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VashonBePrepared: Home preparedness essentials you can find now

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, August 20, 2025

VashonBePrepared put out a call for folks to share their personal favorite household preparedness gadgets. Learn more about their choices in this story.
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VashonBePrepared put out a call for folks to share their personal favorite household preparedness gadgets. Learn more about their choices in this story.

VashonBePrepared put out a call for folks to share their personal favorite household preparedness gadgets. Learn more about their choices in this story.
VashonBePrepared put out a call for folks to share their personal favorite household preparedness gadgets. Learn more about their choices in this story.
Wren Hudgins: “This external battery charger and the solar panel to keep it topped up are aimed at keeping my electronics going when there is no power. If I also take advantage of power-saving settings on my phone, such as airplane mode and low battery mode, I can keep the phone going for a pretty long time. This is helpful in an emergency and in an off-the-grid situation, such as a backpacking or road trip.”
Vicky de Monterey Richoux: “My favorite is this easy-to-use can opener. A lot of cans come with pull tabs now, but some still don’t. This manual tool works even during a power outage. I’d hate to be stuck on the outside of a can of peaches.”
Patricia Toovey: “This is the home preparedness item I have used more than any other. I have a bank of 15 hanging by my back door in zipper bags to protect them from the weather. Light on a hook. About $6 at Ace. Our power goes out a lot. I hang these inside and also light the path to the front door. Not tech or glam, but it keeps us safe.”
Vernon Trevellyan: “Wildland firefighters wear special belts designed for their work. As you see here, it can be used as a tourniquet. Plus, the belt will take a 9,000-pound load in case someone in an emergency needs to clip onto it for a rescue in place of proper rigging.”
Jinna Risdall: “Gotta have snacks! Here’s my favorite go-bag item. It’s a tasty Perfect Bar, high in protein and delicious!”
James Hamaker: “I keep a 4x4 surgical dressing in my CERT vest pocket. It’s a basic principle of stop-the-bleed training. Pressure on the wound – and quick action matters. With the dressing handy, I can say: Here sir/madam, press this against your bleed while I get the first aid kit out.”
Michael Meyer: “The Gold Beach water system does not have a generator backup, so when the power goes out, the entire community runs out of water in a few days. I have two rain barrels and a sealed drum of potable water. I’ve used them a couple of times.”

You may have noticed that the internet has been awash lately with lists of items you should have in your household in case of emergency.

Blame the motivation on a massive earthquake in Russia, multiple mega fires around the U.S., and deadly flash flooding in Texas. These are all reminders that disaster can strike without warning at any time. So it makes sense to prepare now. After a disaster, it’s a really bad time to try to get to the store for essentials!

Ten home preparedness essentials

In the meantime, here are ten essential categories of supplies that are on pretty much every home preparedness shopping list.

• Water

• Food and a manual can opener

• Flashlight

• Battery-powered radio and spare batteries

• First aid kit

• Medications

• Multi-purpose tool

• Sanitation and personal hygiene items

• Cell phone, charger, and backup battery

• Family and emergency contact information

Don’t stop there. If you want to go further – and we suggest you do – here are some excellent online checklists:

• American Red Cross: tinyurl.com/SurvivalKitARC

• Ready.gov: ready.gov/kit

• VashonBePrepared: vashonbeprepared.org/prepare-household

Let’s go shopping

It’s quite possible that you already have many of the preparedness supplies on the ten essentials list. For example, if you go camping, you might have a water purification system. And it’s a rare household that doesn’t have the makings of a first aid kit and a flashlight. Just collect everything together in a bin so you can easily check it once or twice a year to make sure it’s up to date.

Still, some of us enjoy shopping. Make your first stop the two Vashon hardware stores: Ace Hardware and Island Lumber. We encourage you to support our local businesses so they can thrive and stay here to help our community after a disaster. Besides, by shopping on-island, you don’t need to spend time and ferry fare to wander the aisles of a mainland big box store.

An easy online search for home preparedness gadgets will offer dozens of review sites. The New York Times operates the Wirecutter site and offers a step-by-step interactive page that will walk you through building a shopping list customized to your needs. Visit tinyurl.com/NYTprepPage.

Suggestions from your neighbors

VashonBePrepared put out a call for folks to share their personal favorite household preparedness gadgets. Your Vashon neighbors came through with a bunch of fascinating and helpful suggestions, shared in this article, that provide for basic needs ranging from water to food, and from first aid to electricity and light.

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