About 1 in 4 American households went completely without power at least once last year — roughly 33.9 million homes. In rural areas, the number climbs to more than 1 in 3. And in 2024, the average U.S. electricity customer spent nearly 11 hours in the dark, roughly double the average across the prior decade.
Power outages aren't rare events anymore. They're recurring household events. Most preparedness advice still treats them like rare ones — and the result is that families either over-invest in expensive whole-house solutions they never finish researching, or under-invest in nothing at all.
We learned a better approach the hard way during our three-month RV trip out West.
Our motorhome had three ways to receive power — shore power from a campground, the onboard generator, and battery power. Depending on which source we were using, we adjusted how we lived. The lesson came fast: anything that generated heat used a tremendous amount of electricity. The Keurig, a hair dryer, electric blankets, the electric water heater — all fine when we were plugged into shore power or running the generator. A completely different story when we were on batteries.
About a month into the trip, we realized our existing battery system wasn't enough for how we were actually using the RV.
We could have completely rebuilt the electrical system — lithium batteries, upgraded charging equipment, rooftop solar. That would have been the maximalist answer. Instead, we identified the actual bottleneck and added a larger portable power station.
It changed everything. Not because it powered the entire RV, but because it powered the things that mattered most.
That same lesson applies directly to power outages at home.
The Real Problem
Most households think about power outages in terms of electricity. The households that actually do well in extended outages think about functions instead.
The right question isn't "How do I power the entire house?" It's "What absolutely needs to keep working?"
Because when an outage stretches beyond a day, the issue isn't darkness. It's disruption — disrupted refrigeration, disrupted communication, disrupted medical equipment, disrupted access to information. Most of that disruption can be solved with a fraction of the equipment a whole-house solution would require.
Five functions worth thinking through before the next outage.
1. Preserve Food (and Medications That Need Refrigeration)
A brief outage is an inconvenience. An extended outage is hundreds of dollars in spoiled food — and for some households, it's a medication problem too.
Why This Matters
A full fridge holds safe temperatures for about 4 hours; a full freezer holds about 24-48 hours if kept closed
Insulin, certain biologics, and several common medications require refrigeration to remain effective
Food losses from a 3-day outage routinely run $200-400 for a typical household
What to Do
Identify what actually needs to stay cold:
High-value refrigerator contents (meat, dairy, leftovers)
Expensive freezer contents (think months of meal prep, not ice cubes)
Any refrigerated medications
Then make the decision now — before an outage — about how those items get kept cold. Options range from a high-quality cooler with ice (cheapest, works for 24-48 hours), to a portable power station running the fridge intermittently (best balance), to a generator (most capacity, most fuel/noise complexity), to relocating critical medications to a neighbor's working fridge or a cooler (sometimes the right answer).
A simple fridge thermometer makes the decision easier in the moment — anything above 40°F for more than 2 hours and food safety starts to matter.
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2. Maintain Communication
Thirty years ago, a power outage mostly meant sitting in the dark. Today it affects phones, internet, banking, navigation, weather information, and our ability to reach family. A dead phone quickly becomes a bigger problem than a dark room.
Why This Matters
Cell towers usually have 4-8 hours of backup battery; if the outage stretches, even cell service may degrade
Most people don't realize their landline (if they still have one) is also dead during outages — modern phone systems are powered
A charged phone is the single most useful tool during an extended outage
What to Do
Build a small power-bank layer that lives in the kitchen drawer:
Two or three battery banks (10,000 mAh and up — a single phone charge is roughly 3,000-4,000 mAh)
Cables for every device in the household (USB-C, Lightning, micro-USB)
A car charger in every vehicle (the car becomes a charging station in a pinch)
A small AM/FM/NOAA weather radio with hand-crank backup
I keep multiple rechargeable power sources charged and rotate through a checklist every couple of months to top everything off. Preparedness systems only work if they're maintained — a power bank that hasn't been charged in two years is a paperweight.
WHAT TO BUY: Looking for: portable phone power bank charger Shop on Amazon →
3. Keep the Lights On
Light isn't just about comfort — it's about safety. Moving around a dark house increases the risk of falls, injuries, and frustration, especially with kids, pets, or anyone with mobility challenges.
Why This Matters
Most household injuries during outages are from moving around in low light, not from the outage itself
A single lantern lights a whole room far better than three flashlights
Candles are responsible for thousands of house fires every year — modern battery lighting is both safer and more practical
What to Do
Build for redundancy, not heroics:
A rechargeable lantern in the main living area, the kitchen, and at least one bedroom
A flashlight by every bed
Headlamps for hands-free work (the unsung hero of outage prep)
A small reserve of batteries that fit the devices we actually own
And don't forget the maintenance step — periodically test devices that aren't used regularly. A flashlight with a corroded battery is just storage clutter with extra steps.
WHAT TO BUY: Looking for: rechargeable LED lantern emergency Shop on Amazon →
4. Protect Critical Medical Needs
Every household is different. Some families need refrigeration as a convenience. Others depend on it for insulin. Some households rely on CPAP machines, oxygen concentrators, mobility equipment, or other powered medical devices.
Those needs should be identified before an outage, not during one.
Why This Matters
CPAP users without backup power often skip therapy during outages, which compounds over multi-night events
Oxygen concentrators are the most power-hungry common medical device in homes — typically 300-600 watts continuous
Most utilities maintain a medical priority list — households with verified medical needs get prioritized restoration, but only if registered in advance
What to Do
Walk through these questions for the household:
Which medical needs depend on electricity?
How long can each one safely function without power?
What backup options exist — and have we tested them?
Have we registered with the local utility's medical priority program?
This is where personalization matters most. The right answer for one household is completely wrong for another. A retired couple with two CPAP machines has a totally different power-resilience problem than a young family with a chest freezer full of breast milk.
5. Build Resilience Before You Build Capacity
If money were no object, plenty of households could install whole-house generators, rooftop solar systems, and large battery backup setups. Those can be excellent solutions. They're also expensive, complicated, and often not the right next step.
One lesson from our RV trip carried straight back home: we didn't need to solve every problem. We needed to solve the most important problem first.
Why This Matters
A $1,000 portable power station handles about 80% of what a $15,000 whole-house system does, during the outages most households actually experience
Portable solutions move with us (to a different home, to family during an evacuation, to the RV)
Starting with portable power keeps the option open to scale up later — starting with whole-house locks the investment in
What to Do
At home, we keep two portable power stations charged and ready. Combined, they can run our refrigerator, chest freezer, and key lights for several days. We also have a small portable solar panel that can recharge those batteries during daylight hours.
And if the outage is limited to our neighborhood, I can physically take the batteries somewhere with power, recharge them, and bring the stored energy back home. That isn't a perfect solution. It's a practical one. And practical solutions are usually the right place to start.
WHAT TO BUY: Looking for: portable power station lithium 1000W home backup Shop on Amazon →
How to Prepare This Month
Four weeks. Small steps. By the end, the household has a real outage plan instead of a vague hope.
Week 1: Make a list of the functions that require electricity in our household — not appliances, functions. Refrigeration, communication, lighting, medical equipment, hot water, cooking, climate control. That list is the starting point for everything else.
Week 2: Mark each function as essential, helpful, or optional. Be honest. Most households discover their "essential" list is shorter than they expected — and that's the list backup power needs to cover.
Week 3: Test what we already have. Charge every battery bank. Check every flashlight. Run the generator (if we have one) for 15 minutes. Replace anything that's dead, corroded, or missing.
Week 4: Write a one-page outage plan. Where do refrigerator contents go? How do we communicate? Where do flashlights and lanterns live? Who needs power priority for medical reasons? Tape it inside a cabinet door. The plan doesn't need to be perfect — it needs to exist.
We don't need every answer. We need the next answer.
The Real Shift
Instead of asking:
"How do I power my entire house?"
Ask:
"Which functions matter most if the power is still out tomorrow?"
That second question reframes preparedness from infrastructure to outcomes. The households that handle extended outages well aren't usually the ones with the biggest generators. They're the ones who decided in advance which few things have to keep working — and built modest, portable, maintainable systems around those few things.
That mindset is the difference between a $15,000 prep budget that never gets started and a $500 prep budget that actually shows up when the lights go out.
Get Your Personalized Priorities
Every household uses electricity differently. A retired couple. A family with young children. Someone working remotely. Someone with medical equipment. Their outage priorities aren't the same — and generic preparedness checklists often miss the specifics that matter most.
The PrepareRight assessment identifies the top 10 priorities based on your actual situation — household size, medical needs, housing type, and current readiness.
It takes about 5 minutes.
Prepare one right step at a time.
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Want to Know Your Top 10 Priorities?
Every household is different. Your location, family size, medical needs, and current preparedness level all affect what you should focus on next.
I built a free assessment that asks about your specific situation and gives you your personalized top 10 priorities—not a generic list, but recommendations tailored to your household.
Prepare one right step at a time.
