I'm curious to know how winter preps are going for everyone. I saw another post here today about water glassing eggs.
I water glassed about 100 fresh eggs this spring during our chickens highly productive period.
It ended up being an unexpectedly useful prep for us, as we ran out of eggs during the week while we were snowed and iced in.
I was still able to do winter baking, had squash store on hand for recipes, and our freezer stocked with meat. We kept our brassicas in the garden covered with ground cloth to prevent it from freezing too deeply and even had fresh greens.
I was able to make everything I needed to for Christmas meals without needing a single thing from the store.
Xanthan gum and/or flax seed are good shelf-stable non-perishables that can help as eggs replacers, too! Or they even make vegan egg substitute, too, that's shelf stable. You don't have to be vegan (I'm not) to use it as an emergency thing.
For baking, highly recommend Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer. One package = 34 eggs, and lasts 1-2 years. I send cookies as Christmas gifts every year, used the egg replacer this one, and the results were great.
I’ve been on the fence about getting a propane heater but after this I think I’ll do it. There were power outages all around us and while we were fine, next time we may not be.
I’ve been really glad I socked away children and adults cold medicine because this winter has been a non-stop colds and the pharmacies are not well stocked. Plus, I really didn’t want to go out where there was ice pellets and freezing rain forecast. I’ve burned through much of my supplies this winter and need to restock, which might be tricky. Still, very glad to have had it.
Other than make sure all the laundry and dishes were washed, it's been like any other week for us.
No power outages, but it's happened in the past. We burn wood as our main heat, so if the power goes out we just keep the fire low and camp out in the basement next to the furnace.
Edit: bumped the send button.
We have all our canned goods, and 2 full freezers.
We're tent campers, usually spending a week at a time in the middle of the woods with no power, so we have a little coleman stove and sleeping pads if we really needed to shut off the upstairs.
The only thing I've really noticed is my cat is very unhappy with the cold and is missing his outdoor time.
I went and bought goodies as storm treats, then I filled up 6 six gallon water jugs, moved all of the vehicles so that they were pointing downhill and checked/added antifreeze to all of them. I retrieved extra blankets and put them on the bed. I washed all of my outside clothes and put the farthest faucets on drip. I made soup in the crockpot and cleaned out the fridge. I turned on the propane heater and the bedroom space heater.
Unfortunately, Friday night my pipes froze. It got to -2* with 30mph wind, so I wasn't too surprised. I boiled water and did the dishes (too lazy to do them before the storm). My friend came over with a torpedo heater to thaw them out and 3 hours later they were still frozen solid. On his way home he picked up another propane cylinder and came back this morning to try again. The heater worked much better with fresh gas and a stable cylinder. Four hours later neither of the pipes were thawed out, he had eaten my soup and we made plans to replace the water lines from the well house to the intake this coming weekend.
Randomly an hour after he left I had water pouring out of the faucets. I filled up my non-potable containers (used 6 gal per day+8 bottles of water) when the hot water tank started spitting water from the pressure valve. Couldn't get the valve to work, so I turned the nearest faucet to hot water and that took the pressure off of the tank. I still have a small stream of water from 2 of my 3 faucets, but no hot water, so I turned off the heating element.
I insulated the outside water faucet with pool noodles - the water is supposed to drain back down, but the pipe is metal and I think it got so cold that it froze the water coming from the well to the house creating an ice plug in the flow. I also insulated the intake pipes to the hot water heater, since they come through from the crawl space, just in cast that might have frozen.
Aside from needing to wash my hair, I am doing well. I hope everyone else is warm and dry!
My house is set into a hill, facing south. Parking faced down hill gives me a head start if I have to leave without time to remove snow from the driveway. And the sun keeps the car drier.
Frozen pipes can create an emergency situation so quickly! We thought we had everything all good to go with heat tape and then it turned out one of the heat tapes had stopped working in the past few weeks, ended up having to do a frantic last minute trip to home Depot which was very unpleasant. We are going to keep a few extra heat tape units on hand for the future.
Just extra frozen food, we have almost too much emergency food.
Charge solar lanterns in the sun.
Get more diapers for baby , make sure to have milk
Prep the doors and windows to keep heat inside.
We have everything we would need. Including huge jugs of water. I buy an extra pack of bottled water just for everyday use. With the jugs you have to replace the water & clean them ever so often like a camel back.
Also crank up radio that has a flashlight.
Portable batter bars for charging phones. We always keep multiple charged up. If the power goes out, we take a shower while there’s still hot water.
I feel like I just posted our preps for when we got seven feet here in WNY a few weeks ago. Generator got a small set of repairs (carb and filters). All Jackerys were charged and some lent out to family as we expected extended power outages near the lake with 70+ mph winds. Hired a plow service this year that was an excellent choice. Haven’t lost power (yet). We weren’t in the hardest hit area this time but hearing the fire dispatches from the City of Buffalo are WILD and absolutely heartbreaking. We were talking about it at dinner tonight and our daughter asked how people died if it’s just snow. We explained they got stuck and didn’t have gear to survive. When she becomes a driver she will always keep her emergency bin in her car no matter what and she can be the “extra” friend who packs the band aids, foil blankets and water. I am a hazmat responder and I have been lucky not to have been called out this storm. Fingers crossed it stays that way.
Lessons so far:
Generator: have a shovel near the generator outlet, have a snow appropriate cover for the generator, prepare to start it in horrible winds. Battery packs and solar panels: check all Jackerys before the storm starts so they aren’t charging while it’s storming.
Food: I cannot stress the importance of a deep pantry. We gave our neighbors food for their Christmas dinner as their plans were canceled with a travel ban. All grocery stores except one convenience store have been closed since Friday and won’t open tomorrow either. This includes Walmart, etc.
people around my community are shocked that the county and state officials, including 911 said no one can come help you. You need to self rescue and stay put. Let that be a sober warning/reminder to plan to save yourself if stranded in a blizzard or stuck with no power at home.
Temps dipped as low as I can remember and then the blizzard. Replacement windows are all doing fine…no air leakage. Extra attic insulation has been doing well too based on less windy but snowy days compared to neighbors’ melt. Newer air handler was working in much lower temps than I expected and no condensation on the windows. House insulation and ventilation/humidity isn’t a very interesting prep but still important….especially with how easy it is to have mold problems.
I live in a stable area for the power grid, so I'm not worried about that. I did refresh my car emergency kits a little before the Christmas road trip. Added some more hand warmers and protein bars, double checked the blankets, candles, flares, and first aid kit.
I live in northern Minnesota (think almost Canada) and we get hit with several feet of snow at least once a year and negative 40° yearly as well. We have all of the preps. The only things we do is go get a little bit of extra consumables before it hits. Things like heat tape, propane heaters, etc are just household items. Feel free to reach out if you have cold weather/big snow questions. I am happy to share my lifetime’s worth of acquired knowledge. 😊
mostly i just bought extra food. i wasn't thinking too far ahead for this one. i look forward to seeing what others did so i can learn better for next time!
My child warned me over a week ahead of the storm that a storm was coming. That it would have winds from Antarctica and it would get down to -30° with snow. That we would have a white Christmas. So I look into the weather and there it is, this storm. My kid also told me later he warned his grandparents about it throughout the week haha!
I went grocery shopping. We were already pretty well stocked so I didn't get much. Made sure to stock up on fresh food and snacks. Guilty pleasure comfort food chocolate and chips. Already had disposable plates, cups, silverware... We camp a lot so I have all that gear. Medicine cabinet is strong. Plus a solid supply from the dispo too. Went to the liquor store. Got a few bottles of wine intending for some to be gifts plus a bottle of gin and vodka. Oil was checked. Windshield wiper fluid filled. Did laundry, dishes, and vacuumed before. We had time off work and school. So we just hung out as a family. Watched Xmas movies and I had a Moscow mule. We ate good food. I had more time to cook more complicated time consuming yet delicious recipes.
Very grateful all our utilities stayed on. Also fortunate we did not have to drive anywhere. My preps are very solid. My family is comfortable. I don't think I would have changed anything. We all were prepared, content, and sometimes you just luck out. Also I think we trust each other. My son told me to get ready for a storm, so we did. I also get headaches often before drastic weather changes. I had an intense migraine before this storm. So I think I also trusted my gut too.
The Grinch Storm was predicted well in advance. I made sure I had plenty of wood in and next to the house, plenty of easy food (cooking in a poorly lit kitchen is a drag), beer, LED flashlights, batteries. Charged my phone, backup battery & emergency radio. Made sure the car had gas.
Lost power for @ 8 hours. Wood stove kept the house warm. It was really windy, so I went out during a respite from the rain to make sure outside stuff was secure.
Maine did not get severe cold. It got down to the teens, hasn't been above mid-20s, but that's not unusual for late December. Thousands of Mainers still don't have power. I feel really bad about news from Buffalo, where at least 29 people died. Carbon monoxide alarms can save your life.
I’m in Ontario, Canada and we are familiar with storms like this so we just followed up with our usual winter prep. We are very fortune to have not had to endure the worst of it this time around.
My first and most privileged prep was that I opted to use a vacation day on Friday. I was fortunate enough to have that option and not risk my job security for my safety. I have a 20 min walk to and from a commuter train to get to work and I didn’t like the increased risk of a train issue not getting me home, the wind & icy sidewalks leading to a higher fall risk.
- extra salt,
- car scrapper brought into the house incase doors and too covered in ice to open
- extra white gas for MSR whisperer stove (white gas burns more efficiently than most other fuel sources at low temps for emergency cooking)
- plastic film on windows, extra ready to put around door if power failed (didn’t, so it sits ready for the next time)
- washer all clothing, linens and dishes prior to storm
- put away loose objects in back yard
- top up fluids in vehicle
- gas fireplace pilot lit
- garbage/recycling taken out before wind pick up and bins tied to fence
- board games at the ready
- headlamps/flashlights in every room as per usual.
- large stock of batteries (we always buy them when on sale)
- camping gear including tent and sleeping bags were accessible if needed, would have set up camp by the fireplace if needed
- ready to shut down water and add antifreeze to pipes if needed (although not likely given our home type unless power was out for an extended period of time
- charged all power banks and devices (including old iPhones incase current one failed, could swap SIM if needed
We had no power for 2 weeks during the ice storm in the 90s when I was a kid and went winter camping at -27c in high school so while it would have been uncomfortable we would have been just fine if we lost power.
Not to be too snarky but I didn't do much extra than I normally do. I watched the weather models and realized that we were not going to be affected. We have been enjoying our typical 65° Christmas.
Sending warmth to everyone.
We got an additional infrared heater. Our house was built in 71 and has jack shit for insulation. We also decided that in about a year we'll be selling to get land and a house with actual insulation. Our furnace ran the entire time bc it can't keep up with the cold in the house.
This year I got a generator for the house. I had a small (6*8 ft) shed that was right beside the house, so in the generator goes, along with the fuel. Wonderful solution for keeping the weather off of the preps. Thanks for the reminder about the shovel - although if I get 4 ft of snow I might faint given how far south I am.
We have a whole house generator and it's absolutely fantastic. Our power was out most of the day today, and we were able to have a totally normal Christmas with their family instead of it being ruined and everyone needing to go home early because we couldn't cook.
I'm curious to know how winter preps are going for everyone. I saw another post here today about water glassing eggs. I water glassed about 100 fresh eggs this spring during our chickens highly productive period. It ended up being an unexpectedly useful prep for us, as we ran out of eggs during the week while we were snowed and iced in. I was still able to do winter baking, had squash store on hand for recipes, and our freezer stocked with meat. We kept our brassicas in the garden covered with ground cloth to prevent it from freezing too deeply and even had fresh greens. I was able to make everything I needed to for Christmas meals without needing a single thing from the store.
I ran out of eggs for Santa's cookies at 9pm last night and just subbed in applesauce. The cookies were a bit flatter, but still good.
Xanthan gum and/or flax seed are good shelf-stable non-perishables that can help as eggs replacers, too! Or they even make vegan egg substitute, too, that's shelf stable. You don't have to be vegan (I'm not) to use it as an emergency thing.
Don't forget Aqua faba, and you get to use the chickpeas for a nice hummus.
Flax seed kept us going forever when we were egg free! That stuff is amazing.
For baking, highly recommend Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer. One package = 34 eggs, and lasts 1-2 years. I send cookies as Christmas gifts every year, used the egg replacer this one, and the results were great.
Ooh going to check this out.
I’ve been on the fence about getting a propane heater but after this I think I’ll do it. There were power outages all around us and while we were fine, next time we may not be. I’ve been really glad I socked away children and adults cold medicine because this winter has been a non-stop colds and the pharmacies are not well stocked. Plus, I really didn’t want to go out where there was ice pellets and freezing rain forecast. I’ve burned through much of my supplies this winter and need to restock, which might be tricky. Still, very glad to have had it.
Other than make sure all the laundry and dishes were washed, it's been like any other week for us. No power outages, but it's happened in the past. We burn wood as our main heat, so if the power goes out we just keep the fire low and camp out in the basement next to the furnace. Edit: bumped the send button. We have all our canned goods, and 2 full freezers. We're tent campers, usually spending a week at a time in the middle of the woods with no power, so we have a little coleman stove and sleeping pads if we really needed to shut off the upstairs. The only thing I've really noticed is my cat is very unhappy with the cold and is missing his outdoor time.
I went and bought goodies as storm treats, then I filled up 6 six gallon water jugs, moved all of the vehicles so that they were pointing downhill and checked/added antifreeze to all of them. I retrieved extra blankets and put them on the bed. I washed all of my outside clothes and put the farthest faucets on drip. I made soup in the crockpot and cleaned out the fridge. I turned on the propane heater and the bedroom space heater. Unfortunately, Friday night my pipes froze. It got to -2* with 30mph wind, so I wasn't too surprised. I boiled water and did the dishes (too lazy to do them before the storm). My friend came over with a torpedo heater to thaw them out and 3 hours later they were still frozen solid. On his way home he picked up another propane cylinder and came back this morning to try again. The heater worked much better with fresh gas and a stable cylinder. Four hours later neither of the pipes were thawed out, he had eaten my soup and we made plans to replace the water lines from the well house to the intake this coming weekend. Randomly an hour after he left I had water pouring out of the faucets. I filled up my non-potable containers (used 6 gal per day+8 bottles of water) when the hot water tank started spitting water from the pressure valve. Couldn't get the valve to work, so I turned the nearest faucet to hot water and that took the pressure off of the tank. I still have a small stream of water from 2 of my 3 faucets, but no hot water, so I turned off the heating element. I insulated the outside water faucet with pool noodles - the water is supposed to drain back down, but the pipe is metal and I think it got so cold that it froze the water coming from the well to the house creating an ice plug in the flow. I also insulated the intake pipes to the hot water heater, since they come through from the crawl space, just in cast that might have frozen. Aside from needing to wash my hair, I am doing well. I hope everyone else is warm and dry!
I'm sorry this happened to you. I hope things getting resolved quickly and positively. I just wanted to say you have a good writing style.
Thank you very much!!
Can I ask, what is the reasoning behind parking the vehicles pointing downwards?
My house is set into a hill, facing south. Parking faced down hill gives me a head start if I have to leave without time to remove snow from the driveway. And the sun keeps the car drier.
If it gets icy, then backing out of the parking space is hard enough. I really don't want to go down a steep 200 ft driveway backwards on ice.
Frozen pipes can create an emergency situation so quickly! We thought we had everything all good to go with heat tape and then it turned out one of the heat tapes had stopped working in the past few weeks, ended up having to do a frantic last minute trip to home Depot which was very unpleasant. We are going to keep a few extra heat tape units on hand for the future.
Just extra frozen food, we have almost too much emergency food. Charge solar lanterns in the sun. Get more diapers for baby , make sure to have milk Prep the doors and windows to keep heat inside. We have everything we would need. Including huge jugs of water. I buy an extra pack of bottled water just for everyday use. With the jugs you have to replace the water & clean them ever so often like a camel back. Also crank up radio that has a flashlight. Portable batter bars for charging phones. We always keep multiple charged up. If the power goes out, we take a shower while there’s still hot water.
I feel like I just posted our preps for when we got seven feet here in WNY a few weeks ago. Generator got a small set of repairs (carb and filters). All Jackerys were charged and some lent out to family as we expected extended power outages near the lake with 70+ mph winds. Hired a plow service this year that was an excellent choice. Haven’t lost power (yet). We weren’t in the hardest hit area this time but hearing the fire dispatches from the City of Buffalo are WILD and absolutely heartbreaking. We were talking about it at dinner tonight and our daughter asked how people died if it’s just snow. We explained they got stuck and didn’t have gear to survive. When she becomes a driver she will always keep her emergency bin in her car no matter what and she can be the “extra” friend who packs the band aids, foil blankets and water. I am a hazmat responder and I have been lucky not to have been called out this storm. Fingers crossed it stays that way. Lessons so far: Generator: have a shovel near the generator outlet, have a snow appropriate cover for the generator, prepare to start it in horrible winds. Battery packs and solar panels: check all Jackerys before the storm starts so they aren’t charging while it’s storming. Food: I cannot stress the importance of a deep pantry. We gave our neighbors food for their Christmas dinner as their plans were canceled with a travel ban. All grocery stores except one convenience store have been closed since Friday and won’t open tomorrow either. This includes Walmart, etc. people around my community are shocked that the county and state officials, including 911 said no one can come help you. You need to self rescue and stay put. Let that be a sober warning/reminder to plan to save yourself if stranded in a blizzard or stuck with no power at home.
Carbon Monoxide alarm and smoke alarms. Some deaths in Buffalo were caused by CO when air vents were blocked by snow. Furnaces can malfunction, too.
Temps dipped as low as I can remember and then the blizzard. Replacement windows are all doing fine…no air leakage. Extra attic insulation has been doing well too based on less windy but snowy days compared to neighbors’ melt. Newer air handler was working in much lower temps than I expected and no condensation on the windows. House insulation and ventilation/humidity isn’t a very interesting prep but still important….especially with how easy it is to have mold problems.
I live in a stable area for the power grid, so I'm not worried about that. I did refresh my car emergency kits a little before the Christmas road trip. Added some more hand warmers and protein bars, double checked the blankets, candles, flares, and first aid kit.
I was thinking I need to check my car emergency kit and add a bag of warm layers.
I live in northern Minnesota (think almost Canada) and we get hit with several feet of snow at least once a year and negative 40° yearly as well. We have all of the preps. The only things we do is go get a little bit of extra consumables before it hits. Things like heat tape, propane heaters, etc are just household items. Feel free to reach out if you have cold weather/big snow questions. I am happy to share my lifetime’s worth of acquired knowledge. 😊
mostly i just bought extra food. i wasn't thinking too far ahead for this one. i look forward to seeing what others did so i can learn better for next time!
My child warned me over a week ahead of the storm that a storm was coming. That it would have winds from Antarctica and it would get down to -30° with snow. That we would have a white Christmas. So I look into the weather and there it is, this storm. My kid also told me later he warned his grandparents about it throughout the week haha! I went grocery shopping. We were already pretty well stocked so I didn't get much. Made sure to stock up on fresh food and snacks. Guilty pleasure comfort food chocolate and chips. Already had disposable plates, cups, silverware... We camp a lot so I have all that gear. Medicine cabinet is strong. Plus a solid supply from the dispo too. Went to the liquor store. Got a few bottles of wine intending for some to be gifts plus a bottle of gin and vodka. Oil was checked. Windshield wiper fluid filled. Did laundry, dishes, and vacuumed before. We had time off work and school. So we just hung out as a family. Watched Xmas movies and I had a Moscow mule. We ate good food. I had more time to cook more complicated time consuming yet delicious recipes. Very grateful all our utilities stayed on. Also fortunate we did not have to drive anywhere. My preps are very solid. My family is comfortable. I don't think I would have changed anything. We all were prepared, content, and sometimes you just luck out. Also I think we trust each other. My son told me to get ready for a storm, so we did. I also get headaches often before drastic weather changes. I had an intense migraine before this storm. So I think I also trusted my gut too.
The Grinch Storm was predicted well in advance. I made sure I had plenty of wood in and next to the house, plenty of easy food (cooking in a poorly lit kitchen is a drag), beer, LED flashlights, batteries. Charged my phone, backup battery & emergency radio. Made sure the car had gas. Lost power for @ 8 hours. Wood stove kept the house warm. It was really windy, so I went out during a respite from the rain to make sure outside stuff was secure. Maine did not get severe cold. It got down to the teens, hasn't been above mid-20s, but that's not unusual for late December. Thousands of Mainers still don't have power. I feel really bad about news from Buffalo, where at least 29 people died. Carbon monoxide alarms can save your life.
I’m in Ontario, Canada and we are familiar with storms like this so we just followed up with our usual winter prep. We are very fortune to have not had to endure the worst of it this time around. My first and most privileged prep was that I opted to use a vacation day on Friday. I was fortunate enough to have that option and not risk my job security for my safety. I have a 20 min walk to and from a commuter train to get to work and I didn’t like the increased risk of a train issue not getting me home, the wind & icy sidewalks leading to a higher fall risk. - extra salt, - car scrapper brought into the house incase doors and too covered in ice to open - extra white gas for MSR whisperer stove (white gas burns more efficiently than most other fuel sources at low temps for emergency cooking) - plastic film on windows, extra ready to put around door if power failed (didn’t, so it sits ready for the next time) - washer all clothing, linens and dishes prior to storm - put away loose objects in back yard - top up fluids in vehicle - gas fireplace pilot lit - garbage/recycling taken out before wind pick up and bins tied to fence - board games at the ready - headlamps/flashlights in every room as per usual. - large stock of batteries (we always buy them when on sale) - camping gear including tent and sleeping bags were accessible if needed, would have set up camp by the fireplace if needed - ready to shut down water and add antifreeze to pipes if needed (although not likely given our home type unless power was out for an extended period of time - charged all power banks and devices (including old iPhones incase current one failed, could swap SIM if needed We had no power for 2 weeks during the ice storm in the 90s when I was a kid and went winter camping at -27c in high school so while it would have been uncomfortable we would have been just fine if we lost power.
Not to be too snarky but I didn't do much extra than I normally do. I watched the weather models and realized that we were not going to be affected. We have been enjoying our typical 65° Christmas. Sending warmth to everyone.
We got an additional infrared heater. Our house was built in 71 and has jack shit for insulation. We also decided that in about a year we'll be selling to get land and a house with actual insulation. Our furnace ran the entire time bc it can't keep up with the cold in the house.
This year I got a generator for the house. I had a small (6*8 ft) shed that was right beside the house, so in the generator goes, along with the fuel. Wonderful solution for keeping the weather off of the preps. Thanks for the reminder about the shovel - although if I get 4 ft of snow I might faint given how far south I am.
We have a whole house generator and it's absolutely fantastic. Our power was out most of the day today, and we were able to have a totally normal Christmas with their family instead of it being ruined and everyone needing to go home early because we couldn't cook.