Power Outage, Gas Savings, and Forgotten Small Things

This episode has three segments: Building A Lights Out Kit, Paying Less At The Gas Pump, and Often Forgotten Small Things.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Preparedness isn't about bunkers and 25 year freeze-dried lasagna. It's about being able to handle Tuesday night when the lights go out and the roads are closed. It's about solving normal problems in abnormal times. Today we're talking about things to make us better prepared for whenever that Tuesday night comes and to save ourselves some money at the gas pumps along the way.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Welcome to Practical Prepping. Today is June 8th, 2026, and this is episode 557. This is the prepping podcast with no bunkers, no zombies, and no alien invasions. Just practical prepping, where we teach everyday people how to prepare for life's emergencies, disasters, and crises. And we're here to help you get prepared. I'm Krista.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

And I'm Mark. Today's episode is sponsored by ReadyFam, a brand new preparedness out. So stay with us and we'll get to that a little later in the show. And if you'd like the expanded notes for this episode, go to practicalprepping. And we'll have links to everything that we discuss here on this episode. Now I keep seeing people in groups and forums asking for various prepping checklists. So we've put together the 72-hour prepping checklist for busy families. You can get that at practical prepping.info forward slash resource, and it's on the left side of the page.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

In our audience survey a while back, one of the requests was for the occasional getting started topics. So this segment is building a lights out kit. Now we have flashlights scattered throughout our house to get us to our lights out kit just in case we lose power at night.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

But let's talk about what goes into that lights out kit. One of the main things in ours is LED lanterns.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

Very handy, small size, lightweight. They're double-A battery powered. They're fairly inexpensive. I think we can actually buy a two-pack in some places.

SPEAKER_00 2:11

Yeah, I think I bought a four-pack one time.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

Oh, I think so.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

And I think I've got the two-packs on the featured items page that you can get to off the resources page as well. Terrific. They're not expensive at all.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

And that can put out a very small amount of light, or you can adjust it to pull out a very large amount of light. Just depends on what your needs are at the time.

SPEAKER_00 2:31

Another thing to have in there, and it's very handy, is a high quality LED headlamp.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

Super good because it gives you hands-free operation.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

It does. And it you can have adjustable brightness levels. You know, I think the ones that I have are high, medium, and low. And so it just depends on what I'm doing. But there's also a red light mode in there for night vision.

SPEAKER_01 2:54

Oh, that's smart.

SPEAKER_00 2:55

You want one that's water resistant.

SPEAKER_01 2:57

Right.

SPEAKER_00 2:57

You could get rain-done. You could drop it in a mud puddle. So get one that's water resistant. But get one that uses common batteries such as AA or AAA or is rechargeable.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

Also have a compact handheld flashlight. And we recommend buying something that's durable and generally in a metal type case, something like an aluminum, steel if you can get it. You know, because plastic breaks and cracks, and that's just going to do you no good at all.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

And most of these lights will have multiple brightness settings. I think the one that I carry on me most of the time has low, medium, and high. And you can just adjust it for what you're doing. I prefer one with a tail switch. Right. And that's the button on the end of it, if you know what I'm talking about. And the reason that I really prefer that is if I have to fire a firearm at night over a flashlight, I can have that in my hand and turn that light on and off as needed.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

I see.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

But a pocket clip comes in very handy on that flashlight as well, because you can stick it in your back pocket, you stick it in your front pocket, and you have it just right there at the ready anytime you need it.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

You're also going to want to think about your power source and your charging cables. To have some spare batteries with at least two full replacement sets for each of your lights, and also small power bank, something maybe between 10,000 and 20,000 milliamp hours. And use some short charging cables that are compatible with your devices. Anything you need for your phone, your tablet, or your rechargeable flashlights.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

Yeah, I've got a bunch of six-inch C cords, and those work great with a power bank and don't have that six-foot cord all tangled up in there when I'm doing that. For some backup lighting, you can use chemical light sticks. They're kind of like a night light.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

We're talking about that type of thing that kids play with.

SPEAKER_00 4:52

The glow sticks.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

Glow sticks, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

They're great for hallways, they're great for bathrooms. I've seen them used as trail markers for a nighttime horse ride, and they use different colors, and so the rider knew what their color was and just stayed on that color trail.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

I think it would be important to have those if you're going down a dark set of basement stairs too.

SPEAKER_00 5:14

Good idea. Especially if you powers out and you're going to be having to go up and down those steps quite a few times. A lot of folks store a lot of their prepping gear in the basement, and so you would of necessity have to go up and down those steps. And like you say, it could be a dark pit. But most of those chemical lights will emit light for around eight hours or so.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

That's pretty handy. Some additional thoughts I had would be to have some signaling devices. Something on your flashlight could have a strobe function. I've seen that as well. And also have some sort of an audible whistle that you can blow because if you're in a severe storm situation and you've had some destruction at your home and you may be caught in it, it's going to be very tiresome for you to try to call out. But you can blow a whistle that can be heard for a long way.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

And if you're lost in the woods, that strobe function comes in handy, and so does that whistle, because that whistle will carry a lot further in distance, especially at night, than your voice will. But we mentioned that night vision protection, that red light capability. It's built into my headlamp. So I just click it one more time and it goes to red. But some of my flashlights have come with little filters on them that you can screw it on the front of the lens and you've got a red light to protect your night vision.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

So what you're saying is that aids you in being able to see at night without being blinded by a white light that gives you that spot spot vision.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

And it doesn't take away your night vision. If you turn it off, you could see as well as you could before.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:53

When you're walking through the woods with uh white light, you lose some of your night vision because of that brightness. Now, when I'm trying to introduce someone to preparedness, I usually ask this question. If you're to wake up in the morning with 48 inches of snow on the ground and the power is out, I know that's nothing for some of you, but in Alabama that means you're not going anywhere for a while.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

And nobody's coming to you.

SPEAKER_00 7:16

And nobody's coming to you. Anyway, the question ends with how long could you keep your family fed and warm? There's two answers that I get most often. One is not very long, and the other one is I have no idea. We understand most families don't know, and guessing isn't a plan.

SPEAKER_01 7:37

Now, here's that app that I wanted to tell you about. It's the biggest development in emergency preparedness right now. It's called ReadyFam. It takes the place of complicated spreadsheets and it does away with handwriting and notebooks, and you can see at a glance exactly how prepared you really are. In fact, it gives you a survival day score. It's a real number that tells you how many days your family could function on what you have right now. And it's not just about food, it measures seven separate categories of preparedness. It scales automatically to your household size because a two-person household and a six-person household, they would require very different supply levels.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

You can scan barcodes to build your inventory in minutes of the stock that you already have.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 8:26

And you can scan in new items as you put them in stock. No need to write all of that down. It tracks expiration dates and alerts you before anything goes bad. And that can be critical in medications and some medical supplies. It even tailors your priorities based on your zip code. And I really tried this out because the risk really depends on where you live. Right. And it has listed our risk by zip code pretty much like we had them listed on paper. And if you're new to preparedness, there's a simple mode that makes it clear and manageable. Preparedness shouldn't feel overwhelming. It should feel organized and actionable. Now you can get the app, Ready Fam, that's R-E-A-D-Y-F-A-M, in the Play Store, or you can get it at readyfam.app. It's free to download, and there's a free version as well as a paid version. Get the app, test it out, and see what it can do for you. And if you decide to upgrade to the paid version, which we do recommend that you do that, use the promo code Practical20. It's the easiest way that we've found to simplify, quantify, and organize your readiness. Now that link will be in the episode notes as well, but it's readyfam.app or you can get it in the Play Store.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

Next up, we're going to talk about six ways to save money at the gas pump. Here's some things you can do. You can carpool, you can ride share, you could work from home, or you could use public transportation, or you can even combine your errands, or go back to walking or riding the bike for short trips. And these are the usual things we hear about when we're talking about saving gas. But in this segment, we're actually going to talk about ways to save money at the actual pump, especially during these times of inflated gas prices.

SPEAKER_00 10:22

The first one we have listed is use gas price apps, apps like Gas Buddy, Waze, Upside. They can help you find the cheapest gas within a few miles of your location at the time. And often that will save you 20 to 50 cents per gallon.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

You can also sign up for some fuel rewards programs. The Kroger grocery stores offer this Safeway, Giant Eagle, Food City. A lot of different places have reward programs that give you fuel points. And we're members of the Kroger Fuel Points, and they award discounts based on your purchase level made in their store. So buying groceries that you have to have gets us a discount on gas, which we also have to have. We've even seen as much as 40 cents per gallon discounted, and it varies from month to month depending on what you spend.

SPEAKER_00 11:11

Circle K has a rewards program, and I have signed up for this one as well. In your first initial period, I think it's like the first five fill-ups, you get like 25 cents off per gallon. And after that, it's five cents off of each gallon every time you fuel up. But I have occasionally gotten 20 cents off. Sometimes they throw those bonuses in.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

I think maybe every 10 or 15 or 20, I don't know what the random number is, but I've seen that very same thing too. But speaking of gasoline businesses, the Quick Trip, the QT, very prominent in the Southeast, they have a mobile app and they will give you gas rewards and instant discounts on fuel. In their introductory period, you get 25 cents off per gallon. And then after that, they'll take five cents off for every gallon you purchase.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

Pay in with the QT pay also gives you 5% off most of the items in store purchases. And we'll be back with tip number three.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

But first Today's cup of coffee comes from our good friend Gloria. She's been a longtime supporter of our podcast, going on three years and counting. Gloria, we really do appreciate your support. And you too, my friends, can go to practical prepping.info slash support. And you can show us a little bit of love by buying us a cup of coffee or even better, sign up for a coffee membership. It's only five dollars per month, but that really goes a long way to help us take care of some of the expenses of our show. So please consider helping us out at practical prepping dot info slash support.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

Now for tip number three, buy your gas at warehouse clubs. Smart. Costco, Sam's Club, uh, other wholesale clubs have significantly lower prices for their members on gasoline.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

Something else you can do is a lot of stations will offer you a cash discount if you're paying with cash, or certain credit cards, either the gas company cards, or maybe even some of the major credit cards, often offer you 3-5% cash back on your gas purchases. You know, a little bit here, a little bit there, and pretty soon you're talking about real saved money.

SPEAKER_00 13:27

Another one that we've heard many times in the past, and sometimes it gets ignored, is maintaining proper tire pressure. Underinflated tires can reduce fuel efficiency by up to 3%, they say. So check that pressure regularly and keep those tires inflated to the manufacturer's recommended PSI.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

Also, you want to drive in a more efficient manner. For example, avoid aggressive acceleration and sudden hard braking. If you'll do that, you'll lower your gas mileage for anywhere from 15 to 30 percent on highway use. So smooth, steady driving, take your foot off the accelerator when you anticipate a stop. These types of things over time can make a true difference.

SPEAKER_00 14:12

Now, this next segment comes from our friend Dave Leighton, and that is don't overlook the small things. True. Big gear gets the attention.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

Yes, it does.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

But it's the small items that save the day. Here's some often overlooked items that'll help you get through disasters, emergencies, and crises. One is a manual can opener.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

It's so smart, it's silly.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

But these are for those that have not yet realized that in a power outage that might last more than a day or two or twelve, that electric can opener is going to be absolutely no use. It won't work at all. So that manual can opener, and we actually have three or four of them here in the house, just in case, because even the manual one over a year or two, you know, they get a little bit rough. But that's an important thing to have. You know, all that food storage in the world won't help you a bit if you can't open the can.

SPEAKER_00 15:03

And in my opinion, a very important item is to have a manual coffee maker.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

That's an absolute must.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

Like a French press or a pour over. Caffeine withdrawal headaches are real deal.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

You go and you don't have to have an emergency to realize.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

You don't. But if you have to go a prolonged period of time without caffeine, you will have a caffeine headache.

SPEAKER_01 15:27

And in order to use that French press or your pour over device, you'd want some sort of a non-kitchen stove way to heat that water. We have a camp stove, we have a grill, we have a fire pit, we have a smoker, we have all different kinds of ways outside of electricity to get that water boiling. So we're going to advise that you consider other ways like that as well to be able to heat your food and your water without using power, without using the established electricity.

SPEAKER_00 15:56

And have extra fuel for that. For sure. If it's propane, if it's charcoal. We don't actually have a charcoal grill, but I keep 20 pounds of charcoal just in case we ever had to makeshift a grill out in the back in the yard. But don't forget the lighters and the matches.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 16:16

And buy the good lighters. We like the scripto and the bic.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

The brand names seem to be the most dependable.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

Yeah. You get the dollar store pack of five, they're gonna fail, and they're gonna fail when you most need it.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

Here's something people do not think about when they are prepping is tooth pain kit.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

For sure.

SPEAKER_00 16:37

And this is for temporary dental repair. There's one on the market called Denttifix, and I keep some of this handy, or I keep it here in case we were to have a broken tooth during some type of an outage, like if there's 48 inches of snow on the ground. I can't get to the dentist's office, and if I did, the dentist can't get to his own office. Right. So out would come the dental fix. Those dental emergencies during some type of disruption, that would be miserable.

SPEAKER_01 17:08

Certainly would. And we touched on this before, but having that headlamp for hands-free lighting, that is a huge plus if you're doing night tasks or you're having to do any kind of repairs under the hood of a car where it's dark.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

And we put it in the lights out kit, but we often put it in the often overlooked items for certain where we are right now.

SPEAKER_01 17:27

Oh, also work gloves, which I like to use around the house even if there's not an emergency, because I have tender little hands and I have expensive manicures and I don't want to destroy them. I'm a girly girl, I'm going to tell you right now, but I do put on work gloves because I'm hauling branches to the street. I might be doing some chainsawing, I might be doing some weeding or working with thorns. My hands need protection, and I just don't see the reason why not. So think about getting work gloves.

SPEAKER_00 17:54

And if we wind up with some type of destruction after a severe storm, we're going to have to be cleaning up debris, and those work gloves are going to come in very, very handy right there to protect those hands. And when our skin tears on the back of our hand, especially when you're on aspirin for blood thinning, it's a lot of bleeding. So it's a whole lot easier just to have those work gloves. Extra prescription glasses. So smart. Yeah, a lot of people forget this.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

Yeah, they think one pair of prescription glasses, I'm good.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:26

Well, what happens when they fall and break?

SPEAKER_00 18:28

I have my two last prescription glasses.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

Now that's just smart right there.

SPEAKER_00 18:34

I don't discard my last one.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 18:36

Now I'll discard number three. Actually, I'll give it to the Lions Club. Uh, so I'll donate those glasses. Oh, that's smart. When it's the third one, I have my current pair of prescription glasses and I have two backup pair, which are my old prescriptions. And that's even though I wear contacts all the time. Sure. I wear contacts about 95% of the time. And so I keep that extra pair of contacts. I have a pair in my EDC bag. I have several pairs here. I just keep those with some solution because you really need to wash that out once in a while. I mean, if you wear contacts, you understand exactly what I'm talking about. But don't forget those extra prescription glasses.

SPEAKER_01 19:20

Something else to keep nearby would be some electrolyte packets or some electrolyte liquid. This is very important for your kidney function. Just drinking a lot of amount of water is not enough. Your kidneys really need those electrolytes. And if they don't get those electrolytes and you're just chugging water all the time without it.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

Especially if we're having to work hard after some type of situation. We're outside, we're in heat, and there's stress going on. That leads to dehydration.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

It can for sure. Dehydration that affects the infants and the elderly much worse than the older adolescents or younger adults. So dehydration, I've experienced it. I've passed out from it. I can tell you it's a real thing and it's serious. Don't monkey around with that. Make sure that you've got some proper electrolyte packets. What's that new kind that you like?

SPEAKER_00 20:10

The LMNT.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:12

I'll have at least one pack of that in my water each day.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:17

I don't put it in every water bottle that I drink because I'm trying to drink way too many water bottles for that amount of salt that would be in there. But if I had to be working out in it in the heat and the sweat and the stress and all of that, I would increase that to two to three times per day that I would use that.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

Yeah. And on the subject of dehydration, there's another form of it that's very unpleasant, and that's diarrhea. And that can strike you, you know, anytime, emergency or not. So make sure that you've got some kind of medication to address diarrhea. You want that to stop and stop fast.

SPEAKER_00 20:53

And that's often overlooked as well.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 20:56

Another one is local paper maps.

SPEAKER_01 20:58

Very smart.

SPEAKER_00 20:59

GPS doesn't always work.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

You know, even when you don't have a power outage, I have found that my GPS about 10% of the time is wrong.

SPEAKER_00 21:08

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

And so a paper map would be a much more reliable source for getting around.

SPEAKER_00 21:13

Yeah, I was driving down the road one day and I looked at my GPS and it said I'm driving down the cornfield about a quarter mile over to my right. So that's where the satellite in a wrong place.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

Well, it's told me to turn left when clearly I should have turned right.

SPEAKER_00 21:27

Or there was no left turn there.

SPEAKER_01 21:29

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 21:30

Another thing to put in there with that local paper map is a compass. If you ever have to try to make it home on foot from some distance, that local map and that compass is going to come in very, very handy in helping you to get home.

SPEAKER_01 21:45

Very smart.

SPEAKER_00 21:46

Extra pet food.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

Very smart. You know, if you're talking prepping, your pets are in there.

SPEAKER_00 21:51

So the the prepping is in there, and our boys, which are our two cats, they love canned tuna.

SPEAKER_01 21:59

Among other things, they get their dry food, but they do love tuna and some other canned foods.

SPEAKER_00 22:03

Yeah, they get some other canned foods, but their treat uh is a can of tuna.

SPEAKER_01 22:08

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:08

Now the interesting thing about that is we can store more tuna and we could eat it, or they could eat it.

SPEAKER_01 22:15

Sure. So this is human-grade tuna, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 22:18

Yes, yes. This canned tuna. Some of it's even wild called albacore tuna. And I love that stuff. Makes a great tuna salad.

SPEAKER_01 22:27

Yeah, he does.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

All right, let's move on to the next one. Nail clippers, tweezers, and a sewing kit. If we're in an extended grid-down situation, those nail clippers are really going to come in handy.

SPEAKER_01 22:37

Right.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

Those tweezers come in handy for removing splinters. Right. We can get a hold of those. Right. And that sewing kit, we can sew buttons back on. We can sew up a rip in a shirt that we might need for an extended grid down situation. You don't fail because you don't have night vision goggles.

SPEAKER_01 22:58

That's true.

SPEAKER_00 22:59

You fail because you forgot a six dollar can opener.

SPEAKER_01 23:02

That's so true. So, my friends, do you learn from the podcast? Are you getting some new ideas from our show that'll help your prepping journey? In other words, are you receiving value from us? Would you help us out by giving back a little value for value? Go to practicalprepping.info slash support. You're going to find several ways that you can help support our preparedness show.

SPEAKER_00 23:25

And we do appreciate you being here today. You could have chosen any other podcast, but you chose ours, and for that we're really grateful. Thank you for being here. And as Krista always says, Stuff happens.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

Stay prepared.

SPEAKER_00 23:39

And we'll see you next time.