Things to do in the run up to an anticipated problem, let's say, bad winter weather

[bellinisurge]

Thought it might be an idea to share some tips for getting ready in advance of an anticipated tricky spell. I've put winter weather in the title but obviously Brexit related trickiness is on people's minds.
Here's a couple:
get all your bedding and underwear laundered in case that's tricky one in tricky times;
Check your food stocks.

Any others?

[bagpiss]

We have an open fire so we had a massive sort out of logs (that we sourced from the garden about a year or so ago) that are now ready for use, and we've just topped that up with a delivery of logs and some coal, enough for about 3 weeks I think & it saves us having to have heating on for the whole house if it's just us 2 or me in the house.
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I did a stock take of foods this week and I have about 2 weeks worth of meals for at least 3 ppl maybe 4 at a stretch if needed.
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I sorted out all my winter bedding- snuggly brushed cotton stuff- so that's clean and ready.
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We don't live rurally, just on the outskirts of a town but we can get snowed in occasionally and I've been unwell recently so just topped up on everything in case I can't get out.
Also bought a swan oil heater, that's fab.

[CMOTDibbler]

Winter weather - bags of rocksalt, snow shovel and sledge are easily accessible in the garage.
Cars have boots, warm coat (I keep the manky coats to stay in the car, plus cheap gloves/hats/thick socks), chemical handwarmers, deicer, bottled water, long life snacks, fleece blankets, jump start power pack (really small and will power phones etc as well)
Plenty of gas in the bbq and camping stove cylinder
Lots of tinned food and things like rice and lentils, dried milk, bread flour and yeast
Don't get low on dog food
Renew prescriptions promptly so not to get low and keep good stock of basic medicines that we use anyway

[ElyElyOy]

Car prep is always my number one: being stuck in a car for 12 hours miles from home with nothing and no way of getting home is no fun. If I’m home and there’s a problem at least I have my bed and a toilet, so always prioritise the car: and that just means adding the cold-weather clothes (in a back pack) and the snow/ice scrapers, I usually always have water/food/torch/maps/phone charger/hi-vis vest/brolly/painkillers and most importantly after that a paperback book or two!

For the house I’m starting to knuckle down with cold-weather preps: putting the winter quilts on, getting extra pillows incase of visitors, thermal curtains, tinned food, snacks etc.

Also prepping for colds and flu with extra cold medication (and decongestant etc) and bottles of lucozade, hard boiled sweets and sorbet!

[SamPotatoes]

Some of my preps already paid off- when the electric went off in the middle of the night I had charged solar lights ready by my bed. That meant I was able to quickly get dressed, pop up to the in-laws and make sure they had light until power was restored. Power was only out for an hour at 2am but MiL was dying and we needed light. Being able to put my hands on what was needed immediately made life so much easier at a difficult time.

[bellinisurge]

Goodness @SamPotatoes. Sounds like a challenging situation.

[Whatthefoxgoingon]

Glad your prep made it slightly easier in a very tough time sampotatoes.

We’ve had our wooden floors re-oiled and all our curtains laundered and rehung. A mammoth task completed!

[SamPotatoes]

The emergency lights were an extreme example but we did find that our prepping made MiL's last week's so much easier- we could put our hands on whatever was needed (eg candles and battery powered fairy lights to give nice light in her room, rugs to keep her cosy) and quick meals in store to keep us going. Before she was discharged home it meant we had petrol in the tank to do emergency visits to the hospital, cash on hand for unexpected expenses and battery chargers so we could stay in touch with family when a 10am meeting with the drs didn't happen til 4pm.

Not what we had in mind when we started prepping but it definitely made things easier.

[SamPotatoes]

DH is now on board with prepping and winter is top of the agenda- just had our log delivery and a top up of coal is on on order. I got (and used!) a snow shovel last year as well as some salt but I heard cat litter helps as grit so I've got a bag of that in as well.

Need a new sledge though as the old one has a big hole in the bottom.

[JurassicGirl]

We've got a camping stove, single ring one & kettle. Think we'll stock up on gas as the only heat we have is electric but at least we could fill water bottles. We have more than 1 each.

We've got lots of spare bedding & brushed cotton duvet sets etc.

We've got torches dotted around the house & some tealights but no larger candle so may pick up a few.

Need to buy a sledge - mainly for the kids to play on but would be handy to carry groceries if necessary.

Think I will get a months worth of cat & dog food & a large bag of cat litter just in case.

We've usually got a fair bit of food in but we're vegetarian so it's not like we could feed the cats & dogs our food (dogs I suppose but not ideal).

Medication! Ds has asthma but it's getting better so have inadvertantly built up a stock of inhalers. Have 5 blues & 2 browns at the moment but that gives me peace of mind.

[bellinisurge]

Sledges are great. A cheapo one. A few years ago, World Book Day clashes with a heavy fall of snow here in our northern suburb. I pulled dd home from primary school in a sledge.

[AnotherShirtRuined]

A sledge is a great idea I hadn't even considered! I'm definitely putting it on the list. The DCs would love it, too

[BiddyPop]

For winter, bad storms coming, all that stuff....

I keep my car at least half full, and top it up if forecast is not good.
Snow socks are in the boot ready to use.
Emergency box is in the boot (mini first aid kit, work gloves, decent torch, couple of treat sized packs haribo, cloth to wipe nuts/spills etc...) - I need to check that DD hasn't eaten the haribo and the batteries are still ok in torch

I also know I need to add the gloves and hats and fleece blanket from house that are earmarked for car, and to replace bottled water (DD keeps drinking it!).

Log box has already been checked, there's sufficient but it could take another 2-3 bags if I have time to get to the log man. So that would be enough for at least 2 weeks if there was no gas to the house. Also have a spare packet of firelighters (and I know where to get sticks to start the fire once they run out).

Plenty of candles and nightlights, matches, and holders for candles (some glass containers, some storm lanterns, and some more elegant dinner table candlesticks - but all safe for lighted candles).

Wind up torches beside each bed.
My big camping lantern is at home too - but I know I need more large batteries for that.
3 headtorches (for a 3 person household) at home too - plenty of batteries for those, and I can make one into a lantern using a water barrel.

I have my small camping water barrel (5l) at home - that gets filled up if there is a danger of weather likely causing leaks and water outtages. Or to make a makeshift lantern on the dining table with a headtorch wrapped around it.

Plenty of tinned soup, easy to cook dinners (one pot), snack foods, and squash and hot choc mix (hot drinks as important) in the cupboards.
I keep my camping stove (gas canister) and Kelly kettle at home as well, as alternative cooking options. We do have a gas BBQ but I don't think there's much gas left in it - we've used that a few times in snowy weather.
And our regular cooker is a gas stove and electric oven - so we are fine if the gas goes out, but I think it won't work if the power is gone (safety thing for the gas).
And the flasks are used a fair amount anyway so they are ready to fill if we do have iffy weather.

Bad weather clothes out - depending on what's coming, the wellies and rain gear, the hiking boots and layers, snow boots and ski gear, hats and gloves and scarves.....and lots of spare thick socks!
And fleece blankets to curl up under when wind is howling outside.

Books and jigsaws accessible in case power is out (I think I need to replace the pack of cards after an unfortunate incident with a spilled glass of squash!).

The hot water bottles are out anyway, but I can easily grab spare blankets and duvets to add to the beds from spare room.

On my shopping list are a snow shovel and cat litter - I want a proper shovel (not the gimmicky versions they sell here in the "not used to snow" city), and can never find cat litter but wood ash has worked to provide grip on the paths in past snowy weather.
I also keep a spare bag of dishwasher salt for bad icy parts - it will get used up eventually, but might be handy to have for other purposes.

[bellinisurge]

@BiddyPop - excellent stuff. Sounds like round our way!