What to do if you lose power during a winter storm?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PEOPLE DO NOT TURN YOUR OVEN ON AND LEAVE THE DOOR OPEN YOU ARE POISONING YOURSELVES.


I can't belive how many people DON'T KNOW THIS.

No one in this thread has suggested that. Calm down.

People are saying you can use your stovetop to cook, however.

[Anonymous]

Is it better to cook now before the storm (which then uses up food you have for the week and starts the countdown of the cooked food expiring) or wait to cook for another couple of days (risking power outage rendering you unable to cook)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is it better to cook now before the storm (which then uses up food you have for the week and starts the countdown of the cooked food expiring) or wait to cook for another couple of days (risking power outage rendering you unable to cook)?

I’m cooking in spurts. Made minestrone today. Will make stew tomorrow. I feel very virtuous 😂

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is it better to cook now before the storm (which then uses up food you have for the week and starts the countdown of the cooked food expiring) or wait to cook for another couple of days (risking power outage rendering you unable to cook)?

Depends if your area is prone to outage. Mine isn’t so I will just continue making dinner per usual.

[Anonymous]

I live in an all-electric house. I am moderately concerned about power outages. I filled my car with gas and planned to sit in it with the garage door fully open to warm up and recharge my phone if necessary.

I read somewhere today that CO poisoning is still a possibility with the garage door open.

Would sitting in the driveway be the safer option?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in an all-electric house. I am moderately concerned about power outages. I filled my car with gas and planned to sit in it with the garage door fully open to warm up and recharge my phone if necessary.

I read somewhere today that CO poisoning is still a possibility with the garage door open.

Would sitting in the driveway be the safer option?

Yes. Back your car out several feet.

[Anonymous]

I come from the land of hurricanes and pretty much always more people die doing dumb stuff after the storm than they do during the storm. I assume that's true during winter storms too. Be careful with power tools, be careful clearing downed branches, be careful with generators, don't do weird stuff to try to heat your house.

[Anonymous]

At some point your local municipality will open some warming centers. They will be boring, loud and probably crowded, but you will survive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you can't figure out how to survive this in the modern age, just go ahead and die. It's natural selection at work.

Just like Covid. Thinning of the heard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a whole house generator switch. We can run our almost whole house on a small portable generator once we flip the switch. There are two exceptions - can not run dryer or a/c - too much power draw. But we have used it in the summer and managed with fans just fine until the power was restored.

Someone sized your generator incorrectly. Speaking from experience, not opinion. Whole house generator is supposed to run everything, including A/C.