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

Flashlights do a poor job when you need to light an entire room or if you need your hands free for a task. Diffuse light is what you want, and the Coleman Divide + Push Flashlight does a great job. It’s smaller than the typical Coleman lantern, which is nice because it will probably spend most of its life in storage. There are two settings: 425 lumens at maximum for 40 hours of running and 50 lumens at minimum for 330 hours of running. It uses three D-cell batteries, which sounds great, but along with other full-size battery-powered lanterns, such as the eight-cell Coleman Twin LED lantern, it’s economical.

You can leave the batteries in it, even if you use 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 foldable wire handle so you can hang it by a carabiner or a hook.

A water purifier

Most of the time, the water supply will work even when the power goes out. But major natural disasters can destroy or damage it, and you may only get dirty water. The Grayl Ultralight compact purification bottle is a solid and fast filter for one person that will withstand 300 uses – a total of 40 gallons – before you need to change the filter. I trust this when I travel to countries without any guarantee of water sanitation.

Another option is Katadyn Steripen Adventurer ($ 100), which purifies using ultraviolet light. Put it in water and mix. 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 cheap and easy to store. Throw them in the water and wait briefly. The taste is not great, but there are no tablets or drops for water treatment, in my experience. Another option is LifeStraw’s personal water filter ($ 30) – you just have to sip it like any regular straw and it will filter 99.99 percent of the water-based bacteria for up to 1,000 liters of water. If you have a large household, you may prefer something like the MSR AutoFlow XL Gravity Filter ($ 100). Gravitational filters take longer to purify water.

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

A propane camp stove