Good Morning. Stay warm and have an extra week's worth on hand

It's not too early to get yourselves ready for the winter that's coming on like gang busters. We already have snow in our forecast and I know several states already have snow on the ground. So you guys from the snow belt, how do you prepare? I have a small list in mind:

firewood
kerosene for 2 lamps
batteries

protein powder
vitamins
diet cranberry juice
jerky
nuts
protein bars

accessible snow shovels
keep the cars full of gas


 

I don't fret the power going out in the winter because at least the freezer stuff will be safe.  We do have a generator so we have to have fresh gas for that. I also don't worry as much about us as I do the ponies.  Now with the generator, I can keep the well pump going so we have water because that is the hardest to plan for and deal with.  The barn is full of hay, hurray.  I have outdoor gas cooking ability plus we can cook on the propane fire place.  Other than the generator, a sled is my favorite snow tool.  I can put a bale of hay on it and pull it out to the pasture for the horses, or put the muck bucket on it to get it out to the compost pile.  Wheeled things just do not work in the snow.

Plan?  Funny - I consider myself a Planner, but not when it comes to weather. 

You'd think I'd have learned when my power was out because of Sandy - even for the 18 hrs... it could have been worse.  At least I have a working flashlight now... :)

Growing up and living in snow country it just goes with the territory.  We rarely lose power because of it, or are snowed in because of it.  But we were lucky because we don't typically have the ice storms the folks south of us did... that's a different story.

Now - in VA.. we'll see... I'll be the only one on the road driving to work.. 

No snow here in Fl :)  But it was cold this AM, 32 :(

No snow in our future in South Georgia either.  Usually we get it once every ten years or so.  When it snows here everything shuts down and pretty much everybody stays in.

It was 32 here this morning and was really cold to me!!

Hope all you in the north can stay warm.

Linda

We have a stick pile of batteries for toys!!! But that's about it! I need to check on the flashlight and lantern sizes... I also need to get some jerkey. I know we could live on our tiny pantry for a month. Wouldn't make it in the protein dept though. We also have gallons of water for the keirig and CPAP.

Meg

It rarely snows where I live, but because we are in earthquake country, I keep at least 7 days worth of food and water. The food I store has changed. I now keep powdered milk, protein powder, and things like nuts and jerky in the kit.  

Funny I never thought about storm preparedness until the flood !  gas for the generator ... ( im  actually wiring in and  gas-piping in a backup generator that automatically turns on when the lights go out because we're below the water table and have a sump pump -  and now will have a very delicate 95%  efficient furnace that cant get flooded out ) 

water in the tub mostly for the orchids 

flashlights or lil LED " hockey pucks " VERY useful  they actually can function as dim room lights when laced on a table - and the light lasts forever 

gas in the car 

good library books so no boredom  if TV goes out 

i like to boil water with a cinnamon stick in it so the house feels warm and smells cozy ...

fresh veggies potatoes and fruits ... and frozen strudel dough .  Nothing like making fresh sugar free apple strudel and stir -forever homemade low sugar poppyseed filling with home preserved  sour cherries ... yum ! 

sometimes i even make fatfree cheesecake or pumpkin cheescake - storms bring out the cozy foodie in me !