Cold, snow and ice — a scenario where the house and the car both become survival equipment.
Plan for 7 days, or 14 in rural areas where roads close for long periods
Winter storms bring outages, blocked roads and dangerous cold at the same time. Power lines ice up, heating systems fail, and in rural areas the road may not be cleared for days.
Hypothermia and carbon monoxide poisoning are the two serious risks, and both are usually caused by improvised heating or cooking indoors. Icing and drifting make driving dangerous long after the snow stops.
Preparation is about keeping one room warm, keeping food and water moving, and not needing to drive anywhere in the first 48 hours.
Household checklist
0 of 7 complete
0%
Related products
Optional / UpgradeBest for A household wanting a full month of food in one purchase
A 1-month emergency food supply rated at 2000 calories per day with a 25-year shelf life. The premium pick for a household that wants a full month of food in one purchase.
RecommendedBest for A family's value multi-day emergency pantry
A 200-serving dehydrated food kit rated at 2000 calories per day with a 25-year shelf life. The value pick for a family's multi-day pantry at a lower per-serving cost than freeze-dried.
Generators must only run outdoors, well away from doors, windows and vents. Never run one in a home, garage or attached shed. Connection to home wiring requires a licensed electrician and a proper transfer switch.
Optional / UpgradeBest for Households needing to run several essentials at once
A higher-output 4000W inverter generator for running more of the home at once — fridge, freezer, lights and a well pump in sequence. Quiet enough for residential use.
Best for Long outages where daily solar recharging matters
Anker SOLIX · C1000 Gen 2 + 400 W panel
A 1,024 Wh LiFePO4 power station bundled with a 400 W folding solar panel, so stored power can be topped up daily in a longer outage.
Best for Keeping a fridge running through a day-long outage
EcoFlow · DELTA 3 Plus
About 1 kWh of LiFePO4 storage with the output to handle a fridge compressor at start-up, and room to expand with extra batteries.
Best for Essentials: router, lights, phones and a laptop
Jackery · Explorer 500 v2
A 512 Wh LiFePO4 power station light enough for one person to carry between rooms. Covers the router, lights, phones and a laptop through a typical outage.
Related guides
Checklist · Vehicle
A vehicle kit has one job: keep the people inside warm, informed and able to move. Most kits miss warmth entirely and over-invest in tools.
2 min read · Published 2 Oct 2026
Guide · Food
Emergency food is two very different things: a pantry you rotate through in normal weeks, and a reserve you hope never to open. Both belong in a family plan.
2 min read · Published 30 Sept 2026
Comparison · Power
For most households a battery beats a generator: quieter, safe indoors and no fuel to store. Here is how to size one, and three products that cover different households.
3 min read · Updated 27 Oct 2026
Free download
Save your address for scenario updates, then turn this page into a plan sized to your household and budget.
We store your email only to send preparedness material you asked for. Unsubscribe any time.
