The best home emergency kit (2021): flashlights, stoves, chargers and more

Flashlights work poorly when you need to light an entire room or need to have your hands free for a task. Diffused light is what you want, and the Coleman Divide + Push Lantern does a great job. It is smaller than the typical Coleman flashlight, which is good, as it will probably spend most of its life in storage. There are two configurations: 425 lumens high for 40 hours of runtime and 50 lumens low for 330 hours of runtime. It uses three D-cell batteries, which looks like a lot, but next to other full-size battery-powered flashlights, like the Coleman Twin LED flashlight that uses eight D-cells, it’s economical.

You can leave the batteries in this one, even if you’re using alkaline. When not using Divide +, rotate the battery compartment to separate the batteries from the contact terminals so that they do not corrode in storage (smart!). There is also a folding wire handle so you can hang it on a carabiner or hook.

A water purifier

Most of the time, your water supply will work even when there is a power outage. But major natural disasters can bring you down or damage you, and you can only get dirty water. The Ultralight Grayl compact purifier bottle is a solid, fast filter for a person that lasts 300 uses – a total of 40 gallons – before you need to change the filter. That’s what I trust when I travel to countries with no guarantee of basic sanitation.

Another option is the Katadyn Steripen Adventurer ($ 100), which purifies with ultraviolet light. Dip into your water and stir. It will not filter sediment, but it is small, light and works with replaceable CR123 batteries. You can also try Katadyn Micropur tablets ($ 14). They are inexpensive and easy to store. Throw them in the water and wait a while. It doesn’t taste great, but there are no water treatment pills or drops in my experience. Another option is LifeStraw’s personal water filter ($ 30) – just take a sip like any normal straw and it will filter 99.99% of waterborne bacteria in up to 1,000 gallons of water. If you have a large family, you might prefer something like the MSR AutoFlow XL gravity filter ($ 100). Gravity filters take longer to purify water.

You can boil water, but it will not filter sediment, and boiling takes fuel and takes time.

Propane camping stove