How to Prepare for a Power Outage in an Apartment

Power outages are one of those emergencies that can be anywhere from a minor inconvenience to a much bigger problem depending on how long they last. In an apartment, you also have some limitations that someone living in a house might not have. You probably aren't going to have a big generator sitting outside, and you may not have much room to store emergency equipment.

The good thing is that you don't really need any of that to start preparing for a basic power outage. I've slowly built up my own supplies over the years, mostly with inexpensive flashlights, batteries, power banks, candles and other things that are useful even when there isn't an emergency. You can start small and improve your setup over time.

Start With Basic Emergency Lighting

One of the first things I did was buy a bunch of inexpensive flashlights. A couple years ago I found a pack of around 30 flashlights for about $30. They weren't anything fancy, but that gave me enough to put a couple in different emergency bags and keep others around the apartment. I even gave some away as inexpensive gifts.

Since then, I've bought a few somewhat better flashlights for my dad and me and started keeping extra batteries around. I still don't think you need to spend a fortune on emergency lighting. I'd rather have several working flashlights in useful places than one really expensive flashlight that I can't find when the lights suddenly go out.

That's another advantage of living in an apartment: you don't need to illuminate a huge property. Think about the places where you would actually need light—the bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom and wherever you keep your emergency supplies. Keeping flashlights in a few different locations also means you aren't trying to find your one flashlight in complete darkness.

Don't Forget Spare Batteries

A battery-powered flashlight isn't very useful once the batteries are dead, so I keep extra batteries with my emergency supplies. This is another thing you can slowly build up instead of buying everything at once.

It's worth checking your flashlights occasionally too. Batteries can eventually leak or lose their charge, and discovering that during a blackout isn't ideal. I like preparedness items that don't require much maintenance, but checking your flashlights and batteries every so often is an easy habit.

Rechargeable flashlights can also be useful, but I don't necessarily want every light I own depending on being charged. Having a mixture of rechargeable devices and regular battery-powered flashlights gives you another layer of backup.

Power Banks Are Useful Even When the Power Is On

Power banks have become one of my favorite preparedness items because I actually use them outside emergencies. I started with a regular power bank and eventually ended up with several. I've used them for overnight trips, camping and days when I'm going to be away from an outlet for a long time.

During an apartment power outage, keeping your phone charged can be important for getting emergency alerts, checking outage information, contacting family and just having access to information. Even one charged power bank can give you considerably more time before you have to worry about your phone dying.

I also have a solar power bank with a small panel built into it. I wouldn't depend on one of these little built-in panels as my main way of producing power—the panel is pretty small—but the power bank itself is still useful. If you want more serious off-grid charging capability, a larger dedicated solar panel or power station is a different category of equipment. For a basic apartment setup, though, you can start with an ordinary power bank.

The important part is remembering to keep it charged. A dead power bank sitting in a drawer isn't much help during an outage.

Your Phone Is Part of Your Emergency Equipment

It's easy to think of emergency preparedness as flashlights, canned food and other physical supplies, but your phone may be one of the most useful things you have during an outage. It can provide emergency alerts, weather information, maps, communication, a flashlight and updates from your utility company.

There are also some things worth having available before the internet goes down. Important phone numbers, basic emergency information and anything else you might need can be saved offline or written down. A small battery-powered or hand-crank radio can provide another way to receive information if cell service or internet access becomes unreliable.

What About Candles?

I keep some candles as another backup and generally try to buy unscented ones. I also bought a pack of lighters around the same time I bought all those inexpensive flashlights.

That said, I consider candles a backup rather than my first choice for emergency lighting. Flashlights and battery-powered lanterns don't introduce an open flame into an apartment. If you do use candles, keep them away from curtains, bedding, pets and anything else that can burn, place them on a stable surface, and never leave them unattended or go to sleep with them burning.

This is especially worth thinking about if you have pets. A flashlight getting knocked onto the floor is annoying. A burning candle getting knocked onto the floor can become an emergency of its own.

Think About Your Refrigerator and Freezer

Lighting and phones are the obvious problems during a blackout, but food can become another concern if the outage lasts long enough. One of the simplest things you can do is keep the refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible.

According to the USDA, a refrigerator should keep food cold for about four hours during a power outage if the door remains closed. A full freezer can maintain its temperature for roughly 48 hours, or about 24 hours if it is half full. Those are useful guidelines, but food safety ultimately depends on temperature rather than just how many hours have passed.

A refrigerator or freezer thermometer is inexpensive and can make this much easier to judge. It's one of those boring preparedness items that may be more useful than some much more exciting piece of survival gear.

Have Food That Doesn't Require Electricity

This connects directly with building an apartment emergency food pantry. If the power is out, your electric stove, microwave and other appliances may not work. Having at least some food that doesn't require cooking makes things considerably easier.

Canned tuna, sardines, peanut butter, crackers, bread and other ready-to-eat foods are simple examples. This doesn't mean your entire emergency pantry needs to consist of food you can eat cold. It just means you shouldn't make every meal dependent on having a working stove.

If you plan to use alternative cooking equipment during an outage, make sure you understand where it can safely be used. Never use grills, charcoal, generators or other fuel-burning equipment indoors or in an enclosed area. Carbon monoxide can build up without you being able to see or smell it.

For apartment preparedness especially, I'd rather start with food that doesn't need cooking and then figure out a safe backup cooking plan separately.

You Don't Need a Generator to Start Preparing

When people talk about preparing for long power outages, the conversation can quickly jump to generators, large portable power stations and solar panels. Those can certainly be useful, but they're also expensive and aren't practical for every apartment.

You don't have to start there.

A few flashlights, spare batteries, one or two charged power banks, some no-cook food and a basic plan can get you through many shorter outages much more comfortably. From there, you can decide whether larger batteries, solar equipment or other backup-power options make sense for your situation and budget.

That's pretty much how I've approached preparedness in general. I didn't go out one day and buy an entire emergency setup. I bought a few things, added more over time and figured out what was actually useful.

Spread Some Supplies Around Your Apartment

Just like with my emergency water, I don't necessarily like having every emergency item stored in one place. If something falls over during an earthquake, a door becomes blocked or you simply can't reach one part of the apartment in the dark, it's useful to have another option.

You don't need flashlights stuffed into every drawer. But having one near your bed, another somewhere in the main living area and others with your emergency supplies makes sense. The same idea can apply to power banks and batteries.

Just make sure everyone in the apartment knows where the important supplies are.

Build Your Power-Outage Kit a Little at a Time

You can spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on backup power equipment if you want to, but that's not where I think most apartment preppers need to begin. Start with the problems you're most likely to face: darkness, a dying phone, food that needs electricity to prepare and not knowing what's happening outside.

My own setup isn't anything extreme. It's mostly flashlights I've collected over time, extra batteries, several power banks, some candles and lighters, along with the food and water supplies I'm already building for other emergencies. A lot of it is inexpensive, and some of it gets used during normal life too.

That's really the approach I'm taking with Apt Prepper. You don't need to build the perfect emergency setup all at once. Start with what you can afford, learn as you go and gradually become a little more prepared where you already live.