In a grid down scenario most of the public will be totally unprepared, and they will be especially vulnerable at night if they don’t have an emergency candle or alternative sources of light. This will be a difficult and challenging time for those of us who are prepared, but for the unprepared masses it will be hell on earth. I constantly feel empathy and sadness for those who are oblivious to the incredible risks we face. Some people might have a candle in their drawer to remedy the darkness, but that will only provide them with temporary relief.
The problem with regular candles you can buy at the store is that they burn up pretty quick and you don’t get a lot of use out of them. If you light one of these candles and let it burn for a few hours at night, you have used up about 1/3 of the life of said candle. Obviously this is so you go back to the store and purchase more candles regularly, as it shouldn’t be this way. If the product they sold you lasted you a long time and you could go a while without repurchasing, these companies would make considerably less money.
Each of these survival candles have over 100 hours of use:
Why An Emergency Survival Candle Beats What You Can Get At The Store
In all likelihood, you will need to use your survival candle for 4-6 hours per night, depending on what time of the year it is. That being the case, each survival candle will last you approximately 20-25 days. That is a big difference from the candles you would buy at the store. Those might last you 2 nights if you’re lucky. Couldn’t you just buy lots and lots of candles at the store? I guess you could, but they would sure add a lot of weight to your bug out bag and take up a considerable amount of valuable space. Just about every candle you buy from a store is scented. I don’t want to smell vanilla and breathe in the chemical compounds that make it smell like vanilla. I’d much prefer having a few of these emergency survival candles.
With the long burn time of these emergency survival candles, 3 of them should be sufficient for your lighting needs. I’d start there, if you only needed to light one room. You should also be equipped with flashlights and extra batteries, but you also don’t want to be constantly holding a flashlight in your hand to provide yourself with light. If each survival candle can last you 3-4 weeks when used 4-6 hours per night, having a few of these on hand in your preps would be shrewd.
When you’re hunkered down, you will be in a constant state of planning, organizing, and rationing your supplies. Focusing on your survival and keeping your mind occupied. When its pitch black and you can’t see your hand in front of your face, that is a real disadvantage. You should have numerous potential sources of light to get you through the evening hours before you sleep. If it is winter time, it could start getting dark at about 5:30pm.
What Life Will Be Like Without Candles In A Grid Down Scenario
I think that most people haven’t taken the time to really ponder on what lights out is like. Street lights will be out, and opening the blinds or curtains won’t let any incidental light in, other than what the moon provides. Even if it’s a full moon, that likely won’t be enough to see in your home. When things are this bad I recommend everyone board their windows too, from the inside and the outside if possible.
Things will likely be so bad that people will be trying other people’s doors, to see if people left and possibly left anything to eat or drink behind. Squatters will likely be posted up in abandoned homes, and looking for a place to relocate for survival. If it’s pitch black and you can’t find your weapon, unless if you’re really lucky and you have some night vision goggles, you are in a really bad position to handle that threat.
I remember one time the power went out in a normal routine outage from a storm that lasted for about 45 minutes. I was totally unprepared for it, but I had a lighter in my pocket, and used that to find my way through the dark. After about 30 seconds of that the skin on my hand brushed up against the stainless steel on the lighter and I suffered quite a stinging burn. Fumbling around in the dark with a lighter is just not going to cut it.
In the prehistoric days people were very afraid of the dark, as there was real danger with predatory animals and other vulnerable situations. I could be wrong, but I feel like we have a genetic predisposition to feel this way as children, from this evolution from our past. You don’t want to have to survive a calamitous situation in complete darkness every night, and having some emergency survival candles and some flashlights in your preps can insure that won’t be the case for you.
