Survival scenarios during winter may be dangerous because you’re not just dealing with things like a power outage, you also have to face various factors like freezing temperatures.
If you’re worried about how you’re going to keep your family warm during a power outage, invest in a wood-burning stove or get a kerosene heater and stock up on fuel before SHTF. (h/t to SurvivalCache.com)
The survival “Rule of Threes”
Beginner preppers often start their prepping journey by learning about the “Rule of Threes.” According to the Rule of Threes, you can survive:
- Three minutes without air
- Three hours without shelter
- Three days without water
- Three weeks without food
The timeframes for these rules are not absolute, but if you’re confused, the order of the rules will help you prioritize your needs. The version of the rule above is more about temperature regulation than shelter.
When SHTF, remember that you can only survive for three hours “without maintaining core body temperature.” Lengthy exposure to the cold will eventually use up your body’s stored energy, which can cause your body temperature to rapidly decrease, leading to hypothermia.
Signs and symptoms of hypothermia include:
- Clumsiness or lack of coordination
- Confusion or memory loss
- Drowsiness or very low energy
- Loss of consciousness
- Shivering
- Slow, shallow breathing
- Slurred speech or mumbling
- Weak pulse
Safety tips when using alternative heat sources
Before you start deciding which alternative method to use to stay warm during a power outage, follow the tips below to avoid accidents when SHTF.
Avoid sweating
If possible, avoid hard physical labor that can make you sweat in cold weather. This is dangerous because sweating in cold conditions may be deadly.
Carbon monoxide poisoning
Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning occurs when you burn biomass and fuels without proper ventilation. Exposure to CO can cause unconsciousness and even death.
Make sure you only burn fuel or gas in a well-ventilated area or room to prevent CO poisoning. You should also have battery-operated carbon monoxide detectors in your home that are functioning properly.
Fire safety
When using certain heat sources, there may be a risk for an uncontrolled fire to break out. Always prioritize fire safety when using a heat source like space heaters or a non-electric heater.
This means:
- Making sure the heat source can’t fall over.
- Keeping all flammable materials away from the heat.
- Knowing where you store fuel in relation to the heater.
- Having several methods for extinguishing an uncontrolled fire, like fire extinguishers.
Make sure rooms are properly ventilated
Make sure the area is well-ventilated when sheltering in closed spaces.
Even in cold weather, you can’t completely seal yourself off because you need a source of fresh air. If you’re closing the hatch when the temperatures drop, leave a window cracked open.
Alternative heat sources to use during a power outage
Before SHTF, consider some of the options detailed below so you can stay warm even when there’s a power outage.
Alcohol heater
An alcohol heater is usually small and lightweight, and can burn different fuels, making it a great emergency heating source. Additionally, alcohol is a relatively cheap and available fuel that you can buy from most big box stores or hardware stores.
You can use different types of alcohol with this kind of stove, but it’s best to use denatured alcohol because it burns the cleanest, making it safer to use indoors. Be careful with an alcohol stove since it produces flames that are nearly invisible.
Body heat
This emergency heat source has two variations.
- Using the body heat of other people is an effective way to stay warm. The best way to do this is to have your family get as close as possible and cover yourselves with an insulating layer like a blanket in one room.
- You can also use the body heat of animals when SHTF. Certain animals, like dogs, have an internal temperature that runs a little higher than humans. This means humans generally have a temperature of 98.6 F while a dog’s normal temperature can be several degrees above that. If the power goes out and you feel cold, cuddle with your pet dog or other friendly domesticated animals to stay warm.
Clothing
Wearing weather-appropriate clothing is crucial because your body is your primary source of heat. If the weather is cold, avoid wearing cotton. Once cotton gets wet, it loses its insulating ability.
Choose wool, which can be a bit expensive but is very durable. Even if wool clothing gets wet, its ability to insulate remains very high.
Wear wool socks to stay warm and put on a pair of gloves, a scarf and a hat. Covering these body parts will help prevent heat loss.
Wear several layers. You can peel off layers if it starts to feel warm.
Exercise
When SHTF and you lose all access to any kind of heat source, you can still stay warm with exercise since it is a great way to increase your body temperature.
While sweating in cold temperatures should be avoided, there is a trick to exercising to stay warm. Don’t exert yourself for long periods like you would during a normal exercise session since this will make you sweat.
Instead, work large muscle groups slowly, take a break, then repeat the process. Squats and pushups are good options because they target large muscle groups.
Electric heaters
Electric space heaters use electricity to heat internal coils, which provides radiant heat. Note that if you want to use electric space heaters, you also need a backup power supply.
This device requires a lot of energy to operate, so you need something more powerful than small-scale solar and wind systems. Get small or whole-home generators instead.
Fireplace
Many homes have a fireplace that is perfect for staying warm even without electricity. But most fireplaces aren’t efficient because most of the heat goes up and out the chimney flue.
If you don’t have another option, use a fireplace to stay warm.
Hand warmers
Hand warmers are a quick and easy way to keep parts of your body warm.
There are two different kinds of hand warmers: non-electric and electric.
Non-electric heaters come in a packet and consist of a chemical mixture that generates heat when activated. These types of hand warmers are cheap and you can easily find them at sporting goods stores, big box stores or hardware stores.
Electric heaters are little devices that can be used to charge other devices or as a hand warmer. If you don’t have electricity, you will need an alternative power source to charge it, like a generator or solar panels.
Kerosene heater
A kerosene heater needs kerosene as a liquid fuel. When ignited, kerosene produces an open flame enclosed within the frame of the heater.
Due to the nature of the fuel being used and the open flame, some kerosene heaters have an accidental tip over shutoff mechanism. This safety feature will extinguish the flame if the heater becomes unstable to prevent an uncontrolled fire. (Related: Survival tips: How to live without electricity like the Amish.)
Outdoor fire
Outdoor fires can help a large group stay warm, but the downside is a lot of the warm air from the fire itself is lost to the surrounding area.
To create a better heating system, set up a heat reflector around the fire by building a small wooden fence. This will help radiate some of the heat back to you.
Pellet stoves
Pellet stoves are similar to wood stoves, but the former are usually smaller and can be more expensive. But pellet stoves burn quite clean, work efficiently and generate a lot of heat.
Instead of firewood, you only need recycled sawdust and wood compressed into small pellets.
Propane heater
A propane heater can provide heat during an outage and they are portable like a traditional space heater. Propane heaters typically use small bottles of propane that attach right to the heater.
Rocket mass heater
A rocket mass heater is a type of rocket stove that operates similarly to a rocket stove but on a larger scale. Pair a rocket mass heater with a ventilation system for a very effective indoor heater.
Tea candles
Even small candles are effective at warming small spaces if you don’t have other heat sources.
While you can use several tea candles to keep an average-sized room warm, you shouldn’t use this method if you are going to sleep. It’s much safer to heat a room with candles using several clay pots.
Wood-burning stove
Unlike a fireplace, where most of the heat is lost through the chimney, wood-burning stoves contain the entire fire, allowing them to retain heat in the room more effectively.
If it has a flat surface on top, you can also use a wood-burning stove for cooking food or boiling water. However, a wood-burning stove will also require firewood.
Before disaster strikes during winter, choose a method that doesn’t rely on the grid so you can keep your family warm even during a power outage. Always exercise caution when using heating devices with open flames.
Watch the video below for tips on how to charge solar batteries using a generator.
This video is from the Solar Surge channel on Brighteon.com.
More related stories:
- Survival essentials: 9 Stealthy ways to cook after SHTF.
- Prepper must-haves: What to stock up on before a summer or winter power outage.
- Emergency preparedness: 10 Ways to heat your home after SHTF.
Sources include:
Two Storms, One Harvest
Every food crisis in living memory has been a one-shock event. The 2008 price spike was a commodity bubble. The 2020 shortages were a logistics failure. The 2022 grain scare was a war on one exporter’s ports. Each time, the system bent, adjusted, and recovered, and each time the experts assured us afterward that global markets are simply too big and too diversified to fail.
What nobody in Washington seems eager to discuss is that 2026 is shaping up to be something the modern food system has never actually faced. Two independent shocks, one climatic and one geopolitical, are converging on the same harvest cycle at the same time. Not sequentially. Simultaneously.
Start with the weather. The Pacific Ocean is currently building toward what forecasters now openly call a record event. NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center puts the odds of at least a strong El Niño near 88 percent, with roughly two in three odds it reaches “very strong” status, the tier reserved for perhaps three or four events in the entire satellite era. Every major global model now projects a median peak in Super El Niño territory, and most of them project it exceeding the 2015-16 event, which until now held the modern record. Sea surface anomalies were already brushing the super threshold in mid-July, months before these events normally peak. The atmosphere has already shifted into El Niño mode, and the event is forecast to crest in late fall and early winter.
This is not about “climate change.” It’s about the standard cycles of weather, and the cycle we’re currently in is one that has likely devastated societies in the past. We’re better prepared as a society today, but not all Americans are equally prepared.
Serious households have started doing the quiet math on their own. Grocery bills tell part of the story, and the forecast maps tell the rest, which is why long-term food storage has moved from fringe hobby to mainstream line item in the family budget, with established suppliers like Heaven’s Harvest seeing demand from people who five years ago would have rolled their eyes at the idea. That instinct is not paranoia. It is pattern recognition, and the pattern is worth walking through carefully.
Editor’s Note: Heaven’s Harvest IS a sponsor, but the warnings of this article are real and would be written even if we didn’t have a survival food sponsor. With that said, those who take advantage of what they offer can use promo code “Patriot” for 15% off.
The Fertilizer Clock Is Already Running
While the Pacific warms, the second shock has been unfolding in the Strait of Hormuz. The conflict with Iran turned the world’s most important energy chokepoint into a contested waterway, and the consequences reach far beyond the gas pump. Roughly a third of global fertilizer trade moves through Hormuz, and the disruption sent urea prices up 86 percent year over year by March, with a 53 percent jump in a single month.
The World Bank projects energy prices rising about 24 percent in 2026 and fertilizer about 31 percent. By its own accounting, fertilizer prices ran 35 percent higher in the first five months of this year than the same period last year.
Here is the mechanism the nightly news will not explain. Fertilizer is not a grocery item. It is a time-delayed input. The nitrogen a farmer in Iowa or Punjab could not afford to apply this spring does not show up as a problem this spring. It shows up as a thinner harvest six to twelve months later.
The World Bank’s own food security brief concedes that the effects of reduced applications earlier this season “are likely to become visible only later in harvest outcomes.” Translate that from institutional language into plain English and it means this. The damage is already done, it is already in the ground, and we are simply waiting for it to arrive on the shelf.
Now check the calendar. Six to twelve months from the spring planting season lands us squarely in late 2026 and early 2027. Which is precisely when the strongest El Niño in the instrumental record is forecast to peak, bringing its signature droughts to Southeast Asia, Australia, southern Africa, northern Brazil, and South Asia, the very regions that grow the world’s rice, sugar, and oilseeds.
The World Bank warns openly that a strong El Niño “could disrupt multiple crop belts simultaneously” on top of the conflict-driven input costs. Their baseline projection assumes the Middle East disruptions ease by autumn. What in the last two years of Middle East history suggests that assumption is safe?
The System Has No Slack Left
The comfortable answer is that global markets always adjust. But adjustment requires slack, and the slack is gone. Global cereal production is expected to decline from last year’s records even before El Niño does its work. The UN World Food Programme, hardly a den of right-wing preppers, is calling this the most significant disruption to its supply chains since Covid and the invasion of Ukraine, and its supply chain director put the stakes bluntly.
Today’s supply chain challenges are tomorrow’s hunger crisis.
There is also a political dimension that markets cannot price. When food gets scarce, governments do not behave like economists. They behave like politicians. Export bans, hoarding mandates, and panic buying at the national level turned the modest rice shortfall of 2008 into a global crisis, and analysts are already warning that import-dependent nations are the first dominoes.
The 2015-16 Super El Niño, a far weaker event than what is now forecast, threw tens of millions into food stress across Africa and Asia. This one is projected to be stronger, and it arrives with fertilizer already rationed by price and shipping lanes already contested by missiles.
What Joseph Knew
Scripture does not treat preparation for lean years as faithlessness. It treats it as wisdom delivered in advance to those willing to act on it.
Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt: And there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt.
Joseph did not respond to that warning with a hashtag or a committee. He stored grain during the years of abundance, and when the famine came, Egypt stood while its neighbors begged. The lesson is not that famine is certain. It is that the time to prepare is precisely when preparation still looks optional.
Nobody who filled a pantry in a year of plenty has ever regretted it, and nobody standing in an empty aisle has ever been glad he waited for certainty.
None of this calls for panic, and panic is the enemy of sound judgment anyway. It calls for the same unglamorous prudence our grandparents considered ordinary. Keep some cash margin, know your local growers, and put real food in deep storage while it is cheap and available, because the entire arc of this story is that cheap and available is a closing window.
Families looking for a straightforward place to start can visit Heaven’s Harvest and use promo code Patriot for 15 percent off long-term storable food. The forecasts may yet soften, the strait may yet reopen, and we should pray they do. But hope is a fine thing to hold and a foolish thing to eat.
