Preparing For A Outage: Before The Outage

You will never know when a storm might hit your neighborhood, I sure didn't! What went from harmless snow fall, and cheering everyday my school was closed, to raining, freezing over night, and high winds; concluding with a three day power outage.

Here are some tips and tricks I wished I knew, or did before hand, to prepare myself, my family, friends, and even neighbors! Since you will never know when something like this might happen to you, I would recommend always being prepared for it.

Supplies:

-candles (The more, the better! You don't know how long, or when your power might come back!)

-matches/lighters

-flashlights and batteries (All of my local stores, actually sold out on flashlights, batteries, and candles!)

-water and dry food, that will last for two to three days

-blankets and hot hands (If you toss a hot hand underneath your blanket at night, you'll be nice and warm.)

-first aid kit, and a fire extinguisher.

Keep Warm:

-Wear layers (Your house will get cold really quick, make sure to layer up!)

-No charcoal grill inside (I heard that here in the Northwest, we had a lot of accidents with these. Their very dangerous!) 

Food Safety:

-If you keep your refrigerator closed, the food inside will usually last around four hours.

-If your freezer is full, and closed, the food will last for forty eight hour. But if it's only half full, it will only last twenty four hours.

-Some foods to throw out after eight hours:

 -Eggs

 -Mayo

 -Leftovers

 -Milk Products (except butter)

 -Fresh Meat, Poultry and Seafood

 -Cheese (soft, low-fat, shredded)

 -Cream based dressing (Gravy, Spaghetti Sauce)