Hibernation?

We have a freezer and a 2 large shelves in the garage stocked up with various tins of food, pasta, cleaning products, soap and odds and ends, the freezer is stocked with bread, milk and bags of frozen veg.

Just in case

Our nearest shop is 4 miles away.

I used to be a bit like that when DH was alive snd during Covid - enough provisions for a siege!
I think I’m just mentally dreading the bad weather and (probably) over-thinking any problem I might incur.

I don’t mind the Winter just hate the dark nights. I don’t tend to stock up more than usual I have lots of shops within walking or car distance so don’t see the point.

I live in the sticks and always have enough food in the larder, freezer and fridge to see us through, spares of all the cleaning products and toiletries and lots of loo paper too. I keep cartons of UHT milk in the larder rather than using up freezer space.

Living up here in the hills I have always stocked up for winter as we sometimes get a lot of snow. I have several cartons of long life milk and a full freezer.
I also make sure I have plenty of tea and coffee and other dry goods.

All good practical ideas - I think I’m foreseeing problems before they arise. Maybe an age thing and just more conscious of another Winter on my own and not wanting to rely on DDs. (Never have done..so far)

Always best to be prepared!

My mum used to always have a fully stocked pantry and I’m a bit like her. Funnily enough one Christmas I took ill and had to go into hospital I’m always bought packed and wrapped by the 1st week in December now! It’s what you do isn’t it?

I love Autumn and don't mind Winter-although it does go on a bit too long.And we live on a road that's tricky to get out of when very icy or snowy.I'm a big batch cooker at all times and go into overdrive with soups,casseroles and pasta sauces for the colder months and love seeing the freezer stocked up.And can always make a meal out of store cupboard ingredients. I like hankering down.Up to a point !

I love tortoises and have often envied them their ability to sleep through winter and emerge in spring.

We’ve moved from a remote rural area to one with shops within walking distance, plus our new area doesn’t usually get such severe weather so I don’t need to stock up like I used to.

I do dread the coming dank, dark days, though. It was very cold when visited my ds in America last year (Minus 8 max daytime temps!) but their cold is so much drier and it was sunny so it just didn’t feel that cold. There was no frost on the cars and snow melted away without leaving any ice or slush. Our winters would be more bearable if they were like that.

Have you considered grips on your shoes/boots for walking on ice, Georgesgran? We have Yak Trax and they are very good. Simple to put on and they’re lightweight and squish down small so you can keep them in a bag.

My stock building is not based on winter, but my years in the workplace, especially when my children were young.

I tried to reduce the time I spent shopping to an absolute minimum. A big shop every 5 weeks when I made sure I had enough of all the basics to see me through, with a bit extra, then weekly shops just meant fruit and veg and took no time at all. Meat was bought every three months from a butcher and put in the freezer.

I still shop like that. Obviously with only the two of us the quantities I buy now are less than when their wre four of us, but the system stays unchanged.

I love Autumn and winter, the cold wet weather, we rarely get snow or ice these days, winter clothes, and dark evenings. I love them all.

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Who’s Carol?

My kitchen is tiny, no room for stocking up, but shops just round the corner so no need anyway.

No, no, no 🙉
It's still August!!

My freezer is full my cupboards are full all year round it's a habit I started years ago.
Nothing goes to waste I even have a bag of long life essentials in the dining room. Mostly comprising tinned beans lentils etc to add to stews and soups for winter.
I hate the wet cold winter days well my joints do I wish I could hibernate.

Oreo

Who’s Carol?

Christmas Carol?

I don't stock up much, never did. I'm not a hamster or a squirrel. There's plenty of delivery services here, never stopped by bad weather - and I'm out in it, too, daily, walking the dog.

I love winter, but still it's too early to consider it yet, surely? We've warm days coming later this week. I do share the worry about slipping on ice, though, so have those grippers to put on my walking boots - essential.

I'm out in the sticks too so am I the habit of keeping well stocked up. Tins, frozen goods, long life milk cartons etc just in case I can't get out. I don't welcome the dark evenings but don't really mind winter as long as it's not too extreme.

I keep a well stocked larder in order to mimimise shopping time and ensure I do not run out of things from one week's end to the other.

I have shopped for a friend since the onset of COVID and fully realised all the complexities of ordering food through others, whether a supermarket or a friend. Some items, she needs urgently I cannot get, other times I am not sure about replacement items - and of course, on occasion I pick up something completely unordered and unwanted by mistake, it is not possible to add last minute items.

I do my own shopping, not too often and keep well stocked.

M0nica

My stock building is not based on winter, but my years in the workplace, especially when my children were young.

I tried to reduce the time I spent shopping to an absolute minimum. A big shop every 5 weeks when I made sure I had enough of all the basics to see me through, with a bit extra, then weekly shops just meant fruit and veg and took no time at all. Meat was bought every three months from a butcher and put in the freezer.

I still shop like that. Obviously with only the two of us the quantities I buy now are less than when their wre four of us, but the system stays unchanged.

I love Autumn and winter, the cold wet weather, we rarely get snow or ice these days, winter clothes, and dark evenings. I love them all.

Last paragraph, totally there with you 😁❄️❄️⛈️🥶