These are my winter medicine cabinet must-haves.

Having a fully stocked medicine cabinet and being prepared for the winter bugs is essential for any family. Apart from your prescriptions, you need the medicines to treat minor, headaches, fevers, coughs, allergies, or a runny nose. Just before winter, I made sure to stock-up, buying my items with convenience and ease from Chemist.co.uk, giving me the piece of mind that we are prepared for winter.

Here’s my list of must-haves to keep my cabinet healthy:

Ears:

Summer very rarely gets ill, but when she does it is always her ears. Thus, Earex is a must and plenty of cotton wool.

Painkillers:

Paracetamol will help with minor ailments, helping with high temperatures, aches and pains that you get with the common cold. As well as paracetamol, I always make sure we have enough Calpol on standby.

Decongestants:

Both Lewis and myself often suffer from a decongested nose, so I like to keep Sudafed tablets and also a nose spray. And, I swear by Olbas oil.

Coughs:

Cough medicine, we all recently had the horrid hacking cough over Christmas, we prefer to use Covonia, which is great for a dry, hacking cough. I also like to have Buttercup Original.

Sore throats:

My oldest suffers from sore throats whenever he gets run down or is ill, thus, I always make sure we have Ultra Chloraseptic Anaesthetic Throat Spray as well as packets of Strepsils.

First aid kit:

We keep one in the medicine cabinet and one in our backpack that we take one on our weekly walks. Depending on what kit you buy a good First Aid kit will include different items that can help with emergencies, including plasters, bandages and tweezers.

Temperature:

A thermometer to use, especially for the kids, if they have a fever, it is important to monitor their temperature.

For my hubby, he always makes sure he has Lemsips available in the medicine cabinet - this is his go to medicine when he starts to feel a common cold setting in. For me, Olbas Oil, I find it really helps with my blocked sinuses. 

This list is based on our experience on what works for my family. What medicines are your winter must-haves?

Always follow the instructions on the medicine packets. And, always keep medicines out of the sight and reach of children.