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 :)

Can I reserve a small portion of a pew please? Will be back later on!

Jersey she'd think all her Christmases had come at once if I did thst at least someone would enjoy the bad weather!

chubbykitty So would my fat git of a cat lol

We live on top of a hill so whilst its ok getting down the hill at the start of snow its hard to get back up, especially with heavy stuff. i did this last heavy snow. it was hell hence why im stockpiling

Oh FFS I only managed an hour and fifteen minutes but its my lunch break

I have about 50 water purifying tablets but am loving that big water purifier tank. Apparently you can purify water by adding two drops of bleach but I'm not sure I want to drink bleach water and apparently it will still taste like crap (just bleachy crap) because of all the dirt in it. Yum

Anyway, assuming we are realistically talking snowed in situations rather than full on zombie outbreak another useful thing to make sure you have plenty of is toilet roll. Not good being snowed in and not having toilet roll.

OYBBK what is the likelihood of a bad winter?

Oh good point. Toilet roll. You can never EVER have too much toilet roll!

Has anyone stocked up on grit yet? We meant to get some at the weekend but it didn't happen. Wickes seems to have the best price around here £4.99 for a 25kg bag.

:o

Yukon your list was brill. Mind you, I may just cut out the middle man and come and live with you :o On a separate note the water thing is fantastic but I think DH might have me put away if I come home with one of those. I do worry about not having a water tank. I will admit to having researched a home desalination thingy as our nearest water is sea water I am going to order some of the water purification tabs though as worst case scenario we could collect rain water or go to river.

Jersey I have that bad boy on my wish list. If there's a sudden run on them I will know who to blame... :o

Squirrel I am loving the tinned butter thing, even though I confess it probably wouldn't be my most practical item. Can't find any online from UK, all seems to be in America and the postage would be huge so will have to go without.

We have some grit and salt from last year as didn't need it thankfully. Will add some more to list.

Going to see about getting a mountain of wood delivered. Haven't forgotten the oil line freezing in the ground in the epic winter and wrecking the boiler. At least we can huddle round the stove!

I can't be the only one who also goes to boots and buys up all the cold and flu stuff as soon as autumn hits....

We are very lucky. we are about to have eight very tall sycamores felled and so wood is not one of our worries. We live in the middle of a forest so can easily pick up sticks for kindling too.

Could you just get a few rainwater butts funny runner? our local council sells them at subsidised prices. They have lockable lids for safety. In fact I might order a couple.

Good idea to check council about rainwater butts Squirrel. Will check the website.

Starfish that's another really good list thanks. Although lots of you seem to have breadmaking stuff - do you have gas ovens? We do have a breadmaker mind you so might get it ready to go.

Our electric cut out briefly this morning and the weather isn't even bad

Also is it safe enough to get bottled water in plastic bottles if you want to keep it longterm? It would be stored somewhere cool and away from sunlight.

Apparently you can't keep bottled water longterm and drink it straight out of the bottle. The chemicals leach into the water. Advice is (can you see I spend lots of time thinking about this stuff!) to use food grade containers and to replace the water regularly.

tap water that is

Where do you get the food grade containers?

Just found some on amazon :)

If you had a little portable solar charger (suitcase style available on amazon for about £40) you could probably run a slow cooker off that.

ignore that they only give out about 15 watts

How long would everyones food stock last if you were unable to get out? When we had the swine flu outbreak I worked for an organisation which circulated a memo to essential staff recommending supplies to last 3 months. Oo just remembered I have surgical face masks

I think judging from the state of my stockpile at the moment we'd fall woefully short and be very bored of baked beans after not very long at all.

Don't go too mad... but did miss bread a couple of winters ago, when shops weren't getting deliveries... so we stock up on part baked baguettes.

Wine makes everything look better... so that goes without saying.