For a homesteader, it is important to be prepared for any situation, including how to continue your day-to-day functions in the case of an emergency.
With a variety of off-grid appliances for your home, you can continue cooking and cleaning, even if your power goes out for an extended period.
Just because there is no power doesn’t mean that you have to give up all your conveniences. Let’s look at some of the most important off-grid appliances you can get.
Solar-Powered Refrigerator
These coolers are not only solar-powered, but they are also portable.
This means that you will be able to move your cooler from room to room.
Whether you are storing cold drinks or some food for lunch, this portable fridge will live up to its hype.
⇒ What To Do With All Your Frozen Food Once The Power Goes Out
Though some solar-powered refrigerators require you to have a solar system already in place, there is also the option to purchase a large solar panel to run it.
Composting Toilet
These are perfect for RV’s and camping, but they can also be useful if your off-grid home is temporarily out of running water.
You can include a vent and a fan to help ventilate any odors out of the room, but the vent and fan can easily be run off of a solar panel.
Not only will you have a comfortable and fresh place to use the restroom with this composting toilet, but you also have the option of emptying the compost on top of your normal compost pile.
Gas-Powered Lamps
Staying in a dark house just because the power is out is no one’s idea of a good evening.
But, with a gas-powered lamp, your night will be as bright as possible, even without the modern wonder of electricity.
Gas lamps are even more convenient than other off-grid light options, because there are no wicks or batteries to replace. Simply hook up to gas, and enjoy up to 11 hours of light.
Propane-Powered Stove
With this stove, you will still be able to cook complete meals for your family even without the convenience of your normal stove.
These stoves are available in options that run off of propane, butane, and both.
There are even full-sized stoves and ovens available that run off of propane, so you will not have to compromise your meal sizes.
Related: How To Make A Solar Stove
If you are looking for something even more off-grid, there are even wood-burning stoves that not only allow you to cook your food but will also warm your home at the same time.
Solar Dehydrator
If you spend a lot of time in your personal garden, or if you set aside an animal every year for the butcher, you are going to need a way to preserve some of your meat or some of your harvest.
Related: How to Dehydrate Chicken for Survival
A solar dehydrator is just the thing that you have been looking for. Traditional dehydrators use a lot of electricity, so a solar-powered one will save you a lot of money on your electric bill.
Solar-Powered Air Conditioning
Nothing is more miserable than not having any electricity in the middle of a hot, summer day.
You are sure to be sweaty, and you will definitely not want to do anything.
Luckily, there is an option to run your A/C on solar power.
This will limit the time you can run your unit at one time, but, in the meantime, you will be able to cool off while it is running. And there is nothing better than turning on your A/C right when you think you’re about to sweat to death.
Manual-Powered Laundry Machine
There is a certain convenience that comes with throwing your clothes in a modern-day laundry machine, but there is no denying that our ancestors were clever.
Related: How to Make Your Own Semi-Automatic Off the Grid Washing Machine (No Electricity)
These off-grid laundry machines are reminiscent of the days of old, and it will require some old-fashioned manual labor to watch clothes in small batches.
There are also larger, solar-powered washer-spinners that will allow you to wash more clothes at once.
Stovetop Waffle Iron
This waffle iron is perfect to go on top of your propane-powered stove.
It will save you space and electricity in the long run.
Modern waffle irons are large and clunky, taking up a lot of counter space or storage space.
Related: 25 Powerless Appliances for Your Homestead Kitchen
This stovetop waffle iron is made of two cast iron sides, complete with a waffle design and connected with a small hinge. Simply pour in your batter, flip when ready, and enjoy some beautiful and hassle-free cast iron waffles.
Manual Food Processor
Manual food processors are used to mince, grind, dice, and blend raw or cooked food to make for easier meal prep.
The best part is that it is manual; meaning that it requires no form of energy besides your muscles.
On most models, there is a crank that needs to be turned that will in turn rotate the blade inside the processor. Some models come with a cord that you pull instead of the crank.
Sure, electric appliances are all the rage and people absolutely love them, but they are not foolproof. When the electricity goes out, all of those appliances are at least temporarily useless.
However, when you supply your homestead with appliances that will work even when the power goes out, you will be able to go about your day as normal.
No longer will you have to hustle to make sure none of your frozen or refrigerated food goes bad. No longer will you have to take cold showers. Simply turn on your off-grid appliances, and continue your happy, off-grid life.
⇒ 70+ Projects To Survive A World Without Electricity
A bike… so you can get around.
A windmill, or gravity or other alternate energy based pump for water from a well or dam.
A drying line, I can’t believe how many American’s don’t dry their clothes on a washing line!
Hydro unless your source has a lot of head pressure it’s rather useless and maintaining it is heavy. Moving parts in water isn’t the best idea
Wind works if you want to drop some serious coin but they are normally built for a range of wind speed, To fast and they use massive brakes to stop
The article is a little strange, off grid and no recommendation of a solar oven. Or a Woodstove yet your off grid idea is an gas grill…..
Elec windmills do not necessarily need massive brakes.
Centrifrugal brakes can work. Weights are centered at low speed via springs and fly outward as speed increases to slow things down.
There is an electrical way to limit the speed too via magnetism/current.
T1000 … I totally agree with you on the surprising lack of certain items. Super surprised not to see wood stoves as one of the off-grid appliances. This is so fundamental that it makes me question his entire article. It heats your house, cooks food, and can heat water for bathing and cleaning items, washing clothes.
They said wood stove. To cook and heat.
Actually, a woodstove for cooking is mentioned and a link is given for building a solar cooker…so these two things are covered.
About manual mini-washing machines — I bought a “good one” once and quickly discovered it was an inconvenient piece of junk. When I took it back to the store’s return department, on the shelves of returned items I saw about a dozen mini-washers returned by other people…had to laugh! Here’s a solution: The best hand washer is a five-gallon bucket, plus a toilet plunger to “agitate” the clothes. Use in your tub or outside with a hose. If you have a second bucket, you can use your wash and/or rinse water to mop floors. Your hands will get strong from wringing clothes. Have a clothes line and plenty of clothes pins.
T1000, I agree, this article leaves out many more useful “appliances” and is written as a mish-mash of equipment, appliances, cookware. Things like a cast iron waffle iron is not an “appliance” and should be listed as just a possible addition to have along with standard cast iron cookware such as a skillet, Dutch oven, griddle, etc. Solar cooker / solar oven, wood stove, and rocket stove should definitely be on this list. Gas powered lamps? How about kerosine lamps, and the small multi-fuel portable stove I have that can be used with alcohol, gasoline, kerosine, etc.? Would it be better to have a small portable solar power system that will produce enough power to charge storage batteries enough to run a small refrigerator and/or other items as needed?
A more appropriate title would have been “Some suggestions of items to have for off-grid use”.
Alot of people still do, but in many places, like where I currently live, its illegal to put up a clothes line..government gone crazy.
I do have a stockade fence in my neighborhood but if anybody ever asked, my clothes line is a “squirrel zip line”.
Actually you can lay clothes on top of a fence, bushes, tree branches, similar.
You can install clotheslines in your basement too.
Reason they deny clotheslines is so they can make sales tax money off your electric/gas bill.
I put mine up in the garage on expandable drying racks. One will hold a whole tub of clothes.
Texas is a right-to-dry state, and I’m told that legislation allowing backyard chickens, even in HOA neighborhoods, gets closer to passing every year. Fingers crossed. My new house has a woodstove. Can’t wait to try it out, but it was 85 here yesterday. Looking forward to the day or two that we will have winter.
That’s because the stupid homeowners associations have banned clothes lines…
Utv are cooler
Many people live in HOAs which forbid drying clothes on lines. With the use of more and more solar collectors for electricity generation, the right to the sun has inclided the right to dry clothes in the sun.
Back in the 50s and 60s when they built new houses there were clothe lines in the back yard.
I’ve used a clothes line for all my life, as well as an electric dryer.
When I was a child mom taught us to hang clothes on the line and I’ve been enjoying using one the last 35 years we’ve been in the woods. Sure do like the dryer for towels though. Thank
I replaced my broken coffee press recently. Can’t do the rest of the off-grid stuff without coffee!
Instant coffee is pretty much good forever…just one more thing to have put away in your pantry…then of course sugar is good for a indefinite period of time as is Honey Also and Karo Syrup …so for sweeteners your all set.
I do have plenty of instant coffee and sweeteners stocked away too. I didn’t think about a grinder since I always grind my beans at the store. I have an antique Greek coffee mill that will have to do in a pinch.
Coffee press is a luxury.
All one needs is a bean grinder to make coffee grounds.
Same grinder can be used to grind corn, wheat, oats, similar to make flour.
Can’t do that with a press.
Look up how to make cowboy coffee.
I will definitely look up how to make cowboy coffee but how is a coffee press a luxury? It is an off grid way to make coffee so I thought it fit in well in this conversation.
Good idea! Me neither and this is what I do. Ask yourself, “What do I need to do on a daily basis?” Make a list and start from there. Does it require electrical or gas or oil power? If so, how I can do it another way without it? I keep my manual tools right next to those that require an energy source. That way I don’t have to go searching for them when the time comes to use them and in the meantime, I can get in a little practice using them every now and then!
A can opener..
You can invert a can and rub briskly across a hard rock or concrete to wear down the top edge.
Then it will pop open when you turn it right side up and give a little squeeze.
Can opener – a P38 one works pretty well.
If you have cement…
Yep. I have P-38s, P-51s, two Swing-A-Way openers (one regular, one with the XL crank), and a bunch of Dollar Tree backups. I don’t have one of those bench-mounted commercial openers…yet.
I saw a man scrape the top of a tuna can against a concrete floor, and pop the metal lid open.
For those on city or county water, an above ground swimming pool. This can be your water supply for flushing toilets and bathing. Also for washing clothes. Stock up on some fish antibiotics, same thing we get from the local pharmacy, cheaper and you don’t need a prescription. Solar lights.
have an inground saltwater pool, how will be the best way to be able to USE this water in emergency? also a well – dirty? thanks for suggestions……have plenty of bottled but dont want to rely on that always, want to know about filtering the pool and well water for usage.
You can distill the water. It will be 100% pure no matter how it looks when you start. I’m checking thrift stores for a large lidded pot I can drill a hole in the top side to fit with a water grade copper coil. Plenty of videos on youtube to tell you how. Just be sure to add a little Himalayan pink salt to replace 97% of the minerals you’ll lose in the distilling process. Also, if you’re able, You can put in a hand pump in your yard. It’s only good for about 20ft so you might not be able to drink it without boiling or distilling, but you can bathe and flush toilets etc. You can get all the parts at home depot or lowes. Youtube videos for that too
You can make a still/distiller from a pressure canner/cooker.
Here in FL we’ve lived through about a dozen hurricanes…some big, some not big. Regardless of the size though, we often lost power for a least a day. We use solar lights for ambiance in our enclosed back yard (made by Britika) that have low & high settings…they (10) are attached with 2-sided tape which allows their use inside if needed. For back-up power we have a 3500 watt gas generator, a 3000 watt inverter mounted in my Suburban (which has a 40 gallon gas tank), and a 100 watt solar panel that continuously charges two 1000 watt deep cycle marine batteries. Cooking can be done on our regular grill (have 5 40-pound tanks), a smaller propane stove that we use when camping, and even smaller propane one-burner stove, a “rocket stove” made of cinder block, and a grill we can place over our fire pit if needed. We have a large community pool less than a 1/2 mile away and a decent sized lake within 500′, as well as a 55-gallon rain barrel plus all kinds of filtration. One year supply of food, medical supplies, and enough arms & ammo to field a respectable “neighborhood watch”. Anything I’m missing?
Semper Fi
Sounds pretty good.
Have you got medical, recreational and trading ideas covered?
Op sec…never give out info that might be detrimental to your existence. I have no supplies saved and I lost all my firearms and ammo in a freak snowboarding accident this past August in Yuma, AZ!
Dollar store and walmart solar lights do not last more than one season at best. Many take odd sized aa rechargeable batteries (2/3AA size).
Dunno why people think they NEED antibiotics.
How often does a person actually NEED antibiotics?
The best antibiotics are the ones your body makes naturally.
Oh well you know when you get a infection but die like it’s 1800s
Hey crazysquirrel – Asking ‘How often does a person actually NEED antibiotics?”, is the wrong question. It’s not a matter of “how often”, but a matter of “When you NEED it, YOU NEED IT.” Waiting until the uncommon moment comes along when you NEED it, is NOT the time to begin trying to find it! That’s like asking “How often do you really need to shoot someone for threatening your family and so you shouldn’t have to worry about storing ammo.” Come on. You don’t wait until you need it to prepare for the future need.
I have taken antibiotics for 75% of the time over the last 25 years. The other 25% is the time my liver recovers and rheumatoid arthritis does damage. I am near damage free in my 70th year and VERY active. I had two people close to me in the eighties die from RA in their 60s. I can also tell you that there are many stupendous benefits from using antibiotics for as little as one dose a month(azithromycin) to prevent senescent cell accumulation by 45% and more(UK NHS study 2017/18) . Docs know very little about the human body and various “potions” they prescribe-it is hit or miss for them. I’ve discovered some amazing things along the way about our human bodies and it is not all about antibiotics.
You can secure some nanosilver as colloidal silver is old school.
Get a fire hose and a fire pump to go with it, so you can easily use that water to put out a fire if need be. When seconds count, it’s right there and can come in handy
Great idea-you would be KING in a town of wooden houses
Save the water for drinking and cooking. Stockpile beer… large amounts of beer…if there is a fire…drink large amounts of beer and piss on the fire…
This article was on appliances.
Im gonna ask here – what are fish antibiotics & where do i get? Thanks
Pet store. And they can direct you to the antibiotics at the store. Some feed stores sell tetracycline and streptomycin, for animals, but are we humans not animals?
Jarhead, we used to have one of those inexpensive “inflated donut” type pools for the kids and it held hundreds of gallons and never leaked, but bugs and debris would get in it if it wasn’t covered most of the time – we used one of those cheap Home Depot plastic fabric “tarps”. Covering it would also reduce evaporation. We live in Zone 10A so we never had to be concerned about it freezing, and I’m not sure how you would prevent freezing in colder climates unless you had it in an out-building or even a garage that remained above freezing.
1 I already have enough solar to run the fridge and freezer 2 I built my own solar oven works like a crockpot. I haven’t built a solar dehydrated yet but soon I have 500 gallons of water I catch off the roof .just got a free swimming pool for garden and animal water
I’m trying to get there. Have a few extra of this n that and some manual/hand powered items. Just bit off a pretty good size loan (for a hillbilly) to finish building my house and that’s gonna slow me for about 3 years. If i stay single and live like a hermit. Going active Solar as soon as i can wrangle. NOT grid tied. There are some disadvantages to grid tie, one being lightning. Can run in on lines and damage your equipment. Electric companies aren’t liable as they have no control over that and you sign a liabilty waiver when you tie into them. A “hold harmless” i’m pretty sure.
Next time you sign ANYTHING, write NA right before your signature. Even on your D/L too.
Everything.
Stands for Non Assumpsit… LOL
Vast majority of people won’t read squat – they just make sure you signed something.
Elec companies CAN install lightning arresters but are too cheap to do it.
Read the Little House on the Prairie books if you want to learn how-to off grid living. The Amish have them in their Libraries. Watch the TV show too. There are learnable things there as well.
This was utterly ridiculous. A solar refrigerator for cold drinks, huh? Well, that’s a necessity! Not. Affiliate link/click bait posts should be screened out. And we can’t live without waffles! Gah!
Look up Zeer Pot. Uses no power! Just a small amount of water.
Can cool about 20degF less than ambient temps.
Hi Valerama. A Solar fridge for cold drinks is vital in hot climates (40 C+ here frequently) – even if just to treat heat exhaustion/stroke while drinking air-temp water is probably advisable generally; and it also keeps the essentials like butter and meats from spoiling. I won’t travel without at least one in the car or two in the off-road RV. Not sure what you mean by waffles and it looks like a sweet treat system which I agree is non-essential. However jaffle irons (similar machine compressing meat & veg between 2 slices of bread) are great for camping/surviving. It’s a useful (some say the ‘best”) way to prepare a warm meal in the coals of a fire (or just to cook out the bacteria) if no other cooking container is available – and can be eaten without cutlery. If they’re not a thing in US, you can view one here. Cast Iron Jaffle
Grahame: They are called Pie Irons, and have been around for a long time. I got two at an antique store.
Try Amish stores &/or second hand stores for the pie irons! Thx
I looked at your suggestion for a jaffle iron.
Maybe I’m not seeing it for what it fully is, but it appears to be one of the many limited use novelty items that people like to buy. I prefer a set of cast iron pans & pots that will cook everything everywhere. A pot will serve to cook soups/stews and will serve as an oven for bread. A couple of different sizes will cover most all your needs. If someone really wants a mashed sandwich, they could put something heavy on top of it or use a spatula.
Valerama, as a diabetic, I use insulin, and with the exception of the one vial I use currently, good at room temps for 30 days, the rest must be kept cold. If I want to have more than 30 days supply, I have to use SOMETHING to keep it cold. Since I don’t have a running stream nearby, a little fridge that doesn’t use much power is my best option.
Sure, cold drinks are nice, but meds are important.
i think you can get pie irons from lehman’s hardware but lehman’s is pricey
Hand cranked radio, cribbage board and cards, and most importantly a loving and patient spouse.
Deck of cards might be nice.
Yahtzee?
Spouse has to get over it. No place they can go that would be better in a SHTF scenario.
Your spouse is an appliance?
Hi everyone,
In rural Florida lost power, cell phone, and internet for 3 days during hurricane IAN and survived with the following: A Champion dual fuel Generator, a propane water heater, and a propane stove. We keep 25 gallons of gasoline on hand and multiple BBQ propane tanks for the dual fuel generator. We could run all of the electrical appliances including our well pump as long as we kept our A/C systems turned off. With all communications down I was able to communicate with our neighbor using a simple walky-talky by Baofeng. ($35) . Next time, I plan to have either Hughes Net or Skylink for satellite internet because Dish TV (also satellite) never missed a beat. (the generator wattage is 6,500).
Phone is a luxury.
What happens when you run out of those fuels?
While we still have power and water (well) consider putting in a large water storage tank. I have always had water storage, mostly for the horses, but I can switch to gravity fed to the house any time I choose. Our house is pretty much in the forest and can’t be seen unless you’re really looking for it. It’s a 5000 gal poly tank that holds up well even in sub zero temps with our in tank heater, yea requiring electricity. Haven’t figured that out yet. Solar doesn’t work well up here in the winter. Just a thought.
I have never done this but I have heard of it being used. For your heating problem in your water tank use copper pipes in the bottom. Heated water is like heated air it will rise so use this circulation method. Place the wood burning heater lower than the water tank away form the tank say 10 ft. Run the copper so water cirulates naturally thru the tank caused by being heated at the stove. The copper can be either sealed with a small tank to supply the pipes or use the main tank for supply. But you will have to experiment to get best circulation.
I remember when I was in the Virgin Islands during hurricanes Irma and Maria which completely devastated the islands and left us without power for well over a month. Thank God we had our stove-top waffle iron to see us through!!!
Matches come to mind unless your and boy or girl scout,
Boy scouts don’t use matches ,?
Bic lighters are CHEAP.
So is a magnifying glass.
ferro rods are cheap and easy to use for creating sparks to start fires, even for lighting propane and liquid fuels, as long as you learn how and practice before you really need it.
Where can I buy a good hand cranked processor? They’re all rubbish on Amazon
Second hand and antique stores. Find a good condition old one, from when they were made to be used regularly and not as a one off curiosity.
Yup. Wading through more and more rubbish on there every week. I’ve been looking for one of those too. I think the Country Living one is good, but it’s not affordable right now.
Hi. I liked the article but would say a waffle iron would be a good addition to your preps because it is a great option to pancake every time. It gives a feeling of normalcy in trying times as a comfort food. I also add camp Dutch ovens of various sizes and bbq briquettes. I can fit a 20lb bag in a 5 gal. bucket. I try to pick up a couple double packs during the sales at Home Depot on holiday weekends. I think a bought or homemade rocket stove is a great addition also. If worse comes to worse you can cook with just a few pine cones or little sticks. I think any appliance that will help you get through the tough times and add to your quality of life is fair game, no list is one size fits all.
you can also make the scrape paper logs to use in any wood
stove. make them for the size of your stove big or small.
Wood stove heating. Sooo Many uses.
If you have that large water container in your living space, and you will if you live in a cold climate area. Why not Heat it up and use it for heat. after your fire dies down at night this will still help heat the living area. It cost nothing to heat it up. your using heat that will be lost anyway when using your fire to cook or heat. I saw a way to do this on line using a one way check valve and copper tubing wrapped around the heat source. They were using it to take showers. Of course this has many hazards, take caution.
If there is an Amish store in your area, check it out. There is a world of survival equipment in there. The Amish are survivors full time as a lifestyle. I admire them greatly.
It sounds to me like someone is trying to sell solar panels. LOL 😂 The way this article is worded it would make one think you can’t survuve without these modern things and this is not what new preppers should be thinking.
Look for a short term survival solar might be great. But what happens when the solar chemicals in those panels is used up or parts go bad and they will eventually?
I am just an old man that has survived for 71 years in varing situations.
I know that if you use this modern equiptment and do not learn the old ways of surviving then you be up a creek without a paddle. I have propane tanks and cooking stoves but I will not depend on them. A wood fire is good for cooking and as to keeping frozen meat etc. cure it when the power is gone or use it first. The thing is knowledge and being able to survive without the modern stuff is what everyone needs to be doing. I am not saying for you not have these things just don’t use them because you will learn to rely on them. Use the old methods every chance you get.
Think about it for a while and you will realise that yes these new things like a solar refrigerator might help you at first but for how long?
For myself I can not afford solar panels but i can afford a couple of tanks of propane. The main reason I have them is so during winter when power goes out I could heat the house for my wife but now that she is gone I am not sure what I will use them for, because I can build a fire to keep warm, to cook on and for light at night. See I am not scared of the dark and will not have lights on afer dark. Why do you ask no lights well several reasons one is others can spot them easy and the main reason is I will be to tired after doing what has to be done to survive all day so I will sleep with one eye open and ears 👂 listening.
Survival is not something you can buy. Survival is something you have to do and to survive you need knowledge not modern junk.
In short, the article was pretty bad, but in being so it did open the discussion to field a whole passel of good ideas.
I think some of your people missed the fact that this article is talking about appliances to have when there’s no electricity. Discussion that includes card games, Yahtzee, fuel sources and so forth or not what this article was about. That being said, I would say that one important item that was left off of this list was a hand grind flour mill. Also oil lamps. We love to find good clean ones at antique stores and use those just for a fun ambiance some evenings. We have 9 of them of various sizes and I keep five gallons of clear lamp oil on hand at all times.
Same here in W. Tn. I’ve got 25 of them. They are selling for about $25 each here.
Look into a Berkey water filtration
I purchased a water distiller years back for $85.00. I also bought a few pieces of Silver Bar, 1 oz. each. I use a potato chip clip to hold the tiny alligator clips that hold the silver bars that sit in the distilled water in the jar. The other end of the wires/clips are connected to three 9 volt batteries that are hooked together in series. I give it about 10 minutes or so, or until I start to see a bit of cloudiness in the water. Colloidal Silver has been used for thousands of years.