5 Overlooked Items That Save the Day in a Blackout

GoBag.One™ | GoBag or Stay Home™

When the lights die, most folks fumble for candles and call it good. In the real world, blackout comfort and safety come from a few cheap, boring items that quietly do work. These five are the ones I stage before a storm and check every time I rotate the GoBag. They make the difference between killing time in the dark and running a calm, controlled home.

Key Takeaways

• Hands-free lighting wins nights: Stage headlamps at bed, kitchen, and panel—so you’re productive, not one-handed.
• Protect your food, protect your budget: Simple fridge/freezer thermometers tell you what’s still safe—no guessing, no waste.
• Keep the home secured and ventilated: A “door kit” (wedges, tape, glow tags) manages airflow and deters opportunists when streetlights die.

Main Points

1) Staged Headlamps (with spare cells)
Flashlights get set down and disappear; headlamps ride with you. I mount one by every bed, one on the breaker panel hook, and one on the kitchen hook. Choose a lamp with a low “moonlight” mode for night navigation, a real flood for room work, and a lockout so it doesn’t slow-drain in storage. Keep a small pack of matching batteries rubber-banded to each lamp. When power goes, your hands stay free for tasks, not for holding a tube of light.

2) Fridge & Freezer Thermometers (analog or digital)
Food loss is where blackouts punch your wallet. Thermometers remove guesswork. If the fridge sits below 40°F and the freezer stays under 0°F, you can extend time without opening doors and throwing food. I add a freezer bottle test: a water bottle frozen solid with the cap loosened; draw a line at the ice level. If the ice melts and refreezes below that line, you know it warmed up too far while you weren’t looking. Cheap insurance, zero drama.

3) The Door Kit (wedges, tape, glow tags)
A dark house needs controlled airflow, quiet security, and easy navigation. My door kit rides in a small pouch by the entry: rubber wedges to hold doors for cross-vent, painter’s tape to black out flash signatures or hold notes (“Do not open—freezer”), and tiny photoluminescent tags for key handles. It sounds silly until you’re not blasting light every time you grab a knob. The kit also helps with light discipline so you’re not advertising “We’re lit, come visit.”

4) Battery Sorting & Charging Plan (label your lanes)
Batteries become chaos under stress. I run three lanes: fresh (sealed bag), in use (open box), and dead (marked container). Each lamp or radio stores its own spare set, and a small USB charge bank is topped off monthly. If you use rechargeables, print a card with your device list and cell types, then schedule a quarterly top-off. The goal is simple: in the dark, no thinking—just grab from the “fresh” lane and keep moving.

5) Comms & Status Board (dry-erase + radio)
It’s not fancy: a letter-sized dry-erase board on the fridge with columns for time-on, fuel, fridge temp, freezer temp, weather note. Write it down every few hours, especially if you’re cycling a generator. Next to it: a small AM/FM/NOAA radio so you’re not draining your phone for updates. Phones are for people; radios are for the big picture. Keep a cheap pen tethered to the board so it doesn’t walk away.

Pro Tips

• Stage it: Bedside headlamps with fresh cells; kitchen lamp + spare batteries in a labeled bowl; panel lamp on a hook next to your breaker map.
• Quiet checks: Open the fridge/freezer on a timer (every 4–6 hours) to read temps; keep a notebook snapshot in case you need to make insurance claims.
• Light discipline: Use low/red modes at night to keep night vision; use tape to block window glow so neighbors don’t fixate on your house.
• Door control: In hot weather, wedge a back door for cross-vent and mark it with a glow tag; in cold, keep doors shut and group activity in one room.
• Run the drill: Once a quarter, kill the lights for 30 minutes at dusk. Move the family through dinner, handwashing, and bedtime on headlamps only. Find the gaps now.

Related Links

GoBag Essentials Checklist • TOC Talk Episodes • How-To Survival Skills

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