It looks, right now, that we will get more snow but south of us will experience more ice. If you live in an area that may experience ice, please prepare because an ice storm can leave a lot of damage to trees, wires (including electrical), etc. Make sure you have food and water available and if you lose electricity, be sure to charge your electronics prior to the storm and have flashlights and batteries, etc. available.
Life is still hard for most folks with higher costs for essential items like food, clothing and housing. So it's still important to create a dry food pantry so you can make meals even when grocery shopping is not possible. And for leisure activities for all ages...reading is also available at no or nominal costs.
A couple thoughts on creating a dry food pantry...first, just to remind you that there are some food products that last for years. Things like honey, salt, pepper, sugar, white rice, powdered milk and drink mixes, dried beans & lentils, pasta, vinegar, freeze dried foods including meats and vegetables and canned foods. So those are items that would be a benefit for your pantry and last a long time.
Second, having recipes on hand that utilize your dry foods pantry only will make meal preparation easier. It will also make you feel better knowing that you can make a meal even when money is especially tight.
Reading is a great leisure time activity and it can be done free when using libraries to pick up books. But most libraries now have books available electronically also, and at no cost for borrowing. You will probably have to down load an app that your library uses (for free) to access the books.
There are other online sites that offer books for free to read electronically. A few of these are: Project Gutenberg, Internet Archive and LibirVox. So if you have the internet available, you can always find something to read.
Thrift stores, used books stores. garage sales and library sales are also great places to find books to read at nominal cost. The nice thing about reading is that it's an activity for all ages so when you're looking for something to do...pick up a book and enjoy reading it.
Keep warm and stay safe...
Talk with you tomorrow...