(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Every time an emergency agency pops up on the news suggesting households keep a 72-hour emergency kit on hand, I do the same thing: nod knowingly, assume they’re talking to someone far less organized than me, and scroll on.

In my head, I’m a reasonably capable adult. The fridge is full, there are batteries rattling around in a drawer somewhere, and I have a phone flashlight. Surely that counts as disaster preparedness.

Curiosity finally won out, so I decided to run an honest, room-by-room audit of what would actually happen if our power lines went dark for three straight days. The verdict was... humbling.

It turns out my master survival plan was heavily reliant on an active Wi-Fi connection, an electric stovetop, and blind optimism. Here's five glaring blind spots I completely overlooked, and what you should do so you don't make the same mistakes.

1.…