Do you have access to electricity? I'm assuming not. A nice south window to let in winter sunshine during the day would be nice but may not yet be feasible. I lived off grid in a 196 sq ft tiny house at 6000 ft elevation without a wood stove the first winter and night time temps in Dec and Jan were single digits but upper 20s to mid 30s and plenty of sunshine during the day. I bought a good size tent to set up in the middle of the one and only room (think insulated shed). I bought a smaller tent to sleep in and placed inside with a Dollar General $8 6x8' carpet/rug and placed my twin mattress on top. All my summer clothes were bagged up and placed between North wall of the 2 tents. I should have thought to get a free standing shelf so my "insulation" would go up higher. I had lots of quilt blankets and 2 cats to keep me warm at night. I did have a small propane Buddy heater to warm up my inner tent for 30 minutes before bed time and then turned it off and closed my inner tent but with towels and close pins so my cats could go in and out to litter box. I had to use my Buddy heater sparingly as I only had two 20# tanks.
I used a rocket stove outside for cooking with cinder block walls to block the prevailing wind. This saved on using propane. I used lots of tin foil to warm up food on an old aluminum pie pan that I bored 5 holes in to place my warm overs to warm quickly. I usually cooked only twice per week and ate left overs or pb sandwiches.
Since you are in a metal container, you might go as far around your inside walls with free standing shelves with your clothes, socks, coats, extra linens and such. You could also stack plastic bags from stores between tent walls if you can collect enough. Maybe heat some water and place in a couple of water bottles for under blankets. It will be very cold in the morning so you'll want to cook some coffee, tea, or broth to warm you up and while waiting do some light exercise, sweeping, any movement to warm you up. Also start a Buddy Heater for a bit. Your body can get used to cooler temperatures but you don't want to get too cold. Also, I froze bottles of water overnight outside and kept a cooler for food.
Of course a wood stove would be nice but I wasn't able to do it by myself and I was stuck. Also wear a stocking hat and gloves to bed and double up on socks. I had lost weight before winter and I was able to wear sweat pants under my big jeans.
Good luck. I'll be thinking of you.
M.A Carey
