Get ready for winter / zombie apocalypse etc - the GET PREPPED THREAD!

[FunnyRunner]

Just a place to share some general ideas and tips for getting ready for a severe winter. Fingers crossed this will be a mild one but we've had a few bad ones recently so looking for ideas.

What do people think are the basic essentials to have in the house?

Online lists seem to suggest the absolute basics are:

• Food
• Bottled water
• Wind up torch and radio OR battery op plus lots of batteries
• Adequate medication for the family plus first aid kit
• Baby milk / food and pet food (if needed)
• Shovel and grit / salt for clearing paths
• Plenty of fuel and / or blankets

What foods will you be keeping in your emergency box? Ideally I want stuff that can lie down in the basement for a couple of years in a box.

If you have found any good gadgets please share links :)

In my new 'emergency cupboard (ie i cleared out most of the cupboard under the stairs and i intend to get shelves and use that as a pantry....)

I will be keeping

packet food that needs cooking
food that doesnt need cooking
cat food/biscuits
cat litter
bottled water just in case
my camping stove (gas in shed)

my plan is mainly because Jersey Electric can't be trusted lol

Which foods do you think are good Jersey? I agonise over whether to get tins of chilli or meat or fruit? I'm thinking some tinned chilli, some tinned curried chicken and daal type stuff and some if that microwaveable rice you can throw in the pan for 2 mins. We have a gas cooker thankfully as our electric isn't that reliable either. But we need a new gas cylinder (reserve) so need to get on that too! Can they be safely stored inside? Also going to get a huge truckload of wood delivered.

My biggest worry is that we have no cold water tank and therefore we are buggered if the water goes off. DH is always saying, 'we can go to the sea / river,' completely ignoring the fact that if we are without water it's probably too cold and dangerous to drive to the bloody river!

With that in mind I would quite like to get a rain storage thing but it needs to be lockable (to avoid DC falling in) and small enough to lift inside if the weather is freezing. Any suggestions?

I dont have an emergency cupboard. I dont even have anything more then Calpol for medical emergencies. I might have a loose plaster laying around in a cupboard I can't reach.

I have rum and chocolate so think I'm sorted

See Roxanne most people here (myself included) were like you until we had... THE EPIC WINTER! We were used to mild winters, so totally unprepared. Shops were running out of everything because road network came to a standstill, water was cut off for weeks not days and I remember driving at 5mph over snow to garage to get milk because I couldn't live any longer without a cup of tea :o

But this year... I'll be ready! :o

I have long life milk, epic bag of sugar and 3 boxes of tea.

Sorted!

Cup of soap or those noddles ones are good
wet wipes
Tinned fruit
Long life milk
Tins baked beans chilli sauasge and beans
Hotdogs
Smash
a tin of cappinco that you add water to (lidl)
Candles
lighter

If milk is an issue, long life or powder milk. The latter is useful for baking bread at home, should you have a working one still.

A working oven...

Tinned chilli and chicken is gross in our experience. We have a preparedness cupboard that's been going for a few years now, we note dtaes, rotate the foods and eat things that are coming up to use by dates...
We have
Porridge
Uht milk
Pasta
Rice (ready rice that just needs to be heated and could be fried over a camping stove and normal dry rice)
Baked beans
Canned beans (aduki, cannelloni, borlotti etc, all very good nutritionally)
Canned lentils and dried lentils
Corned beef
Tuna
Anchovies
Sardines in oil and tomatoes
Tinned toms
Tinned fruit
Tin ed custard
Tinned rice pudding
Dried fruit
Nuts
Bottled Water (about 50 litres, or 10 of those large water bottles) though this is only enough for about 4 days total consumption each we'd fill baths if we knew things were getting rough and use these for watching etc, so should last us about 10 days...
Peanut butter
Tinned soup
Sugar
Salt
Spices
Flour
Yeast
I also have a not inconsiderable secret stash of chocolate and biscuits, oh ok and vodka/gin. I consider these morale boosting extras that I can spring on my family when we are in the depths. (This stash MAY be more regularly 'cough' rotated. :) )
Full first aid kit. Paracetamol, Imodium, rehydration powder, antibacterial wash for wounds, plasters/bandages galore, flu and cold relief stuff, antihistamines...We thought of anything that might be life threatening or misery making and tried to have whatever we could to hold it together til help arrived/we could get to docs.
I also keep a weeks worth of wood and another of coal hidden from the others so we'd have a fortnights heat. :)
I love preparedness, it appeals to my inner hoarder/neurotic tendencies!

In my defence we live in the middle of nowhere, well enough so that we've been snowed in before...

Oh and we have livestock to eat if it all gets too 'the day after tomorrow!'

I want a wind up radio. Might put it onto my amazon wish list.

I buy lots of stuff when its on offer and so have a well stocked cupboard which we use generally just to make sure that we never run out of anything but if we are winter/emergency prepping then most important thing is water and warmth.

Foodwise I have lots of tins of beans and soup since they are quick to heat and you don't have to add water to them if water is short. I also have rice and pasta, pot noodle type things which last forever, cous cous (same) tinned fruit and a few tins of corned beef (although DH claims he'd rather starve than eat that). Crackers keep for a long time if stored properly and I also have.... [proud emotion].... tinned butter (which will probably sit on the shelf forever and never be used!).

I also have chocolate and wine of course.

You can freeze milk, certainly semi skimmed.
Don't really make any plans as am in town these days. When I was rural, was cut off once. Having an open fire and oil heating( with a full tank ) helps.....and knowing someone with a tractor .
More realistically, I think everyone needs proper outdoor clothing, good coat and snow boots to stop slipping on ice. And keep in mind that walking through snow is extremely tiring. Snow chains for tyres.

Antibac gel is highly recommended for when water is short. Vitamins also useful.

My amazon wishlist now has a wind up radio, a portable generator, two 25 litre food grade plastic water tanks and an oil lamp. Anyone who looks at it will think I've lost the plot.

Excited about this thread I am coming back later to contribute more but MUST do some work!!

I am repeatedly making my concerns heard at work as I work for a pizza delivery company and minimum wage is not nearly enough to send the drivers out in goodness knows what dangerous weather. I'm not a driver I just don't really want any of them dying and I don't think it's worth it for pizza. And people will order. They've tried to bribe me before

I also have torches and batteries galore and several of those underbed storage things full of different blankets. 2 hot water bottles and one microwave wheat bag thing (which will be no good if the power goes admittedly) and my tins cupboard is bulging and doesn't shut properly. We do have a gas hob so that's something. Uht milk as well because without coffee I get migraines. Plenty of cat food as I always have a 6 pack of cans and box of biscuits spare. Lots of bottled water as well because she needs to drink and probably best if she doesn't have coffee. And some roll-up supplies hidden away in the cupboard because if we're going to be stuck in I'm not going without my nicotine fix.

If it gets too bad I'll pad it out with catnip and sleep through the entire thing.

Luckily we don't have any specific medical needs so the medicine box has cough syrup, painkillers, and bandages. And DP is a first aider for work so he can fix any minor boo-boos. I read his book once and it told you what to do if someone gets trapped in the walk in freezer so I'll liken that to the snowy weather.

And I have loads of candles. There's at least 200 tea lights hidden away and obviously I have plenty of lighters stocked up as well.

And because I do custom cakes I have a lot of icing so the extra calories from that will keep us alive if it gets too bad. I'll shape it to look like proper food.

Ooooh squirrel, I WANT tinned butter! Where did you get that from?? Forgot couscous, very little water needed and we love it! Love this thread.

Oh, and we have candles, a LOT of candles, and matches, a wind up radio, and loads of throws and blankets as this house is a fridge at the best of times. :) we also all have snow trousers/boots coats and thermals aplenty. I've also stashed clothes washing liquid, antibal gel/hand wash, toothpaste and toothbrushes and shampoo away too. But that's more zombie apocalypse timespan than snowed in! :)

I'm guessing with the 3for 2 offers that supermarkets foist these days most people who have the cash have a stash of some sort?

And our boiler is broke right now so I've learnt to boil water to do the pots. I'm sure I could do it on a larger scale for washing, plus I have baby wipes stashed away.

Also...tinned butter?? Where did you find that?

Squirrel, sod the water carriers, what I want is one of these babies!!

I have broached it as a potential Xmas pressie from my family....they think I am nuts. :/

The tinned butter was from approved foods. They have lots of interesting stuff but you have to go on regularly since the stock changes frequently. I love that we have it even though in reality we'll probably never use it!!

We also have lots of matches and one of those striking stones that you can use to light a fire with.

I knew I would be in trouble once this thread started. I MUST WORK!!!

Lol, chubby, loving your icing food...

walk away from thelifesaver website squirrel, walk away

i always make sure i get tinned food that can be eaten cold. fruits, custards, rice pudding. Stodge basiclly

but also things that can be heated. tinned chilli, baked beans, spaghetti.

Also always make sure you have bread making ingredients, pasta, UHT milk

I want This

You have all forgotten the most important thing of all -

tinned tuna is another one

eat it yourself or feed it to pet