Preparing for Winter V

Laura_Elsewhere

We have a shelf in the dead space above the front door of our little top-floor flat, which has a battery-powered lantern with spare batteries, a camping-gas hob, and small saucepan and kettle suitable for said hob, so in the event of total loss of power we can heat a tin of soup and fill a hot water bottle at least...

Primrose

For anybody with.an all electric home those little one hob camping gas hobs are an absolute life saver. As yiu can boil water for a hot drink and  with tinned beef or mince meat & vegs can produce a simple hot meal. 

  We sometimes use ours in the garden with a cast iron griddle for cooking chops, burgers or sausages as a simple and cleaner alternative to small barbecues. 

Brambleberry

I was gifted a little butane camping gas hob a few years ago following a prolonged power cut, but haven't used it yet - do you use yours indoors?

Primrose

We used ours on the kitchen worktop of an all electric flat during power failure.  We obviously made sure there was nothing g close to it like teatowels, kitxhen rolls etc that rocked getting near the gas flame.

if you haven't used yours for a while and it,s been stored in a damp shed or garage check any accompanying gas canisters to ensure they're still in good condition and haven't rusted.  If there,s any sign of rust obviously don,t use them and dispose of them safely in the correct place at your Council tip and not in your general wheelie bin rubbish where, if still containing any gas, they could risk causing an explosion in the rubbish collection truck.

MrsCD

We've used ours, like @Primrose, in our all electric home, on the flat kitchen hob with all flammable items well out of the way. I would just add that, even in the middle of Winter, we had the window wide open for ventilation. We have 2 so we can use one for the whistling kettle and the other for soup etc.

Kaylataste

The sun has decided to come out today,so I think I will have a winter fleece and throws laundry day.So if it rains later,you can all blame me! 

Siebrie

I'm on the look-out for slippers: bootie-shaped ones with a proper sole, which keep our feet and ankles nice and warm. Socks and low slippers just don't do it for us. We go for the slightly more expensive ones (€8 instead of €4...) and they last about 6 months.

Laura_Elsewhere

Siebrie said:

I'm on the look-out for slippers: bootie-shaped ones with a proper sole, which keep our feet and ankles nice and warm. Socks and low slippers just don't do it for us. We go for the slightly more expensive ones (€8 instead of €4...) and they last about 6 months.

Can you knit or do you know anyone who might knit for you in exchange for a skill you have? I make us "hosues" (because I mistyped "house socks" and it stuck as hosues!) which are socks knitted in thick Aran pure-wool on big 5-6mm needles, over-sized and floppy and then deliberately put through the normal 40-degree laundry and carefully tumble-dried for short periods until they have become thick, warm, hard-wearing bootee-shaped slipper-socks, very different from just "thick socks". Happy to post my notes for how I make ours which should be fine for anyone who can knit a sock already. 
My Intended's have lasted six years now with a new knitted sole sewn on and a bit of darning... 

PipneyJane

Siebrie said:

I'm on the look-out for slippers: bootie-shaped ones with a proper sole, which keep our feet and ankles nice and warm. Socks and low slippers just don't do it for us. We go for the slightly more expensive ones (€8 instead of €4...) and they last about 6 months.

@Siebrie - do you have a Super-U near you?  (It's the supermarket I shop at when I'm in Normandy.  I don't know how much of France they cover.)  The reason I ask is that I have  a pair of warm, felted wool slippers that I bought from SuperU which match your description.  From memory, they cost €12.  The house that we stay in is a15th Century stone farmhouse and we were there in November a few years ago, when the central heating failed.  I'm pretty sure that I've seen them for sale in SuperU on subsequent visits, including our last one in January 2020.

HTH

Pip

Si_Clist

I see on the BBC News website today that we have nothing to worry about, because

"On Wednesday, the government said there was a "highly resilient" food supply chain..."

Hmmm.  Is it only me that interprets that as "The food supply chain's on the verge of collapse, so don't be surprised if there's not a lot in the shops by the weekend"?