Thursday 9 November 2017

Winter weather predictions...

Once again, the newspapers are predicting very cold and prolonged snowy weather for winter. Most years they are incorrect. However, just in case that happened, for those of us without close access to shops, what would you put by, either in your freezer (hoping for no long power cuts) or cupboards?

My freezers have enough in them to give us a few meals and or puddings. The store cupboard has enough for light meals, hots snacks etc.

I think our alltime go to would be soup, both for snacks and main meals. So with that in mind, and the possibility of needing to cook on a camping gas stove, herewith some things I am never without:

Lentils, dried peas/beans (thermal cooker as it requires no power once the gas stove has begun cooking them), tinned peas, beans, tomatoes, vegetables, rice, pasta, flours (dumplings would fill us up and quick bread making/drop scones, that could be done on the gas stove), items for puddings such as tinned milk, rice in all forms (thermal cooker again), tinned fruit amongst other items, a cake and some biscuits, crackers, butter (fridge) and oats.

There are probably more items I could name but what about you. When DS was born and the day after we came home, our village was cut off for a whole week. The local post office store ran out of most food in two days with panic buying going on. Luckily for us DB had done a major shop before DS and I came home so apart from bread, we were okay for us and him. We had no idea how long it would be before we were reached by the highway agencies.

That has never left me and whilst no such bad winters have hit that hard again, I like to be prepared, especially if the power cuts are for a long time and we lose the freezer food.

11 comments:

  1. We lived in a rented farm cottage in the early 90's and we also had no electricity for a week one winter. We were on one side of a river in a field and could see the next village over the other side of the river - all with their lights on and cosy homes about a week before we got re-connected. Son no. 2 was only a tiny baby so it would have been February/March '90 or later on in that year going into '91? Our only warmth (no central heating) was a roaring coal fire with back boiler which heated the water.
    I always keep tins in - fruit, beans, soup, tinned fish plus oats, jams,etc - the normal stuff. I might get some long life milk. Our freezer contains all sorts. We're not so cut off now but once a bad winter is mentioned, the local folk go mad and panic buy.
    One year our garage got broken into (the freezer's kept in there) - the cheeky thieves went into the freezer - left all the meat, veg, etc and just took every bit of sweet stuff in there - ice cream, gateaux, apple pies - I hope they felt sick after eating it all!!

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    1. How odd about the sweet stuff disappearing.

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    2. Sounds like it could have been children with a sweet tooth.

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  2. We've no longer got a 4x4 after having one for umpteen years at the smallholding and never needing to use it in snow, so now it's bound to be snowy. And the electric here goes off at the drop of a hat too!
    Cupboards will be well stocked, empty cupboards frighten me.

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    1. I don’t like to rely solely on freezers because of power cut possibilities.

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  3. No electric is a night mare, last year we had several short power cuts, lucky we have plenty of candles for light, but I do worry as we now have a second freezer.

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    1. They are okay for several hours as long as you don’t open the doors.

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  4. I live in the USA and one fall a hurricane went up the east coast. We were without electricity for about 5-6 days. Our only hardship was no water. We have a well and that means no water from the pump. We are suppose to have a bad winter also. Just adding a little extra so I don't drive in the snow. Cheryl

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  5. I live in Canada and even though I'm in a big city there are days when you just don't want to have to venture out of doors in the winter! If we have power then I'm fine as I keep a well stocked freezer and pantry. If we lose power I have UHT milk, crisp breads, crackers & cookies, peanut butter & jams, tinned fish, beans & fruit, dried cereal, nuts and dried fruit so I wouldn't starve. I do need to stock up on more water.

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  6. Apart from the freezers, I always have a good stock of dried pulses, flour etc, plus tins and jars. I also keep about 10 litres of bottled water, for drinking only - showers can wait!

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  7. We are supposed to have a bad winter here as well. Power cuts are rare here, but I have candles and a camp stove that can be used (wish we had a gas stove, but we don't).

    I have slowly been stocking up on a few canned goods, and pasta. Things that are nice and filling even if they are a bit on the stodgy side.

    I have also been stock piling blankets and quilts over the last few years. If the power goes our heating goes and having those extra blankets to cuddle up in will definitely be a plus.

    God bless.

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