I felt like it had been awhile since we had such a long outage with it being so cold which definitely complicated things. We have a large stock of lanterns/flashlights and batteries but found that a lot of them had corroded from lack of use. Note for next time not to store with batteries in.

We have large and small indoor propane heaters. The small one went to the basement to keep the pipes warm and the large one was in the center of the house upstairs to try to heat the rest as much as possible. We also have a propane camp stove which was very useful.

We also made sure our CO2 alarms were functioning and placed next to each heater just in case.

We don't have a generator so the refrigerator is always a concern. We picked up a bunch of ice ahead of time and moved perishables to coolers and tried not to open the fridge.

We are fortunate to live in a somewhat densely populated area and tend to get power back relatively quickly, but with more and more severe storms I do think outages will become more common and sustained.

My biggest concerns are always keeping the pipes from freezing, losing as little food as possible, and keeping the animals warm. I have two guinea pigs that live in my semi finished basement so I keep an emergency cage on hand to bring them upstairs if it gets too cold in the basement.

As far as basic safety and avoiding damage to the house, the propane heaters are the most valuable asset. In terms of comfort, having the camp stove and the ability to eat hot food is a life saver. We always keep plenty of propane cans stocked in the garage.