What do you stock up on for winter (if you do)? When do you start stocking?

[6packofun]

I *hate* going out in the winter for pretty much anything except food.  lol  Starting this month I'll be stocking my pantry and closets with:

 

Toilet paper

Puffs (Ultra Soft & Strong only!)

Canned goods that I use more in the winter like a few cream soups, canned milks, chicken stock, etc.

Extras of the herbs & spices I use most so that I don't have to "run out" to the store for them

Vitamins if the expiration date is far enough away and herbal/medicinal teas

I'm buying new water jugs this year, ones with handles; we buy our water because our well water sucks

More wool socks (I just get more every year since we wear them out every other year or so. Not sure why but we don't tend to wear our slippers.)

Plastic for sealing windows

 

I'm sure there are more things we need.  What do you like to have a LOT of before the snow starts falling?  :)  (Sorry if "snow" is an evil word right now!!  LOL)

[Laura Corin]

I'm buying new warm running gear for Hobbes.  I can't think of much else that we stock up on.  We normally split logs in October, but last winter was mild, so Husband just needs to chainsaw some branches to top up our supplies.  Oh, I usually check that we have some salt for the driveway.  That's about it.

 

Our winters are not usually harsh though - windy and dark but not that snowy.

[HomeAgain]

Road salt.  It's never at the store when you need it.

Tea - I buy at a small tea shop rather than the grocery store.

 

 

Other than that, I don't really know. I figure I'm going out to the grocery store anyway for staples, and I unload in a closed garage away from the weather, so I'll be okay for the most part.  I have a food delivery once a week, also, and Amazon for bulkier purchases like laundry soap.

[Liz CA]

Tea - I like the special kind of Honeyroo from Mountain Rose.

Firewood

We don't live in an area where winter weather is very severe - no snow, just rain, so grocery and any other shopping still happens.

 

ETA: You know this is a great thread to get you thinking. Buying supplies for colds like kleenex is a great idea because usually nobody wants to go anywhere when sick.

I also need to freeze / can a few more tomatoes.

Edited September 5, 2017 by Liz CA

[Annie G]

I don't like pushing a heavy grocery cart through a snowy parking lot so I stock up on heavy or bulky things to limit the size/weight of my weekly cart.  That includes cat litter, toilet paper, paper towels, bottled water, and soda.   I also stock up on things I use frequently during winter, like chili beans.  Also when things are on sale during holiday time, I pick up extras. I generally buy a whole year's worth of chocolate chips then (I only need about 10-12 pkg) as well as extra canned pumpkin for bars and such, cranberries to freeze, and stockpile butter if it's at a super good price.  I buy meat in bulk so I make sure to have plenty for winter. 

 

I get cat food delivered via Chewy. Spices come from The Spice House. 

 

Nothing takes the sting out of a winter storm like hot chocolate chip cookies and a pot of homemade soup.  Well, having enough toilet paper is pretty good, too. 

 

 

[TX Native]

TP, laundry detergent, toiletries, canned goods, bulk rice, oats, nuts, dried beans, kitchen paper goods, and anything else that comes to mind. I also hate going out in winter unless necessary.

[regentrude]

Nothing. I have to go to work every day anyway, so stopping by the grocery store on the way home makes no difference.

Can people really avoid venturing outside in the winter? Don't you have places to go to?

[frugalmamatx]

Everything. I have to walk a half mile to the bus each way, so in winter when it's rainy / cold I don't like to go. So I stock up on everything. 

[Elizabeth86]

You know, if I had the room I would stay stocked up, but I only have room. for like 1 pkg toilet paper and 1 pack of paper towels, 1 laundry detergent. BasicLly what we need for a week or 2. No storage space anywhere. Luckily we dont have bad weather for any length of time. Snow melts about as soon as it comes. Dh can always get out ok.

[MEmama]

Ha ha ha! I can't imagine avoiding going outside for half the year. ;)

 

I don't stock up on anything different than the rest of the year. We used to order several pallets of wood pellets but we just buy them as needed now. Other than that, none of our essentials require seasonal stockpiling.

[Spryte]

It's never occurred to me to stock up for winter. I didn't know this was a thing.

 

We do pick up a fresh supply of the supplements that my doc likes us to have on hand during flu season.

 

And I will pick up holiday baking items as I see them on sale, or specialty foods that don't stay in the stores long.

 

Oh, and possibly, if it's a good year, we might get a case of Beaujolais Nouveau.

 

Other than that - ummmm, stocking stuffers. :)

[solascriptura]

Just rock salt.

[6packofun]

I do go out, of course.  We have fewer activities in winter, though, and even if I'm out for one thing it doesn't mean I want to go shopping as well if the weather is crummy.  LOL  It's just a convenience thing more than actual necessity!  This year we're predicted to have much more snow than last so I'm trying to make life a little easier.  :)

 

You all reminded me about salt!  I have to keep an eye out for the pet-friendly snow melt stuff I like and it's only available for a short time, it seems.

[Tap]

I live in the PNW.  I don't stock up on anything really.  We live in a city and may get a week or two of snow, but otherwise it isn't really a concern. Grocery stores clear the parking lots and we shovel our driveway.  I can't imagine Trying to stay in the house.  I am usually looking for reasons to leave it. LOL

[rose]

Firewood

 

Frankly, I always like to have a stockpile of just about everything. We live about 1 hour from town so we try to avoid town as long as we can to save on fuel.

[skimomma]

Ha ha ha! I can't imagine avoiding going outside for half the year. ;)

 

 

 

Me too.  Winter is more than 6 months of the year and not going out is not an option....especially since I have to go to work.

 

But there is one thing.  Cat litter.  It is heavy and goes in the basement.  The outside door to the basement is not accessible during those 6 months so I try to get enough to last the winter before it snows so I am not schlepping it through the house and down the rickety ladder into the basement.

[wintermom]

I don't really stock up on food, but I do tend to buy and make more soups in the winter so I'll be getting a bunch of celery, carrots and onions.  

 

I already bought special winter clothes (mitts at Costco), and ski pants at end-of-season-sale last year. 

[lavender's green]

Winter here is so mild that in general it's a lot more pleasant to do your shopping than in summer. However, we do get 2-3 "snowstorms" (lol...I was born and raised on some serious lake-effect snow) per year which make people absolutely freak out and buy up all the bread, tp, peanut butter, etc. So I guess it's nice to have a well-stocked pantry just to beat the snowstorm crowd, but it's not necessary to enter winter that way...more just stay on top of your grocery shopping and pantry.

 

Also it's a good idea to buy up anything you might need like road salt, car scrapers, gloves, sleds, etc, the moment you see them, because they're usually sold weeks or months before they'll actually be needed, and never re-stocked.

[Guest]

Well dh is out all the time anyway so I don't need to stock on food beyond my regular 'keeping stocked up' habits. Even if I really don't want to go out. Plus: Amazon.

 

But I usually don't mind going somewhere in winter. In fact I particularly like going to stores when everyone else is hunkered down at home lol.

 

I do stock up on propane and paper plates for when the power is out.

 

This year I'm getting warm socks, booties, more base layers/long johns, and extra blankets :)

Edited September 4, 2017 by OKBud

[bluemongoose]

5 gallon buckets of: wheat flour, white flour, sugar, oats, pinto beans, mixed beans, and rice.

 

Chicken feed

store bought canned food

 

Home canned: jam, salsa, and applesauce.

 

Fermented sauerkraut and pickles

[Donna]

We generally have a well stocked pantry so are set if we get snowed in (which is rare here in NJ). We could keep ourselves fed for a good long time on the staples in there.

[frogger]

Sunshine. I start soaking it in in February but the real stocking up happens in July. ;)

[SamanthaCarter]

I usually have a well stocked chest freezer in the winter. It will have gobs of chicken broth, homemade pesto, summer tomatoes, zucchini bread. I try to make sure the kids have snow bins and snow boots early, because they won't be available closer to the time they're actually needed. Rock salt is a good idea!

 

 

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[frogger]

Oh and Salmon and rhubarb. Things I don't buy at the store.

[KungFuPanda]

This is when I do cold medicine inventory and restock NyQuil and stuff like that. I also like to get ice melt early in the season. When the flu, or snow, hits there tends to be a run on these things and I want no part of that madness.

[6packofun]

This is when I do cold medicine inventory and restock NyQuil and stuff like that. I also like to get ice melt early in the season. When the flu, or snow, hits there tends to be a run on these things and I want no part of that madness.

 

YES.

[Guest]

Summer clothes on sale to replace the ones I wrecked or loved this year.   

 

Every summer I take the tags of tank tops I got for $6 at Chico's last summer, even as they sell the same model for $22 this summer.  :0)

 

Oh, and wool socks from Costco.  Because when they're gone, they're gone.

 

 

[Pawz4me]

We don't get much serious winter weather here, and I like to stay stocked up all the time. But in the winter I do buy a few extra cans of beans and tomatoes and bags of potatoes and onions. And even more coffee than I normally keep. I still go out a lot, but I don't like having to go out if the weather is bad, and I especially try to avoid any more shopping than absolutely necessary during the holiday craziness.

Edited September 5, 2017 by Pawz4me

[Annie G]

Nothing. I have to go to work every day anyway, so stopping by the grocery store on the way home makes no difference.

Can people really avoid venturing outside in the winter? Don't you have places to go to?

 

 

Yeah, I go out during winter but I don't especially enjoy schlepping across an icy parking lot pushing a heavy shopping cart.  By stocking up and beginning the winter with a packed upright freezer, I can do my weekly shopping and carry the bags to my car in one trip.   

 

We live where it snows often but the snow isn't the real problem for me- it's that it melts and then refreezes and it makes it super slippery to walk on.   I love that I can reach out my front door and get my mail without even needing to have shoes on. 

 

Maybe I'm weird about it because I'm in my late 50's and I'm starting to get more cautious about things. Broken bones are just one of those things I'm (probably overly) cautious about. 

[AmandaVT]

The only thing I try to make sure I have on hand is Elderberry syrup and other cold/flu stuff - tissues, throat lozenges, etc. I go with the iron clad logic of if I have cold/flu supplies in the house, no one will get sick and need them.  :lol:

[Insertcreativenamehere]

I don't really stock up on anything but I do tend to order more household supplies from Walmart.com instead of going out to the store. (I hate going to Walmart but ordering online is easy and painless and online shopping tends to take the place of Target trips during the winter.) 

[cjzimmer1]

I always make sure to have a good supply of salt for the water softener.  I go through way more of that than slat for outdoors and it's a pain to push the cart through slushy parking lots, especially when I need 3-4 bags at a shot.

 

Otherwise I don't stock up from the store all that much because we buy  a half a beef and a half a big from the farmer.  Right now we are stockpiling produce but only because when I can/freeze/dehydrate fresh stuff and it tastes so much better than what I can buy at the store.  

[jjeepa]

I'm another one who does not like to schlep home bulky things during the cold winter months.  I live in an area that can receive some serious snow and pushing a loaded cart from Costco out into the snowy parking lot and loading my car in a windy 10 degrees, and then unloading again at home just kind of sucks.  So, I tend to stock up too.  I do canned goods, kitty litter, TP, paper towels, drinks, meat, medicine, laundry detergent, cleaning supplies, batteries, and dog food.  That way I can do a speedy trip into Trader Joes every other week for perishables.  Or order from Prime Pantry.    

[Audrey]

We have very long, very harsh winters.  Every year, I stock up on sanity.  Every year, I run short. 

[SKL]

I still go out.  But I prefer to have large (size) items like toilet paper etc. delivered vs. shopping for them at a store.  So I do that year-round.

 

When my kids were babies, I learned to stock up on some extra diapers and non-perishable milk boxes, due to a couple of times when they got very low due to weather or illness.  I stopped worrying about that once they could eat whatever I ate.

 

For winter, I try to remember to have one or two snow / ice cleaners in my passenger side leg space, and some blankets and a small shovel in the trunk.  I try to make sure my gas never gets low, as it is sometimes necessary to run the car to keep warm when you are stuck for a while.  I get my fluids checked and deal with any possible slow leaks etc.  For home, I try to remember to buy rock salt and confirm we have a couple of shovels that work.  I confirm my kids have coats and boots that fit.  Can't think of much else.

[SereneHome]

Love this thread.

 

 I like stocking up in general, not just for winter, but I just got some good ideas from this thread, to might be doubling my efforts.

 

I always stock up on paper products.  I try to stock up on flour when it's on sale - but it doesn't last in my house.  Same with sugar.

 

I need to start looking through BJ coupon book....

[madteaparty]

I don't have that sort of foresight. But it just occurred to me, my family really likes this green bean dish I make, maybe I should freeze some dill and cut beans and voila. I also "canned" (not sure it worked, I froze half the jars for hedging purposes) 25 pounds of tomatoes the other day. Again, total revelation to yours truly. 😂 It takes me a few centuries to catch up to the sum of commonly known human knowledge.

[justasque]

Hurricane season is a good time for me to start prepping for winter.  Simple stuff like bringing in any outdoor summer stuff is good to do before it gets too cold.  Checking lantern batteries and such helps for both hurricanes and snowstorms.  Making sure kids have appropriate winter gear.  And the general stocking up begins with the usual nonperishables - TP and peanut butter, beans and pasta, rice and frozen food, shampoo and toothpaste.  It's nice not to have to go out, if we don't want to, when the weather's bad.
 

It's a cycle, though.  So in January, after the Christmas excess, we start eating down the pantry, which helps stabilize the budget and encourages creativity on dreary days.  Jettisoning stuff from the pantry morphs into spring cleaning, with an energy for simplifying the household and minimizing stores.  Then the nice produce starts arriving, and we lose the taste for hearty meals, going for simpler meals based on fresh fruit and veggies as we use up the last of the winter's stores.  

[KungFuPanda]

Nothing. I have to go to work every day anyway, so stopping by the grocery store on the way home makes no difference.

Can people really avoid venturing outside in the winter? Don't you have places to go to?

Nope. I live in MD. They cancel things at the drop of a hat. I can subsist for weeks by using what's in the freezer and sending DH on short trips. He doesn't mind going to the store but he's strictly an express lane shopper. I teach classes in my home studio, so I don't have to leave the house to get my social fix. I'm big proponent of human hibernation because I hate winter. Dance classes and seed starting keep me sane. The long nights get to me. I don't get sad, but I get a bit of resigned lethargy that takes effort to shake. I make up for it by being high energy the rest of the year. I definitely phone in the entire month of February.

 

Eta: If even one of several surrounding counties cancels school, our co-op gets cancelled. I'm surrounded by enablers.

Edited September 5, 2017 by KungFuPanda

[Liz CA]

We have very long, very harsh winters.  Every year, I stock up on sanity.  Every year, I run short. 

 

This is me in the summer - very long, hot summers - ditto, ditto.  :)

 

[bettyandbob]

I make sure we have ice melt and snow shovels. I uncover the ice scrapers in the car along with a pair of wool mittens I keep in the car.

 

I don't do anything else.

[marbel]

Yeah, I go out during winter but I don't especially enjoy schlepping across an icy parking lot pushing a heavy shopping cart.  By stocking up and beginning the winter with a packed upright freezer, I can do my weekly shopping and carry the bags to my car in one trip.   

 

We live where it snows often but the snow isn't the real problem for me- it's that it melts and then refreezes and it makes it super slippery to walk on.   I love that I can reach out my front door and get my mail without even needing to have shoes on. 

 

Maybe I'm weird about it because I'm in my late 50's and I'm starting to get more cautious about things. Broken bones are just one of those things I'm (probably overly) cautious about. 

 

I don't think you're weird about it.

 

I've never liked driving in snow.  I learned to drive in California, so had little experience when I was young.  When we lived in Oregon, we didn't get much snow, but our road was a steep, curvy hill, and was best avoided in the worst weather.  So I learned to do a little prep each fall.  Now it's a habit, even though where we are in Pennsy we don't generally get huge snows. I just prefer not to drive if I don't have to.  I also get less cold tolerant as I age; no matter the rating on my parka, I am cold outside.

 

Also, our power does go out a lot, and we have an all-electric kitchen. 

 

I fill the freezer and buy a few more canned things. I keep a lot of canned beans because dried beans are no help when there's a power outage, but I can throw a can of beans into a pot to cook on the gas grill burner.   This year I'm planning to cook and freeze some beans ahead.  But in a long power outage, I don't want to be opening the freezer either.  After Sandy we had no power for 3 or 4 days.  

 

I buy extra tp and certain personal care items.  Extra chocolate.  Bottled water though we have never needed it.  And, for some reason, those refrigerated tubes of cinnamon buns. We never buy them except when bad weather is coming. It's not just us:  I remember a shopping trip in preparation for some storm, and there was this huge group of people standing in front of the tube pastry section, pondering their storm needs.  Weird.  Desire for comfort food, maybe, without the effort of real baking?  

 

Don't be apologetic about not wanting to go out in bad weather.  Nothing wrong with being prepared to just stay home when it's stormy.  Local authorities agree with me. There are so many car accidents.  We can't be the only area that gets announcements on the news sites asking people to stay off the roads. 

Edited September 5, 2017 by marbel

[Alessandra]

I don't really stock up, but one thing I don't want to be without is drain cleaner, just in case. And lightbulbs.

[Carrie12345]

Nothing. I have to go to work every day anyway, so stopping by the grocery store on the way home makes no difference.

Can people really avoid venturing outside in the winter? Don't you have places to go to?

 

I have responsibilities I generally can't get out of twice a week in the winter.  If it's gross/slushy/super cold/snowing at all, I will avoid leaving the house the other 5 days.  If it's icy or significantly snowing, I'll stay home those two days, too.

 

Dh has traveled (driven) for work through snow storms, and it makes me want to drop out of mainstream society.  How anything beyond life-threatening emergencies could be so important as to necessitate driving through a snow storm is beyond me.  But most of his work is done from home, so he can semi-hibernate, too.

[elegantlion]

Rock salt is about it. Our winters are hit or miss, usually a couple of ice storms and cold, snow can be a lot or a little. 

[lailasmum]

We don't do masses. Our winters are usually more wet rather than snowy but we do get snowy winters every few years. We mostly get stuck in the house because of ice in a normal winter since we live on top of a hill but even then it's usually for a day or two max. I tend to bulk buy pet food and other basics if we're likely to get a bad winter. Sometimes shops can get a bit empty when it's really icy because delivery lorries have to cross moorland roads to get here but it usually only lasts a couple of days.

[jjeepa]

I don't really stock up, but one thing I don't want to be without is drain cleaner, just in case. And lightbulbs.

 

Oh my gosh...me too!  I am kind of paranoid about not having drain cleaner on hand.  

[6packofun]

Oh my gosh...me too!  I am kind of paranoid about not having drain cleaner on hand.  

 

Do you get clogs often?!  I would never have thought of that!  Do you use it for maintenance or just when it clogs?  I'm totally curious.  lol

[skimomma]

Do you get clogs often?!  I would never have thought of that!  Do you use it for maintenance or just when it clogs?  I'm totally curious.  lol

 

I'm curious too.  I don't think I have ever purchased drain cleaner.  Any drain issue I've ever had could be remedied with a plunger or taking the drain neck off to clear it.

[Wabi Sabi]

I don't really stock up on too much, although at the first prediction of snow I generally will buy several bags of ice melt and make sure I can find our snow shovel since sometimes those items are harder to find in the middle of a storm.

Maybe we go through more toilet paper than the average family, lol, but I can't imagine stocking up for the entire winter! Same goes for dog food, cat food, chicken feed, kitty litter, etc. There's just no way that I could store or afford that much at once. That said, staying home isn't an option for us anyhow due to work, school, and the kids' various activities, so it's not a big deal to stop at the store and buy things as needed.