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This winter, health providers want to make sure New Yorkers have gone through a must-have list for the home stash of prescription and over-the-counter medications.

Nurse practitioner and assistant professor Melissa Kramps of Columbia Advanced Practice Nurse Associates says a medicine cabinet needs to be ready for anything.

The first order of business is to make sure prescriptions are up-to-date. People need to have the right refills and get ride of and old, leftover antibiotics.

"The purpose of doing a full seven- or 10-day course is to kill all the bacteria. And the ones that are left over, even though you are starting to feel better, are the most resistant bacteria, so you still need to continue taking that medication to eradicate those more resistant bacteria," says Kramps. "If you don't that might lead to antibiotic resistance and the next time you become ill that antibiotic may not work for you."

It's also a good time to make sure over-the-counter pain relievers have not expired.

"The best things to have in your cabinet would be acetaminophen, known as Tylenol; ibuprofen, known as known as Advil; or naproxen, known as Aleve. These are very versatile medications," says Kramps. "They can be used for headaches, menstrual cramps or for any kind of musculoskeletal injuries."

People who have seasonal prescriptions should always make sure they have oral and topical drug store solutions, like Benadryl, hydrocortisone, and nasal gels and sprays to back up flare-ups.

Something everyone bound for cold-weather cabin fever should have on hand is GI meds, in case all that winter takeout gets the best of them.

"Something like Pepto Bismol, something that is a versatile medication for gastrointestinal discomfort, whether it is after heavy meal, nausea in the middle of the night or diarrhea," says Kramps.

While old antibiotics need to be thrown out, Kramps says people always should make sure they have ointments like bacitracin or Neosporin on hand for any cuts, scrapes or burns.

Stocking up on everything at once also helps prevent emergency trips to the pharmacy through the cold.