Lights are out, the Cadac single burner cooker is on the kitchen counter: we have been cut free from the Eskom power grid for our 2 and a half hours. Making my incredible spaghetti bolognaise takes precision planning under the illumination our 2 scrappy LED lights. One is a lantern that hooks or magnetically attaches to surfaces. The other is a round “face beauty” lamp that is clips onto a smartphone and increases the gorgeousness of the selfie taker. I found it somewhere once.

These temporary lights never have the positioning or coverage of the now dead ceiling mounted lamps. My wife was looking for something that would improve the lighting situation during the power outages for Cape Town Airbnb properties whose owners we deal with. And she discovered the LED Emergency Lamp. It looks like a normal LED light bulb with the standard screw-in (E27) or bayonet fitting but has a lithium ion rechargable battery and some circuitry incorporated into its body. I’m typing by the light of one right now.

Just insert it in the lamp fitting and turn it on for 4 or 5 hours to give the batteries and initial full charge. When the lights go out you can continue using it as a normal light. Amazingly it can still be controlled by the wall switch, it must detect some change of resistance in the line when you flick the switch.

One of those ingenious gadgets that make a big difference for zero to minimal effort, at a low cost.

• Gadget name: Flash LED Emergency Lamp, 5W
• Cost: R65
• Where we got it: Echo Elektries, Jeffreys Bay

Update: A 9 Watt variant of the bulb is also available by ACDC Dynamics at a cost of R115 from Echo Elektries.