Preparing for winter 2022/23

[User8976543246790087654]

How is best to prepare for the next winter? I imagine energy prices will be huge, I can afford a bit of an increase but I'm worried it will reach my limit.

I'm trying to forward think and plan ahead. I've bought some hot water bottles (in the sales) to put away and I will try and get a good stock of cupboard type foods to ease the food shopping bills over the winter when the energy will be used more. Ideally I want to try and have less other outgoings in November, December and January to cover the increase in my energy bills for that time.

I may also start overpaying a little each month on my energy account, or into a savings account so I have a bit of a buffer.

Any other ideas please?

If only we could bottle some of this heat!!

i know now is exactly the time tomorrow for winter & I was 'on it' until we hit this heatwave, but I just can't focus on it.

I was thinking about an air fryer to
save power, I wish I'd bought it before this heatwave, I can't bear to put the oven
on & I have food that needs cooking.

I think I have enough 'winter wear' to get by, but need a few more bits to make it easier. A couple of extra hot water bottles maybe. Possibly an electric throw blanket. But obviously those things only help if you have power to heat them initially.

Germany
things are looking dismal here due to a combination of factors.

Thanks applebutter.

@AppleButter - I'm in NL, and I think this winter could be make or break for Europe. Russia has already started claiming force majeure as to why they cannot fulfill their contractual obligations via Nord Stream 1. There is apparently no legal requirement for EU nations to share energy resources in a SHTF scenario, only a moral obligation. So if Russia shuts off NS1, will EU countries find ways to share remaining gas equally around the bloc, or turn inward and look after their own? In NL we're preparing to fire up old coal stations, will NL residents be willing to allow that return to coal if that resultant energy is sent abroad? Will DE hog what little gas it gets and not distribute it onwards as it is supposed to under EU directives?

www.reuters.com/business/energy/russias-gazprom-declares-force-majeure-gas-supplies-europe-2022-07-18/

For us personally, we have a log burner and have a great supplier we go to every year. Price per pallet is always 379Eur in summer, 419Eur in winter. In spring this year, instead of prices dropping to summer discounts it increased to 479Eur in May, then jumped to 519Eur in June and now 579Eur in July. Thankfully we have enough in for this winter already, but the price hikes are indicative of what's to come.

Busy preparing for shortages/rationing/cuts over the winter as I've 3 kids under 6 and don't want to get caught out.

My DF has warned me that he thinks there may be a fuel supply issue coming, leading to rationing. He is retired from that industry and told us to always keep our tanks half full for the time being. He has already bought a tonne of logs for winter and topped up the oil tank and coal bunker as well.

Our very small wood store is 2/3 full still, but even DH wants to get extra logs for winter and find a way to keep them dry along the side passage outside. So that is on my list as soon as we get back from NL at the end of next week. I think I will be getting the slow cooker out for winter as well, both with energy prices and supply issues. I think he really was rolling his eyes only 3 weeks ago when I got an induction ring (to use if gas is a problem), but even then was ok about it and now has moved to "yes, probably sensible".

I want to take the opportunity to empty out the existing stocks and resupply but differently to covid stocks - pasta is often very low stock, choice of meat has really reduced, and there are odd random gaps in shelves all around the supermarkets (one week maybe fresh veg is quite low, next week flour and next week tinned corn). But also, as we're back working and Dd will be staying late at school again, we'll be changing to different types of meals again (quick and easy but hopefully I'll get back to lots of veg etc rather than beige freezer food thrown in the oven).

I’ve just paid £920 for a tank of heating oil (1000 litres). The typical price for that amount over the past few years has been in the region of £400-500. I paid £700 in February just before Ukraine kicked off, and I thought that was bad enough. We have two owed burners, and have massively upped our insulation, so we’ll have to see how long we can eke out this tankful.

We do have a full shed and extra stacked up on pallets, courtesy of storm Eunice, and two full calor gas bottles for the hob, so hopefully we’re insulated from the worst of the risk.

I see that in Germany you can’t get wood stoves for love nor money, and firewood is either extortionate or unavailable. Scary stuff.

second germany from the description.

sound like there is a silver lining to a verry big black cloud. I am hoping for a similar silver lining here.

though I wish there were no blcak cloud, but as we can not get rid of the world situation and the weather situation, I hope both will bring about some good out of hte bad.

Had our new wood burner installed this week and the installers were saying they have never been so busy, usually summer is dead. They are getting about 10x the number of inquiries and quotes this summer and are now booked up until the start of winter.

They also said stoves and parts are becoming expensive and lead times/backlogs on orders are increasing. One popular stove they do has gone up 50% in price since February. If you are considering installing a stove, get that order in now to avoid disappointment.

One minus, the logs I chainsawed up are too long for the stove so now I need to cut them in half with the scariest machine known. Gulp.

One other nice addition recently purchased is a portable power station camping battery + solar panel + car charger which will hopefully keep the freezers running when we get blackouts. Will setup and test this weekend.

Could you link to the battery/solar panel set up please?

www.amazon.co.uk/ALLPOWERS-Portable-Generator-Foldable-Emergency/dp/B0B42BNT7S

Car cable is separate but linked on the item. Not going to rely on the solar in winter, the plan is to charge the block from the mains each time the power comes back on.

Cheers. Had my eye on a few options including this one.

Can you plug a three pin plug in it

Yes, it has 2 plug sockets, a ton of USB jacks and a light.

I'll let you know how well it works over the weekend. Going to do the first charge up tonight.

Great, thanks

I'm upping my emergency supplies and will be purchasing things like slipper socks, blankets and hot water bottles whilst they are on sale

Unfortunatly all my heating and everything runs on electric St mind

Sorry for the delayed review on the power block thingy.

Charging takes about 4 hours to 100%, the charger gets pretty hot but not dangerously so. Have run a laptop and charged phones/power bricks off it for a few hours so far but it has only gone down by 15%. The in built lights are very bright and there is a little screen which tells you how much power is being pulled. There are numerous warnings about not letting it get too low on juice (10%) so haven't done a full freezer test yet as I haven't been around to babysit the unit. Seems OK so far.

I have ordered from her, good quality, no issues
We have four of the koala hoodie things, also got really thick gloves and decent hot water bottles.

Oodies have a BOGO code 2 for 1 for £89

I wanted to buy Kudly but did an abandoned cart from their website. Lo and behold, I got a targeted ad from them in fakebook mix and match weighted blankets and hoodie (4 for £89) just a link from FB and can't seem to find the code and it's gone from fb now.

Apologies for jumping on, but I dip in and out of the preppers threads and I find you all really helpful.

im on a low income but working to change that and we live in rural Wales so are used to cold winters. We live in a 2 up 2 down mid terrace stone cottage with a log burner, so I’m not too worried about the cold as such. DP is a carpenter and we have three log stores on the go so should be ok. I work in a school so am on holiday now, so want to work on batch cooking meals for the freezer so I can cut down on oven usage in the winter. My big issue is drying clothes. Not only does it get cold here but it’s also very wet as we are in the mountains. I’m happy to leave clothes outside over night etc for them to dry but I’m worried about having to rely on the tumble dryer and don’t think we can afford it. Does anyone have any good tips or ideas?

Clothes horse/airer in the same room as your log burner and get a dehumidifier to make sure you aren't risking damp?

We do already have a dehumidifier because apparently old stone cottages equals damp 😭😭 so that could definitely work. It sounds silly but I’m so resistant to the idea because we’ve only got the one tiny living space and with the number of airers we will need, it’ll wipe out any movable space!

is anyone else in a bit of denial? I can’t get my head around how bad this could potentially be, to the point where I catch myself being a bit blasé about it because I can’t believe the government will let people suffer.

I live in a tiny cottage and have got used to not having much space. In winter, our laundry is mainly dried on the drying rack in front of the fire. With a fire guard, obviously. It does sometimes pick up a faint whiff of wood smoke but as we both work outside, we aren't bothered by that. I'll also use a dehumidifier if we haven't lit the fire and that works well.

Have you got high enough ceilings for a Pulley Maid? I'd love one, but our ceilings are too low.

I had a pulley maid in my old house. It was absolutely awesome. Everything dried brilliantly and it didn't interfere with my limited space. It was on my tiny landing- little terraced house. My DH is not a fan so we don't have one now.

I’ve just given the go ahead to the guy who came out to quote for a second log burger yesterday so that should be in and completed within the fortnight. We are lucky in that we have lots of wood in the log store.