Prepping for winter 25/26 UK

[MyHangryLilacWriter]

I am wondering if I need to do any prepping for the coming winter. I can't seem to find any longer range weather forecast to say if it will be a hard winter. I usually stock up a few weeks food supplies in case of snow or even worse ice. Anyone else doing anything this year?

I think this depends on where you live.

We are North East Scotland so yes I do stock up for winter slightly but not excessively. Usually a few UHT milks, few large water bottles, bread flour and yeast then extra cans, and dried so pasta, rice, noodles. I also stock on stuff that I can cook quickly ontop pf the wood burner. But we get hit regularly by autumn and winter storms and it's not unusual for deliveries to be 3ish days delayed and its usually at least 1 storm a winter that we get a 2+ day power cut.

I agree with your approach. I am an urban first floor flat dweller. The biggest hazard is the external metal ,spiral staircase to the ground floor!!

I'm not sure how winter will be this year. All our fruit and veg seems to have been early, all of the plants in the garden seemed to sprout early and all the plants and trees with berries seem very full. It could just have been the warm summer though. I still am not taking any chances, we have plenty of firewood, candles, batteries for torches and lanterns, large and small battery banks, firelighters, tinned and dried food and the freezers are stocked. We have wool blankets, first aid and OTC medication and hot water bottles which I have replaced this year. Plenty of loo roll, tissues and cleaning and laundry products. Our chimneys are due to be swept in October so we really just need an oil delivery now. I will stock up on some de-icer in a week or so. I like to keep extras of things so I can help out family and my elderly Dad who would come and stay with us if the weather got really bad or if there were long power cuts.

Preparing as usual. Living in a flat I am limited in supplies storage and heating is all electric so prolonged power cuts can make flat very cold. Need to check sleeping bag is still fit for use. Have blankets, hot water bottle, camping kettle, fire making bits & pieces.

I'm doing all the normal things

I've been cutting and stacking logs for this year since last summer
Chimney sweep booked
Busy bottling fruit, making jam, pickling & freezing veg
I'll make another litre of sloe gin (last year's is unopened)
I'm trying to make noisette this year.

I've added another layer of insulation to the loft
I've ordered another sack of flour
I'll shop for UHT milk, lentils, rice, dried yeast, tinned tomatoes
I have tea lights, torches, rechargeable batteries, matches

We get regular power cuts, sometimes for days, so I'll cook basics on the log burner, make toast, heat soup. The central heating switch won't work. Hot water is the most awkward thing.

I should start thinking about Christmas next.

Nothing special here. Chimney is being swept next week. Log store is full. Jumpers will be coming out of storage soon. Plenty of food in. Just need to work out how to freeze all the apples when my freezer is already bursting at the seams.

@WizardOfTopsham You could ‘water bath can’ them easily then you don’t need freezer space.

Fires swept, logs delivered. Need to clear the gutters and buy a new set of winter boots. Ds has a car now so need to sort a winter kit for him.

Christmas cupboard has been started- 2 bottles of toffe popcorn baileys and a tub of quality street

@ooohrealllyI shall google that, thank you.

It's the UK, not Finland - it barely gets cold enough to wear a jumper for most of us 😃

Maybe get some bags of roack salt for de icing the stairs, but that's about it.

We have now cleaned the gutters, and found the outside tap insulation. We've wrapped up the garden furniture for the winter, and cleared the path to the log shed. We've brought the tender plants inside, and put up some additional insulation on the metal-framed Crittal window. I've moved the bamboo pots to a more sheltered position, and put a ping pong ball in my mini-pond. Anything that could get blown around has been moved to less windy areas. I'm already wearing my thermals at home (we have a cold house).

I think I'm done now.

Got to make sure got supplies in as our county council have stupidly decided to close the gritting yard.

We get stuck in a lot as it's hilly being a valley so moving the yard over the hill to the next town isn't a great idea but heyho they've decided it's good idea. If it does snow we're going to be in for some interesting times. One of the main roads to the town the hospital is in is closed for over a year so that's fun as the other road is high and exposed.

There's always one.

I am going to get my winter clothes out this weekend to give them a good check, wash if needed, and list what new things I need (thermals etc). I have already washed and re-waterproofed my raincoat.

I need to buy new shoes for work, flat ones that can deal with wet weather (my old ones are starting to fail).

I have thought about getting a solar generator more seriously this year - I’m in an apartment and not allowed to use gas so have no alternative for cooking. So a decent power bank that I can charge from mains but top up by solar, along with a single ring induction plate (latter from Ikea) would help. I already have decent torches etc (and a supply of candles….which I think are overlooked in the rules about naked flames).

I need a new hot water bottle inner for 1 - the other was new and not used much last year.

And I need to find a new supplier of logs for DH back home, for the stove, as the old supplier closed down in the spring (permanently).

The last thing I want to do, when I am doing my next big monthly food shop, is to get a couple of tins of French confit duck, which is delicious and a great option for fast store cupboard dinner or a cold option if no power available. I have an older tin of M&S ham that I need to use up, and plenty of normal stocks of dried goods, etc. I can’t find powdered milk here, but it’s very hard to find proper fresh milk as most is long life UHT, so I always have a couple of cartons of that in the cupboard in case I can’t get fresh or the power is gone.

Living 11 stories up, I have a few gallons of water for drinking (and plenty of wine!), but also a bag of kitty litter and roll of black sacks in case the water stops getting this high up. At home, it’s much easier as it’s only 2 stories, but I also have a rainwater butt I can use to collect water, with a watering can to pour and flush so don’t need to think about that.

Oh, and slow gin is started 😀

Sloe…

We brought up lots of logs from the wood store at the end of the garden and moved them closer to the house under the back porch. The end of our garden is a bit of a trek and it's not nice in the dark/rain/snow. It feels very prepped now looking at the stacks.

We are doing at least a couple of winter prep jobs every weekend now. Winter car kit is being put together this weekend. It's mainly all still in the bag in the garage from last year but I need to add drinks/snacks etc and then that stays in the car until February/March once we are unlikely to get any more snow.

I put the blankets and salt in the boot. Need to sort it out properly when I am better.

I am in the throes of getting a winter car kit sorted for DD. I have a de-icing mitt but need a can of de-icer as well, and want to add a few things like charging cables, power bank, torch, work/garden gloves, plastic bags and snacks. It’s colder here (Netherlands) but doesn’t often snow and she’s a student who is incredibly organised about the important things but typical student about everything else (and the car is definitely in the latter category).

She already has the legally required hi viz jacket and fire extinguisher.

Chimney was swept last month and the log store is full. We only have a fire once a week or 2, but it is lovely when cold. Also means we could do heating of water and basic cooking in a power cut situation. We got a bunch of tender ish plants for the garden this year, so I can almost guarantee it will be a cold year! I can heartily recommend a sheep's wool duvet for warmth too.

Just popping in to ask

has the preppers topic disappeared from mumsnet?
and if not, which topic Heading is it under?
Thanks

@lightand in the topics list, it’s still there under Other

You're posting on a thread in the Preppers topic

But there seems no preppers topic on the drop downs of this site

You are in the Preppers topic right now on this thread. That's where this thread is, so no, it hasn't "disappeared".

It's in the drop down talk topics list, under Other Stuff, between Pedants Corner and Politics.