your local power company.
What would happen if you rely on the power company’s electricity and it then goes down? You’ll experience at the very least the inconvenience of not being able to complete some every day tasks. In order to avoid this “inconvenience” you’ll need to learn how to live without it.
Can we really live without electricity for any length of time? Of course you can, if you are prepared ahead of time. One way you can do that is by harnessing the unlimited energy of the sun via solar energy. Using a solar generator is one way to do this. The energy produced from a solar “generator” is essentially free and the energy is self-renewing or renewable energy.
Some people may say that since you’re going to use a generator why not use a gas powered one? That’s a great question. The primary reason not to rely on a gas powered generator is that if there’s a blackout you won’t be able to get gas from the gas station.
Gas stations rely on pumps to dispense gas. Pumps are powered by electricity that can’t be turned on manually. This is why some people get into trouble when a natural disaster hits their area. They can’t get gas because there’s no electricity to run the pumps.
Now, another way to help you be prepared when there’s no electricity is to have solar panels installed in your home. Many times solar power can take care of all your electricity requirements. Wouldn’t it be awesome if the power company had to pay you every month instead of you paying them? Some people think that if the power goes off they’ll have to cook over a campfire or on a wood-burning stove.
Cooking on a campfire isn’t a mad idea, but it’s only a temporary solution. Likewise, using a wood-burning stove isn’t a bad idea. Most preppers really like cooking on a wood-burning stove. You’ll also be able to heat your home that way too!
When it comes to cooking, solar ovens can cook anything a regular oven can cook. You may have heard them called a sun oven. You can also cook on a stove fueled by alcohol.
There is a way to provide all the energy needs of your home and that is with a solar generating plant. These can be expensive and some preppers have chosen to buy this equipment. Its great to be able to use the natural light of the sun. Another way to provide for your families needs would be to use battery operated lamps.
Now with the improvement of LED lamps, lighting your home requires much electricity than before. Other options for preppers would be to use candles (be careful though), kerosene or propane.
Since we have been discussing electricity, we also have to talk about water. Most city water supplies depend on electricity to run the pumps. So you’ll have to find an alternative source of water. You can see that we rely on electricity for the basics more than we may have originally realized.
There are lots of ways for you to become self-sufficient with a water supply. For example, you can have a well dug that would use a hand crank to draw the water up. You have to plan for the worst as if you relied on an electric crank in a blackout situation it would be useless without electricity.
Another way to make sure that you have the necessary water to provide for your family would be to “take it from nature”. You could invest in rain barrels or cisterns. Many people refer to this as rainwater harvesting. That water can be stored to later provide for your families water needs.
Even better would be that if you happen to have a spring or creek on your property, you can obtain your families water supply from that. Of course it wouldn’t hurt to have water purification tablets on hand or even a water purification system. We’ll talk more about water purification in another article.
