What must keep running when the power fails?
Make two lists: needs and wants. Needs often include water supply, refrigeration and freezers, heat or the controls for it, lighting, communication, medical equipment, and anything keeping animals alive and comfortable such as ventilation, brooders or water heaters for tanks. Wants include extras like entertainment and non-essential appliances.
Check each device's nameplate for its power draw, and note whether it is a motor. Motors draw extra when starting, which changes sizing.
Add animals to the list with care. Brooders, heat lamps, ventilation fans and heated waterers are often the first loads to fail in an outage, and they carry the highest stakes. Consider whether a non-electric option exists for each.
How long might an outage last?
Think about how long outages have lasted in your area, and what could cause a longer one: storms, ice, wildfire shutoffs or flooding. Ask your utility how it communicates outages and whether there are priority lists for medical needs. Ask neighbors about past events.
Plan in layers: a few hours, a few days, and a week or more. Each layer may call for a different solution.
What options do I have?
Common choices are a portable generator, a standby generator wired by an electrician, a battery system with an inverter, a solar system with storage, and non-electric methods such as manual water pumping, wood heat and hand tools. Each has costs in money, fuel, space, noise and upkeep.
Many homesteads combine options: a generator for long events, a small battery system for essentials and manual fallbacks for water and heat.
Think also about communication. Keep a battery or hand-crank radio, spare phone power and a printed list of numbers. Ask your utility how to report an outage and how updates are shared, and agree with family on a meeting point if roads are blocked.
- Portable generator: flexible, needs fuel and safe operation.
- Standby generator: convenient, needs professional installation and a fuel source.
- Battery and inverter: quiet, limited by capacity.
- Manual options: no fuel, more labor.
How do I handle water, food and animals?
If you rely on a well, find out how you will get water: a generator wired for the pump, stored water, or a hand pump if one fits your well. Store drinking water and plan stock water by counting animals and daily needs.
For food, learn how long a closed refrigerator or freezer holds safe temperatures, and ask your extension office or the USDA about food safety after an outage. When in doubt about food that was warm too long, throw it out.
Keep a printed list of medications and medical devices that need power, and talk with your doctor and utility about backup planning. If you rely on electric medical equipment, plan ahead and do not wait for an outage.
What does a good plan include on paper?
Write the plan: the load list, shutoff locations, who does what, where fuel and cords are stored, and who to call. Include an electrician's number and your utility's outage line. Keep a printed copy, since the internet may be down.
Practice once a year. Run through the steps in daylight so the first time is not in a storm.
How should I budget?
Budget by category: equipment, installation by licensed professionals, permits, fuel or batteries, maintenance, storage and replacement. Compare quotes and ask what each includes. Start with the lowest-cost steps that protect health and animals, then build up as money allows.
Ask your insurer whether installed equipment affects coverage, and ask your local permit office about rules for generators and wiring.
What does a simple backup plan look like in practice?
A workable plan might read like this: in a short outage, run only the freezer, lights and phone chargers; in a multi-day outage, add the well pump on a schedule and short heating cycles; in a long outage, add fuel resupply and a plan for help. Writing it by tiers keeps decisions simple when you are tired.
Add the details: which cords go where, which breakers stay off, how often to run the generator and how to rotate through loads. If someone else must run the plan, give them a printed copy and walk through it once.
Practice the plan and update it every year. Equipment changes, animals change and households change, and a plan written five years ago may no longer fit your property.
Key takeaways
- List needs separately from wants before choosing equipment.
- Plan in layers for short, medium and long outages.
- Cover water, food safety and animal needs first.
- Write the plan down and practice it once a year.
Sources and further reading
Last reviewed: November 12, 2026. Written by the Homestead & Small Farm Editorial Team. See our editorial policy.