🔋 Can You Make It Through a Week Off-Grid? 🌿

[Chicken_Obsesser]

It's a tie between the Weekend Warrior and the Almost-Ready Adaptor.

 

[Alaskan]

---

1. The power just went out. What’s your first move?
B) Sorta- Check the power company website to make sure the outage has been reported and see the estimated time to restoration.


2. It’s day two, and you’re out of bread. What do you do?
A, B, or C depending on my mood.
A) Bake some with your stored flour and starter.
B) Toast something from the freezer before it thaws.
C) Look for crackers or snacks in the cupboard.


3. The sun is setting. How do you light up your space?
A) Sorta- Use camping lanterns, or head lamps

4. Your water supply is limited. What’s your plan?
B) ( If we use our pond) Boil water before drinking.
E) Take top off shallow well and use a bucket to get the water
F) If we decide to use the fuel and bother with it, set up the generator
G) melt snow

5. You’re craving something warm to eat. How do you cook?
A, or, B
A) On your wood stove,
B) You’ve got a camp stove tucked away somewhere…


6. Your phone battery is dying. What’s your backup plan?
A, or C, or D
A) Plug into your solar power bank.
C) Drive to the next town to charge it.
D) plug into a regular power bank


7. It’s freezing cold. How do you stay warm without electric heat?
A, B, and D Isn't "B" standard??
A) Use your wood stove or indoor-safe propane heater.
B) Pile on the blankets and wear layers.
D) Your home is designed for passive heat retention and backup warmth.

8. You’re low on food. What do you eat?
Really, C first, don't want to waste the food. B is standard, how else do you make soup?
A) Sorta - Meals from your pantry
B) Soup made from pantry basics.
C) Whatever’s still in the fridge or freezer
D) Sorta -Forage or harvest something fresh from the wild (More food in the wild than in my garden!)

9. You need to wash dishes and laundry. How do you handle it?
WHY bother washing anything? I hate washing. If ya gotta, then fine, otherwise everyone gets assigned ONE plate etc. and is responsible for their own.
Or... D.
D) Hand-wash with greywater and sun-dry everything.

10. The kids (or guests) are getting restless. How do you keep them occupied?
Make them do chores or gather food.

And really... where is the:
11. What do you do with all fridge and freezer food?
A) They aren't turning off, they already run on independent power.
B) Set up the generator
C) Quickly can all freezer stuff on your wood stove, and put all fridge stuff in a cold prepared for emergencies location.
D) It is winter, just chunk it all in ice chests in a snow bank.

Me... for 11, I would go with B, C, or D... depending on what I have in fridge and freezer, how long this might last, and time of year.

 

[CrealCritter]

It's nice to practice cooking over open fire every once in while. Not only is the food really good. It's just as good to know, you still could if you had too.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[flowerbug]

small can opener (check), but now for new pull tab cans i need a small hammer and some pliers for when the pull tab comes off before the mission is accomplished. it has only happened once so far (and not when camping as i've not been camping in quite a long time).

 

[akroberts]

Heating is lighting candles with a mirror behind them to generate heat during a cold spell. For the electric I have a generator but I also have my husband's big truck so I'm covered. Charging phones start vehicle for long enough to get a decent charge. The cold we have a pellet stove that can be used like a wood stove but the grill also works. I can always build a fire. We have already survived a week without power. It's amazing how much you know when you have no other options. Even without power my husband and I were not stressed but our children were just freaking out about the fact that they didn't have access to the cell phone. People depend far too much on a cell phone and social media. I would love to have to live the rest of my life off grid with NO cell phone.

 

[Hinotori]

Heating is lighting candles with a mirror behind them to generate heat during a cold spell. For the electric I have a generator but I also have my husband's big truck so I'm covered. Charging phones start vehicle for long enough to get a decent charge. The cold we have a pellet stove that can be used like a wood stove but the grill also works. I can always build a fire. We have already survived a week without power. It's amazing how much you know when you have no other options. Even without power my husband and I were not stressed but our children were just freaking out about the fact that they didn't have access to the cell phone. People depend far too much on a cell phone and social media. I would love to have to live the rest of my life off grid with NO cell phone.

How do you run the pellet stove without electricity? Pellet basket?

We looked at them when we replaced our wood stove. We loose power too often for an electric auger, so went with a regular high efficiency wood stove

 

[flowerbug]

i would miss the internet if we didn't have power that long but the phone i can pretty much do without for a while at a time.

wood stove smoke and ashes are a real trouble for both of us. propane fireplace covers heat, light and cooking during power outages and no moving parts at all other than me turning the valves and getting the pilot light lit. i really did not want any kind of pilot light because it just sits there burning up propane for no good reason so i turn the thing off completely when we aren't using it.

one of my someday wishes is to replace the fireplace with something more efficient and that doesn't have any kind of pilot light so that it is easier to get going but since we use it very rarely that's a pure luxury someday wish.

 

[akroberts]

How do you run the pellet stove without electricity? Pellet basket?

We looked at them when we replaced our wood stove. We loose power too often for an electric auger, so went with a regular high efficiency wood stove

I'm wanting to invest in a wood cook stove and cast iron pots and pans. I would love to be able to cook like that. It's just a way of surviving without depending on the grid.

 

[Fixit]

Can i just say that the survey does not apply to me .
This year makes 30 years off grid . When i can stay home for 2 weeks i count that as a blessing .

 

[CrealCritter]

During the ice storm power outage my neighbor made a ice chest. He chipped up big sheets off his driveway and shaped them to build a open top chest. To seal up the corners he used a spray bottle with water. He the put a piece of plywood on the top for a make shift door. He doesn't have a generator, not that he couldn't afford one he just doesn't want one. The contents of their freezer and refrigerator went into the ice chest. They had candles for lighting and wood stove for heat and cooking on, they did just fine. He did mention they cooked outdoors over open pit more than they did inside on the wood stove. I live in farm country, people around here will make due with what they have and get creative, they won't not complain about it either. Being far away from the nearest town. There is a lot of looking out for eachother and borrowing in our little community.

Jesus is Lord and Christ