Power & Light
When the grid goes.
Two weeks of cold without grid power is a fuel logistics problem. Generator, propane, firewood — pick one and over-stock it.
The power & light domain →Winter storm 2-week plan
The 2-week winter-storm plan — water, heat, food, and pipe protection sized for an extended regional outage, the storm that takes a week to dig out from.
Two weeks of winter-storm readiness is the threshold where households stop reacting and start managing. The 72-hour list keeps you safe through the storm; the 2-week plan keeps you intact through the recovery — the days when the road is plowed but the power is still out, when the trucks are running but your block is still last on the list. The work is heat redundancy, water that does not freeze, food that does not need a working fridge, and a pipe-protection routine you can run on autopilot at 3am.
The load-bearing domains
What this combination actually depends on
Every event–duration combination weights the nine domains differently. Here are the two or three that decide the outcome for this one.
Shelter & Warmth
Roof, heat, dry.
A single warm room can keep a household intact for two weeks. The work is sealing it, insulating it, and rotating sleep through it.
The shelter & warmth domain →Food
Eat well, store smart.
Two weeks of no-cook or one-burner food. The freezer is a question mark by Day 5; the pantry has to carry the rest.
The food domain →The 2 weeks list
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Common questions
Questions that come up
How much food do I need for a 2-week winter storm?
Roughly 2,000 calories per person per day, in shelf-stable forms that do not require refrigeration and ideally do not require cooking. For a family of four, that is about 110,000 calories — about 14 standard #10 cans of varied ingredients, or a well-stocked pantry of canned, dried, and freeze-dried goods. Bias toward what your family actually eats.
How do I keep pipes from freezing during an extended outage?
Three tactics, all running together: insulate exposed pipes (foam sleeves, $1/foot), drip every faucet on an exterior wall, and know where your main shutoff is so you can stop a burst within seconds. If interior temps drop below 50°F, open cabinet doors under sinks to let house air reach the pipes.
Is a generator or a propane heater better for a 2-week winter storm?
Different jobs. A generator powers the whole house intermittently — fridge, furnace fan, well pump, some lights — and burns about 5 gallons of gas a day at moderate load. A propane heater (rated for indoor use) heats one room continuously and burns about one 20-lb tank every 2–3 days. Most resilient households have both: heater for warm-room operation, generator for short bursts to save fridge contents and run the furnace fan.
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Same event, different scope
Other winter storm & extended outage durations
Same scope, different event
The 2-week version for other events
Run the numbers
How much water and food, exactly, for this duration
The list above tells you what to stock. The calculators below tell you how much — sized to your household and this duration.
Go deeper