The freezer
Everything in it is on a clock the moment the power stops. The manual shows you what to eat first, and what to do before it thaws.
Chapters 3, 4 & 9
Family Survival Field Manual
When the power goes out, the first 72 hours decide how the rest goes.
This manual is the plan for every hour after the lights go off: water, food, heat, light, medicine and security, in the order you’ll need them.
Written by former Navy SEAL Cole Hartley
- Know exactly what to do in the first hour, the first 72 hours, the first week and the month after
- Don’t lose your freezer food, your safe water or your warm house to guesswork
- Tick-box checklists you can follow by flashlight, with the whole family
- Printed on paper: your phone will die. This book won’t.
£29.00£39.00Save 26%
Printed paperback · Plain English · Delivery in 3–8 business days
The best time to read a blackout manual is while the lights are still on.
“In the teams, nobody walks into the dark without a plan. Your family shouldn’t either.”Cole Hartley, former Navy SEAL
- Secure checkout
- Physical book
- Step-by-step checklists
- No batteries needed
What happens when the lights don’t come back
The lights go out. Your phone’s at 20%. What’s your plan for the next 72 hours? Most outages are short. Some aren’t. You won’t know which one this is until you’re already in it.
- Hour 1
The fridge goes quiet. Your phone says 20%. The street is dark in both directions, and nobody can tell you when it’s coming back.
- Hour 6
The fridge is warming. Phones are dying. Everyone is refreshing for updates that won’t load.
- Night 2
The freezer is thawing. Every room is the wrong temperature. You’re working out which food to eat first, and guessing.
- Day 3
The shelves at the store are emptying and nobody knows when the trucks are back. The tap runs weak. You realise “a few days” was never a plan.
- Day 7
Families with a plan are on a routine. Families without one are running out of options.
Help comes. It just doesn’t always come in the first days. Those days are on you, and on whatever you decided before the lights went out.
It doesn’t take much to turn off your lights
A conflict half a world away. One blocked shipping lane. One bad storm. An ageing grid under more strain every year. Any of them can turn off your lights, and none of them will warn you first.
The freezer, the tap, the furnace, the phone: everything in your home depends on one wire. Here’s what happens when it stops.
The tap
Pumps need power. When the pressure drops, the water you didn’t store is the water you don’t have.
Chapter 2The furnace
Most heating systems need electricity to run their fans and controls. One warm room, set up safely, changes everything.
Chapter 6The phone
When phones and internet go down, how will your family find each other? Write the plan now, on paper.
Chapter 10The medicine cabinet
Medicines that need the fridge and devices that need a plug. Make a written plan with your doctor for the days the pharmacy can’t open.
Chapters 1 & 7The front door
Dark streets, alarms off, supplies on show. Decide now how you’ll secure your home, so you’re not deciding in the dark.
Chapter 11“Nobody’s going to hand you a list when it happens. So I wrote one.”Cole Hartley
Get the list before you need it
Day 3 without power. Which house is yours?
Same street. Same storm. Same dark night. The only difference is what each family decided before it started.
Without a plan
- Not sure which water is safe to drink
- A freezer full of food slowly going to waste
- Kids cold, scared and asking questions you can’t answer
- Phones dead and no way to reach family
- Every decision a guess, made in the dark
- No idea what you’ll say when someone knocks on the door
With this book
- Water stored, and a way to make more safe
- Food eaten in the right order, nothing wasted
- One warm room and a working light
- Phones charged on a schedule and a family contact plan on paper
- A checklist for every day, so nobody has to guess
- You decided how to handle the knock on the door weeks ago
If your fridge is your food plan, you don’t have one yet.
Be the family with a planYour family’s plan, in three stages
The plan for the first 72 hours, the first week, and beyond. The manual is built around time, so you always know what matters right now and what can wait.
72 Hours
Water. Light. Warmth. Lock it down.
- Water first: fill tubs and containers
- Keep the fridge and freezer closed
- Set up one room for light and warmth
- Radio on, phones on low power
- Check on family and neighbors
Picture it: you open the manual to page one. Flashlights where you left them. Water already stored. Everyone knows their job.
Week 1
Settle into a routine.
- Switch to pantry meals and a cooking routine
- Treat water daily
- Set up a simple sanitation system
- Budget your power: what gets charged each day
- Keep a low profile at home
Picture it: food eaten in the right order, nothing wasted. A warm room, a working light. The kids think it’s an adventure.
Month 1+
Ration. Preserve. Grow. Outlast it.
- A rationing plan for your pantry
- Preserve food without a fridge
- Collect rainwater and grow food
- Simple off-grid repairs and projects
- Routines that keep kids and family calm
Picture it: whatever’s happening outside, your home runs on a plan, not on luck.
What’s inside
17 chapters in three parts, plus printable checklists. Everything your household needs, in the order you’ll need it.
Part 1 · Get Ready
01Your Household Readiness Check
Your local risks, your family’s needs (kids, older relatives, pets, medical devices) and starter, mid and full budget levels.
02Water
How much per person and pet, safe storage and rotation, boiling, filtering and treating, and what not to drink.
03Food & Pantry
Store what you eat, rotate it, and build up to 3-month, 6-month and 1-year levels with everyday supermarket staples.
04Food Without a Fridge
Canning, meals in jars, dehydrating, curing, root cellars, keeping eggs and fermenting.
05Power & Light
Portable power stations, small solar, safe generator use, batteries, charging from your car, and what to power first.
06Heat & Cooling
Keeping one room warm, insulation tricks, safe indoor heat, and staying cool in a summer outage.
07Medicine & First Aid
A home first-aid kit, wound care, and planning prescriptions for an outage with your doctor or pharmacist.
08Sanitation & Hygiene
Toilets when the water is off, waste, laundry without electricity and keeping the house clean.
Part 2 · Ride It Out
09The First 72 Hours
A step-by-step checklist for the first three days, hour by hour where it counts.
10Communication
Battery and hand-crank radios, weather radio, a family contact plan, offline maps and charging phones.
11Home Security & Low Profile
Lawful, non-violent ways to secure your home, keep supplies out of sight and work with neighbors.
12Money & Barter
Cash on hand, useful trade goods and a grab-folder for your important documents.
Your grandparents knew how to run a home with no power. Most of us were never shown. Part 3 puts those skills back on your shelf.
Part 3 · The Long Haul
13Grow & Raise Food
Small-space gardens, perennials, seed saving, chickens and safe foraging basics.
14Off-Grid Home Projects
A no-power cooler, a rainwater system, solar water heating, a root cellar and simple tools.
15Old-Time Skills
Starting fires, Depression-era cooking, mending, yeast-free bread, soap and candles.
16Mindset & Family
Staying calm, routines for kids, community, and spotting scams in a crisis.
17Leaving Home Safely
When staying isn’t safe: a go-bag, a car kit and how to plan your route.
+Printable Checklists
Inventory sheets, a pantry rotation log, a 30-day plan and a family contact sheet.
Take a look inside
Big headings, short steps and checklists you can follow by flashlight.
About the author
Cole Hartley, former Navy SEAL
Cole Hartley served as a U.S. Navy SEAL, where planning for the moment everything stops working isn’t a hobby. It’s the job. You learn to think in hours, not hopes: what has to happen first, what can wait, and what you’ll do when the plan meets the dark.
After leaving the Navy, Cole turned that discipline on the place most families are least prepared: their own home. When the Power Goes Out is the plan he built for his own family. No bunkers. No tactical fantasy. Just what to do, in what order, when the lights go off.
“Most families don’t fail because they’re weak. They fail because the first 72 hours catch them without a plan. This book is that plan.”Cole Hartley
Your phone will die. This book won’t.
Right now every answer is one search away. In a long outage the signal drops, the battery runs down, and the answers go with them. Videos don’t play on a dead phone.
This manual is printed on paper. No battery, no signal, no login. Keep it on the shelf with your flashlight, and the plan is there the moment you need it.
When nothing else works, this still does.
- Works in the dark with a flashlight
- The whole family can read it at once
- Nothing to download, charge or remember
“But what if…” Straight answers
The doubts that stop most people from preparing, and why they don’t hold up when the lights go out.
“I’ll just look it up online.”
Search results don’t load when the network is down. This manual is already on your shelf.
“It’ll never happen to me.”
Most outages are short. Some aren’t. You won’t know which one it is until it’s already happening.
“Isn’t prepping for doomsday people?”
No bunker. No wild gear. A plan for an ordinary home, using what’s already in it plus a short list of basics.
“I already have supplies.”
Supplies without a plan are just a pile in the garage. The manual tells you what to use first, how to ration it and what you’re missing.
“I’m not the survival type.”
Plain steps and tick-box checklists, written for people with jobs, kids and a normal house.
“I don’t have time for a whole book.”
Start with the first 72 hours chapter tonight. The rest can wait for the weekend.
“I live in an apartment.”
Water, pantry, light, heat, first aid and communication all work in small spaces. Only a few long-haul projects need a yard.
“Someone will help us.”
Help usually comes. Your job is the hours before it does.
“Isn’t this all free online?”
Some of it is, scattered across a thousand pages you can’t open in a blackout. This puts it in one book, in the order you’ll need it.
“We’ll just leave.”
Every road out is full of people who had the same idea. For most outages the safest place is the home you already know. Chapter 17 covers the day staying isn’t safe.
“It won’t work where I live.”
Freezing winters and summer heat are both covered: one warm room, safe indoor heat, and staying cool when the AC is off.
“I don’t want guns or violence.”
Neither does this book. Home security here means lawful, non-violent steps: doors, windows, a low profile and good neighbors.
“What if nothing happens?”
Then you’ve got a pantry you actually rotate, less food in the trash, and a family that knows what to do in a storm. Nothing in here is wasted.
“It’s too much money.”
Price it against one thawed freezer. One book for the whole household, kept on the shelf for years.
Who this book is for
Written for ordinary homes, not bunkers.
It’s for you if…
- You have kids, and you want them calm and warm when the house goes dark
- You look after older parents, or someone at home relies on medicine kept cold or a device that needs a plug
- You rent or live in an apartment, with no yard, garage or generator
- Your work, money and family all run on your phone and the internet
- You own a power station, solar panels or a generator and want to use them safely
- You’ve sat through an outage once and thought, “never again”
It’s not for you if…
- You want weapons, bunkers or end-of-the-world fantasy
- You want an app. This is paper on purpose
- You’d rather wait, hope, and figure it out in the dark
No bunker. No guesswork. Just the plan, hour by hour.
What you can’t do once the lights are out
Everything in this book works best before you need it. Once the power is gone, the window closes fast.
You can’t order a book.
A manual in the mail doesn’t help you tonight. A manual on the shelf does.
You can’t search for answers.
No signal, no battery, no search results. Only what you already know, and what’s already on paper.
You can’t store water after the pressure drops.
The time to fill containers is before the tap runs weak, not after.
You can’t save a freezer that’s already thawing.
Food has to be planned before the outage, not during it.
You can’t make a family plan when the phones are down.
Who goes where, who calls whom, where you meet. It only works if it was written down first.
You can’t think straight in the dark.
Decisions made cold, tired and scared are the ones families regret. Make them now, with the lights on.
The only deadline is the next outage, and it won’t announce itself.
Everything you get
One printed manual. Everything your household needs to get through the first hour, the first 72 hours, the first week and beyond.
The printed manual
17 chapters in three parts: Get Ready, Ride It Out, The Long Haul. Plain English, big headings, short steps.
The First 72 Hours checklist
Hour by hour where it counts, so you know exactly what to do first.
Household readiness check
Your risks, your family’s needs, and starter, mid and full budget levels so you spend only what you choose.
Printable checklists
Inventory sheets, a pantry rotation log, a 30-day plan and a family contact sheet.
What to power first
Power stations, small solar, safe generator use and charging from your car.
The day you have to leave
A go-bag, a car kit and how to plan your route, for when staying isn’t safe.
What does one long outage cost?
- A freezer full of food in the trash
- Takeout and motel nights because the house is too cold or too hot
- A frozen pipe, spoiled medicine, a missed week of work
One long outage can cost far more than this book. The manual costs £29.00, once, and stays on your shelf for years.
£29.00£39.00
Get my copy
Picture the night the lights go out
The house goes dark. Phones show no signal. Somewhere down the street a car alarm starts and stops.
You don’t panic. You take the manual off the shelf, open it to the first page and hand out the jobs. The water is already stored. The flashlights are where the book told you to keep them. By the time the kids ask what’s happening, there’s a light on and a plan for tomorrow.
A week later, your home runs on a routine. The neighbors start knocking, and it’s to ask what you’re doing, because you’re the one with the plan.
Now picture the same night without it. Same dark house. Same dead phone. Only this time, every decision is a guess.
The difference is a book you read while the lights were still on.
“I wrote this book so your family gets the first version of that night. Read it while the lights are on. Put it on the shelf next to the flashlight. Then when the dark comes, you won’t be guessing. You’ll be following the plan.”Cole Hartley, former Navy SEAL
£29.00£39.00
Get my copy
Questions
Is this a printed book?
Yes. It’s a physical paperback, delivered to your door in 3–8 business days. There’s nothing to download and nothing to charge, so it works when your phone and internet don’t.
Why not just use my phone or the internet?
Because in a long outage you may not have either. Signals drop, batteries die and pages won’t load. A printed manual on your shelf still works by flashlight.
I’m a complete beginner. Is it for me?
Yes. It’s written in plain English for ordinary households. Each chapter starts with the basics and gives you a short checklist to work through.
Where do I start?
With the first 72 hours chapter. Read it tonight and you’ll know what to do in the first hour. The rest of the book can wait for the weekend.
Do I need expensive gear or a big budget?
No. The plan starts with what most homes already have, then shows optional upgrades at starter, mid and full budget levels.
I already have supplies. Do I still need this?
Supplies are half of it. The manual tells you what to use first, how to make it last, and what you’re still missing.
I live in an apartment. Will it still help?
Yes. Most of the plan (water, pantry, light, heat, first aid and communication) works in small spaces. A few long-haul projects, like gardens, need some outdoor space.
Is the medical chapter medical advice?
No. The first-aid and medicine sections are general education to help you prepare. For prescriptions and medical devices, talk to your doctor or pharmacist about an outage plan.
Who is Cole Hartley?
Cole Hartley is a former U.S. Navy SEAL who wrote this manual for his own family. He built it the way he learned to plan in the service: first things first, in hours, with a checklist.
Do I need to leave home when the power goes out?
For most outages, no. The safest place is usually the home you already know, and most of the book is about making it work. Chapter 17 covers the day staying isn’t safe: a go-bag, a car kit and your route.
Will it work where I live?
Yes. It covers cold-weather outages (one warm room, insulation, safe indoor heat) and summer outages (staying cool with no AC), in houses and apartments.
Does it cover power stations, solar and generators?
Yes. Chapter 5 covers portable power stations, small solar, safe generator use, batteries, charging from your car and what to power first.
Someone at home relies on medication or a medical device. Does it help?
It helps you plan. Chapter 1 lists those needs in your readiness check, and Chapter 7 walks you through making an outage plan with your doctor or pharmacist. It is not medical advice.
Is there a digital version?
This is the printed paperback, on purpose. A book on the shelf works when your phone, Wi-Fi and power don’t.
Does it make a good gift?
Yes. It’s a practical gift for parents, grandparents, new homeowners or anyone who has been caught out by an outage.
How long does delivery take?
Delivery takes 3–8 business days. Your shipping options are shown at checkout before you pay, and you’ll receive an email when your order ships.
This book is for general educational purposes and is not medical, legal or professional advice. Always follow official guidance from your local authorities in an emergency.