Everyday Lighting Essentials for Moms: Keeping Families Safe and Prepared

As a mom, you know how important it is to prepare your family for emergency scenarios. Part of that preparation involves gathering food, gear, and supplies that will help you and your family make it through life-threatening situations. Hopefully, you’ll never find yourself in a situation where you have to break out the freeze-dried food, water packets, or emergency lighting. But there’s great peace in knowing you have them if you need them.

Lighting happens to be one of those crucial emergency preparedness items that many families forget about. It doesn’t seem as critical to survival as water, food, or shelter. However, a reliable source of light is more important in emergencies than you might think. Without it, you’ll find it hard to do practically anything in dark or low-level light conditions. If you’re not sure what type of lighting is best for keeping your family safe and prepared, keep reading to learn more.

Everyday Lighting Essentials for Preparedness

What do hurricanes, earthquakes, power outages, and storms all have in common? They can all potentially leave you and your family in the dark when you’re most vulnerable. If you don’t have a reliable source of light, it becomes much harder to prepare food, find places of safety, and signal for help. Trying to find your way around in complete darkness can be a scary, frustrating, and dangerous situation.

That’s why you should plan now to stock up on everyday lighting essentials. You’ll need adequate lighting to take care of your family in the event of a natural disaster or social upheaval. But what type of lighting is best for safety and preparedness? From handheld flashlights to waterproof lanterns, here are the everyday lighting essentials every mom should tuck into her preparedness bag.

LED Flashlights

An LED flashlight is a wonderful tool to have in a pinch. They’re energy-efficient, durable, and often have a long battery life. Many also come in compact sizes so you can easily store them in a 24-hour emergency kit or even carry them in your pocket. LED flashlights can also be quite bright, depending on their lumens.

Adding one or more LED flashlights to your preparedness kit can help you keep your family safe if the power goes out. Since many LED flashlights are designed to be small and lightweight, they can be easy to lose if you’re scrambling to safety. To prevent this from happening, consider purchasing a model that comes with a lanyard or a clip. That way, you can slip it around your wrist or secure it to your clothing.

Waterproof Lanterns

Lanterns are ideal for lighting entire rooms or wide areas. Instead of putting off a single, directional beam of light, most lanterns offer 360-degree illumination. You can set a lantern on a countertop or hang it from a hook to enjoy its light while freeing your hands for other things.

Unlike previous generations of fuel-powered lanterns, today’s LED options don’t emit harmful fumes or heat. Therefore, they’re safer to use in enclosed areas. Look for waterproof options if you’re concerned about your lantern getting damaged by rain or flood waters. You should also look for lanterns that are light enough to carry around with ease, but durable enough to withstand harsh weather conditions.

Lightweight Headlamps

Headlamps are crucial for any good preparedness kit. They instantly improve visibility in low-light conditions and make it easy to see directly what’s in front of you. They also keep your hands free so you can engage in other tasks, such as cooking, comforting, and protecting your family.

Look for lightweight headlamps that won’t hurt your neck or cause you to become fatigued faster. It’s also wise to invest in waterproof options in case you encounter inclement weather while you’re outdoors. Investing in bulk headlamp packages can save you money while ensuring each member of your family has convenient access to emergency lighting.

What to Consider When Buying Emergency Lighting

When buying emergency lighting for your family’s emergency preparedness kit, it’s important to make the best decisions for your needs and budget. You want to make sure the lighting essentials you purchase will provide reliable illumination when you need it most. Here are a few things to consider when shopping for emergency lighting.

Lumens

A lumen is a standard unit of measurement for visible light. The higher the lumens, the more light the device produces. For basic emergency preparedness, you want to make sure your flashlight, lantern, or other device offers at least 200 lumens of light. Devices that offer 1000 lumens or higher offer maximum illumination in dark environments. Consider the environment you’re most likely to use your emergency lighting in when determining how many lumens you’ll need.

Weight

Unless you’re planning to use your flashlight or other lighting device as a self-defense tool, lightweight is always better. You don’t want to worry about trying to protect yourself and your family while carrying around a heavy lantern or flashlight. In most emergency situations, small, lightweight lighting essentials are preferable. Conserving energy could become a matter of life and death in emergency situations, so the lighter your illumination tools, the better.

Rechargeable or Disposable Batteries

Rechargeable batteries are convenient for regular use and offer long-term sustainability, but they can’t be recharged if the power goes out. Disposable batteries produce long-term reliability and don’t need to be recharged. However, their shelf life isn’t indefinite, so you’ll need to replace them regularly. Additionally, they could leak harmful chemicals if exposed to water or damaged by sunlight. For optimal preparedness, it’s wise to have a few rechargeable lighting devices on hand, as well as some that use disposable batteries.

Conclusion

Preparing your family for the unexpected is an important part of being a mom. In addition to keeping a well-stocked pantry and emergency essentials kit, you should also invest in everyday lighting tools. Use this guide to help you choose the right flashlights, lanterns, and headlamps to keep your family safe and prepared.