Being "prepared" has recently become so much more challenging now that I feel nuclear war is on the table again for the first time in 30+ years.
Setting that aside, looking at normal preparedness for shortages, storms, etc., it looks like within the next couple of months we'll be getting solar and batteries at our house. That means we could potentially go w/o grid power indefinitely (very much season/weather dependent).
I currently have a gas generator and enough fuel to last me several days (depending on whether I run it 24/7 or say only 4-8 hours a day). It will be REALLY nice to decommission (drain gas, fresh oil, store) the generator and have to keep less gasoline on hand. Refreshing my current stores every ~6 months is always a time consuming process. Refreshing smaller stores will be easier.
Moving on from power needs, much of what I keep on hand is daily use items. Basically, everything that's shelf stable that we use upstairs I keep a spare of in the basement. When the spare comes upstairs, it goes back on the shopping list to replenish the spare. And we tend to buy Costco sized items so the one that's upstairs usually lasts months.
The same is relatively true of non-consumables such as battery packs. I use them for boating, camping, etc. and they're also there for an emergency.
Along the lines of other multi use items, I keep more propane and camping stove fuel on hand than I need just for adventures, so it is there during a storm, etc., as well.
Being in the northeast I haven't had a lot of opportunities to test my emergency preparedness and I hope it stays that way, but the handful of times I have lost power or been snowed in, it has never been a big deal with what I have on hand.
So I guess things kind of work?
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