Preparing for Winter V

Wednesday2000

kittie wrote: »

wednesday, it worked, slept a full 7+ hours, like a baby, I also wore some hm wool socks in bed and felt very cosy.

Aw, that's nice.:) I'm putting on bedsocks tonight, I keep forgetting to do it, I'm going to leave them on my bed so I remember.

My duvet is going back on tonight as I woke up with the covers off again.:D I think it's because I'm not used to sleeping with blankets and I keep kicking them off me.

It feels very brr here today.

Cheapskate

It's feeling distinctly back-endish here now, condensation on the car early in the mornings. We've had some fair old gales during the last week or so, enough that the house is cooling rapidly, so we've had the heating on a few times, for an hour or so to take the chill off. Also had the stove on, and it will be back on later today so I don't have the CH on again. The persistent rain is reducing to infrequent showers, so hopefully we can go chumping for twigs and other bits for kindling.

We are working our way through the freezers, so I can re-stock with fresher items. The local farm is doing beef boxes soon so have ordered one that we'll share with one of the adult sons.

I think this weekend will be spent on checking and adding to or replacing tea lights, candles, children's vests, woollies, hot water bottles, and coats (DH and me).

Still waiting for the window company to return and finish off the windows. We had the leaded lights from our old 30s windows encapsulated, and the last item (front door) had to be done separately, so they'll come and fit that, along with finishing the bay window, which has draughts coming in from the unfinished sides. Makes sense for them to do all the little things in one visit, but I can't wait to put the curtains back in the front room and get all cosy in the evenings!

A xo

betterlife

Love this time of year when the leaves start changing colour and falling, and the evenings start drawing in. I have been prepping for the colder months for a couple of weeks now, making sure the children have all got coats that fit, shoes that don't leak lol as they all walk to and from school, which for the older 3 is a 30 minute walk each way!. I've been put extra on my gas card read for when the heating goes on, which hopefully won't be until the end of October, beginning of November. Until then it will be extra clothes, dressing gowns, blankets etc, and making sure the house is draft free. Earlier this week I sorted through my freezer and cleared out some unwanted things, since then I've been stocking up on meat, so have 3 whole chickens, 2 joints of belly pork, 2 large joints of beef (which I cut into 4) and 2 rings of hogs pudding. still want to buy some lamb, mince, sausages, and perhaps bacon/ham. each chicken will do use for a roast, sandwiches and a chicken and veg soup, beef will be roast and stew, so it all gets stretched and none wasted. I also have a mr T order ready to do for store cupboard basics, beans, tinned toms, oxo cubes, etc so hopefully weekly shops will become just fresh stuff. I much prefer cooking this time of year, lovely comforting homemade soups, pies, roasts etc, I find having my slow cooker on overnight makes my kitchen lovely and warm in the morning as well.
Today I've bought a 25kg sack of potatoes, which at £7.50 will save me quite a bit of money over the next few weeks, and saves me carrying them home from supermarket too!

charlies-aunt

Love this thread! I prefer late autumn, winter and early spring so its been a labour of love to fold and put away T-shirts, summer dresses and replace them in the wardrobe with cosy jumpers and long sleeved blouses
Just starting to stockpile for winter - doing tinned stuff and dry goods first and then will fill up the freezer and coal bunker
Have already got quilts on the beds but need to start weather proofing the house and getting the garden tidy.
Cooler weather and change of season is a good excuse for home baking and slow cooker stews
Going to try the tip about using tea lights to take the chill off tonight - love having candles round the bath on dark evenings too!
I would like to try to make a solution of horse chestnut as I have been told that horse chestnuts are a natural spider deterrent. Has anyone tried doing this please? Would really appreciate a recipe

fuddle

Betterlife I have a sudden craving for a mug of Oxo in one hand and a cream cracker to dip in it in the other hand! I used to do it alot as a teen.

For anyone reading who feels overwhelmed with the turning weather and colder homes cardboard, bubble wrap and cheapo fleece (my source was IKEA) on the windows helps immensely. Private rented had been a nightmare for my family in terms of damp and coldness. Bubble wrap kind of sticks itself when wet to the window pane. I used to just place cardboard behind the fleece as with the damp nothing would stick it on and the fleece, at one point, was pegged on the curtains. For a draft excluder I once stuffed a carrier bag with loads of other carrier bags and taped it sausage like. I put tin foil behind the radiators to try to stop the heat escaping through the walls. Cheapy IKEA fleece were added to under the sheets of all beds and if anyone's bed had a space I made sure I stored things under there to stop cold coming up from under the mattress. I remember making rice heat bags that microwaved (be careful as they can burn, heat with a cup of water) and provided a hot water bottle effect for an hour or so.

There will be more that comes to mind. Has anyone any more ideas that we used to all share some years ago. I learned so much from this thread.

LadyhavershamLost

Venison casserole in the slow cooker, small people just deposited at their dad's with a request for fleecy sheets on their return, summer tubs in garden mostly emptied and conkers on all the window sills. Autumn has definitely arrived here!

Plans for this week include finding hot water bottles and food flasks. Not quite youngest has just started senior school and is happy to take hot food in flask - wasn't able to at primary- so this will be really handy and save money on hot dinners.

As requested fleece sheets are going on beds this week - saving the pillow cases for when it's really nippy!

babyblooz

The downside of this weeks preparations for winter is ... my slow cooker has died! If anyone has any recommendations please feel free to let me know. I have seen a 6 litre one for £25 in Wilkinsons but don't know if I would use one that big really. My old one was a 3.5 litre and could just fit a small chicken in and could make rice pud using four pints of milk. Don't know what to do really, buy the big one or just replace like with like.

On the upside, I have just frozen 8lbs of elderberries in strong plastic bags. I figured I could make fresh syrup with 2lbs of berries at a time throughout the winter and replace as needed depending on how many of my special people have colds and viruses.

I have lots of tidying up to do outside as I have emptied lots of pots that are now looking tired and muddy and are stacked up outside. They would soon fly off if we had high winds so I need to decide do I chuck, or do I clean and store away in the shed?

I have stripped the front pots of their straggly remnants of summer flowers and replaced with a lovely yellowish green shrub and nice bright cyclamens. I do like the front door to look cheery and bright through the colder months!

And seeing as 'that' time of year is rapidly approaching I have downloaded a Christmas Present App onto my phone to try to get me a little more organised this year. I have six important people who have birthdays in November and that along with Christmas preparations can really stress me out so I am feeling a little bit more in control already.

I do enjoy reading about people's preparations for winter. I often wish I could be like a bear and get fat through the summer then just sleep it off snug and warm through the winter and wake up thin!

Eenymeeny

Thanks for some of the new ideas posted recently, some of us are 'old hands' at this now so it's nice to refresh.
I 'use up' summer tee shirts which are starting to look faded, as an extra under layer during the winter. They are then used as soft dusters and dirty job cloths. (My niece told me that I was the only one she knew who kept a rag bag. Good heavens!;) )
I've been fighting the idea that we aren't going to get that 'Indian Summer' I've longed for but it's time for reality take over. Tidying up in the garden is taking place, grass needs to be cut. If it stops raining for long enough! I like to trim shrubs to a reasonable height before we get the high winds that often occur in October. Spare pots and tubs are cleaned, nested and overturned. If placed on a few jar lids I fondly believe that I'm providing a little bit of shelter for passing wildlife and I place them against a house wall, maybe adding to the insulation?:o
I'm also looking at replacement containers for the front door area, mainly evergreens, leaving space for a few Christmassy decorations and a solar lamp during December. I like the idea of adding colour but I don't like pansies, so any suggestions would be welcome? I've just discovered the shrub Physocarpus Little Angel that is a beautiful deep red which shines like coloured glass when the sun shines on it. Tempted to put that in a tub at the front door while it retains its' leaves. Just so that I can keep looking at it
Slow cookers- I've been happy with the Wilkinson's ones but I did pass on the smaller one when I realised that it was recommended to only use it half full. This didn't really make enough for a meal for two in my opinion. I prefer to batch cook and get at least two meals so that I can freeze one for later.
I have bought the Tower Digital Multi Cooker at Wilkinson's since. It is non-stick and you can vary the temperature and time, so great for pre-softening onions etc. while I'm prepping the rest of the ingredients. HTH

[Deleted User]

Very long ago the answer to cold feet was a hot brick wrapped in a blanket, particularly when travelling in draughty carriages but used in beds too as foot warmers before there were hot water bottles. If you have a spare brick and a wood stove it might be an interesting experiment to stand your brick on the stove to get it as warm as you can and then seeing how long it stayed warm for when it was wrapped in an old towel or piece of fleece/blanket. The stove being to heat the room anyway on would give you free warm feet if it did actually work. I don't know how comfortable it would be used in bed though!

betterlife

It was very fresh this morning on the school run, so winter coats was worn, and gloves dug out for little one, (which was good as I found 3 of the 4 hot water bottles as well) also put another £10 on my gas card, so hopefully that will be stocked up a bit for when the heating needs to go on, which hopefully won't be till the end of October, beginning of November. The family are starting to notice the house is a bit more chilly now in the mornings, so will make sure winter dressing gowns are laundered and fleecy blankets handy.
Colds & Coughs have started already! My eldest has been feeling rubbish all weekend with a blocked nose, my daughter the same, so she is off school today and tucked up in bed, and my youngest has woke up with a runny nose too!, all have been dosed up with paracetamol and I've also added medicine to my shopping list, as with having 4 children it normally gets spread around pretty quick!
I have a nice beef stew planned for tea today, using leftovers from yesterdays roast dinner, and today will be spent sorting dinning room storage, and rearranging kitchen cupboards ready for stocking up on basic essentials this week which are running low.
Didn't manage to get out on Saturday conker collecting as it rained in the afternoon, so will hopefully get out after school one evening this week, we always have a little competition to see who can find the biggest
Hope everyone has a nice day x