Get Ready For Winter, part 1

Posted by The Survival Center on 14th Nov 2017

Greetings,

If you haven't started thinking about getting ready for winter, now maybe a good time.

Winter storms can happen unexpectedly. Here in the Pacific NW, we recently had a snow storm, in early November, which is unheard of, for this area.

Of course you want to have the essentials stored ahead:

Water

The CDC suggests each person (and each pet) will require at least 1 gallon of drinking water per day (planning an emergency water supply). Pregnant and nursing women along with people who are ill will require additional water.

Consider storing at least one gallon per person per day in plastic, glass or stainless steel bottles.

Get a good water filter, In case you have to access the toilet tank water or water, stored in a bathtub, or other containers or sources.

The Berkey Water Filter will make most any water safe to drink and use. Make sure you protect the filter elements from freezing, once wet.

Food

Store at least a 3-day supply of non-perishable, easy-to-serve food for each person and pet.

Include a non-electric can-opener for canned food. Consider that in a power-outage you may not be able to use your stove or microwave.

Canned Food like soups or beans could be eaten cold if necessary.

Freeze Dried Food- Just add water ( hot water preferably, but cold water works too, it just takes a bit longer.)

The 72 Hour Emergency Meal Kit, i.e. provides a nice variety.

Granola, nuts, cereal, peanut butter, crackers, juice and powdered milk are easy to store and use. Consider getting an alternative stove that uses either propane or alcohol.

Shelter

Get your home ready. Do you need to insulate more? Hanging heavy curtains or blankets over the windows at night, will keep your house warmer too.

Cover outdoor faucets

Make sure you clean the chimney, before using your wood stove for the winter season.

Allow faucets to trickle to prevent pipes from freezing.

Learn more about how to prevent and thaw frozen pipes. What size pipes do you have? Once you know, get some couplings and extra pieces of pipe, in case one does break, so you can fix it once it thaws again.

Stock up on rock salt to melt ice on walkways. Traction sand is great.

Know where the extra blankets, sleeping bags and heavy winter coats are, so you can stay warm when the electricity is off and you have no back up heat.

Could you run your heater with a generator? If it takes too much "juice", could you run a small space heater with a generator? Do you have fuel for it?