Preparing for power cuts or rationing this winter

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I'm not really a prepper, but it has struck me that we need to be ready for power outages or rationing this winter, so I'd really appreciate your advice and experience.

We have a wood burner on which, at a pinch we can cook food and make coffee, so we have a double load of wood coming in a fortnight's time

Other than that we have or are getting:

• extra gas for the camping stove (10 canisters)
• three rechargeable lanterns
• an Oodie for my daughter's birthday.

We have quite a few small power banks but I am wondering about a larger one too. We will keep all of them, and our kindles, charged regularly.

What have I missed?

Looks like you have the essentials covered. You could add a wind up charger, candles for backup, bottled water (no water pumps in a long power outage), wet wipes for washing and thermal undies/socks.

A weeks worth of easily heated tinned food might not be a bad idea either as it is much easier to warm up than prepare a dinner from scratch.

Don't forget to add some comforts for morale - chocolate, wine, tinned cherry pie filling etc.

I’d be going for solar lights/lamps instead of candles. Candles can be very dangerous.

Battery powered lightning. Solar powered doesn't last too well. Candles are an absolute no-no.

You've inspired me actually OP. I might invest in a camper stove etc myself.

We’re considering a generator. We have three freezers full of produce that we’d hate to lose. While the cost of a generator exceeds the monetary value of the freezers’ contents, once the generator saves the food a few times over coming years perhaps it is worth it. Don’t know where to start when looking for one though.

I just got one of the portable quieter petrol ones for camping. DP is going to play with it this weekend and see how long it takes to charge the big camping battery which we will then use to power the freezer. Quite excited to try it out as it was the final winter prep we were considering.

Lots of places sell them, Amazon, Screwfix etc, take note of how loud the generators are as that sound will travel a long way when the power is out and everywhere is quiet.

Don't forget with inflation and the upcoming food shortages the value of the contents in your freezers will only go up.

After days stuck with no power, a freezing house and no one helping during the storms last winter we have prepared

We have a large stock of food in garage which I rotate so nothing is wasted. I keep this fully stocked now

We installed a log burner

We have had a generator plug wired into the house and bought a generator.

I have a box with torches and batteries, and a wind up radio.

Our cooker is run off large gas bottles in garden rather than from the grid.

The Scottish government left people high and dry during the storms. Some villages were stranded for 10 days with no access to food.

Make sure you have everything you need as no one helps you out.

“Power cut projects”. What can you do to entertain yourself with the power out? We all have various crafts and I have an old singer crank handle machine waiting to be repaired. We barely notice them and we live in an area which has a lot during normal years.

compare and contrast to neighbours who shout in the street because the WiFi is out. 😂

something “fast” to do your coffee on. I can handle whatever the day will throw at me - but not if I need to wait 90 minutes for the heat of a wood burner to give me my first coffee of the day. I have a ghillie kettle and bag of “burnable shite” hanging by the back door ready To go.

This is probably a really stupid question but I’ve always made a point of having a couple of well stocked cheat freezers. Surely power outages would mean they would just defrost and be totally wasted?

Are oodies actually better than onesies/dressing gowns? Considering getting them for the DC, but they already have the latter, so do they really need them?

How does a generator work without power?

We've a generator but it's a big old one from an outdoor catering business we had years ago, we've a socket wired to the exterior of the house and run a cable down the back lawn to the generator and it'll power the house, no showers but the fridge/freezer/tv/microwave and of course it means the circulating system works for heating from the stove back boiler system, we also bought a lot of coal before it increased in price here in Ireland, our cooker is gas but I've a few camping stoves and spare gas cylinders that usually end up being shared with neighbours, a few years ago us and our nearest neighbour were without power for a little over a week due to storm damage so we ran a cable from ours to theirs and we both used the generator but kept usage to a minimum so it could cope, it kept freezers going etc.

Petrol.

Sorry I'm not being dismissive I'm genuinely curious. Do you think due to all issues with gas/elec this year that there will be power shortages?

You don't need an oodie. I have one plus an amazon version. I find the Amazon version warm enough and easier to wash and dry.

@Clubtropicana10 i do. In the cities and towns where people aren’t used to it. I’ve seen on MN before people say that they’ve NEVER experienced a power-cut. I live very rurally and it’s a regular occurrence - so there’s always low-level preps.

I find head torches great, you know like the ones for running. We all have one so if there is no power you don't need to keep moving candles or lanterns when you are moving around. Good for reading too

Ours is diesel powered, others use petrol. Some are small and the freezer etc is powered directly from them, others like ours are large and the house is wired to make it easy to move from mains supply to generator, we keep agricultural diesel in stock for the generator, we live in an area with quite regular power cuts and as we are rural we are always last on the priority list to be restored, understandably the areas with higher population is looked after first.

I live rurally too and have had quite a few power cuts since I moved here 5 years ago. Nothing too crazy though just off for a few hours.
Just wondering if I do need to prep with everything going on atm

We have solar power and a battery which has an automatic switch over when there is a power cut (not all do this) which will keep the essentials running for a bit. We also have a fire and a log supply that is well stocked.
Our new extension is built to require very little heat to stay a comfortable temperature so we can spend lots of time in there.
I always keep a well stocked larder cupboard (hangover from never having enough to eat when growing up) and rotate regularly.

I have all the normal packs of tea lights, hurricane lamps, a winter's worth fuel for the log burner, easy prepared foods etc.

Don't forget books and things to do. If the power fails, TV, radio, wifi etc all go too. Think about your DCs trying to do GCSE homework. If they can't get onto wifi, they will need the physical text books.

Candles are an absolute no-no.

That's not true - candles need proper care to make them safe, but they can be very safe and very useful. People have just forgotten how to use them properly.

Have them in a solid holder where they won't wobble, if the holder is too big, dribble a little melted wax from the top of the candle when you light it into the holder and hold the candle straight in that for a minute until it rehardens.

Make sure the holder is placed on a solid, secure place which is not in a draught and which is out of the reach of DCs. Where it will not burn anything above it (like a shelf etc). And where it is not likely to be knocked or cause a burn on someone walking past or doing a job nearby.

NEVER leave a burning candle unattended. So light them in the room you will be in for a few hours, not to keep a light on the stairs for traffic.

Tealights can be easier to make secure as they are lower. But there are plenty of proper candlesticks, lanterns and other holders to keep all sorts of candles secure and safe. Some just hold the candle base securely, some completely enclose the flame as well (but you still need to let oxygen in to allow it to burn).

They are very useful in the middle of a kitchen table when people are sitting to eat or read or do homework. (But not for a boisterous game). They are very useful in a sitting room on a mantle (especially if there is a mirror to reflect the light and magnify it, at a safe distance from the flame) if you are sitting in there for the evening.

And no one is EVER allowed to play with the flame.

They tend to last a reasonably long time and don't need batteries etc - which can be handy if the power is out a lot or you have a single but long duration outtage over a few days.

But they are something to have for their purpose, alongside battery/windup/solar-powered torches or lamps as well. So headtorches for moving around, a camping lantern in the hall/at the top of the stairs, a bright lantern for cooking purposes are all important to have as well. And another way to boost the light of a torch is to wrap a headtorch around a full plastic bottle of water and point the light through the water - well known camping hack so could be useful for that kitchen table use instead of candles.

Chest freezers are better for keeping food cold for longer than front door opening styles - the cold falls out of those but drops to the bottom of a chest freezer.

Open the freezer as little as possible. You can cover it with blankets etc for extra insulation to prevent cold escaping as much as possible. The fuller the space is, the better it will hold onto the cold.

I know some people who, when the freezer is emptying, will fill large empty milk cartons with water and freeze those as an additional iceblock to stay cold longer and also to fill the space. Or stuff empty space with scrumpled newspapers.

My personal plan is to open the freezer twice. Once to take out the ice-making compartment (as the dispenser won't be working) to put the ice into my picnic coolbox. Then return the compartment and grab a couple of easy meals to slowly defrost in the coolbox (spag bol and curry sauces etc that just need reheating). Add the open carton of milk, butter, juice, cheese etc from the fridge in another short opening burst (the things we use frequently during the day). And once my coolbox has those, I should be able to use it as my "fridge" but keep it relatively cool (especially with the defrosting dinner), and the fridge and freezer won't warm up so fast if they are not being opened a lot.

The last thing I'll mention is cooking. Others have mentioned wood-burning stoves, camping gas stoves, ghillie kettles etc. All really great.

But if you have a BBQ in the shed, that can also be useful to use even in winter. Admittedly, it's a bit depressing in the rain - but the cold isn't a big problem, it just takes a bit longer to cook than in summer. Put on a coat when going out to tend to it. You can cook meat on the grill, veggies on skewers, baked potatoes in foil, do foil packets of veggies and even whole mixed meals like diced veggies/diced meat/sauce in foil parcels (just seal well at the edges, and a few small 1 person parcels work better than 1 large parcel for a family). If you have any tinfoil trays (often sold as food storage for freezing a lasagna etc), you can use those almost like a pot/pan on the grill for wet foods (like frying an egg, heating a tin of beans etc - not really boiling a bag of potatoes, but a small amount of water to boil/steam things could be ok). We've even done full legs of lamb or large chickens on the BBQ.

Just make sure that, at the end of summer, you still have gas in the bottle or some charcoal (and lighters if you use those) to be able to use in winter.

We live in a flat so no cooking/heating indoors other than electric.

The flat is well insulated but I intend to add more to the loft this year. I will get someone to help this September. (Ex) (the rolls are up there just need rolling out.)

Light: solar lanterns x2 (one is wind up and charges too)
Wind up lantern.
Two wind up torches.
Some small torches.(battery)
Head torch which is currently in the car glove box)
Batteries.

Heat:
Well insulated flat.
Rechargeable heat packs. (Some in car and some in flat)
Wool blankets, extra duvets, merino wool base layers. Wool socks.

Cooking:
Disposable bbqx2 and stand. Some charcoal in a bag.
Kelly kettle.
Stuff you can just heat up. (Tinned curry and tinned veg)
Stuff you just add hot water to. (Cous cous and noodles)
Food flasks and drinks flasks to minimise time needed outside.
Wind break to cook behind.

I have a solar oven and solar kettle for summer cooking when drought increases fire risk.

My plan includes providing for my elderly neighbour.

Do people think there is a good possibility this will happen? I am not a prepped at all & really don’t want to be spending £100 on campung stove/torches etc if it’s unlikely? I know it’s impossible to say really but you lot seem more knowledgeable on this than me!

also, I have a huge freezer full of food in the garage, what would happen to that?