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Mark
Preparedness isn't about bunkers and 25 year freeze dried lasagna. It's about being able to handle Tuesday night when the lights go out and the roads are closed. It's about solving normal problems in abnormal times. Today we're talking about things to make us better prepared for whenever that Tuesday night comes and to save ourselves some money at the gas pumps along the way.
Krista
Welcome to Practical Prepping. Today is June 8, 2026 and this is episode 557. This is the prepping podcast with no bunkers, no zombies and no alien invasions. Just practical prepping where we teach everyday people how to prepare for life's emergencies, disasters and crises. And we're here to help you get prepared. I'm Krista.
Mark
And I'm Mark. Today's episode is sponsored by ReadyFam, a brand new preparedness app. So stay with us and we'll get to that a little later in the show. And if you'd like the expanded notes for this episode, go to practicalprepping.info 557 and we'll have links to everything that we discuss here on this episode. Now I keep seeing people in groups and forums asking for various prepping checklists. So we've put together the 72 hour prepping checklist for busy families. You can get that@practicalprepping.info resource and it's on the left side of the page
Krista
in our audience survey. A while back one of the requests was for the occasional getting started topics. So this segment is building a lights out kit. Now we have flashlights scattered throughout our house to get us to our lights out kit and just in case we lose power at night.
Mark
But let's talk about what goes into that lights out kit. One of the main things in ours is LED lanterns.
Krista
Very handy, small size, lightweight, they're double A battery powered, they're fairly inexpensive. I think we can actually buy a two pack in some places.
Mark
Yeah, I think I bought a four pack one time.
Krista
Oh, I think so.
Mark
And I think I've got the two packs on the featured items page that you can get to off the resources page as well.
Krista
Terrific.
Mark
They're not expensive at all and that
Krista
can put out a very small amount of light or you can adjust it to pull out a very large amount of light. Just depends on what your needs are at the time.
Mark
Another thing to have in there, and it's very handy, is a high quality LED headlamp.
Krista
Super good because it gives you hands
Mark
free operation does and it you can have adjustable brightness Levels, you know, I think the ones that I have are high, medium and low. And so it just depends on what I'm doing. But there's also a red light mode in there for night vision.
Krista
Oh, that's smart.
Mark
You want one that's water resistant.
Krista
Right.
Mark
You could get rained on, you could drop it in a mud puddle. So get one that's water resistant, but get one that uses common batteries such as double A or AAA or is rechargeable.
Krista
Also have a compact handheld flashlight. And we recommend buying something that's durable and generally in a metal type case, something like an aluminum steel if you can get it, you know, because plastic breaks and cracks and that's just going to do you no good at all.
Mark
And most of these lights will have multiple brightness settings. I think the one that I carry on me most of the time has low, medium and high. And you can just adjust it for what you're doing. I prefer one with a tail switch.
Krista
Right.
Mark
And that's the button on the end of it, if you know what I'm talking about. And the reason that I really prefer that is if I have to fire a firearm at night over a flashlight, I can have that in my hand and turn that light on and off as needed.
Krista
I see.
Mark
But a pocket clip comes in very handy on that flashlight as well because you can stick it in your back pocket, you stick it in your front pocket and you have it just right there at the ready anytime you need it.
Krista
You're also going to want to think about your power source and your charging cables to have some spare batteries with at least two full replacement sets for each of your lights. And also small power bank, something maybe between 10,000 and 20,000 milliamp hours. And use some short charging cables that are compatible with your devices. Anything you'd need for your phone, your tablet, or your rechargeable flashlights.
Mark
Yeah, I've got a bunch of 6 inch C cords and those work great with a power bank. And don't have that six foot cord all tangled up in there when I'm doing that. For some backup lighting, you can use chemical light sticks. They're kind of like a nightlight.
Krista
We're talking about that type of thing
Mark
that kids play with, the glow sticks. Glow sticks? Yeah, they're great for hallways, they're great for bathrooms. I've seen them used as trail markers for a nighttime horse ride. And they use different colors and so the rider knew what their color was and just stayed on that color trail.
Krista
I think it would be important to have Those if you're going down a dark set of basement stairs too.
Mark
Good idea. Especially if you powers out and you're going to be having to go up and down those steps quite a few times. There's a lot of folks store a lot of their prepping gear in the basement. And so you would of necessity have to go up and down those steps. And like you say, it could be a dark pit, but most of those chemical lights will emit light for around eight hours or so.
Krista
Pretty handy. Some additional thoughts I had would be to have some signaling devices. Something on your flashlight could have a strobe function. I've seen that as well.
Guest/Contributor
And also have some sort of an
Krista
audible whistle that you can blow.
Guest/Contributor
Because if you're in a severe storm situation and you've had some destruction at
Krista
your home and you may be caught in it, it's going to be very tiresome for you to try to call out. But you can blow a whistle and it can be heard for a long way.
Mark
And if you're lost in the woods, that strobe function comes in handy as so does that whistle. Because that whistle will carry a lot further in distance, especially at night, than your voice will. But we mentioned that night vision protection, that red light capability, it's built into my headlamp, so I just click it one more time and it goes to red. But some of my flashlights have come with little filters on them that you can screw it on the front of the lens and you've got a red light to protect your night vision.
Krista
So what you're saying is that aids you in being able to see at night without being blinded by a white light that gives you that spots vision
Mark
and it doesn't take away your night vision if you turn it off. You could see as well as you could before.
Krista
Okay, I got you.
Mark
When you're walking through the woods with white light, you lose some of your night vision because of brightness. Now, when I'm trying to introduce someone to preparedness, I usually ask this question. If you were to wake up in the morning with 48 inches of snow on the ground and the power is out, I know that's nothing for some of you, but in Alabama that means you're not going anywhere for a while
Krista
and nobody's coming to you.
Mark
Nobody's coming to you.
Krista
Right.
Mark
Anyway, the question ends with how long could you keep your family fed and warm? There's two answers that I get most often. One is not very long and the other one is, I have no idea. We understand most families don't know. And guessing isn't a plan.
Krista
Now, here's that app that I wanted to tell you about. It's the biggest development in emergency preparedness right now. It's called ReadyFam. It takes the place of complicated spreadsheets and it does away with handwriting and notebooks. And you can see at a glance exactly how prepared you really are. In fact, it gives you a survival day score. It's a real number that tells you how many days your family could function on what you have right now. And it's not just about food. It measures seven separate categories of preparedness. It scales automatically to your household size because a two person household and a six person household, they would require very different supply levels.
Mark
You can scan barcodes to build your inventory in minutes of the stock that you already have.
Krista
Wow.
Mark
And you can scan in new items as you put them in stock. No need to write all of that down. It tracks expiration dates and alerts you before anything goes bad. And that can be critical in medications and some medical supplies. It even tailors your priorities based on your zip code. And I really tried this out because the risk really depends on where you live, right? And it has listed our risk by zip code pretty much like we had them listed on paper. And if you're new to preparedness, there's a simple mode that makes it clear and manageable. Preparedness shouldn't feel overwhelming. It should feel organized and actionable. Now, you can get the app ReadyFam that's R E a D Y F a M in the Play Store, or you can get it at ReadyFam Apple. It's free to download and there's a free version as well as a paid version. Get the app, test it out and see what it can do for you. And if you decide to upgrade to the paid version, which we do recommend that you do that, use the promo code practical20. It's the easiest way that we've found to simplify, quantify and organize your readiness. Now, that link will be in the episode notes as well, but it's ReadyFam app or you can get it in the Play Store.
Krista
Next up, we're going to talk about six ways to save money at the gas pump. Here's some things you can do. You can carpool, you can ride share, you could work from home, or you could use public transportation, or you can even combine your errands or go back to walking or riding the bike for short trips. And these are the usual things we hear about when we're talking about Saving gas. But in this segment we're actually going to talk about ways to save money at the actual pump, especially during these times of inflated gas prices.
Mark
The first one we have listed is used gas price apps. Apps like GasBuddy Waze upside. They can help you find the cheapest gas within a few miles of your location at the time and often that will save you 20 to 50 cents per gallon.
Krista
You can also sign up for some fuel rewards programs. The Kroger grocery stores offer this Safeway, Giant Eagle, Food City. A lot of different places have reward programs that give you fuel points and we're members of the Kroger Fuel Points and they award discounts based on your purchase level made in their store. So buying groceries that you have to have gets us a discount on gas, which we also have to have. We've even seen as much as $0.40 per gallon discounted and it varies from month to month depending on what you spend.
Mark
Circle K has a rewards program and I have signed up for this one as well. In your first initial period, I think it's like the first five fill ups you get like 25 cents off per gallon and after that is 5 cents off of each gallon every time you fill up. But I have occasionally gotten 20 cents off. Sometimes they throw those bonuses in there.
Krista
I think maybe every 10 or 15 or 20. I don't know what the random number is, but I've seen that very same thing too. But speaking of gasoline businesses, the quick trip, the QT very prominent in the Southeast. They have a mobile app and they will give you gas rewards and instant discounts on fuel in their introductory period. You get 25 cents off per gallon
Guest/Contributor
and then after that they'll take 5
Krista
cents off for every gallon you purchase.
Mark
Paying with the QT pay also gives you 5% off most of the items in store purchases. And we'll be back with tip number three.
Guest/Contributor
But first, today's cup of coffee comes from our good friend Gloria. She's been a longtime supporter of our podcast, going on three years and counting. Gloria, we really do appreciate your support and you too. My friends can go to practicalprepping.info support and you can show us a little bit of love by buying us a cup of coffee. Or even better, sign up for a coffee membership. It's only $5 per month, but that really goes a long way to help us take care of some of the expenses of our show. So please consider helping us out@practicalprepping.infosupport.
Mark
now for tip number three. Buy your gas at warehouse clubs, Smart, Costco, Sam's Club, other wholesale clubs have significantly lower prices for their members on gasoline.
Guest/Contributor
Something else you can do is a lot of stations will offer you a cash disc if you're paying with cash or certain credit cards. Either the gas company cards or maybe even some of the major credit cards often offer you 3 to 5% cash back on your gas purchases. You know, a little bit here, a little bit there, and pretty soon you're talking about real saved money.
Mark
Another one that we've heard many times in the past and sometimes it gets ignored, is maintaining proper tire pressure. Underinflated tires can reduce fuel efficiency BY up to 3%, they say, so check that pressure regularly and keep those tires inflated to the manufacturer's recommended psi.
Krista
Also, you want to drive in a more efficient manner. For example, avoid aggressive acceleration and sudden hard braking. If you'll do that, you'll lower your gas mileage for anywhere from 15 to 30% on highway use. So smooth, steady driving, take your foot off the accelerator when you anticipate a stop. These types of things over time can make a true difference.
Mark
Now this next segment comes from our friend Dave Layton. And that is don't overlook the small things. True, big gear gets the attention, yes it does. But it's the small items that save the day. Here are some often overlooked items that will help you get through disasters, emergencies and crises. One is a manual can opener.
Krista
It's so smart, it's silly. Yeah, but these are for those that have not yet realized that in a power outage that might last more than a day or two or 12, that electric can opener is going to be absolutely no use. It won't work at all. So that manual can opener, and we actually have three or four of them here at the house just in case. Cause even the manual one over a year or two, you know, they get a little bit rough. But that's an important thing to have. You know, all that food storage in the world won't help you a bit if you can't open the can.
Mark
And in my opinion a very important item is to have a manual coffee maker.
Krista
That's an absolute must, like a French
Mark
press or a pour over. Caffeine withdrawal headaches are real deal and
Krista
you don't have to have an emergency
Mark
to realize you don't. But if you have to go a prolonged period of time without caffeine, you will have a caffeine headache.
Krista
In order to use that French press or your pour over device, you'd want some sort of a Non kitchen stove way to heat that water. We have a camp stove. We have a grill, we have a fire pit, we have a smoker. We have all different kinds of ways outside of electricity to get that water boiling. So we're going to advise that you consider other ways like that as well. To be able to heat your food and your water without using power, without using the established electricity and have extra
Mark
fuel for that for sure. If it's propane, if it's charcoal. We don't actually have a charcoal grill, but I keep 20 pounds of charcoal just in case we ever had to makeshift a grill. Yeah, we could do that out in the back in the yard. But don't forget the lighters and the matches.
Krista
Absolutely.
Mark
And buy the good lighters. We like the Scripto and the Bic,
Krista
the brand name seem to be the most dependable.
Mark
Yeah, you get the dollar store pack of five. They're going to fail and they're going to fail when you most need it.
Krista
Yeah, right.
Mark
Here's something people do not think about when they are prepping is tooth pain kit for sure. And this is for temporary dental repair. There's one on the market called Dentafix and I keep some of this handy or I keep it here in case we were to have a broken tooth during some type of an outage. Like if there's 48 inches of snow on the ground, I can't get to the dentist office and if I did, the dentist can't get to his own office. So out would come the dentifix. Those dental emergencies during some type of disruption, that would be miserable.
Krista
Certainly would. We touched on this before, but having that headlamp for hands free lighting, that is a huge plus. If you're doing night tasks or you're having to do any kind of repairs under the hood of a car where it's dark.
Mark
And we put it in the lights out kit, but we often put it in the often overlooked items for certain where we are right now.
Krista
Oh, also work gloves, which I like to use around the house even if there's not an emergency because I have tender little hands and I have expensive manicures and I don't want to destroy them. I'm a girly girl, I'm going to tell you right now. But I do put on work gloves because I'm hauling branches to the street. I might be doing some chainsawing, I might be doing some weeding or working with thorns. My hands need protection and I just don't see the reason why not. So think about getting Work gloves.
Mark
And if we wind up with some type of destruction after a severe storm, we're going to have to be cleaning up debris. And those work gloves are going to come in very, very handy right there to protect those hands. And when our skin tears on the back of our hand, especially when you're on aspirin for blood thinning, it's a lot of bleeding. So it's a whole lot easier just to have those work gloves. Extra prescription glasses.
Krista
So smart.
Mark
A lot of people forget this.
Krista
Yeah, they think, one pair of prescription glasses, I'm good.
Mark
Yeah.
Krista
Well, what happens when they fall and break?
Mark
I have my two last prescription glasses.
Krista
Now that's just smart right there.
Mark
I don't discard my last one. Okay, now I'll discard number three. Actually, I'll give it to the Lions Club. So I'll donate those glasses.
Krista
Oh, that's smart.
Mark
When it's the third one. I have my current pair of prescription glasses and I have two backup pair which are my old prescriptions. And that's even though I wear contacts all the time.
Krista
Sure.
Mark
I wear contacts about 95% of the time. And so I keep that extra pair of contacts. I have a pair in my EDC bag. I have several pair here. I just keep those with some solution because you really need to wash that out once in a while. I mean, if you wear contacts, you understand exactly what I'm talking about.
Krista
I used to.
Mark
But don't forget those extra prescription glasses.
Krista
Something else to keep nearby would be some electrolyte packets or some electrolyte liquid. This is very important for your kidney function. Just drinking a lot of amount of water is not enough. Your kidneys really need those electrolytes. And if they don't get those electrolytes and you're just chugging water all the time without it.
Mark
Especially if we're having to work hard after some type of situation. We're outside, we're in heat and there's stress going on. That leads to decrease dehydration.
Krista
Can for sure. Dehydration, that affects the infants and the elderly much worse than the older adolescents or younger adults. So dehydration, I've experienced it. I passed out from it. I can tell you it's a real thing and it's serious. Don't monkey around with that. Make sure that you've got some proper electrolyte packets. What's that new kind that you like?
Mark
The lmnt?
Krista
Oh, yeah.
Mark
I'll have at least one pack of that in my water each day. Yeah, I don't put it in every water bottle that I drink because I'm trying to drink way too many water bottles for that amount of salt that would be in there, but.
Krista
I see.
Mark
But if I had to be working out in it in the heat and the sweat and the stress and all of that, I would increase that to two to three times per day that I would use that.
Krista
Yeah. And on the subject of dehydration, there's another form of it that's very unpleasant and that's diarrhea. And that can strike you, you know, anytime, emergency or not. So make sure that you've got some kind to address diarrhea. You want that to stop and stop fast.
Mark
And that's often overlooked as well.
Krista
Yeah. Right.
Mark
Another one is local paper maps.
Krista
Very smart.
Mark
GPS doesn't always work, you know, even
Krista
when you don't have a power outage. I have found that my GPS about 10% of the time is wrong. And so a paper map would be a much more reliable source for getting around.
Mark
Yeah. I was driving down the road one day and I looked at my GPS and it said I'm driving down the cornfield about a quarter mile over.
Krista
Right.
Mark
So that's where the satellite had me in a wrong place.
Krista
Well, it's told me to turn left when clearly I should have turned right
Mark
or there was no left turn there.
Krista
Exactly.
Mark
Another thing to put in there with that local paper map is a compass. If you ever have to try to make it home on foot from some distance, that local map and that compass is going to come in very, very handy in helping you to get home.
Krista
Very smart.
Mark
Extra pet food.
Krista
Very smart. You know, if you're talking prepping, your pets are in there.
Mark
So the prepping is in there. And our boys, which are our two cats, they love canned tuna, among other things.
Krista
They get their dry food, but they do love tuna and some other canned foods.
Mark
Yeah, they get some other canned foods, but their treat is a can of tuna.
Krista
Oh, yeah.
Mark
Now the interesting thing about that is we can store more tuna and we could eat it or they could eat it.
Krista
Sure. So this is human grade tuna, by the way.
Mark
Yes, yes. This canned tuna, some of it's even wild caught albacore tuna. And I love that stuff. Makes a great tuna salad.
Krista
Yeah, he does.
Mark
All right, let's move on to the next one. Nail clippers, tweezers, and a sewing kit. If we're in an extended grid down situation, those nail clippers are really going to come in handy.
Krista
Right.
Mark
Those tweezers come in handy for removing splinters, right? And get a hold of those.
Krista
Right?
Mark
And that sewing kit, we can sew buttons back on. We can sew up a rip and a shirt that we might need for an extended grid down situation. You don't fail because you don't have night vision goggles.
Krista
That's true.
Mark
You fail because you forgot a $6 can opener.
Krista
That's so true. So my friends, do you learn from the podcast? Are you getting some new ideas from our show that'll help your prepping journey? In other words, are you receiving value from us? Would you help us out by giving back a little value? For value, go to practicalprepping.info support. You're going to find several ways that you can help support our preparedness show.
Mark
And we do appreciate you being here today. You could have chosen any other podcast, but you chose ours and for that we're really grateful. Thank you for being here. And as Christa always says, stuff happens. Stay prepared and we'll see you next time.
Power Outage, Gas Savings, and Forgotten Small Things
Hosts: Mark & Krista Lawley
Date: June 8, 2026
Mark and Krista Lawley focus this episode on realistic, everyday preparedness—handling common emergencies like power outages, rising gas costs, and those often-overlooked small items that can make a big difference. Practical, actionable steps—no bunkers or apocalypse talk—fill the conversation, geared toward helping families prep for scenarios from blackouts to budget challenges at the pump.
[01:38–07:15]
Memorable quote:
“You don’t fail because you don’t have night vision goggles. You fail because you forgot a $6 can opener.” – Mark ([22:44])
[06:53–08:26]
[09:51–14:12]
Memorable quote:
“A little bit here, a little bit there, and pretty soon you're talking about real saved money.” – Guest ([13:05])
[14:12–22:58]
Memorable moment:
“You fail because you forgot a $6 can opener.” – Mark ([22:44])
Friendly, down-to-earth, and highly practical—Mark and Krista provide relatable advice in a lighthearted but organized manner. They prioritize real-world emergencies, offer actionable steps, and often share personal anecdotes that underscore the value of prepping “for Tuesday night, not doomsday.”
Stuff happens. Stay prepared.