The Prepared Vehicle – Stay Well Fed and Hydrated Even in an Emergency

Written by on in Preparing Our Vehicles

When my youngest was about six, he and I would be out in town without his siblings.  I’d often hear, “Mom, I’m thirsty.”  Translated:  “Mom, can we swing by McDonald’s and get a soda?”  Ninety-five percent of the time, I would say, “No.  I don’t think we should.”  Then he’ll get this sly smile on his face and say, “I’ll pay for it and buy you one too.”  (He had a savings account.)  One way to keep the little guy’s savings account intact is for your vehicle to have a decent stash of food and drinks.  But what exactly does that look like?

Check out the first two installments of this series:  Preparing Your Vehicle for Everyday Emergencies and Six Preparedness Systems for Every Vehicle.

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Snacks

snack bin

My efforts in the car started out with snacks.  I’m notorious for thinking I can get more done in a specified amount of time than I really can.  If we’re out and about and it’s getting late, I will dig into the stash of snacks that I keep in my car.

Snacks – that’s a nice idea, but we’re talking about a hot car.  What kinds of things keep well during both the hot summer (It was almost 100 the second week of June here in Central Illinois) AND winter (where we can get into the negatives tens and twenties).

Here are some ideas of items that you can safely keep stashed in your vehicle.

Snack Ideas

  • Cheese crackers
  • Peanut butter crackers
  • granola bars
  • Meat Sticks (like Slim Jims)
  • Tuna fish packets (with spoons)
  • Trailmix
  • Nuts
  • Cheese and cracker sticks
  • Peanut butter singles
  • Hard candies
  • Peppermints
  • Sunflower seeds
  • Freeze-dried fruits or veggies
  • Beef Jerky

Drinks

But it’s not often snacks that my little guy asks for.  Most often, he asks for something to drink.  But I won’t keep water bottles in my car because they leach BPA and Antimony.  The consistent ingestion of these can lead to cancer and other diseases.

If water bottles can’t be kept in warm cars, what can be?  There a couple of ways to handle keeping drinks in your car.  If you want to keep water bottles in your car, keep them in a cooler and change out the ice or ice packs every day.

Another option is to carry a stainless steel water bottle with you or keep at least one in your car.  Warm water isn’t the most thirst-quenching beverage around, but it’s better than not having anything in the car at all.  Amazon has a 6 pack of glass 18oz water bottles.  These will work great in spring through fall.

The problem then becomes keeping water bottles unfrozen during the winter.  There are a couple of ways to go about this.  Strange as it might sound, keep your water bottles in a cooler.  That will keep them insulated from the cold a bit.  You can even stuff a small blanket in the cooler around the water bottles to keep them even more insulated.  If you are using glass water bottles, just fill them half to three-quarters full.

Also in the drinks category, I would highly suggest keeping at least one Lifestraw Water Bottle for every two people in your family.

Other Food and Water Considerations

If there was ever an emergency in your car, you’re going to need a couple other things.  Keeping something like a stove in a can in your car will provide you with the ability to cook in an emergency.  But if you’re going to cook then you need something to cook IN and something to serve in if you have more person who will be eating.  In our vehicle, I keep a MalloMe camping cooking kit.  I also purchased six collapsable silicone bowls to serve in.  These say pet bowls, but there’s nothing that keeps humans from using them.  Or if you’re cooking for one, you could get this single collapsable bowl, cup, and spork/knife.  We own both.  We’ve used both.  We like both types.  I also keep a stash of plastic silverware and napkins in our vehicle tote.  That way my family can eat with utensils even if we’re out and about or had an emergency.

Everyday items that you might need would include:

  • Wet wipes or baby wipes
  • Paper towels
  • Paper Napkins
  • Picnic Table Covers
  • Picnic Table Cover securers
  • Trashcan
  • Stove in a can
  • MalloMe camping cooking kit
  • Collapsable silicon bowls
  • Ziploc Baggies
  • Trash bags
  • Berkey Water Bottles – at least one for every two people

What About You?

What snacks do you keep in your vehicle? Are there other food, drink, and/or related items do you keep in your vehicle?  Did you have an “Aha moment!” about something you are missing?   What items should I include you that I didn’t?  I’d love to hear.  Leave me a comment so that we can all be better prepared.