Its that time of year again : winter preps

How are you preparing
User avatar
nickdutch
Posts: 2928
Joined: Sat Sep 10, 2011 6:53 am

Re: Its that time of year again : winter preps

Post by nickdutch »

just waiting on an order of bioethanol, next shopping trip gonna buy up some olive oil for olive oil lanterns, got some food in incase i cant get to the shops cos of snow / ice / fuel shortage and any other muck up. Slowly increasing cold cures stocks. About to go upstairs and unpack winter things, going to do a big clean and tidy up to make life easier when the autumn/winter comes in full force.
Going to unpack winter things from the vacuum bags upstairs soon so that I can keep warm when the ice comes.
Keeping up with my exercise routine so that i can hopefully have an immune system when the time comes. Making sure I have batteries in for torches. i still have a lot of stuff left over from last year such as longjohns and the like, so I hope to be ok.
reperio a solutio
Resident and Co-Ordinator of AREA 2
Area 2 = Hampshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Bucks
jansman
Posts: 13623
Joined: Thu Dec 30, 2010 7:16 pm

Re: Its that time of year again : winter preps

Post by jansman »

Kris, my neighbour, just dropped off an entire apple tree(in parts!).Him and son just did a cash job for someone, charged them for removal and I have three months heating fuel. Great lads.
Food stocks are up to speed. The polytunnel is set with Winter salads, spuds etc. We are still salting runner beans and picking courgettes!
I have made sure the girls are sorted for hats and scarves, coats and boots-before the weather turns. Made sure eldest and partner are sorted for emergency lighting andspare water etc. With orders to move here if power goes down for any length of time.
Loads of batteries and fuel for the generators,car serviced etc. Most important is that my Winter bicycle is up to speed. I ride to work everyday come hell or high water. Saves me a FORTUNE in travel costs and keeps me fit to boot. As Nickdutch says, fitness is important as a prep.

I also have plenty of homebrew wine and beer ready and in progress, ready for the long nights. It will also be good barter if the system collapses before we go back to BST! :lol: :lol: :lol:
In three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life: It goes on.

Robert Frost.

Covid 19: After that level of weirdness ,any situation is certainly possible.

Me.
User avatar
paratus
Posts: 38
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 3:04 pm
Location: Area 3

Re: Its that time of year again : winter preps

Post by paratus »

Car bag all done and in the boot along with the standard stuff that's always there (jump leads etc) Only thing to add is a bag of salt/grit and a standard B&Q snow shovel with the handle shortened (fits better) which I normally wait until to the first sign of weather.

Having a bag of grit to sprinkle round tires that are skidding on the ice is really useful on small/medium slopes. I got the idea 2 years or so ago from my local milkman.

It also has the added bonus of being there to help other drivers; every year I use some to get another vehicle moving and the drivers are always saying "Gosh, what a good idea, I must get some"

Spreading the "Prepper Gospel" one convert at a time!
2 is 1, 1 is none
st3vi3

Re: Its that time of year again : winter preps

Post by st3vi3 »

Need to check car over, just put on 2 new tyres and replaced the spare wheel. Need to get winter kit checked see what's there and most likely not there. Prob change water bottles in process

As for house just need to build a checklist first and tick of as I go, bound to forget something
User avatar
Dingo
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Sep 24, 2013 11:47 am
Location: Shropshire

Re: Its that time of year again : winter preps

Post by Dingo »

Last friday I was in denial that winter was even on the far horizon - housemartins still swooping about, 19c outside; went away for the weekend, came back and the garden has it's first dump of fallen leaves and I think the martins have flown. How quickly things can change.
I'm relatively new to conscious prepping ( done it to a level for years without realising ), I need to take stock, assess the threats and take action. Now, where are those candles? And could I find a use for those fallen leaves?
Someone somewhere should do something!
User avatar
PreppingPingu
Posts: 940
Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2012 5:10 pm
Location: Surrey/Hampshire

Re: Its that time of year again : winter preps

Post by PreppingPingu »

And could I find a use for those fallen leaves?
Bag them up, water them from time to time, poke a few holes in the bag and loose tie the tops and in a year or two you will have leaf mould to put down as a mulch if you grow stuff. :)
"Today is the tomorrow that you worrried about yesterday" - unknown
"Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast" - Red Dwarf
(Area 3)
jansman
Posts: 13623
Joined: Thu Dec 30, 2010 7:16 pm

Re: Its that time of year again : winter preps

Post by jansman »

We have a rack in the kitchen for keys. Today, above that , I have put another for torches. We have touch lights if power goes suddenly. All over the house.
Plenty of solid fuel, and most of the food preserving done. Salted the last of the runner beans too. 3 1/2 gallons down. Loads of dried beans and peas, chutney, stored fruits etc etc.
This morning I went mushrooming. Bagged up!I will dehydrate some, eat some. Great for a pasta fungi (with salad from the polytunnel).
In three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life: It goes on.

Robert Frost.

Covid 19: After that level of weirdness ,any situation is certainly possible.

Me.
Arzosah
Posts: 6323
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2012 4:20 pm

Re: Its that time of year again : winter preps

Post by Arzosah »

PreppingPingu wrote:
And could I find a use for those fallen leaves?
Bag them up, water them from time to time, poke a few holes in the bag and loose tie the tops and in a year or two you will have leaf mould to put down as a mulch if you grow stuff. :)
Definitely! Make sure they have enough moisture to rot down ... I also make sure that I scoop them up as far as possible from a road. And the first time I used them, I made sense of the advice about mulch making it easy to get rid of weeds - the weeds won't stop colonising your garden, but they're rooted in the loose mulch on top of your soil, not in the soil itself, so they're incredibly easy to pull out. Its a revelation :lol:

My winter preps - not too much yet, but I have been playing musical chairs with my duvets - where to use which one, how to store those ones, that sort of thing.
Yorkshire Andy
Posts: 8735
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2013 4:06 pm

Re: Its that time of year again : winter preps

Post by Yorkshire Andy »

Winter car food hamper is made and ready to go in the car, got 2 new winter tyres fitted last week (on second set of rims sat waiting to go on at the end of the month...

got to sort out shovel Snow chains and associated bag of other "home comforts" and sleeping bag
Image

all packed into this

Image think it works out at about 6000 callories in that lot with the "ships biscuits" along with beans and sausages and chicken curry and rice.... safe to say no one will want to sit in my car with me to share body heat after i scoff that :twisted:
If your roughing it, Your doing it wrong ;)

Lack of planning on your part doesn't make it an emergency on mine