For those of us that live in the northern states it’s that time of year again, and depending on who you are, you either love the winter or hate it. None the less it’s time to get ready for the cold and snow and that means doing inventory of your winter preparedness supplies, rotating your supplies and picking up a few things you might need this winter.

Just like when we pull out the Christmas decorations most of them are fine, but there is always something broken or something that just doesn’t work. Our winter preparedness supplies are a little more important though, if our batteries are dead or our flashlight doesn’t work we need to get that fixed before it becomes a bigger issue.

Not only do we need to make sure we have everything ready to go in our home to prepare for a power outage, we also need to make sure we have the emergency preparedness supplies in our cars that we might need.

Most of us spend at least a couple of hours a day traveling from place to place and during the winter months the weather, road conditions and consequences are far more extreme than the summer months.

SPP271 Winter Preparedness Tips & Supplies

This week in the show Lisa and I went over all the supplies you might need to be prepared for the winter months. You might have some of these supplies already, and some of them you might need to replace or buy.

Food and water is by far the most important part of preparedness regardless of the time of year, but in the winter you might not be able to get to the grocery store. At the very least make sure you can go a couple of weeks without leaving your home.

After you have food and water covered it’s time to take inventory of what you have and get the few things you might need. Everyone has their own way of doing inventory, but I use this worksheet here if you want to use it also.

Lights out Kit

Because of severe weather power outages are more likely in the winter months. You should have a lights out kit ready to go at all times, but it becomes more important in the winter months.

* Plastic Tote to Put Everything in.(HERE)

* Candles

* Solar Lights (HERE)

* Oil lamps (and fuel)

* Batteries

* Solar Generator (HERE)

* Solar Chargers (HERE)

* Lighters

* Crank Radio (HERE)

* Extension Cords

The Voyager Crank Radio

Ways to Cook or Heat Food

If the power goes out for an extended period of time we are going to need a way to cook or heat our food. Most people would be eating boxed cereal and crackers, but we are not most people…we are preppers.

* Outdoor Grill

* Coleman Stove (HERE)