Emergency Preparedness: Food, Power and Water
Start with water: Ready.gov says store at least 1 gallon per person per day, and CDC says plan for 3 days, 2 weeks if you can, because nothing else works without it. Then power, because a fridge holds food about 4 hours. Then food, because water and power come first. Every figure below names its source.
Water: the first thing to count
Water is first because the numbers are the clearest. Ready.gov says to store at least 1 gallon of water per person per day for several days, for drinking and sanitation. CDC puts a number on "several": at least 3 days, and a 2-week supply if you can manage it. Both say some people need more, such as children, nursing mothers, sick people and anyone in hot weather. Ready.gov adds that in very hot temperatures, water needs can double.
For a household of four, CDC's 3-day minimum works out to 12 gallons (4 people x 1 gallon x 3 days, our arithmetic). The 2-week target is 56 gallons. Those are quantities to plan around, not a promise that they will be enough for your household. Read the survival water filter guide for the full set of choices, and start with the two pages most readers need first:
- Emergency water storage: containers, where to keep them, and CDC's 6-month rotation for stored tap water.
- Water purification tablets, bleach and boiling: the CDC amounts printed in one dated table.
Power: what a fridge, a phone and a router need
Power matters second because of what it protects. FoodSafety.gov and Ready.gov say a closed refrigerator keeps food cold for about 4 hours, a full freezer for about 48 hours and a half-full freezer for about 24 hours. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports that customers averaged about 11 hours of power interruptions in 2024, nearly 9 hours of it from major events such as hurricanes. Your own outage may be shorter or much longer than that average.
A battery power station or a portable generator can cover part of that gap. Generators are an outdoor-only tool: CPSC says never to run one indoors, in a garage, basement or shed, and CDC says to keep it at least 20 feet from doors, windows and vents. No agency page we read names battery power stations, so this site does not claim agency guidance covers them. Our best solar generator hub shows how to size one in watt-hours, and these two pages are the usual starting points:
- What can a solar generator run?: load wattages and run times, with our 85% usable-capacity assumption shown.
- Jackery review: the Jackery lineup read from the company's own pages on 2026-11-02.
Food: last, and the easiest to stretch
Food comes third because a household can go longer without a hot meal than without water or a working fridge. Ready.gov lists non-perishable food for several days in its basic kit, and the Red Cross page we read gives 3 days for an evacuation kit and 2 weeks for home. The survival food kits hub explains how to read a kit's servings and calories and where the figures conflict. Two pages come first:
- My Patriot Supply review: kit sizes, prices and calories as shown on the company's pages on 2026-11-02.
- Freeze-dried food shelf life: who states a shelf life, and what storage does to it.
Start here if you have nothing yet
Two pages turn the three hubs into a shopping and packing list. The 72-hour emergency kit checklist breaks a kit into water, power and food with quantities per person. The bug out bag list covers what to carry if you have to leave, what to skip, and how a go-bag differs from a kit that stays at home. Every page is listed on the guides index.
Sizing cheat sheet
These are the figures this site uses most. Each says where it comes from, and the wattages say what kind of figure they are, because several are single-model numbers or ratings rather than measurements.
| What | Figure | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Drinking and sanitation water | At least 1 gallon per person per day | Ready.gov, read 2026-11-02 |
| Days of water | At least 3 days; 2 weeks if possible | CDC, read 2026-11-02 |
| Refrigerated food window | About 4 hours with the door closed | FoodSafety.gov and Ready.gov |
| Full freezer | About 48 hours with the door closed | FoodSafety.gov |
| Half-full freezer | About 24 hours with the door closed | FoodSafety.gov |
| Average interruption, 2024 | About 11 hours per customer | EIA, article dated 2025-12-01 |
| LED bulb | 10 W | Top of a DOE FEMP range (agency range) |
| Wi-Fi router | 12 W | One Netgear model at idle (maker, one model) |
| Phone charger | 20 W | Apple's recommended adapter rating (an upper bound, not a measured draw) |
| Refrigerator | 76 W average | Our arithmetic on one ENERGY STAR listing of 665 kWh a year; compressor startup draws more |
| 55-inch TV | 103 W | One ENERGY STAR listing (one model) |
| Space heater | 1,500 W | A CPSC recall notice that describes a common rating (agency notice) |
| Microwave oven | 1,583 W | DOE test-procedure data (agency test data) |
CPAP machines are not in the table on purpose. No maker page we read states running watts, so read the label on your own machine and its power supply, and ask the maker. If anyone in your home relies on an electric medical device, Ready.gov says to talk to your medical provider about an outage plan. Do not assume any power station will run a medical device.
Pick by situation
A short outage at home. Count the fridge hours above, then check which loads you care about on the what can a solar generator run page. Compare the fuel and battery routes in solar generator vs gas generator.
A storm that may last days. Water storage comes first: see emergency water storage. If the tap is under an advisory, the tablets, bleach and boiling page has CDC's amounts.
Evacuation. Use the bug out bag list and compare a pocket-size Sawyer Squeeze against the Mini for carrying water treatment.
Camping or an RV. The solar generator for camping and RV page sizes power for a trip, and gravity water filters covers treating water at camp.
FAQ
How much water should I store per person?
Ready.gov says at least 1 gallon per person per day for several days. CDC says at least 3 days and a 2-week supply if possible. Children, nursing mothers, sick people and hot weather can raise that.
How long does food in a fridge last in an outage?
FoodSafety.gov and Ready.gov say about 4 hours for refrigerated food if the door stays closed, about 48 hours in a full freezer and 24 hours in a half-full one. FoodSafety.gov also says never to taste food to decide whether it is safe.
How long are outages in the United States?
EIA's article dated 2025-12-01 says customers averaged about 11 hours of interruptions in 2024, nearly 9 hours of it from major events. Without major events the page says interruptions average about 2 hours a year. Your area may differ.
Do I need a generator or a battery power station?
That depends on what you need to run and for how long. The solar generator vs gas generator page lays out the differences. Whichever you choose, CPSC says never to run a fuel generator indoors.
Should I buy a filter, tablets or just store water?
Stored water needs nothing but containers and rotation. Filters and tablets matter when stored water runs out. The water filter vs purifier page explains what each does and does not remove, as CDC describes it.
Is the site paid by the companies it links to?
The links to Jackery, Sawyer and My Patriot Supply go straight to each company's own website, and nothing is paid to this site for them today. The disclosure page in the footer explains this.