Prepping for winter 2023/24

[Diversion]

Despite the heat which I hate but will no doubt be moaning about the cold in winter I have just ordered a load of logs for winter. We have some wood left over from last year and lots of free pallets which we need to cut when it cools down (and is not raining). I also need to order a load of oil which we did not use so much of last year due to having the log burners and the cost but it is always cheaper in summer. Also stocking up on OTC meds, toiletries and household items each month and adding to the food stores a little. We are not rich by any means but hoping that our winter preps will help if the cost of living keeps rising or we have an unexpected expense. Had a clear out of the first aid kit too and will restock any gaps.

Feeling knackered after doing some decluttering and sorting this weekend and cutting the lawn (again!)

Chimney sweep coming on Friday, and stocked up on wood, coal, and kindling, and we had the oil tank filled too last week. I’ve also dug out the salt and snow shovel, ice pic cover things for shoes etc and cleaned all the winter coats.

I’m finding it such a tiring and expensive so going to try and spread it out a bit through the year next time instead of doing everything in September/October.

Next job is to get all the winter clothes out and replace with summer stuff (we had a late hol this year) but don’t need to buy new as have plenty of layers and warm clothes after 10 years of rural living. Need to check and wash all the scarves too.

thanks also for the reminder ref the car bag, I need to check it and replace anything I’ve used during the year.

Have also had the chimney sweep in, and got 10 bags of logs which should see us through most of winter. DH even asked for fire on sat!

Currently go by through supplies to see what's needed and to run down some that are no longer needed to that extent.

And DH cut back the ivy on the back wall of the garden as well - it grows fast with lots of rain coming down the hill and is about 2-3 feet over the trellis of our neighbour, which tops our 12 foot wall. (Trellis is in line with our bedroom window but we used to see into neighbour's kitchen as they're higher than us).

We were away for the weekend and came back to a house which was 11 degrees. It felt so cold. I have the fire on and the heating trying to get it back up to normal temperature

@SalmonEile I have the blankets and coats in a bag that I can reach from the driver's seat (we have a people carrier) so that I don't need to get out of the car to reach them.

We have hard floors downstairs, so rugs away in the summer keeps it cooler, but back out now to make it more snug. Log burner has been lit for the last few days, to the delight of the dogs. More secondary glazing installed. Blinds and curtains drawn each evening. Checking charge on emergency light bulbs and power packs. So definitely preparing here

We had a tree taken down in the spring and cut it into 9" rounds so I've been splitting them into logs for months now, They're stacked and drying in the wood shed.
I've made a cupboard full of jams, chutneys, mint sauce and bottled fruit, the freezer is full of frozen fruit & veg. Last weekend picked bay leaves & collected chestnuts.
I've just replaced all ds15's sweaters because he'd outgrown his again, so the only things he needs are a cold weather coat and some thermo-wellies.

I'm waiting for leaf fall (we've had one frost so should be soon) to clear all the gutters and drains and build a hedgehog hibernation pile 🙂

I'm getting everything charged up in preparation for storm Babet. 8 days with no power after Arwen has made me twitchy!

I hope you are all safe, warm, and powered @BobBobBobbing

What would you prep for a storm that took out power for several days? What are the priorities... food, water, clothing, batteries/torches/mobile charger.

I'm going to be prepping winter meals and freezing them. Also going to stock up on canned food. And stew fruits
I must defrost freezer this week!

For a storm taking out power for several days?

Food and water, and preferably some way to heat at least water.
Adequate clothing to keep warm.
Light - torches and batteries preferably
Heat - open fire/Stove, blankets, hot water bottle (if you have means to heat water) etc
Communications - power bank for recharging phone, bonus points for a solar panel (camping type) to recharge the power banks, battery powered radio
Then means of entertaining or keeping yourself occupied - books, board games, some things on iPad if plenty of power to recharge it (phones more important).

What food would you get? I'm thinking things like protein bars, nuts, crisps, biscuits. Any meats that don't need to be refrigerated... peparami I think should be refrigerated but is ok out of fridge for several days.

I'm beginning to think that a good side idea on prepping would just trying set aside an emergency fund. If I had no power for a week, my broadband would be out and possibly the mobile data mast. After two days I benefit from decamping to a travel lodge. I keep on thinking this since covid. Keep your ears open for upcoming events and with the cash, you can react dynamically at the time.

All the power banks are charged, the torches are charged. But once they go flat in the deep winter, travel lodge for one night would be rather tempting

I like the travel lodge idea but what if they had no power or water either? Cash might be useful though.

@nannynick we did 8 days without power after Arwen.

The important bits for us were:

Heat- we had 2 woodburners so were able to keep a suitable temp to living areas, plus on the coldest days we slept downstairs. We now have 3- one with a hob and oven. A pizza oven in the garden would work as well- pizza is one of the most simple dinners so being able to sling something in and serve up quickly would be valuable.

Blankets, hot water bottles and big duvets so you can sleep!

A way of heating food/water we had a gas hob as well as the woodburners. Easy food is best, heat and serve as you don't want to be trying to cut and prep food in the cold and candlelight

Light- a fuckton of candles and battery powered lights (plus the batteries). You need to be able to see to cook

Battery packs and sufficient data to keep phones charged and children entertained, plus find out what is happening.

Phone that plugs into copper landline for contacting supplier/family

For us, dh had to move out to a nearby hotel as he has a cpap. We realised he was vulnerable if there was no nearby hotel that could accomodate us so we bought a fuck off solar generator. It got tested when some building work fucked our electric and it was brilliant.

Wider village wasn't affected but cash in the house was really helpful.

A weird one, but staying on top of washing- running out of clean and dry clothes was a big thing. We could go to a laundrette, but one of the first things I did when babet was announced was put washing on.

Our cheat freezer stayed frozen for days and we focussed on eating stuff in the fridge.

@BobBobBobbing Thanks for the great list of tips. My mum lives in NE Scotland and used to have a wood burner, then moved home, and now has one on order and hopes it will be fitted really soon. In Arwen when she lost power, the home did stay warm for a couple of days but did show that having backup heat source would be a good idea.

Washing clothes is a good point. The laundry piles up when you don't do it.

While you mightn't have a functioning cooker, if you have a decent coat you can cook on a bbq or camping stove outdoors.

If it's a charcoal bbq, pots may get a bit smoky but you can put them in the grill once coals are lit properly - they don't need to turn white as you would for directly bbq'ing meat.

And make as much use of the heat when you have it - heat a kettle to put in a flask, cook something to eat cold later (eg meat for a salad/sandwich) as well as cooking a hot meal for now, use up the last heat once cooking is finished for hot water to wash up/wash people/have tea etc.

And you can also do things like baked potatoes wrapped in foil in the embers to make the most of the space on the grill for other pots.

Packets of microwave rice (or pasta if you can find those) can be "cooked" using a small amount of hot water put into the pouch instead of microwaving.

And hot water when drained from that or pots of rice/pasta/veg etc can be used to soak or even wash dishes when heating water is difficult.

And if you are a camper (or a prepper), having a decent hard sided cooler and a handful of frozen ice blocks can be used to make into a "day fridge" with the things you use a lot. Open fridge/freezer once to put those into cooler, and have the cooler getting opened more frequently so the main bulk of things stays cold in the fridge and freezer. Even better, pop a freezer meal into cooler to defrost slowly for tomorrow's dinner and also act as an extra ice block, or let's you leave one block in freezer still frozen for tomorrow.

I have a couple of sachets of instant mashed potatoes for emergencies, just add hot water (and butter!).

Couscous is another good one that only needs hot water and seasoning.

Any cured meats should do ok out of the fridge for a couple of days - Parma ham, salami's, that sort of thing.

Tins of tuna, chicken, corned beef, clams/mussels/sardines are always useful and don't need to be cooked (but they usually are better hot).

And tins of mushrooms, corn, baked beans, carrots, etc are also already cooked so again - better hot but would only need heating through rather than full cooking if that's difficult.

We experimented one time (not terribly successfully but it was cooked, just somewhat charred) by baking potatoes in our wood burning stove. Ours sits in the fireplace - but DMIL has one out in the room so can heat a kettle and even slow cook a casserole on the flat top of hers. (VERY slow so start a stew in late morning for dinner in the evening, but effective).

I have a log burner too, and during 2021 power cuts, used it to make coffee, cook jacket potatoes & beans, and make a (very) slow cooked stew. It was quite successful.

If the power goes down again this year, I'm going to try using a chicken brick.

@nannynick we have a log burner, so extra source of heat, cooking and light if needed. No gas cooker, so if electricity is out we do lose the ability to easily cook. Would get through logs pretty quickly if the storm was in a cold spell and don't have the storage space to have loads of logs ready. One fun thing we have for the kids is an also gel burner to toast marshmallows. That child be easily repurposed to heat water for hot drinks acanthus be used inside, unlike most camping stoves.

For those who live in a flat without gas...and don't want to store camping gas inside)

Insulate well. (Loft if you have one, loft hatch, thick curtains and blinds, door curtain, )

Lots of flasks/food flasks. Make added insulation bags for them from kids old coats.

Hand warmers. The gel ones you press a button on and can be recharged by boiling . First aid press button cooling packs for summer if your place gets way too hot . (Not rechargeable)

High calorie food that can be eaten cold. Chocolate. Biscuits. Crackers.

Blankets, gloves, phone gloves, wrist warmers, leg warmers, woolly socks, hats, slippers.

Power banks. Lots.

Solar lanterns. At least one per person. Wind up lanterns. Get a spare or two for downstairs neighbours...them using candles can effect you. (Two large fires in the local city flats recently)

Fire blankets and fire extinguishers.

A grab bag for sleeping at the local rest centre. (What would you need if you were to sleep at a local church hall for example?) Money pouch underclothes? ( I slept on the hospital floor on a mattress for three days using our prepared hospital bag. See those threads for ideas )

If you have storage away from the flats and outdoor space, then disposable BBQ and stand or camping stove will be useful. Only use outside and not on a balcony. Have some pans that will go on the BBQ to heat simple food.
(Tinned curry, plus tinned veg stirred in is good)

If you have a sunny window, try a solar kettle or solar oven on suitable surfaces.

Friends in other areas and transport to them. (Petrol in your car, bus fare cash, flasks, chargers to top up your phone). Insulated bags.

A deliveroo/just eat account and money to pay for it if the power cut is only local. (Eg some people stayed in their flats in one tower block after the water from firefighting knocked out the blocks electricity supply)

Indoor camping. Get together in your warmest room and sleep there. You can make and indoor tent with table ,chairs, sheets, blankets or real tent if it's really cold. Keep body warmth in a smaller space.

Yep winter is definitely coming...ive started putting up bubble wrap against some of the windows.Today will be the first day of putting on the heating, and it's going to smell of the burnt spiders which have crept into the vents..
I'm worried about my patents out in the village, they have a lot of tinned food but rely on electricity, they have a wood stove, but they are older and using it becomes more difficult..............
Its not just winter, but at the moment the world seems to be slipping into war. So I'm keeping the car topped up, I know it's mainly to feel psychologically more secure, but there's no knowing how disrupted oil supplies will be..
Fingers crossed for a warm winter and "world-peace"

Well we turned the heating on at the weekend for the first time, as it has been a mild autumn. Somethings has gone wrong somewhere and no heat downstairs! This is why you check before it is absolutely freezing and have alternatives. Have put the fire on a couple of times and the winter duvet on the bed, so it os warm without heating.

The last load of logs for the winter was delivered today, I was pleasantly surprised that its only gone up £5 on last years price, and it was still 10 barrow loads of logs. It's all neatly stacked, and it's given me a nice secure feeling.

Our central heating comes on automatically, when it hits below 14 degrees, so it's come on a few times. Something isn't right though, it's cold in the afternoon and too hot at night. I will have to have a fiddle with the control panel and see what's going on.

Trouble is it's a new system, we have gone over to an air source heat pump and solar panels, and I'm not really eu fait with it yet.

@TheIsleOfTheLost hope you get it sorted out soon, and fingers crossed its not something horrendously expensive.