What do you do about phones when the power is out?

Did I tell you I'm a prepper? I'm definitely not the "be prepared to live off the grid for a year" type of prepper. I think it's great that some people are; it's just not me. I'm the kind of prepper who is always "struggling to be prepared" for the next power outage, or the hurricane or flood, or whatever might happen. 

When we lived in California (many years ago), I thought I was prepared to evacuate in case of an earthquake. I don't know if I really was prepared at that time, or if I just thought I was. But I wasn't prepared to evacuate when one of my sons and I left our apartment a couple years ago as the creek out back rose higher and higher. I grabbed my purse, and we both grabbed our phones, and we took off. When we got to dry ground, I called my hubby and the others who weren't home, and I asked them to meet us at the local grocery store. 

We were very fortunate to get my car out of here before it could be ruined, and that our apartment wasn't flooded. And it came at a time when we could afford to rent a motel for a night (there where a few times in the past when we might not have been able to do that).  

But we didn't have a change of clothing, or our personal care items, and my phone was rapidly running out of power. Fortunately, the others had their cell phones, charged and ready.

After that, I packed a backpack with a change of clothes and some toiletries for each of my husband and me (my kids are adults and can pack their own). And I planned to get car chargers for our cell phones. 

Whenever the power goes out, I've been so pleased that I keep a simple, non-electric phone that I can pull out of my emergency storage box and plug in. However, recently our phone company installed a little box...a little box that means the phone's power comes from us, no longer from the phone company. This little box has battery back-up, which I've heard only lasts for about six to eight hours. So, now I no longer have that excuse to keep the landline phone. 

You remember how I had "planned to get car chargers"? I had gotten myself one, and it paid off during the latest power outage. I was able to charge my phone, loan my phone to the neighbor lady in case she had an emergency in her apartment, and take her phone to Barnes and Noble to charge it for her (because she didn't have a car charger and she had a model-specific connection that wouldn't charge with my car charger). 

And you see, that's the same reason I only "planned" to get chargers for our other three phones. Because they have model-specific connections (and are older phones), I couldn't just walk into the provider's store, and buy them for my men-folk here. 

However, more recently, with an eye to giving up the landline, I finally took an hour or two and did the research about various types of connections, as well as research about each specific phone and its connection type. And I finally got everyone their car chargers! 

I even got myself a little battery-operated charger for my micro USB-compatible phone; so if we don't have power, and we don't want to go out to the car, we can have one phone, at least. I tried it today, and the little charger itself got hot pretty fast, but my phone did go from three bars to four in about ten minutes. And even if the phone were on zero, and I was nervous about the charger getting hot, I'm pretty sure you can text on one bar. 

So, what do you do about phones in a power outage or other emergency?  Do you have a car charger? A battery-operated charger? A hand-crank charger? (Yes, I've heard such a thing exists.). Walkie-talkies? I had to throw that last one in, because I've always loved walkie-talkies. And I might wish I had one, if my neighbor's phone runs out in another emergency. 

Cooking in a Power Outage

Lately, I had been thinking a lot about how to cook in a power outage. The last time we had a power outage, we went out to eat. I enjoy going out to eat now and then, but I want to do it on our own terms, when it's a good time to spend that extra money, as well as when we're not in the middle of a snow storm, ice storm, hurricane...you get the idea.

We have a gas stove, but it has an electric starter. So, I kept thinking, could we bypass that electric starter?

With a snow storm coming, and being near a Dollar General, I went in and looked for one of those long lighter things...utility lighter, they call it.

I remember the days when gas stoves didn't have pilot lights, much less electric starters. We would have to turn the flame all the way up, and hold this little match up to it. And I was afraid that either my hand would burn or I would blow us up with too much gas. I never did either one, but I never got over that fear. So, I was delighted when one of my sons held the long utility lighter up to the stove, turned the gas on ever so slightly, and there was a nice, slow flame. It seemed so safe. 

I was even more delighted that now, if we have a power outage again, we will be able to cook. 

It's lucky for us, too, because we are not allowed to use a barbecue grill on an apartment balcony, and I'm thinking that applies to portable gas stoves, as well. But if you have an electric stove in your home which won't help you in a power outage, and you have a yard...you probably could use a portable gas stove (or the barbecue grill) on your patio or in your yard.

But what do you think of this clever little camp stove that I found online last night? It has a battery-operated fan to fan the flames into being. And while your food cooks, it can charge your phone! 

We had fun, when I was a girl, making those little Girl Scout stoves out of a coffee can, tuna can, paraffin, and cardboard. But it was a lot of work to make, and I don't know how many meals you could cook on one of those little burners. 

What do you do about cooking in a power outage?