Winter Weather Survival - 10 Essentials You Should Never Leave Home Without!

Below are the 10 Essentials for winter weather survival that you should never leave home without! These 10 items should be in your car.

1) Clothing . You should always have fleece or pile socks, pants, shirts, jackets and hats in your car. A fleece blanket and goose down jacket and sleeping bag will ensure your comfort should you be stranded for any length of time without power or assistance.

2) Non-perishable food. You should have three days worth of food storage in your vehicle during the winter. Store MRE's or other dehydrated foods and power bars to stave off the hunger in the event of a prolonged stay in your car.

3) Water and/or water filtration capability. When you are surrounded by snow, you are surrounded by water, assuming you have a means to melt and purify the water. Water purifiers and purification tablets are a must for the climber, and you should have both in your car emergency kit. Remember, the human body can last weeks without food, but only a matter of days without water.

4) Knife, lighter, duct tape, utility tool and string. The simplest tools are always the ones that are the most missed in an emergency. Remember Cast Away with Tom Hanks? A simple knife and lighter would have changed his circumstances considerably and you should have both in your car at all times. Also, duck tape in an emergency is a must, you can manufacture any number of inventions with a little duct tape.

5) Communication. Your cell phone is vital. Make sure you have the means to recharge your phone with a crank device in the event you are without battery power. If you can't communicate with the outside world, you are really on your own.


6) Heat and stove. Your car emergency kit should include a camp stove and fuel for melting water and cooking food. A warm meal or drink soothes the soul in a long winter emergency, and will provide an indirect source of heat to boot. (Remember that a camp stove emits dangerous carbon monoxide, so you should only use one in a well-ventilated space. Open the car windows or cook outside when you use one.)

7) GPS. If you don't know where you are...you are truly lost. A good GPS unit will give you a sense of direction, but more importantly, it will give you a position for rescue. A portable GPS unit is a great addition to your car emergency kit.

8) Light. You should always carry a crank operated light and/or lantern for those unforeseen emergencies. Flash lights are good, but they rely on batteries that run out of power. Crank operated lights and snap lights for those long dark knights are the best companion you can buy in a winter emergency.

9 ) Hygiene & first aid. Don't forget to take care of yourself. Sanitation wipe for those wilderness privy's and cleaning needs are a must, and there is nothing better than brushing your teeth with real toothpaste after a long day in the wilderness. Basic cleaning soaps, gloves, lotion, essential medications (Benadryl, Tylenol, etc.), and basic first aid tools should be key ingredients in your safety kit.

10) Survival Book. There are many out there and I recommend you research them. Find your favorite and make sure you keep it in your car emergency kit. You never know, one day you may need to make fire from sticks...without a how-to guide, you may never see the glow or warmth of fire.

Food Storage Recipe - Chicken & Dumplings

So easy to make and so yummy! Plus it utilizes a lot of the items in my food stockpile.

NEED:

1 whole chicken

1/3 cup of dried whole eggs, like these Powdered Whole Eggs

1 cup of all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons powdered milk

1 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 tablespoon butter or margarine

1/2 cup of water

Get out your stockpot and cook the whole chicken in a pot of water.

Save the broth and debone the chicken.

FOR THE DUMPLINGS:

Sift all of the dry ingredients together. Cut in the butter (or margarine) until the mixture is the consistency of the cornmeal. Add the 1/2 cup of water to the flour mixture. Mix it up to moisten the dry ingredients. Drop by tablespoonfuls into the boiling chicken broth. Cover and cook for 12 minutes. DO NOT REMOVE THE LID DURING THIS COOKING TIME.

Add the pieces of deboned cooked chicken to the broth to make a thicker soup.

Wilderness Survival Handbook

Wilderness Survival Handbook was a free book for the kindle when this post was written.

When you head into the wilderness, you want to have some fun, to see, feel and experience the wonders. But a dream can turn into a nightmare, putting you in a survival situation, injured or lost. Those are the situations this book prepares you for. Full of invaluable information, it tells you how to deal with a self-reliant survival situation. From constructing shelter to starting fires. From purifying water to setting traps and snares. About signalling and how to navigate. The basics of first aid. You learn about weapons and tools you can improvise from the hardware store that is Nature. This book is a compilation of some useful tips and tricks that everyone venturing out into the wilderness should know about. Literally, a book full of awesome.

Food Storage Recipe - Potato Bacon Soup

Great way to warm yourself up on a cold day.

NEED:

2 cans of chicken broth

3 potatoes , peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1teaspoon dried thyme

5 strips of bacon , chopped

shredded cheese

Combine the broth, potatoes, onion , and thyme into a dutch oven.

Bring it to a boil and then reduce the heat and let it cook until the potatoes are tender.

While they are cooking - cook up the bacon until it is crisp.

Break the bacon up and add it to the soup. Simmer a few more minutes .

Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Put into bowls and sprinkle the top with the shredded cheese.

Keeping Warm During a Power Outage

Winter storms are responsible for many electrical power outages. These outages present a problem for us when we are trying to keep warm and comfortable in the cold weather, but it can be done.

The thing to remember is that you need to keep as much heat from escaping as possible and not trying to heat the whole house. It is much better to designate a warm room for the whole family to stay in while the power is off.

Choose a small, well-insulated room with least number of windows as your emergency living quarters. If there is a room in your home with a wood stove or a fireplace that is properly vented, that would be the one to pick. If your home does not have a wood stove or fireplace, you can still make your warm room comfortable.

Block your warm room off from the rest of the house and put blankets over the windows at night to minimize heat loss.

Then seal off all drafts from entering. If your windows are drafty, apply a window insulation kit. This is the clear plastic sheets that you adhere to the window frame with double-sided tape.

Insulation is the key to keeping warmth in and keeping out cold. Besides the windows, you also should seal your entrance doors and the doors to the unused rooms in the house. A rolled up towel will help stop drafts from under the doors.

The whole family, including the family pets, should group together in the warm room to benefit from the combined body heat.

If there is sunshine during the day, open the window coverings to let the sun in.

Put on several thin layers of clothing and don't forget to wear a hat. As much as 80% of a person's body heat can be lost without one. Thermal underwear is also very effective.

The body burns food to produce calories, which in turn keeps you warm. Prepare meals regularly and make sure everyone eats something.

If you have a propane BBQ outside, food cans could be opened inside and heated in the BBQ outside. Hot food is always preferable to cold and helps warm you up. You may prefer to cook most meals outside on the gas grill or BBQ, then bring them back inside.

Always try to keep an extra full propane tank in safe storage for these emergencies. Of course one family member will have to go outside to accomplish this.

A supply of emergency food bars or freeze-dried meals in self-heating packages are an excellent alternative, if no other cooking source is readily available.

At night use a couple of layers of blankets to cover you. If it is still too cold, wear some clothes and a hat to bed. Sleep with two or three people together under the blankets to maximize body heat.

Emergency survival sleeping bags retain as much as 90% of body heat, are inexpensive and easy to store. They would make an excellent addition to your emergency preparedness kit.

Above all, DO NOT USE kerosene or propane heaters, BBQ's, or any outdoor type heater inside your home. These appliances generate poisonous gases such as carbon monoxide, an odorless and colorless gas that is given off by combustion.

Allan Wright is a qualified writer with a keen interest in Family Health and Safety. He is presently the Project Manager for First Aid Kit Products, his articles reflect many of his thoughts and views concerning all avenues of Family Health and Safety.

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