This post serves a dual purpose: Channeling your money into Amazon kickbacks A.) Listing some basic cold weather prepping gear, and B.) Providing possible gifts for just about anybody. Who doesn’t need batteries or an extra flashlight?
I’ve included Amazon links, but for some items (like batteries), Sam’s or Lowes tends to offer better prices.
The Basics
Here are some all-purpose tools everyone should already have, listed here for completeness sake.
First aid kit: There are a lot of different makes and models of these, and this is another one where Sam’s offers a kit that’s a bit cheaper than this one. Has a little bit of everything. A good thing to keep in your car for emergencies.
Smoke alarm: Everyone should already have these, but if you don’t, or want more, these are cheap, and it has a silence button so you can put it in your kitchen. This batch seems to be made in Mexico, but First Alert also makes stuff in China, so caveat emptor.
Carbon Monoxide detector. Doesn’t say, but I suspect it’s another item made in China. There are some combination carbon monoxide/smoke detectors, but I think you want to avoid the possibility of a single point of failure.
Fire Extinguisher: Every home should have at least one, and make sure it’s not expired. This is what I have (I think it’s made in Mexico), but fortunately I’ve never had to use it.
Water leak detector: A lot of people don’t have these, but I consider them essential basic gear, as they can save you hundreds or thousands of dollars in water damage. I had one of mine go off a week before the ice storm hit because a shutoff valve I had closed to plunge an overflowing toilet had started leaking. Usual made in China caveats apply, but it’s very simple tech (two parallel wires on the exterior that water closes the circuit and sets off when wet). That link goes to a 5-pack, because I recommend putting one behind every toilet, under every sink you use, under your water heater, and next to your washing machine (I’ve had mine start rocking for an unbalanced load that pulled the drain hose loose). (There’s an even cheaper five pack from another manufacturer (also made in China) that I have no experience with.)
Speaking of plunging toilets, I imagine everyone already has a plunger, but if you don’t, here’s one, and you might consider one for each bathroom, or at least each floor. Also, the black bell shaped ones are a lot more effective than the small old red ones.
Speaking of things everyone should already have more of, everyone needs flashlights. I have an old bulb-type Maglite, but here’s a pretty close equivalent with LEDs. As a bonus, it’s also heavy enough to conk someone out. I have flashlights in my bedroom, my kitchen and in my car’s glovebox. The highest rated flashlight on Amazon is the Streamlight 75458 Stinger DS, which is about four times as expensive as the Maglite. I assume it’s brighter and with a longer life, and maybe you have a use case that justifies the cost. And speaking of ridiculous lights I have no use case for…
The IMALENT MS18 is evidently so insanely bright that it has its own cooling fan. Here’s a video of how insane it is. And if you have flashlights, chances are you’ll also need…
Batteries. The Maglite takes D-Cells, and you’re going to want, at a minimum, enough to reload every flashlight twice, which should be enough to get you through a couple of evenings of power outages. Check your flashlights every six months when you check your smoke and CO detectors. Speaking of which, those and the water leak detectors take 9 volt batteries, and you want enough around to be able to change out every battery in your detectors as needed. Those links go to Duracells, which I’ve been pretty happy with.
Car jump starter: Much better than jumper cables, and can save you money when you have a dead battery, or because it’s just not cranking in the cold.
Gas And Water Emergency Shut Off Tool. The Orbit 26097 is a well-built tool that provides a water shutoff valve, a gas shutoff valve, manhole cover lift tool, and a rubberized grip. You need one of these for the same reason you need a water leak detector, i.e. it will greatly limit damage before the plumber gets there.
Sawyer Products Water Filtration System: If you’ve ever been under a water boil notice, the Sawyer system is Good Enough to get you through, even if it is a slight pain to fill and squeeze the bag enough times for my dogs and I to drink (but still less of a pain that boiling water and waiting for it to cool).
Duct tape is useful to have year-round, but especially during an emergency, to patch a small leak or keep something together until the emergency is over and you can replace it. Link goes to 3M all-weather duct tape, which is better than the generic stuff for outside tasks, like sealing around the edge of a faucet cover.
Cold Weather
Here are some specific prep items for cold weather:
Faucet Covers. If you’re a homeowner, you probably already have those, but if not, here they are, and they seem to work better than a rag or dripping the faucet, and neither of my faucets busted in the ice storm. That link goes to the cheap Styrofoam version, but these plastic ones look a bit bigger and stronger.
O’Keeffe’s Working Hands cream: I walk my dogs 2-3 times a day pretty much every single day of the year, and I found my hands getting cracked and raw in the cold, even through gloves. O’Keeffe’s Working Hands fixed the problem. I frequently give this stuff out as Christmas gifts.
Carmex lip balm. A small, cheap jar that solves the chapped lips problem in winter. I know some people prefer Chapstick, but to me the main result of using Chapstick is that 30 minutes later you fell a need to use more Chapstick.
Kerasal Intensive Foot Repair for cracked and painful feet. Podiatrist recommended!
De-icing spray. You can stand there for 15 minutes ineffectually scraping your frozen windows like William H. Macy in Fargo, or you can keep a bottle of this in your trunk.
Tags: ice storm, prepper, weather
This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 23rd, 2022 at 10:52 AM and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Flashlights – good.
Headlamps – much better, especially when you need both hands.
I don’t usually plug them, but Cabela’s has a pretty good sale going on right now, with free shipping for orders over $50.
They’re selling their own-brand .50-cal ammo cans for a sale price of $10, when the last time I got them they were $14.99, and now go for non-sale price of $19.99. I use them for ammo storage, as well as a myriad of other uses.
They’re about as good as the old US-surplus .50-cal cans that you used to be able to get for cheap (not any more!), with reasonably thick steel and a good water-tight rubber gasket.
If you don’t like a commercial endorsement on the comments feel free to delete it, but I’m hoping you won’t ban me for pointing out what I thought was a pretty good deal. I bought 10 of ’em since that’s their limit on quantity.
Fire Extinguishers: get one for your car, too. While you’re at it, consider a fire blanket. They have some that are just big enough to cover your stovetop, and are great for smothering stovetop fires.
De-icer: If you don’t live in a grotesquely cold area (you get frost or thin ice on your windshield), just use tap water. I know, “It’ll crack your windshield!” But it won’t if your windshield and the water aren’t that far apart in temperature. For me, in coastal Virginia, hot tap water works just fine for getting frost off without having to scrape anything.
Go with a car jump starter that has an air pump built in. Great for airing up your tires when they are low. Last time I visited my son in the DFW area, I discovered I had a flat tire when I was ready to go home. I aired up the tire (it was a slow leak) and was able to drive it to a tire place which patched it. (Turned out I had found a nail with the tire.) Got home two hours later than planned, but was able to get home.
Well, I traded my Minnesota storm windows for Florida hurricane shutters, so most of the cold weather stuff is non-applicable here.
But if you do live in the Sunshine State, I highly recommend having a gas generator for those frequent power outages, such as the ones we recently experienced after Ian and Nicole. Our neighbor loaned us his spare then, but I’m going to get our own after Christmas.
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