7 things every home needs before the next outage (and what to skip)

Not a bunker list. The seven items that cover most of what goes wrong, in the order to buy them.

Most preparedness lists are either three items long and useless or three hundred items long and never bought. This is the seven that matter, in order. Buy one a week and you're done in two months.

1. A light that isn't your phone

A rechargeable lantern lights a room for a night; a headlamp leaves both hands free. Get one of each before anything else, and keep them charged.

2. A way to hear the news

When the networks go down, radio is how you find out what's happening and how long it's expected to last. A hand-crank model with a weather band never needs batteries and charges a phone in a pinch.

3. Water you've already stored

A gallon per person per day, three days minimum. Collapsible containers fold flat until a warning is issued. Full guide here. When the stored water runs out, a filter straw per person turns the rain barrel or the creek into drinking water.

Plan Backup Survival Straw

Three-stage hollow-fibre filter: drink direct, screw onto a bottle, or filter by gravity. No power, no expiry. The 5-pack comes with two guides free.

From $29.95 · 5-pack $74.95See the straw

4. Stored charge

A 20,000mAh power bank is four or five phone charges. Keep it full. The week-long plan is here.

5. A way to cook

A butane stove costs little, lights with a click and cooks what's thawing in the freezer. Use it by an open window, never in a bedroom, and pair it with a carbon monoxide alarm.

6. A first-aid kit you've actually opened

Minor injuries go up in the dark. A proper kit with labelled compartments, and ten minutes spent learning what's in it.

7. The toilet question

When water pressure fails, toilets stop. A folding toilet and gelling waste bags are the least glamorous thing you'll buy and the thing you'll be most glad of on day two.

What to skip

• Freeze-dried "25-year" food buckets. Expensive, and most families never eat them. Buy extra of what you already eat and rotate it.
• A petrol generator, unless you have somewhere outdoors to run it and fuel stored safely. For most homes a power station and solar panel is quieter, safer and simpler.
• Anything camouflaged. You're not going anywhere. You're staying home and keeping the lights on.

We sell one of the seven: the Survival Straw, for the water you can't store in advance. The other six are a hardware-store trip, and the free Home & Go-Bag Checklist guide with every 5-pack tells you what to look for.