Batteries
As you have likely started to guess, a very large portion of being prepared for every day type “disasters” comes down to power.
Power for your fridge. A way to charge your cell phone. A way to power the nightlight you need to keep your daughter from being scared at night. You name it. Our world, for better or worse, runs on batteries and electricity. So a LOT of pain and suffering can be mitigated by keeping a stock of batteries. I personally look at this as more of an every day prep, but if you get this right, you have a LOT of cushion if you need it in a real true disaster. You might have the world’s greatest collection of flashlights (there’s a whole sub-genre of flashlight loving people on the internet… I am not one of those, but I do like a quality flashlight) but without batteries… good luck with that.
“I just found two lumps on my battery! I got them tested, and one came back positive! I hope it’s not terminal!”
"The Kitchen “Junk Drawer”
I grew up in a family with a LOT of organization. My dad spent an enormous amount of time organizing tools. There was always a place for things. However, no matter what house we lived in, there was always what we referred to as the “junk drawer.” You know you have one. Maybe you also have a “packet drawer” (gotta put those unused soy sauce packets somewhere!). But I am here to tell you that you should make a battery drawer. Don’t just stuff batteries in your current junk drawer… try to dedicate a whole drawer if you are able to.
In our kitchen, we have an area with two, small side by side junk drawers. I took over one of them for batteries, as you can see in the picture.
I have tried a bunch of ways to store spare batteries over the years. I used to have a “bin” in a drawer. That worked badly, because I was never sure what I had.
Then I thought I’d get all organized and hang an organizer/hilder on the wall of the garage. That worked even worse, because I always had extra batteries that didn’t fit in to the organizer, and then they had to… you guessed it… go in the junk drawer!
So I have landed on keeping my batteries in a special “junk drawer” in the kitchen.
Now, I like that holder you see in the drawer (the black plastic thing that organizes the batteries), because it holds a BUNCH of 9volts. And I have found that you ALWAYS need 9V batteries. Lots of the organizers I have seen only hold a few of them. Smoke detectors, electronic remotes, or even the backup battery for your bedside clock (side note, I LOVE those, so I don’t have to reset clocks if the power goes out). I also like that it comes with that little battery tester. That thing in the lower left of the picture. That’s a nice way to test batteries and figure out if you need to toss them.
NOTE: NEVER throw batteries in the trash. Don’t be that person. See that ziploc bag in the middle of my drawer? That’s for “dead” batteries. When that gets full I take it to recycling. They have a recycling bin at my work, or some cities allow you to put the bag on top of your recycling curbside bin. But don’t be a jerk and dump toxic batteries in the trash. Just don’t.
So, here’s the exact battery organizer I bought. Click the picture and you’ll see a bunch more pictures of it, but you get the idea. I’ll also say that if you have a big wide drawer, consider getting two of them.
So it is obvious from that picture that you should make one of these drawers, but what kind of batteries to buy?
My thoughts on Batteries (Brands, Types, etc)
Batteries are one of those things you never think about till you need them. And when you need them and don’t have them, it can be a major pain. Watching the superbowl and the batteries die in the remote, or can’t find a battery to make the clock in the kitchen work. Lame. So most of the time, you hope there’s a grocery store open, and you drive there.
Maybe you are locky, like me and have a BATTERY CENTER at the local Safeway. Mine’s even 24 hour! Bonus! But zoom in on the prices, and you will see that grocery store battery markups are bonkers. For things like batteries that you KNOW you are gonna use, a big part of prepping is buying things up front, when they are cheap, to avoid paying a ton later when you NEED it.
Now, let me say I HATE cheap batteries. I hate when they leak, and I hate when they lose charge sitting in a drawer. The good news is that batteries are WAY better than they used to be. The bad news is that some of them still suck. So here it comes…. I hate Duracells. Yes, I still use them, and I am not going to freak out if they are in something, but EVERY battery leak I have EVER had was a Duracell. I track this, because I am crazy. But I have never had an Energizer leak. Ever. Now, your experience might have been different. Awesome. But for me, I don’t buy Duracell any more. This is actually a BUMMER because Costco only carries Duracell. I feel sad every time I walk by all those lovely, cheap AA’s in aisle 5 of Costco, but I just don’t do it any more.
So for me, it is Energizers for disposables. They are a little more expensive, but I also adore the Lithium Ultimate Energizers. They are lighter, work better and longer, and I keep some for “important” uses. If I have a go bag with a headlamp that HAS to work when I need it, that headlamp will have Energizer Lithiums in it. Period. There’s a link to the Energizer Ultimates below, but be aware they are not cheap. So I am not recommending you fill a drawer with those suckers. But have some for when you need them.
So generally, I just buy Energizer Max in bulk (because they are cheaper, and I will eventually use them anyway). I buy a bunch of the following (click to see the cheaper bundles):
AA/AAA I link to a combo pack here. Cheaper that way.
D (I have found I need more D’s than C’s, so get more of these, and less C batteries)
CR123 (These are debatable, and you might not use them. I have flashlights and other stuff that take them so I stock them, but skip these unless you know you need them)
I am not gonna bother putting a link for all the batteries you could buy, because if you can’t figure that out, you probably don’t need batteries anyhow. Ha!
OK, but what about rechargeable batteries?
Excellent question! When I was a kid, rechargeable batteries sucked. But they definitely do not now. At first, I was reticent to swap to rechargeable batteries because:
They were more expensive
I was worried that other people in my house would toss them
It is sort of (I used to think) annoying to recharge them
I thought (mistakenly, it turns out) that they didn’t hold a charge well in a drawer
Basically, all of that turns out to not be true (any more). So I have been swapping over in the past 3 years to Panasonic Eneloop batteries. I am sure there are a ton of places you can go and learn about the exact ins and outs of which batteries work best, and people who test them and whatnot. I personally went with Panasonic brand, and that turns out to have been a good choice. I really like the website “The Prepared.” In fact, I wish it were around when I started thinking about a lot of this. Smart, thoughtful people on that site. You should check it out. They reviewed a bunch of batteries and came to a similar conclusion I did. You can read that here.
The specific batteries I like are the Eneloop Pro. Panasonic Eneloops come in two “flavors:” White (regular) and black (pro). The black ones seem to last longer, and provide more power in higher draw situations. I usually use these in Flashlights and Cameras and stuff like that, so high draw is a big deal for me. You can get them in AA and AAA sizes. As is always the case with these things, they are not the cheapest, but you get a better deal if you buy a whole bunch of them.
They only come in AA and AAA, so what about C and D? Well, because AA and C and D are all 1.5V batteries, and are the same “height” (+ to -) you can buy these little holders (not sure what to call them really? “Sleeves” maybe?) that let you use 1.5V AA’s in a C or D size.
The picture here is of the “D” ones, and they have a threaded bottom. They also make C size.
Here’s a picture I took on my counter of the adapters, next to the batteries (C and D’s) they replace.
I also made a little GIF of how the C adapters work.
Full Disclosure: A AA stuffed in a D adapter does NOT last as long. It is, quite simply, a smaller battery. But it does mean that you don’t have to have separate C and D rechargeable batteries. They DO make C and D rechargeable, but I personally have decided against it. I want less battery chargers (the things you plug in) and this way I still am never stuck without C and D if I run out of throw away ones.
Now, what about the chargers? For Eneloops, you should (my opinion) use the matching charger. They make a whole bunch of different chargers. The one I like the best (and I have actually bought most of them) is this one. The Panasonic BQ-CC55. I have no idea what those letters and numbers mean, but this charger has individual lights for each battery, and will handle the Pros, the regular (white) Eneloops, and can deal with a mix of AAA and AA at the same time. It also has nice Red/Orange/Green colors, which means you can tell if the batteries are getting close to charged. Lots of them only have Red and Green lights, which only tell you when they are at full power.
The BQ-CC55 tells you when the batteries are at different charges. According to the instructions:
Green = 80-100%
Orange = 20-80%
Red = 0-20%
If you take a look here, you can see the visual comparisons of the different chargers Eneloop offers. You might like a different one, but I love the one on the right.
Comparison of Eneloop Chargers. I like the one on the right best, but the second from right has the nice feature of having a USB plug, to be able to charge FROM it.
you can see from the shot of my battery drawer that I have a bunch of the stuff listed below. You can see the eneloop sleeves, a mix of batteries (and yes, I do still have some Duracell in there… I know, I know) and a charger. That charger in the picture isn’t actually my favorite. That one is a Panasonic BQ-CC75, which has the USB port, and I leave that in the drawer, because I can use it as a battery bank if needed (you can plug stuff in and it will charge other things FROM the battery).
My sweet battery “junk” drawer
What about those weird “coin” batteries?
It is pretty easy to store a bunch of the usual battery suspects. AAA, AA, C, D, 9V, etc. But it is more of a pain to store a bunch of the “coin” batteries. At first I tried 3D printing some holders (I tried this design from Thingiverse). You can actually see it hiding in the drawer in the picture…
They printed well, but they weren’t very space efficient.
I wound up going with a tupperware (style.. it is actually a Sistema) bin I had laying around, and organizing them in little sandwich bags. This has worked pretty well. You don’t need coin batteries that often, but it is nice to have them on hand when you do. I have lost count of the number of times I have been “saved” from having to walk to the grocery store to overpay for a single battery when the one in the car remote key fob dies. 2125 Coin Batteries!
OK, so if you are on this page, and have made it this far down in my ranting, maybe you just want to buy the weird coin batteries you need and go on about your business. But let me tell you, coin batteries are CONFUSING. Lots of them have multiple “numbers” meaning the same thing. There are lots of sites with cross reference charts (BatteryEquivalents.com for example) but here’s an example chart (From Duracell, which I suppose is ironic given that they aren’t my favorite battery). Click that and get the PDF.
OK, so if you are feeling spicy, print that PDF out, and put it in your battery drawer. If your head hurts, and you just wanna buy the ones you are likely to need, here’s what I stock:
2032 - Probably what I use the most. They fit car remotes, Tile trackers, and tons and tons of stuff.
395/399’s - These are little guys, and tend to go in small electronics
2025’s - These are VERY common. Get some of these. They go in car remotes and all kinds of stuff.
2430’s - Look a lot like the 2025’s, but slightly less common.
1632’s - The least common of the three (2025/2430/1632) that look like shiny quarters.
2477’s - These are similar size to the “coin” ones, but FAT. I only have one thing that uses these (Sensorpush temperature and moisture sensors) but because I have a bunch of those sensors, I go through these. You probably don’t need these, but I include them here, because I have never found these in person at the grocery or Home Depot, etc. So I keep a ton of these.
LR41’s - Super small, but common. Probably less common than the 44’s, but small enough it is easy to keep a bunch.
LR44’s - Common. Get some.
Also note that sometimes there is a chart on the battery display at the grocery store that helps. Check out the one at mine.
What else goes in the Battery Drawer? (Spoiler: Screwdrivers)
The next thing you should keep in your battery drawer is a special (meaning don’t put them elsewhere, leave them in the drawer) set of screwdrivers. Ever notice that all those kids’ toys have that little tiny (usually a P1 Phillips) screw holding in the battery door? Yeah, sucks to not have that screwdriver where you need it. So get a couple (or a set) and keep them in the drawer. This also has the nice effect of making it so my kids know where to go for a screwdriver, and they don’t venture in to the garage and start taking things from the “big” toolbox. None of which ever seems to return. So I leave some DeWalt screwdrivers in the Battery Drawer, and it makes a ton of sense to my kids now.
Explanation: I know I say I have the screwdrivers in my battery drawer, but they aren’t in the picture above. I actually have TWO drawers next to each other. One for batteries and the other has scissors, tape, pens, and other “junk” and the screwdrivers are in the drawer just to the left of the one I took a picture of.
Here’s the link to the specific set of screwdrivers I use. I like the little red and blue ends, and because I use a mix of Craftsman (the old style, had em forever) and some Snap-On in my “Real” toolbox in the garage, these look at lot different, so they don’t migrate to other places. Honestly, the one that gets used most is the skinny P1 Phillips (second from left in that picture)
Funny Side story: I have been particular about teaching my kids the “correct” words for things. So if I ask for a “Phillips number 2” my kids know what that is. And they know what a flathead is, and the sizes. In fact, my son enjoys guessing about what size will work best for whatever thing needs a battery/screw removed. He was tickled a few weeks ago when he actually needed a P00 (that is a really small Phillips head screwdriver) for something. I had to get that one out of the garage. However, the funny part comes if you have ever watched “The Mitchells vs. the Machines”. That’s a HILARIOUS (and adorable movie) that came out in 2021. We watched it as a family as a special treat (we normally don’t do much/any TV/movies) and there’s a hysterical scene about the dad (Rick) being prepared with a “Number 3 Robertson Drive” screwdriver. My kids laughed and pointed at me, and told me they knew what that was!!!