It’s inevitable. We’ll wake up this winter with a sore throat, knowing we’ll soon be going through a box of tissues an hour and unable to taste that comforting dark chocolate mousse or the ill-advised ghost pepper enchiladas we ordered in vain, hoping to ignite a single taste bud.

Cold and flu season spares few between now and spring.

“There are usually about 50 flulike illnesses that circulate during flu season that can make you feel pretty miserable, but they’re not all the flu,” said Melody Butler, R.N., B.S.N., executive director of Nurses Who Vaccinate and an infection preventionist at Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip, New York.

The best most can hope for is getting a brief cold instead of a more serious infection like the flu, an underappreciated danger that kills thousands each year. Now is the time to prepare. Take steps to reduce your and your family’s risk of sickness and assemble a flu and cold “survival kit” for when viruses come knocking.

Prevention comes first

The first tip is a no-brainer: get the flu vaccine, said Dr. Julie Brandies, a physician at Advocate South Suburban Hospital in the greater Chicago metropolitan area. There’s virtually no reason to not get one.