No more electricity

I think about it, I listen to a lot of post apocalyptic audiobooks and it's always interesting to hear the things the author thought the characters would miss, it really makes you think about it. 😉 I find myself already making purchases that are geared towards no electricity...such as a hand crank blender, instead of a new electric one...every little bit might help!

Sounds like you are in a good location for a SHTF scenario...I would maybe consider how you could evaporate and condensate water using the woodstove.

My grandfather made a wood stove for the sauna and it was loaded with wood from the outside with the other part of the stove inside the sauna room with the rock tray on it etc. What was really cool though was the stainless pipe that went into and back out of the stove to a tank of water that provided hot water for showering. Not a new idea but radiant heat on the cheap for producing hot water. I was thinking that there are so many applications a woodstove could be used for. Having a hot shower would be a huge moral booster.
Also I just saw these lanterns that you put on a wood stove that light up when the wood stove is operating. I didn't really look at it cause I don't have a permanent woodstove in my house. I have a hunting stove that could be used in a pinch.
The woodstove lanterns were available at Canadian Tire.

Hope this helps...

Taking a stab at a few quickly...

Wood/Woodstove
- Rocket/gasifier stoves are far more efficient although you'd need to be heating a smaller space (heavy curtains or blankets to make a smaller space; always-charged drill to hang them). They don't heat the house as much in summer, fuel can be gathered with long-limb loppers or one-hand pruners, they boil water quickly, they can use homemade arctic bricks for slower, longer burns, and they can be made out of cans, good steel pipes from scrap dumps, cinder blocks, and other inexpensive or waste products
- Girdling a small tree in spring/summer makes it a lot easier to cut and haul in winter; not fully cured at that point so I would only use it in a chimney if I had no choice. However, if they're far enough not to fall on my house, a few standing trees take up less storage space and will cure upright than stacks

Baking:
- A roasting pan or pair of steam table trays, or even a large pot that will hold a smaller pot, pyrex bowl or baking pan can be used as an oven alternative on a stove top or outdoor grill, with and without water added to come up the side of the inner pot (which stays dry)
- The Dutch oven is a fabulous thing, and with a large enough cast iron skillet, coals can be put in the skillet, Dutch oven "in" them campfire style, and coals put on top. If you have tight lids, almost any cast iron skillet or pot is really a Dutch oven at heart.
- Check out campfire and grilling "baking" alternatives using your favorite search engine

(I assume there is already a huge pot of water on the woodstove any time it's in use, since it's such an efficient and low-cost heat sink)
Bonus: The same double-boiler setup with the roasting pan or pot can be used as a crock pot, bringing the water and the inner pot's contents to a boil and then letting the fire die. Also, they make or you can find alternatives to a powered crock pot. One style was made for African women. A dakota pit with a stock pot can also make a more efficient cooking surface (weather permitting).

Flour:
- Wheat stores longer, and can be sealed against bugs.
- Grinders are expensive for the worthwhile ones and you'll look like a fiddler crab; wheat can be boiled like barley or rice and for the first 50-100-150 pounds I feel like it's kind of dumb to get a grinder, anyway, for the amount of security the same money will buy. Wheat takes an hour to boil, but that can be reduced by letting it soak overnight, and reduced or eliminated by sticking it and the appropriate amount of water in a black bag and hanging it in the sun.
Bonus: Lentils will cook in the same time as wheat or barley when hanging in a sun bag, or when pre-softened in a sun bag and finished off over a campfire or rocket stove

Water:
- Distilling for pond/lake (can be acheived with a pot lid that's larger than the boiling pot or propped to the side and down on one end to drip into another pan/pot
- Roofline and tree dripline water catchment
- Bleach is cheap. It goes bad, but it's cheap, and it fixes a lot of water ills, especially in conjunction with a sand and charcoal filter built into a 2L or 1gal jug, any size pail, or plastic coffee tub.
- Not my first choice and up to you if hauling and treating pond water is easier, because 150 is deeper than I'd be happy hauling, but you can make a well dipper out of PVC and a CLEAN bobber ball from a toilet. You can make them different lengths to allow for different fitness levels to haul them (water is not light). You can make smaller versions out of soda bottles, but they're limited in size. Tie cordage to ball, run cordage through pipe, drop, fills, pull up, bobber ball makes a seal against the water, haul to surface. Endlessly, some seasons and at 150 feet, but if your back or legs go, it may be an alternate to hiking with something that weighs eight pounds a gallon.

I'm very fortunate on this one. The cottage has never had electricity. I'm experienced enough doing without that no electricity is almost a non-event. More like a great chance to catch up on my reading.
I don't run for a generator when the power goes out here - just do without. Last winter I almost was going to light the wood stove but the power came back on before the house cooled off enough.

If it really bothers you get some propane appliances, mini-fridge, water heater and stove from an RV. Put in a couple of propane lights.
Solar spotlights are handy at the cottage for lights and I put a few around the house too.

Water being most important - Investigate the solar distillation method. (SODIS) Basically a pop bottle and your roof.

Bleach / iodine for a backup. Google on how to make charcoal. A couple of buckets, some sand and charcoal, and a few drops of bleach and you have many moons worth of water at your disposal with the lake supply. Not to mention rain collection.

There's always a big berkey. But there is a large up-front cash outlay.

Everything else is gravy, but heating/cooking should be what you tackle AFTER the water is covered.

Water being most important - Investigate the solar distillation method. (SODIS) Basically a pop bottle and your roof.

Bleach / iodine for a backup. Google on how to make charcoal. A couple of buckets, some sand and charcoal, and a few drops of bleach and you have many moons worth of water at your disposal with the lake supply. Not to mention rain collection.

There's always a big berkey. But there is a large up-front cash outlay.

Everything else is gravy, but heating/cooking should be what you tackle AFTER the water is covered.

Water is everything. Learn how to obtain and purify water AND get a Berkey before anything else.
Rainwater is already distilled water. You're in BC with tons of rain, from Oct to Jan you're getting 250mm a month- 50 mm a month during the "dry" season. That's plenty to supply all your needs.

Agreed.

Our berkey is already in daily use. Love it!

Great ideas and suggestions....Thank you. Having thought about this more I realize that I will be in pretty good shape but need to do some small purchases. Will look into some of your suggestions....charcoal and sand method to distill water so will just need to use what nature has to offer. Melting snow, last year 8 feet over the winter...lay out a tarp and collect it. I also never thought about girdling trees....mind you every year there are lots of trees that have died and then the wind snaps them and brings them down....but still an additional way to get in the firewood. Food storage...I have to up my canning to what will take me over the winter. Lanterns on the wood stove....haven't heard of them but will definitely look into it.

So how ready are you for when the power goes out for good.

So how ready are you for when the power goes out for good.

If the power supply to your house stopped forever would you just go back to candles? Of course not. Rivers never stop flowing. Electricity can be made with water power, wood gas, propane, methane, horse power, wind power etc.

Perhaps a better question is "how ready are you for when the cheap power goes away for good"

As I wrote in my first post....can't afford wind power or anything else like that right now.

I have small solar charging systems waiting. Also did it so that I can charge AA batteries. Fairly versatile for walkie talkies and powering the Iphone for music. Creature comforts I suppose. We'll see... Walkies will come in handy for a couple of things.
I do have in mind making a water turbine at my bug out location but need to look into that more..

We've had 2 cottages at remote places with no power. Propane appliances supply all the comforts.
For tools, we would use the generator but these days cordless tools are pretty good and I can charge them off my car or a 12v powerpack with inverter.

We all so ingrained that we must have electricity - I'm telling you it just ain't so. Especially now that we have cheap(er) solar and LED lights that use a tiny amount of power.

Here's adding on to losing the electricity.....try going for one or more days without your TV, computer, radio, cell phones, home phones, Ipods anything that makes electronic or motorized noise.....just silence.

See how you react to not having some kind of background noise always on. Most of us don't realize how much noise we have in our lives until it's not there. I'll get up in the morning and not turn anything on and just have silence from no electronic device and at first it's nice with the birds and nature sounds but after awhile I go looking for something to turn on..... something I'm trying to break myself from. If we lose electricity the world will be a much quieter place.

I know what you mean enuff...I kind of like the natural noise.
We go camping on the sandy beach on the west coast a couple of weeks a year. Takes me a couple of days to calm down. The kids are bored after 5 days..even with their ipod's etc. Fishing rod and a few books and the crashing of the waves is all I need to relax.
Sometimes I wish the Swhtf just so the shackles of this technical world would go away. It consumes us. There is always something you just have to have and 3 days later its obsolete and you need the new gadget that replaces it. Is it just me or does anyone else long for a simpler time?
On the other hand, if the shtf scenario arrives..we will be back to the stone age, except the government who has their bunkers and more tech than you could shake a stick at. Puts us little guys at a huge disadvantage. Would be like shootin fish in a barrel.

Guess that could be the down side hey?