With winter coming on soon, it’s important to be prepared. The cold winter months are always among the most challenging of the year to prepare for because of one very crucial element: depending on where you are in the world, it can be very hard just to stay warm.
There are two critical winter-time scenarios where you may find yourself thrust into the middle of a life-or-death survival situation while you are going about your everyday life: finding yourself stranded in your car during an icy snow storm, and becoming trapped in your home during a power outage brought on by a blizzard.
For both scenarios, it’s critical to have a variety of survival tools on hand that will more than prove their value to you.
With that in mind, here are the items you need to have if you want to consider yourself truly ready to survive a winter:
Battery Packs
Have plenty of external battery packs that are always kept fully charged so you can keep your electronic items fully charged in the event of a power outage.
Related: What You Should NEVER Do in a Real-Life Winter Power Outage
I’d recommend keeping at least one battery pack in your car, and at least three in your home.
Make it a habit to check up on them weekly to ensure that they are always fully charged and ready to go, and make sure that they are compatible with your phones, laptops, and tablets as well.
Blankets
You can truly never have enough blankets.
Go with heavy duty wool blankets and quilts for extra warmth.
Make sure you keep at least two in your vehicle(s) at all times, as well as at least two per family member in your home.
Candles
Always keep candles on hand in your home because they present an alternative source of both light and warmth.
Keep in mind that they do present a serious safety hazard (for hopefully obvious reasons) so be sure that you use them responsibly.
Don’t keep your candles within reach of small children or where they could be easily knocked over.
Cat Litter
Cat litter can be used to provide your feet with extra traction over icy terrain.
Keep a container or two on hand in your garage for walking on your driveway or around the property.
Consider keeping some in the back of your vehicle as well.
Flares
Flares can be used for signaling for help in the midst of a severe snowstorm. Plan on keeping at least three flares in both your vehicle and in your home.
Additionally, make sure you are trained in the use of them.
Fire Starting Materials
Have at least three kinds of fire starting materials on hand in both your vehicle and your home: lighters, matches, and magnesium flint strikers.
In addition, make sure that you have the ability to get a fire going quickly.
In addition to kindling and old newspapers, have cotton balls covered in Vaseline on hand as well because of how flammable they are. Hand sanitizer is also flammable when applied to surfaces as well.
Wood Stove
A wood stove is one of the best sources of alternative heat you can have because it does not rely on power or electricity.
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Not only can a wood stove provide your home with badly needed warmth and comfort during a winter snowstorm that knocks out the power, it can also provide a surface to cook food over.
Overall, a wood stove is one of the most important things to keep in your home if you live in a place where snowstorms are a very real threat.
Flashlights
Just like warm blankets, flashlights are another critical item that you can never have enough of.
Keep at least two flashlights in your car (one for you and for another passenger) along with an extra pack of batteries. Make sure you have at least one flashlight per family member in your home.
Red (or Orange) Flag or Towel
This is something you’ll want to keep in your vehicle. If you crash your car into a ditch, take out a brightly colored flag or towel and hoist it to the outside of your vehicle.
This way passersby’s or emergency rescue teams will notice you even if the rest of the car is covered in snow. Red or orange colors work best here.
Snow Shovel
Keep a full-sized snow shovel on hand in your garage and have a spare collapsible snow shovel in the back of your car. Look for a snow shovel with a sharp blade so it can cut or scrape through ice if necessary.
Related: Preparing Your Garden For The Winter
Sleeping Bags
Don’t get just any sleeping bags, but rather sleeping bags that are designed for sub-zero arctic temperatures.
These are the warmest kinds of sleeping bag you can get and are essentially your only recourse for getting warm in the event of an extended power outage that knocks out your heat.
Have at least one sleeping bag per family member in your home, and keep one in your vehicle as well.
Wood
If you have a wood stove in your home, naturally you’ll need wood to go with it. Plan on having at least a two week’s supply of wood in your home at the bare minimum, similar to how you’ll want to have at least a two week’s supply of food, water, and prescription medications (if applicable).
If you haven’t already, test your wood stove thoroughly to find out how fast it will burn through wood logs. Chances are good it will burn through them a lot faster than you may have anticipated.
Make sure you have the above items and tools on hand during this upcoming winter if you haven’t already.
Additionally, don’t hold yourself only to the above. Do a little brainstorming and if you can think of any other items that you believe will help make your winter survival efforts easier, by all means include them.
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A lot of these suggestions depends on what part of the country we live in.
There are certain puzzle pieces that remain common threads in prepping.
What someone does in the snow states may no be what others do in the warmer regions of the country.
In many parts it depends on what we are preparing for in the four seasons most of us live in. There are states that have four seasons while other states may get two of the four seasons anytime of the year.
In prepping there is no one size fits all that covers the climate weather we live in. Some preppers sigh when a posted lecture says this is what you need to do. Yes if we live in that location.
We can take those suggestions and modify them according to our local and time of season events in our locality.
The part on sleeping bags, have found great deals at surplus stores that are as good as the expensive ones at the retailer stores.
Off topic; did anyone watch the FL & CA governor’s debate last night?
The slimy CA gov Newsom was a total jerk talking over his opponent.
What a hypocrite downgrading the FL gov, when smelly California is rotting away in stinking poop on the homeless sidewalks in all major cities.
I could not watch any more from the slick used car salesman telling us the rainy sky is all clear and sunny in California.
You vote for Newsom as a Biden replacement, he is worse than Carter and Biden combined. VP Harris is from that same political clan.
GOD help us, protect us from all evils, thank you!
We do not want Michelle Obama running the country neither. As we see the Biden administration may have Barack Obama helping out behind the scenes.
Make sure we do stretching exercises before going outside to shovel snow.
A hot cup of chocolate with a touch of brandy helps after shoveling, yum!
Absolutely no more Oblahblahs!
Why do some folks insist on bringing politics into every discussion?
Guess what Leslie neither side gives a damn about you. They care about lining their pockets and those of their friends and that’s all Dear
Cat litter works with dry snow, not as good when the snow is slushy. Some sand and cat litter mixed in, works in wet snow.
Has anyone considered keeping a bag of pine shavings on hand? This can be great for covering boggy ground, extra bedding for pets, kindling, and more. It’s not expensive, and a 2 cubic foot bag is easy to store and covers a fair amount of area.
How much moisture could a grocery bag of shavings absorb?
I’m not a scientist.. hell, I’m lucky to be an educated idiot. I don’t know how much moisture is actually absorbed; probably not much, but the shavings add volume and help displace the moisture. I use it quite a bit in by goose pen. By the time it is mixed in the mud, the geese have a little firmer base for walking around. Who knows, next summer I may be able to get some bricks out of the pen :P.
More then not having anything.
Good info. I suggest that the batteries be kept in a “GO” bag that is ALWAYS brought into the house if you are not in the car. Heat and cold destroys batteries rather quickly. I use a canvas tote bag for mine and also put meds and insulating blankets in it.
good point jAJ, i keep some things in a small ice chest in my truck to protect them from extreme heat and cold, water, food and a few mylar blankets and it keeps everything together. i need to add a good power bank to it JIC. i can charge things with my truck, but who knows what could happen, cheap insurance.
I feel pretty much ready. My heater is also my cook stove for half the year. and yes, I live where I get all four seasons. My hearter is a gravity fed pellet stove but it’s also a “rocket stove”. I can burn 3 to 4 ft long branches up to 2.5″ across. It can also burn chunks of wood. I cut piles of branches from elm trees. Not great fire wood but actually the piles can keep me warm all winter. I also keep a ton or two of pellets on hand. I keep a tea kettle or a three-gallon pot of water hot most of the time. I can also fry a pan of pork chops and potatoes on top. I often bake there under tented foil or good fitting lids on cookware. I’ve owned this small singlewide mobile home since 2019. It was a 2015 repo so it’s well insulated. Just one bedroom and bathroom. Perfect for a simple living great grandma. There is a propane furnace that I’ve never used. my only power source there is a dozen old 150W solar panels. I never use all the power available. I don’t use my microwave or toaster oven. I use that heater top or occasionally the top of my propane cookstove. I own all those little electric kitchen appliance, quick pot, grill/waffle baker ect. I don’t need them. I cook often with a pressure cooker and can with two pressure canners and several water bath canners. I do everything I need for living quite simply. If I want waffels I can set the plates on the stove top on a sheet of foil. they will bake a large waffel beautifully if I preheat the plates. But most often I simplly make pancakes.
All is subjective to area , location , time of year, and weather you encounter
Always is a must : 30 day supply , Food, Water, blankets, Disposables , Fuel oil , gas, etc.
Common Sense Items : Radio, Wind up type , Gen. with fuel for at least 1-2 weeks , and as listed in article min. items .
but learn to minimize , cut back , portion out , scale down so things last
Water, food , can be stretched out 4 time s the time alotment
fuel can be measured out so as to last twice as long
and then Heat can be set back to min. so as to last longer
here in ca. in mountainous areas the power can go out for as long as 2 weeks
and when the idots who dont know how to manage the grid in the summer put us out , it is 1-3 days at a time
in the naritive of Save the Planet , not the people , Save the morons who have 20 times more than they need and are just narcasus nothing more and tell you to cut back while they live the life of luxery , fly expensive jets around the world and plot how to reduce your carbon foot print to save for them and thier s ,
LIVE , Dont save for the morrow that will never come
Give , dont covet for all you can get for the morrow
love your neighbor means , give to the needy , not the greedy
churchs dont need to be Fat, Rich and pitifull
Love God , And Teach the truth in love and compassion , not Greed
Its a good idea to put a fleece blanket or 2 inside the sleeping bag don’t forget boots in the trunk and coveralls just in case for the kids I also rolled up sweat suits and a couple pairs of socks
plastic repeals , paper absorbes , insulator , will be a good layer for layering against frost
just need a barrier for the heat to cold ration
and a candle will never let you freeze in a closed enviornment , so very good deterant to cold
if you look on line , wood shavings , paper machseee , bags, blankets, even metal will act as that barrier , you can use anything for the barrier to create levels of insulation for cold protection
as for sleeping bags, you can’t beat the military sleeping system. it has a Gore-Tex bivy, and a patrol bag for warmer months, and a intermediate bag for colder months. with all 3 combined it is good to at least -30 degrees. they used to be around $200 now i think they are closer to $300 or more. depending where you get it. and used or never issued. they are kinda heavy, around 10#. i’ve had mine for 10 years, and wouldn’t go camping without it. would make a great system for no power and blackouts.
just remember. I think the fine print on there says something to the effect of -30 degrees with expedition weight clothing.
Outdoor solar lights, such as for walkways, are perfect for indoor lighting when power is out. Just pull them out of the ground and stick in a flower vase or bucket, etc.in the house when night falls. Put out again in AM even if the sun is not out. They last til about midnight as many days as you need them.
Thank you, what a great idea. We’re full time RV’ers and I have outdoor solar lighting. Pefect!
Just a quick note on fire starters… lint from your dryer will catch quickly.. I keep a zip lock baggie to put mine in and keeps it dry for when I need to start a fire any time. Of course, a match or fire stick to light it.:) put it under some kindling… and it works great!
Normally one has to drive a few hours any time of year to find snow where I’m from. Last winter though that changed and we had snow in our driveway for the first time in ages. There were traffic collisions all over as a result and it bordered on comical. We do keep most of what supplies are mentioned here on hand despite our usual weather. It’s just plain prudent to prep for the worst, yet still hope for the best and live someplace in between. With the geology of this region, one never knows when bridges may fail, the power goes out and the markets are out of necessities for as long as…well, who knows? No matter what happens, we are all basically on our own for the first few days at least; after that, it’s anyone’s guess as to the subject of duration.
SoCal Sombich, same here on the snow thing. a 1/4 inch of snow will shut down the whole area. schools, businesses’, government offices and hwy’s. all it takes is one person sliding off of the hwy into the ditch and traffic will be stopped on BOTH sides of the interstate. it’s crazy.
My usual rant here ! If it offends any of you……..get over it !
When we communicate in the written form, it is very important to ensure that we use all of the grammatical elements of the English language. If we are communicating via speech, it’s not needed as it is in our spoken word and flow.
For God sake’s People! Stop allowing our culture to become even stupider than it is! Use your upper case letters to start a sentence (after TWO spaces from the previous sentence-ending period). Use all punctuation marks that you are aware of: it makes your thoughts more discernible, and actually conveys some of your emotion and/or emphasis, as if you were actually speaking.
DON’T BE A LAZY ILLITERATE. Ensure that our children and grandchildren will actually be able to communicate…….even on a computer!
Thanks for listening……er……reading.
I’m into Trianga stoves, popular in Europe where I live, and “red alcohol” (90%, denatured, and not taxed) is plentiful and cheap. Of course, I also have a hexamine stove and candles, and a Swiss made Fondue stove that just happened to have an alcohol cartridge you can use in place of Sterno. (I tested it last week and it rocks!) Last resort, CampingGaz stove and those wonderful iron powder based heat bags. Layers of defense is my rule; and with a disabled wife, I put a lot of effort into a lot of things to make sure we can either stay in or bug out. My car is the refuge/BOB on wheels, and it is tricked out with the rest of the gear, some food, my ham radios, etc. but still has space for her mobility needs. It’s easy and it takes maintenance, but it’s set to go.
Warm up your boots before going out! Makes a huge difference. I have a large flat rock on my wood burning stove. We set our boots on it for 10/15 minutes. Nothing like a super warm pair of boots when you gotta go work outside in the snow. (Yes, you can melt the bottoms so use common sense.). We hang our coat over the fire place tools to get it good and toasty too. Our wood ash is for the walkway and stairs. Also, the garden and holes the dog digs up. Wood chips are good too when mixed with the ashes. I keep empty toilet paper rolls and stuff the dryer lint in them for fire starters. If you don’t have good dry wood, you can add some pine pitch or wax from a candle to the lint and up the heat intensity to get wood going. In our vehicle we carry salt also. If you slide off the road on ice it will aid under your tires while trying to get out. All these tips are courtesy of my dad who taught me.
Cat sand is NOT a good applicant for better traction on ice/snow as most of those are CLAY based. Bet you cannot guess what happens when that clay absorbs moisture. It is enhancing slip & slide.
Just use a Peanut Butter plastic jar with 5-7 1/4″ holes drilled in the cap. Use Construction (Brown) sand, NOT the Play sand. Just sprinkle lightly over you walkway and you will instantly see that you have better traction. Best part of this? The sand sweeps cleanly off of the sidewalk when it rains or you pull out your broom to sweep it up.
OTHER TIPS FOR WINTER:
IF you have outside door knobs or locks that freeze up – buy a package of Tennis Balls. Set a nickle on top of one and draw a good line around it. Cut that line with an X-acto Knife. Then cut about 5 slits around the hole about 3/4″ long. These slip over a door knob very nicely and I’ve never had a freeze up after starting to use these.
Have an older car that mirrors fog and freeze up? Hit the Dollar Store and buy a bag of Bowl Covers. There should be 2 ea in the bag that will fit over the mirrors. These keep you mirrors clean, however, better buy some extra bags of Bowl Covers for when you forget to remove them before driving off!
Where do you find construction sand? I’ve been trying to get it for sometime now and can’t find it anywhere except in quantities that are measured by the truck load. I mix it with de icing salts depending on the temperature. With an icy driveway, it’s the construction sand that really does the best job.
I live in a place that routinely gets snow in winter. I often have snowshoes in my vehicle. If there’s a time where I need to abandon my vehicle and try making my way home or to another shelter, the snowshoes will make it easier for me to get there.
As a Lifelong Floridian (grew up on an Orange Grove in a house with no A/C), winters here are a tad different. The coldest I’ve seen was 27 degrees and that was for one night. Normal winters start around January and last about 2-3 weeks where we get cold enough to have frost on the grass. Of course if you have a fireplace, if the temps get below 60 it’s an excuse to fire it up. In my part of Florida (East Central Florida), snow is something we see on the TV news. Christmas is usually spent wearing shorts and flip flops and going to the beach.