See how much of a power outage your house already covers.
Start with the water heater. A tank sits in 93 percent of American homes, and most of them hold more than 30 gallons of water you already paid for (federal residential energy survey). The free calculators here do that count for water, food and power, with your state's numbers and the source beside each one.
National Preparedness Month ends on 30 September. Four small jobs, one per evening.
FEMA's Ready campaign runs National Preparedness Month every September. You do not need a bunker to take part. Pick one job per evening: count what the house already holds, read the water report, check the well if you have one, and write the plan down.
- i.Count what the house already holdsMost tank water heaters hold more than 30 gallons you already own.
- ii.Read your water quality reportWhat it must contain, and the unit trap.
- iii.On a well? What to test, and how oftenThe tests, the schedule, and what they cost.
- iv.Plan 48 hours without power in a small apartmentWater, power bank, fridge clock. No generator.
Pick the one that matches your day
Get one number
Pick your state and your roof size. You get gallons per inch of rain, per month and per year, from NOAA rainfall normals, and you can print it.
Rain barrel calculator →Work out your water number
People, days and pets go in. Out comes the gallons your household needs when the tap stops, on Ready.gov and USGS baselines, as a worksheet you can print.
Household water plan →After the storm
Is the tap safe, how long the fridge holds, where the generator goes, and what to write down while it's fresh.
The day-after page →Calculators with the source next to the number
- a.Household water planPeople, days, pets, roof. Ready.gov and USGS baselines. Prints as a worksheet.
- b.Rain barrel calculator, by stateNOAA 1991–2020 rainfall for 48 states. Gallons per inch, per month, per year. Overflow.
- c.48-hour power plan for an apartmentGallons, power bank mAh and the fridge clock, from Ready.gov numbers.
- d.30-day pantry, priced this monthBLS average prices, item by item, for your household size.
- e.Generator or battery, by stateEIA outage hours for all fifty states, and the watt-hours you need.
- f.Water from air, by cityNOAA dew points for thirty cities: how much air one gallon really takes.
- g.This week's drought mapThe U.S. Drought Monitor for your state, and what to do at each level.
- h.Filter, treat and test your waterThe exact bleach dose for the water you have, from EPA and CDC guidance.
- i.The blackout kit you already ownTick what is in the house and see the outage hours it covers in your state.
Guides with no product attached
- ·Testing your well waterWhat to test for, how often, and what it costs.
- ·Well water or city waterThe real difference is not taste, it is who is responsible.
- ·How to read your water quality reportThe report arrives by 1 July. What it must contain, and the unit trap.
- ·Which herbs survive your winterFourteen herbs by USDA zone, and the rosemary trap.
- ·Companion planting with herbsWhat extension services actually support, and what they call folklore.
- ·The herbs that take overRhizome or seed, and how far down the barrier has to go.
- ·Growing herbs indoors through winterThe light numbers three extension services publish.
- ·Your frost dates, from the federal recordFirst and last freeze, from the 1991 to 2020 normals.
- ·Finding the foraging rules where you liveThe method, not a table that goes stale.
- ·When the identification does not closeThe rule for the moment of doubt, and the kit worth carrying.
Who each product is for, and who should wait
Built from the official page, the live price and what buyers report. We say plainly when we haven't tested something ourselves. Buy through a link here and we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.
- ·Water Freedom SystemDigital plans for a water-from-air rig. Your humidity decides how much it collects.
- ·Smart Water BoxDigital plans, parts extra, your climate decides everything.
- ·Medicinal Garden KitTen plants from one box of non-GMO seeds. A gardening kit, not medicine.
- ·The Forager's Guide to Wild FoodsA 400-plant field guide. A skill, not a stockpile.
How we stay honest
Reader-supported, not sponsored. Some links in our reviews are affiliate links. Buy through one and we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what we write, and we don't accept payment for a better write-up. We don't test every product hands-on, and every review says so when that's the case. Prices and terms are the seller's. Verify them at checkout.
Numbers come with a date and a source. Calculators use public baselines (Ready.gov, USGS, NOAA, BLS) and show the date we read them. Videos from other creators appear through YouTube's own player, with their name and link. They are theirs, not ours.
Not medical advice. Anything about herbs or plants is gardening and traditional home know-how, not treatment for any condition. Anything about water safety repeats public guidance. Your local authorities' notices come first.
Written with AI assistance, edited by a person. Drafts are prepared with AI tools and checked, cut and signed off by the owner before they go up. Corrections: tell us and we fix the page and note the date.