[doganjo]

At the moment, although I am literally 2 minutes from the main road through Clackmannan and it is relatively clear, I can't go anywhere as my knees are bad so I can't walk far and my car wheels are stuck in snow, and the bridge over the railway line is passable only by 4 x 4.  If the forecast is right about a partial thaw at the weekend, I may get my car out.  So I need a list of essential buys.  I need a 15 kg bag of dog food, a 20 kg sack of chicken pellets, groceries, straw, as well as salt and grit if I can find any.  I will have to prepare for the next onslaught by leaving my car at the other side of the bridge and taking all this stuff over in a wheel barrow, so will need to place the wheel barrow in a convenient place at the top of the garden before I go out.

I have plenty candles if the lights go out, and with a bit of luck I might have my stove, and with gas central heating I will be warm enough, as will the dogs.

Does anyone have any other suggestions for this next emergency?

[HappyHippy]

Paracetamol, plasters and cough remedies !
Flour, butter and yeast so you can do your own bread (or part baked stuff - lasts longer) 
Good stout walking boots and a sense of humour mrs !
Hope all's well Annie 
Karen x

[BlueDaisy]

I hate them but they are handy in these conditions - firelighters (and matches)

[Susie]

- How about bottled water in case the pipes freeze/burst and you need to turn the water off? Sorry, not a great thought but better to be prepared I guess.
- Long life milk
- Bread ingredients as previously mentioned
- Check you have a good supply of any prescription medicines and that there are no gaps in any first aid kit you already have.
- Groceries - we have recently been stuck for 10 days. I had got loads of tinned stuff in and huge bags of pasta and rice. We don't normally eat a lot of tinned food but at least you know it will last ages and not go off.
- Tea/coffee
- An enormous bar of chocolate and a good book 

Lots to carry - hope you manage to get out and get everything you need safely. Is there anyone nearby that could help? One of the local farmers round here took us into town in his pick up to get supplies when we were stuck in January. If you know anyone with a 4x4 I'm sure they would be happy to help?

[lazybee]

A large bottle of whiskey 

[RUSTYME]

 store as much water in a frost free place  ( heated spare bedroom ) as you can . I am getting by on less than 1 gallon a day at the moment ,the water has been frozen for well over a week .
 I have enough tinned food to last 3 months the same with dried food ie : rice , pasta ,flour etc even dried potato yuk yuk yuk .... anyway , the same with dog food .
 Just get as much of the basics as you can , Rice, pasta , flour , dried milk , porridge oats , and then get plenty of tinned soup , whatever you like the most , but vegetable soup will be better nutritionally .
 If you have room , a 56lb bag of spuds , ones with the dirt on store better . A 26lb bag of carrots , a large amount of other veg that you like ie swede , turnips , parsnips, cabbages ,onions .
 Then , if you have a freezer plenty of frozen veg as well .
 Plenty of tea and coffee ( enough for 6-8 weeks ) .
 Any medication that you need , enough to last for at least a few weeks if it will store that long ?
Candles are ok in a short emergency , but they don't last very long , and many of them contain lead ...so are poisonous  !!!! So if you can get  a couple of hurricane lamps , they are only £3 or £4 or so on ebay , and you can use heating oil (get a 5 gallon drum from a friend or a local garage ) in them instead of buying expensive paraffin .
 They give out much more light , are much safer and are not as bad for your health as candles . No need to bin any candles you do have , I use them myself , just don't rely on them .
A good wind up torch is a must as well , they save so much money on batteries , but if you have a normal torch , get rechargeable batteries instead of throw away ones , and get at least two lots of batteries . One lot in the torch charged and ready for use , and a second charged and waiting , more would be even better.
Keep a mobile phone charged up and ready just in case the phone lines come down too.
 That will cover you for a good while , and all can be used as normal after any emergency is over .

 Hope that helps Annie ... keep warm and safe mate ..

cheers

Russ

[ellied]

I'm another one with a cupboard full of pasta, rice, dry beans, dry chickpeas etc and a freezer full of veg to make into soups.  Porridge oats are a must and you can put a spare milk, bread, butter and cheese in the freezer too.  So far I have been eating everything but the dried stuff and the fridge/freezer are going down but there is still plenty and I'm topping up at the weekend by Asda.com delivery which I'd recommend if you are having difficulty getting about physically.  Tesco, Sainsbury etc all do home deliveries for £5 or less, my Asda one is £3 cos it's coming on Sunday evening - worth a bit of time setting up the first delivery as you can then reorder from "favourite items" and not have to go into every area looking for your usual brands   The service is limited at the moment but if you're that close to a town then I imagine they'll get out to you and they deliver right to the door if not the kitchen table..

As for the animal feeds, I'd double up at least 2 sacks of the dog and chicken feed and ask if they can be delivered - would be worth a couple of quid delivery if a 4x4 can get to you as it'll also leave a track   If you buy from a decent agri store they will usually do their best to get animal feeds out or get a farmer near you to collect it for you even if you don't know who that might be.

Wind up torch is a great idea - I have one in the car full time and it won't run out like candles/matches or be a fire risk.