How to Live Where There’s No Electricity

Whether you love being off-grid or know in advance that you will face a power outage in the near future, you need to learn how to live without electricity. While it’s hard to imagine the absence of electrical appliances that play such an important role in our lives today, we humans have been living that way since the very beginning of our planet. With determination, a positive attitude, and a little ingenuity, you’ll make it through, even for a day or for the rest of your life.

Table of Contents

Leaving the comfortable life

Part one: Lighting and heating

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Invest in an alternative energy source. If you’re planning on living without electricity, you’ll have to find other ways to power your home without the help of electricity providers. Renewable energy sources are well suited for this. You can use solar panels to harness the sun’s energy, install wind turbines, or power your home with a hydroelectric system. You might also consider installing a generator so that you can use electrical appliances. ^{[1] X Research Source}

Build a bicycle generator. This is a great way to exercise and charge at the same time. You can also find electric bike building diagrams online or purchase a pre-made bicycle generator.

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Consider looking for alternative fuel sources such as biodiesel, biomass, and ethane.

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Plan the lighting system. There are many possible options for effective lighting in your home. One of the best options is an oil lamp. You can also use kerosene lamps, candles and picnic lights that use rechargeable batteries. Another important thing is to have a flashlight to use when needed in the middle of the night without any lights on. ^{[2] X Research Source}

If you decide to buy an electric bicycle, you can light the lights in your house.

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Reinforcing the house for the winter. This work includes adding insulation to the walls of the house, especially in the attic and around the entrance to the house. Heat will escape through openings under doors, around window frames and overhead areas of the house. You need to create an insulation system so that as little heat escapes as possible. Buy rubber door seals to seal the gaps under the doors.

Consider using a window insulator to block air from entering the window slit. You can buy ready-made insulators or make your own.

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Consider creating central heating. If you don’t have a fireplace or wood stove, you should consider building a stove or stove, especially if you live in a cold climate. To heat other rooms in the house, you can create ventilation slots leading to the rooms. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

Part two: Cooking

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Think about how you will cook. One of the best ways to cook without electricity is to build a wood stove. When it’s too hot and you can’t use a wood stove, you can cook with a picnic gas stove with propane or butane fuel (works like other gas stoves.)

You can use an existing gas stove without electricity; Just light it up with a match or lighter.

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Plant a garden. Instead of going to the store to buy vegetables, why not grow your own? With just a few seeds, you can turn your yard into a bountiful food supply. Growing food crops on your own land also means you’ll be in control of contaminants that affect the food you eat.

You should plant fruit and vegetable crops at different intervals; This way, you will have fresh food all year round.

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If you really intend to grow crops seriously, you need to learn about crop rotation. Search online to learn more about bulk farming and crop rotation techniques.

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Plant an herb garden to always have fresh herbs in your meals. Dry some herbs to use all four seasons.

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Rise Castle. If you have large land, you should raise livestock. Cows, goats and sheep are rich sources of milk, chickens provide eggs and meat, and pigs are both food and a source of fertilizer. You can sell, trade or keep your livestock products. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

Build a chicken coop. The chicken coop must be spacious enough to have enough room for the chickens to move around and have discreet nests for them to lay their eggs.

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Learn how to preserve food. An important part of life without electricity is the ability to preserve food when there is no refrigerator to store it. Almost anything can be canned – from fruits and vegetables to meat and eggs, canning is a great way to keep food fresh. If you’re planning on canning in bulk, you should consider buying a pressure cooker. The pressure cooker will make the canning process much more efficient.

Make pickles to preserve other foods. Pickles will be very useful in the winter, when fresh food is not as available as before.

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Drying fruits, vegetables and meat. Drying is a great way to preserve food without electricity.

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Part three: Other basic jobs

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Make organic compost. Composting is extremely helpful, especially when you don’t want to pay for the city’s garbage collection service. Organic compost is a rich source of nutrients and is relatively easy to make.

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Do-it-yourself fertilizer. This is especially easy if you raise livestock. You will be well compensated for applying homemade organic fertilizer to your garden.

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Focus on a product that you can make to sell or trade. Think about what skills you have – are you good at sewing, cooking, carving or building, etc…? Determine the materials needed to produce goods in bulk. You should also consider what products you can make from what you already have. Are you raising sheep? Learn how to knit or make cheese from sheep’s milk.

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Wash clothes by hand. This task sounds boring at first, but after doing a lot, you will get used to it. Just rub the clothes against the washboard, drain the water and hang up to dry.

The secret to fabric softening is to rinse clothes with 1-2 cups of vinegar before drying. Vinegar will help keep your clothes from getting stiff as they dry.

Coping with power outages

Part one: Prepare for a power outage

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Prepare an emergency supply kit. In addition to water and non-perishable food, there are a few other basic items that every family should have in their emergency supply kit. Which includes: flashlights, extra batteries, multi-tools (such as folding knives), can openers, 7-day supplies, hygiene products, cash, portable radios, and blankets lifesaving. ^{[5] X Research Sources}

Make copies of your identification, including important medical information, your passport, address confirmation, and birth certificate. You should also keep a map of the area and a list of emergency contacts.

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Prepare a first aid kit. In the event of a power outage, there’s no telling what will happen (or who needs medical attention). Therefore, you should have a first aid kit ready at home. You can buy a pre-made first aid kit or assemble your own. Read our articles to learn more about what to include in a first aid kit. ^{[6] X Research Sources}

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Store water somewhere in the house. The Red Cross recommends storing a minimum of 4 liters of water per person per day. If possible, you should store enough water for at least 1 week (so, a family of 3 will have to buy 80 liters of water.)

If you can’t afford to buy or store the recommended volume of water and are concerned that drinking water is scarce, you can also filter it in case of an emergency. Learn how to filter water here.

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Stock up on non-perishable foods. These foods should be easy to cook, preferably no cooking at all. If you don’t have access to a heat source, such as a wood stove or a picnic stove (as described in part two), it’s a good idea to stock up on most food that’s perishable and doesn’t require cooking. ^{[7] X Research Sources}

Stockpiling food that needs to be cooked: canned soup, cheese pasta

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Stock up on non-cooking foods: canned nuts, canned fruits and vegetables, peanut butter, dry food, crackers, canned meats, packaged puddings, and bottled juices.

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Stay in touch with loved ones. If the power goes out or there’s an emergency, call a family member before the battery runs out (because you won’t be able to charge it).

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Have entertainment facilities ready. Since you can’t watch TV, use computers or other electronic devices, you’ll need to find something to entertain yourself. However, do not forget that you should not waste the spare battery to light a flashlight to read at night. If you have kerosene lamps or candles, place a lamp on the table so people can gather around the table to read, play a game, or chat.

Part two: Lighting and heating

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Find alternative light sources. These sources include flashlights, hurricane lamps, and candles. Store the flashlight where you can quickly find it in the dark. Candles are great fuel because they last for a long time without consuming batteries. Storm lights are especially useful for daily use when traveling in the dark. Light up the kitchen with kerosene lamps while cooking.

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Determine how you will warm up. If you have a fireplace, you should store firewood. Close the doors to unused rooms because the little heat you have will radiate throughout the house. You might also consider investing in an oil heater. A heater of this type will heat the house, but you need to place it near the vents to avoid a build-up of carbon monoxide. ^{[8] X Research Sources}

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Use the car to charge electronic devices. If you can get outside to get into your car, you can charge up essential electronics (such as a phone to keep in touch with loved ones and a rechargeable flashlight). You can charge electronic devices through the car cigarette lighter (connected to the car battery.)

Part three: Cooking

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Keep perishable foods cold in the refrigerator. The best way to do this is to buy a block of dry ice, wrap it in newspaper, and place it in the fridge. Shop for dry ice today so you know where to go in an emergency. ^{[9] X Research Source}

Only open refrigerators and freezers when absolutely necessary. You can also cover the refrigerator and freezer with a thick blanket to keep the cold inside, but don’t cover the ventilation slots of the refrigerator or freezer.