Good Comments

I received a good comment related to the previous post. Someone nicknamed BBC wrote to tell me about how he can sidestep the problem of a power outage shutting down his refrigerator and freezer. It's a great comment and brings up a point I failed to mention in the original post.

Many folks have some kind of Recreational Vehicle, be it a motorhome, conventional travel trailer, 5th wheel trailer, truck camper or even a tent trailer that is equipped with a 2-way (or sometimes a 3-way) refrigerator that can be operated on electricity or propane. While these units are small, they can be enormously valuable at keeping the most vulnerable foods at a safe cold temperature until the main power supply is restored for your residential refrigerator / freezer.

In addition to the RV solution, there is also the marine solution. Some boats are equipped with onboard refrigeration units that can serve the same purpose.

If you don't have an RV or a boat, you can always buy the same kind of refrigerator (popular models are made by Dometic and Norcold, available from an RV dealer) and set it up as a backup unit to be run on a 20-lb. propane tank. The propane solution totally isolates you from the grid, so you're independent during a power outage.

BBC also commented that ice is available at stores, but this is not always the case. Today, in fact, even with no emergency going on in our town, there is not a block of ice to be found. How do I know that? We had a Neighborhood Watch potluck meeting, and the host searched every source of ice in town and came up empty. What's happening that would reduce the ice supply to zero? Nothing more than it being a warm summer evening with lots of folks visiting from out of town. Now stack a power outage on top of that and try to find ice. Good luck.

It's better to make your own blocks of ice in 1-gallon water jugs and have them on hand when you need them.

I appreciate comments from readers. This blog is intended for normal folks, not exotic expeditioneers nor "colony" types who live on the fringe of everyday reality. The intent is to help spread information that is truly useful for the average guy and gal next door.