We live off grid, here’s some of the little, relatively inexpensive, easy to acquire things that keep us comfortable.
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Camping stove + several small bottles of propane
You can buy an adapter for the camp stoves that will allow you to hook up big bottles of propane too, I’ll link those as well!
Lanterns, grandma’s old school lanterns
We collect these, my favorite are the ones with a metallic or mirrors backer that reflects light. If you buy lanterns please also keep on hand some extra wicks, fuel, and lighters or matches AND make sure you’re buying the right fuel for your lamps AND make sure it’s for indoor use…
Battery- a big ole battery that will charge your electronics for DAYS
We have one that was sent to us by a company for free to try, and to be honest it’s very overpriced, so I’ll list some here that look completely comparable. The important thing with these is that you buy one that charges quickly, and is truly portable. Ours is gigantic because we don’t take it anywhere (weighs 100lbs). The ones listed below are much lighter, and several come with an optional solar panel so you can re-charge it after the power goes out.
COFFEE…
Yes, there are 1,000 ways to make coffee, but the one we prefer with the camp stove is “cowboy coffee” or alternatively, espresso. For both of these, you’re going to wanna have ground coffee on hand. Make sure the grind size matches the method of coffee you’d like to brew
Rechargeable fans
These are super awesome for when it’s hot or if you need a little noise to fall asleep. We loved them for when our son was a baby and we had to do stuff outside.
SEASONAL- Arkansas (where we are) gets cold, so don’t forget to stock up on cold weather items just in case an ice storm brings the grid down.
Tents- when it’s cold, and you can’t heat your space enough, reduce your space. That’s where tents come in. We have a tent that’s small enough to fit inside our cabin, but big enough for our family to sleep in. Body heat is amazing! Get sleeping bags & cuddles up inside your tent, you’ll be thrilled with how comfortable something so simple can make you.
Additionally, stock up on those old quilts. You want layers, and in the event it’s cold enough for you to break out the tent, throw the quilts over the tent to give yourself more insulation & retain all that body heat.
⬆️ it’s important you buy a tent that doesn’t require cables & stakes to stand up, mostly because your house isn’t made to have stakes driven into the floor.
DIY TENT- don’t discount what you’ve got on hand! During the Texas freeze a lot of folks make tents out of their dining tables by covering them in large quilts & duvets!
More expensive, but more comfort with DIY solar
We recently purchased a solar kit that’s made specifically for DIY installation. It comes with a battery bank & all the necessary wiring for install. If you’d like more information on something much bigger like that, check out our friends at Signature Solar!
We also purchased this mini split AC unit kit
AND
this chargeverter, basically acts as an electrical frequency filter that you put between your generator and your battery bank. Batteries like to have a constant stream of clean power, clean being pure sine wave frequency from the charge controller or inverter. Generators, unless extremely large and specifically noted as pure sine on the inverter, are "dirty" power.
The chargeverter corrects the wave form to pure sine and reduces spikes to protect your batteries. This allows you to protect your batteries when charging with a smaller (more standard for homes) generator.
The big reason we didn’t immediately jump into buying a solar system was because of cost. It’s a few thousand dollars even for something small, but during the summer, we desperately wanted to be able to run a small AC unit in our cabin (especially now that I’m pregnant and hot all the time).
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