Budget Prepping for Winter Power Outages to Keep From FREEZING!
Foecasters believe the unpredictable polar vortex will send a lot of icy
blasts into large swaths of North America. It's best to get prepared
early, so it's easy to find the winter prep gear you'll need in case the
grid goes down after winter storms.
You can find extremely useful budget winter survival gear, and I've got 6 examples. However, I'd first like to give a shout out to Frugal Pig for featuring our video on their latest article:6 Winter Blackout Essentials for Under $2.
And they're cool with me summarizing their useful tips, so here goes...
1️⃣ Chemical Hand Warmers – Instant, flameless heat for up to 10 hours.
2️⃣ Mylar Blankets – Reflect body heat; line them inside blankets or on walls.
3️⃣ Emergency Ponchos – Wearable insulation that traps heat while freeing your hands.
4️⃣ Thermal Socks – Cheap, cozy, and critical for protecting extremities from heat loss.
5️⃣ Plastic Drop Cloth or Shower Curtain Liner – Turns one room into a heat cocoon; tape over doors and windows.
6️⃣ Bubble Wrap or Reflective Car Sunshade – Surprising insulation for windows; traps warm air indoors.
See, the idea is to make a personal warming station at home and not to try to heat your entire house the way your furnace would. And you can do a lot without spending much money or risking dangerous fires or fumes. Layered clothing, a makeshift blanket tent (or a real one), and a little help from chemical hand warmers (they make bigger ones too) can keep you from freezing.
Of course, you're probably going to purchase more than one item, so you'll spend more than $2. But imagine that you can plan ahead to stave off the risk of hypothermia for $20.
Forget the dusty buckets! You don't need astronaut pouches or disaster
food buckets to be prepared. We're cutting through the noise to show you
the smartest, most versatile, and actually delicious foods that last
for months or even years in your prepper pantry.
This isn't about doomsday paranoia—it's about real-life stability for
power outages, economic tough times, or just a bad week when you can't
get to the store.
In this video, we cover:
🔑 The #1 item you must store (it's not food!).
🥫 Why canned protein beats freeze-dried meals for real life.
🍳 The powdered essentials (milk, cheese, eggs!) that last 10 years and
taste surprisingly good.
🧂 The $2 item that is the cheapest health insurance you can buy.
🔥 The surprising comfort foods that are actually crucial for morale.
...and much more, including our top picks for fats, grains, spices, and
canned goods!
Stop worrying and start prepping smart.
We'll show you how to build a
pantry that works with any budget, tastes great, and ensures you're
ready for anything—no bunker or goats required.
** Get the Full Printable Emergency Preparedness Meal Guides Here:
Your Prepper Pantry: Cheap, Healthy Food That (Almost) Never Expires:
https://gum.co/u/oijouygd
Your Blackout Kitchen: Simple Meal Prep for Food, Water, and Cooking
Without Power: https://gum.co/u/f6gxfcvx
You’ll also want to watch my video on blackout cooking:
https://youtu.be/F4cZf-F3mMU
👇 What's in your pantry? Let us know your favorite long-lasting foods
or your prepping philosophy in the comments below!
👍 Like this video and Subscribe for more realistic, non-ridiculous
prepping and self-sufficiency tips!
Why Cell Service Fails During Blackouts: Prepare for Grid Down Emergencies
When the power goes out and cell towers fail, most people discover the
hard way that their phones won’t work after a few hours. That's because
cell towers need power too, and eventually their backup batteries run
down after several hours of a blackout.
In this video, I share what really happens when communications collapse
during storms and blackouts… and how you can stay connected when the
grid goes down. From simple, low-cost fixes like printed contact lists
and weather radios to next-level options like GMRS, Meshtastic,
satellite phones, and ham radio, you’ll learn how to stay informed and
reachable — even when your phone says “No Signal.”
This isn’t fear-mongering or tech jargon — just practical steps for
anyone who wants peace of mind before the next storm or outage.
What You’ll Learn:
Why cell towers and internet fail during blackouts
The easiest ways to get local alerts without a phone
How FRS and GMRS radios keep families and neighbors in touch
What Meshtastic, satellite phones, and ham radio can do when everything
else is down
Simple backup tools you can add today — no bunker required
If this helps you feel more confident about your next power outage,
please like, subscribe, and share it with someone who’d panic if their
phone stopped working. Because when the grid goes down… it’s what you do
next that matters.
Tuvalu is an island country sinking from rising sea levels, caused by
climate change. With an average elevation of just two meters above the
ocean. In the past 30 years, seas around Tuvalu have risen about 15
centimeters — nearly one and a half times the global average.
Scientists
warn that by 2050, much of Tuvalu’s land could be uninhabitable.
This island nation is important and is a climate emergency, but it only
houses a few thousand residents. This video explains why Tuvalu’s fate
matters far beyond the Pacific.
From rising seas to climate migration,
the story of Tuvalu is a warning for other islands and coastal
communities worldwide. Can we handle climate migration when it starts to
involve millions of people?
This video explains why Tuvalu is a climate emergency, what's being done to help the land and people, and why the rest of us should worry as rising sea levels also threaten the world's coastlines.
For decades, we’ve been told that recycling plastic helps save the
planet.
But what if that was never true?
In this video, we uncover the truth behind the plastic recycling
myth—how Big Oil and the plastics industry pushed a feel-good lie they
knew wouldn’t work.
While we sorted our bottles and trusted the system… they sold more
plastic.
Now we’re paying the price.
Microplastics are everywhere—from sea salt to bottled water. And
worse... nanoplastics have invaded our bodies. They've been found in
bloodstreams, lungs, even human placentas.
This isn’t just pollution anymore. It’s personal.
Learn the real story behind the recycling scam—and what we can do before
it’s too late.
Have We Already Crossed the Climate Tipping Point?
Greetings, fellow doom scrollers! This piece has boomed into one of the most popular videos we've ever posted on our YouTube channel Kat Monet's Doom Scrolls.
Is the Earth on the brink of catastrophic climate change? In this video,
we explore the concept of a climate tipping point and whether humanity
has already reached the point of no return.
From melting ice caps to devastating natural disasters, the signs are
clear: our planet is in peril from climate change and global warming.
For instance, Earth has already passed the 1.5 degree Celsius threshold.
But is it too late to change course? Let's explore climate adaptation
and climate mitigation to learn how we can help ourselves and future
generations.
Join us as we delve into the latest research and expert opinions to
uncover the truth about the climate crisis and what it means for our
future.
#climatechange #tippingpoint #climatecollapse #1.5degrees #globalwarming
I'm actually extremely excited because we've already gained a lot of traction with the Kat Monet "Doom Scrolls Youtube channel."
This is my platform for chapter readings but also for my concerns about the future. I know a lot of people, from worriers to preppers, and I hope I give their concerns and tips a voice on the web. Please don't be shy. I'm sitting on the edge of my seat with anticipation over your feedback.
A dystopia doesn't always have to be apocalyptic. Sometimes, it's the slow accumulation one one miserable event after another.
Transcript:
I mean... sure. Healthcare feels like a luxury. Privacy is basically a myth. Groceries cost more than your car payment. Rent eats half your income. And billionaires? They play god... on livestream.
But that’s just how things are, right? Totally normal... right?
When we picture a dystopia, we think big. Zombies. Nuclear war. Hostile aliens. Or some doomsday asteroid slamming into Earth.
Those are hard dystopias—loud, violent, cinematic. They wipe out everything, fast. The survivors are tough, dirty, and constantly fighting for scraps.
Terrifying, sure. But... not exactly likely.
Slow dystopias are different. They sneak up on you.
Little things start to slip:No bombs. No explosions. Just... decay.
Diseases spread. Prices rise. Rent becomes unmanageable. Freedoms shrink. Privacy vanishes. And the number of people sleeping on the street? Goes up.
Disasters hit more often. Help takes longer—if it ever comes at all.
You’re not dead. But you’re not fine either. You’re adapting. Normal keeps shifting.
The temperature rises slowly. And one day... you're sweating. But you never noticed the heat starting.
This isn’t The Stand. It’s not War of the Worlds.
It’s more like Stalinist Russia. Or North Korea. Or the slow, quiet Jackpot from William Gibson’s The Peripheral.
It’s not the end of the world.
Just... the end of the world you thought you lived in.
-----PART 2
How do you know if you're living in a slow dystopia?
Not a big-bang collapse. No zombie virus. Just a long, dragging, soul-sapping slide.
After all, we've already made it through: Civil wars. World wars. Deadly leaders. Pandemics. Climate disasters. Inflation, deflation, recessions, and that one time eggs were seven dollars.
So what makes this different?
In a slow dystopia, things don’t explode—they erode. Problems stack up. Nothing really gets fixed. And even when it does, nobody believes it’ll last.
So here are the warning signs to watch for:
One: Trust is leaking.
You see it everywhere—less faith in governments, in big business, in anyone “in charge.” Power gets scooped up by a select few: CEOs, unelected officials, billionaires with rocket ships. Their decisions feel remote, unexplained, and unstoppable. And that uncertainty breeds mistrust.
Two: You’re being watched—and nudged.
Governments and corporations invest in knowing everything about you. Where you go. What you buy. What you almost said out loud. Meanwhile, propaganda oozes from your screen, whispering what to think, what to fear, and who to blame. You're not exactly told what to believe. You're just pushed there.
Three: Everyone’s uneasy—and getting quieter about it.
The rich get richer. The middle class gets squeezed. The poor get blamed. The planet burns or floods—depending on the week. And the average person? Feels overwhelmed, hopeless, and alone. (But hey—at least there’s a new phone coming out.)
Four: Populism. Nationalism. Stuff-ism.
Materialism is the new religion. Education? Undervalued. Empathy? Optional. Critical thinking? In decline. People are told the poor are lazy, the foreign are threats, and the powerful are heroes. (It’s fine. It’s all fine.)
So What’s Next?
Sound familiar? You’re not alone. A lot of people feel like they’ve slipped into the wrong timeline and just… never got back.
That’s the danger of a slow dystopia. It doesn’t kick down the door. It seeps in—until “how things are” becomes “how things have always been.”
But sometimes... a slow collapse speeds up.
In Part 2, we’ll talk about one of the biggest threats we aren’t prepared for: Solar storms. Like the one in 1859 that set fire to telegraph stations.
If that happened today? Goodbye GPS, power, and maybe your last working group chat.
So join us for Part 2— Or, if your faith in humanity needs a break, check out a chapter of That Way You Feel Right Now by Kat Monet.
Because sometimes, fiction’s the only place that makes sense.
I'm extremely excited to offer my first chapter reading from my latest work, "That Way You Feel Right Now." This is the first chapter, titled "Under the Sea."
That Way You Feel Right Now Chapter Reading: Under the Sea -- Chapter 1
