during ten years without electric lights we tried numerous methods and eventually went back to candles. if used inside a glass chimney they were pretty safe, easy, didn't smell, quick and simple.

we really came to hate wick and mantel oil lamps. too smelly, too hot, fragile, and a pain to be constantly refilling.

generally candles aren't cheap, so we'd go to large stores that sold candles and offer the management to buy the ones they'd pulled off the shelves due to fading/warping/damage/season. we'd get boxes full for pennies on the dollars.

these days we're on a solar system running the last of our compact fluorescents until they need replacing by LEDs, so candles are left to back-up.

re: EMP - in case that should ever happen, we keep a couple/three spare LED flashlights in a padded metal military ammo can, along with a solar battery charger, a few sanyo eneloop batteries and a tiny AM/FM radio.