You probably heard the story of the ant and the grasshopper when you were a kid. In the beloved fable, Mr. Grasshopper spent all autumn playing and enjoying the season while Miss Ant was busy gathering and stocking food. As winter came, the ants stayed in their anthill with food to eat while the grasshopper had a difficult time looking for food in the cold. This is the perfect example of why you should take winter survival tips seriously.
The Christmas season is fast approaching. The days are getting shorter and the nights longer. It’s also getting colder and colder. It’s about time then to take the necessary precautions to prepare for the coming cold season.
Winter Survival Tips At Home
Even in the comforts of your home, the cold can still make things uncomfortable and maybe even deadly. Knowing various winter survival tips will ensure that you have a great Christmas season at home.
Stock Up On Food
Like the ant in the story, you need to stock up on food. If it gets too cold, you may not want to go out to get something to eat. It’s unlikely that you’ll freeze to death the moment you step out of your home. But there are risks when you go out during a snowstorm or when the weather is really cold.
You shouldn’t wait for winter before you think of stocking up on food and other supplies. You should prepare for the eventuality of natural disasters, economic collapse, or a terrorist attack. If these tragedies happen, you will find it difficult to procure food and water for yourself and your family.
The more food you hoard, the more you’ll have when disaster strikes. Just make sure you get the ones that have a long shelf life.
Water Supply
You’d think that with all the cold going on around you that you’d never go thirsty or dehydrated. Not only is this wrong but to think that is foolish and dangerous.
It is true that you feel less dehydrated during winter but that’s because we don’t feel hot or sweat too much. Still, the body loses a significant amount of water because of respiration and increased activity. The problem is that the body is 40 percent less likely to detect thirst when it’s cold. That means it’s doubly dangerous to not have an ample water supply during the winter season.
Stock up on enough drinking water to last the entire season and even longer. You shouldn’t just be thinking of the coming months but beyond that. It’s also wise to have different ways of procuring clean water. Invest in a filtration system for your home.
Staying Warm Indoors
Aside from food and water, shelter is one of the most important needs. This is even more important during winter. Clothes and jackets can only do so much in keeping you warm. You need your home to be winter-proof.
One of the most obvious winter survival tips when it comes to fighting the cold is to wear warm clothes. Wool is the best material for staying warm. Make sure you have wool blankets for every member of the household. In fact, wool blankets will make for a better gift compared to those ugly Christmas sweaters.
Invest in a heater. If the thought of using too much electricity to warm your home is a bit alarming, you can alternate it with using your fireplace. Stock up on firewood beforehand so you will always have a fire burning and keeping you warm. If these still don’t work, you can cuddle. Use each other’s body heat to survive the cold.
Winter Survival Tips: Outdoors
Some of you may be thinking, “Why on Earth would you go on a hike or go camping in the cold and with Christmas very near?” For some people, that’s an ideal way to spend the holidays. Others may be taking the trip through snow-infested places to get back home in time to sing “For he’s a jolly good fellow” with their loved ones. Whatever the reason you’re out in the cold, you should take the following winter survival tips to heart.
Stay Hydrated
When you’re on an ice trek, bring lots of water. Use a water bladder filled with water or fluids rich in electrolytes. A mini water filter will also do wonders when you run out of clean water and come across a frozen lake or even an icy puddle.
Find Food
You should have enough food on you to last for the duration of your trip. In case, you run out of food, you can still keep your tummy full by foraging and hunting.
You should be knowledgeable about the different edible plants you can forage, particularly in the area where you are. Before going on your outdoor adventure, find out the vegetation in the area so you know what to look for in case your food supply runs dry.
You should also know how to fish, hunt, and trap animals for food. Once you catch one, you need to prepare it for cooking. Learn how to skin and clean different animals.
Start A Fire and Keep Warm
Speaking of fire starters, knowing how to start a fire is a great skill to have. This will especially prove true during winter. If you live in an isolated cabin in the middle of the woods and do not have the luxury of a heater, building a fire in your fireplace will help you survive the cold. But if you don’t have a roof over your head, you can still start a fire in the snow.
Look for a clean spot for your fire. You can build one near or under a tree as long as you knock down all the snow in it first. Make sure there’s a place nearby where you can store your firewood. You should also place your wood on top of some rocks or anything that can keep your firewood from touching the wet ground.
A good place to build your fire is near the entrance of your tent. But don’t place it too near as your tent and gear may catch fire.
Clear your spot of snow. Use tinder and kindling to start your fire and follow it up with bigger pieces of wood. Make the most of your fire by using Mylar blankets to trap the heat.
Place the thermal blankets over your tent. If you don’t have a tent, build a makeshift tent with your Mylar blankets so you can still trap the heat.
Once you got your fire burning, place some rocks beside it. You can use these hot rocks to warm your bed. Wrap the hot rocks in something thick such as a piece of clothing.
Other Winter Survival Tips
We mentioned that it’s quite difficult to say if you’re dehydrated when it’s cold. To lessen the risk of dehydration, you should watch out for the signs. Check your lips, skin, and mucus membrane. If they’re dry, you’re likely dehydrated. The same can be said when your urine is yellowish. Other symptoms include headache, dizziness, and thirst.
You can quench your thirst and hydrate with snow if you’re out of drinking water. You only need to know the proper way of melting and purifying the snow. If the snow is clean, you can melt it using your body heat or by placing a container filled with snow near a fire. You can also use the heat of the sun to melt snow. To be on the safe side, rid the melted snow of dirt and pathogens. Do so by straining then boiling, using water purification tablets, or other purifying systems. Also, avoid eating snow.
If you’re out and your car breaks down in the middle of a snowstorm, your best bet to survive is to stay where you are. Ideally, you should have an emergency or survival kit in your car.
This should include extra clothes, fire starters, thermal blankets, and other provisions for staying warm.
Avoid getting wet when you’re on a winter adventure in the snowy mountains or someplace else. You should avoid wearing cotton clothes. It takes some time to dry up and may increase the risk of hypothermia.
If you’ve been prepping for a while now, you should know that you should constantly update your bug out bag. Your BOB should always carry clothes appropriate for different weather conditions. It’s especially important to pack warm clothes, ponchos, thermal blankets, and other items to help you stay warm.
According to scientists, we’re experiencing an ice age right now. The world is actually enjoying the Holocene, the interglacial or warm period of the long-running ice age from 2.6 million years ago. The next glacial period, the major ice age often depicted in the popular animated movie franchise, is not expected until 50,000 years from now. That doesn’t discount the fact, however, that you need to prepare for the cold.
Take the winter survival tips listed here to heart so you won’t end up like Mr. Grasshopper.
Check out The Gentleman Pirate for other tips on surviving winter such as the one below talks about the best wool blankets you should have at home, especially this coming Christmas season.
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