There is an entire movement of so-called "Preppers", people that expend a good bit of effort to ensure they are prepped for any kind of emergency. The extreme faction are the Shit Hits the Fan (SHTF) types that are convinced that an apocalypse or Doomsday scenario is right around the corner. They train, study, practice skills, and stock away supplies enough to live for years if there is a total collapse of the American society. Current events in the news don't do much to prove them wrong though, really. The other end of the spectrum are those that stock up on enough needed items to get through a short-term emergency due to weather/geologic disasters, narrowly focused terrorist type attacks (taking out the electric grid for example), or a short term political or criminal crisis.
Either way, it behooves every household to take some basic precautions and have what is needed on hand to get through at least a couple weeks without outside assistance.
Food and water: I advocate keeping a 30-day supply of food in the house that can be prepared even if the electricity and gas systems are shut down. Freeze-dried foods last 25 years if stored properly (in a cool, dry, dark location). Basic beans, rice, and noodles will also store for a long time if repackaged in oxygen-proof containers and stored properly. Water is harder to store, plastic bottles will eventually start to break down and leach chemicals into the water. You can bottle your own water in canning jars and you should also buy two, good quality water purification systems. The type and the quality will be based on whatnaturally occurring water is available close by your house. Then you need an independent means with which to cook your food. Camp stoves with plenty of fuel work fine. I have several Coleman stoves and keep two gallons of "White Gas" stored for use. Unleaded gasoline can also be used in a pinch. I also have a "Solo" twig burning stove to supplement the Coleman stove. The Solo stove also works great, it is just a little bit slower to bring a pint of water to a boil.
You need a means to heat your house if you live in an area where temps drop under 40 degrees. My house has a fireplace in which I inserted a wood burning stove. This stove is far more efficient than an open fire in a fireplace and can keep my entire house above 60 degrees even on the coldest winter days (proven five years ago when we lost power for five days in December). My wood stove has a fan to circulate air around the firebox to gain efficiency. I powered that fan with a car battery and an inverter to convert 12 volt DC power to 120 volt AC power. I also had a fan at the back of the room to move warm air to the rest of the house. Another option is to set up tents inside the house so your own body heat can warm up a smaller, enclosed space. A single long burning candle can keep the air inside the tent above freezing at least. If you don't have a fireplace or wood burning stove, you need to store several dozens of long duration emergency candles. These can be bought online.
My car battery lasted for the five days but after that emergency I decided to upgrade to a "Solar Generator" power bank. I bought a small unit from Ecoflow, there are lots of companies selling these set-ups now. My system can store and provide 1,600 watthours of electricity and has 400 watts of solar panels to recharge the battery bank each day. That is eight times as much power as the car battery had and it can be recharged each day as needed. 1,600 watthours would power a 100 watt light bulb for 16 hours of continuous use, for example. Modern LED and CFL lights use a fraction of that wattage and could stay on for days. Every household needs to have the means to generate and store electrical power. Gas and propane/natural gas generators are good, but what happens when you can't get fuel? I can charge my battery bank in an hour with a generator and then use that power for an entire day. That would stretch out your fuel for a couple weeks probably.
You need a good supply of non-electrical lighting systems. Batteries
wear out and just go bad. But you can buy rechargeable AA and AAA
batteries and cheap solar chargers for them. Go to the Dollar Store or Walmart
and buy a dozen or so solar garden or walkway lights. That little 4x4
inch solar panel will charge a single battery in a couple hours of
direct sunlight. Then pop it into your flashlight and you are good to
go. I have several motion activated solar-charged lights for my outdoor
sheds and garage. These have larger solar panels and you can charge
these during the day and then use them as emergency lights in the house and
as security lighting at entrances to your house. Candles and oil lanterns
are good, plus they provide some heat. The gas mantle lights are very
bright though the mantles can be fragile.
Blankets and sleeping bags above and beyond what you normally have on the bed are needed. Wool is best and you can buy military surplus wool blankets at surplus stores and online. Remember, the house is not going to be heated to 72 degrees so you need more warmth from sleeping bags or blankets.
Medications. You need to maintain a fresh supply of any meds you normally keep on hand such a cold and flu meds, pain relievers, allergy meds, etc. You won't be able to replenish once the roads and stores are closed.
Don't forget about your pets. Stock up on their food and meds too.
