I think it would be a good idea to have a little food in my car kit or bob. I was thinking candies or mints for a quick pick-me-up or some jerky. But got me thinking... The candy would be sugar high not food energy and the shelf life may be sh*t on jerky or could it spoil with heat/moisture?

I've seen a few ration packs online. Would they be a good solution? They do have long shelf live, vacuum sealed, and high in calories.
But I'm at a loss which one(s) would be best. Will they taste good? Should I worry about protein, fat, or other in an emergency situation?? Are some of them individually packed (each cube)?
If someone knows some more about them or someone using them in their car kit, etc.. I'd like to hear from you.

Usually I keep a (I think 50/60%) wool blanket in my car in a sealed overly large bag but wondering if there are any benefits to replacing with a space blanket, or bivvy bag? Should it be a compliment to my car kit or replace my blanket? Also is it worth spending the extra $10+/- on bivvy than an emergency blanket? Winters here in alt. canada can be -15c/-20c so I'm worried about heat reflectiv(ity ?) and effective temp limits.

Welcome Newguy!!!

We try to keep it simple, mainly canned foods (thick with meat/potato soup, chilli, Spam, etc), with maybe a few MRE's and dehydrated goodies throw in for good measure. A couple of weeks ago we rotated (a little late I will admit) our vehicle food stash, and I tried some Spam and Campbells soups that had been in our vehicle for waaayyyy over a year. Tasted as good as they ever do (if "good" is possible with Spam).

Candies I do not feel are all that great an idea, except for moral purposes, the sugar high you get is short lived, then you crash.

We have some Mainstay rations that are stuck in just for the heck of it, haven't opened them, so I can not comment on their taste, etc...

You might consider augmenting the blanket with an emergency bivy sack. Given your location, I suspect that additional means of retaining body heat in the winter can't hurt (assuming there is enough space to carry it all). Could be that the wool blanket is more fire/heat resistant than a bivy, if you end up sleeping near a fire. As per food, I have a can of turkey spam and some dehydrated hiking food in my car kit (I carry water in the car when it's warm, and my area tends to have abundant frozen water in the winter (i.e. snow and ice).

If you're thinking about the ration packs...Datrex, SOS,...I don't remember all the names right now, buy one to try them and choose the one that meets your storage needs as well as taste. The SOS ones that I'm thinking about actually create saliva in your mouth so you can consume them with little or no water. I think they keep for five years or so. They are very high in fat, but in a survival situation, that's a good thing for long term sustenance. Protein is also a good thing because it makes you feel full which of course can be quite a psychological boost. That and it's good for that life function stuff. Survival situations are NOT the times to be worried about too much fat or whatnot.

For me, I'm a big guy and I'm overweight. I've been told by a nutritionist that I need approximately 2600 calories a day just for normal life function. With the SOS rations, they sell them in different amounts...1200, 2400, 3600 calories, so if you have an idea what your body needs daily, you can plan the amount you carry.

If it were me, I'd keep the blanket as well as add a couple of space blankets and a bivy. Adventure Medical Kits makes a great space blanket and emergency bivy (Heat Sheets is the name for both the blankets and the bivy) Affordable and compact. I have not field tested them personally, but others here have and the results have been pretty good.

Good luck!

Hi there,

Being from Canada as well, I would have to testify to the wool blanket. Even inside my car, I have found that the space sheet blanket is inadequate in really cold winters. I carry two in my BOB along with a heatsheet blanket but the car has a heavier blanket as well.

As for food in the car, along with the water I have my BOB food (some dehydrated camping food, fruit bars, nut bars) but I think I will add some canner comfort food. I will add some dehydrated soup (lentil, split pea, etc) as well, as it works for comfort food.

In terms of calories, your basal metabolic rate may be that high, but remember for short term situations, the fat in your body will be used to compensate for decreased caloric intake in terms of food. Basal metabolic rate is the calorie expended in a day at rest.

Eric (new guy)

Welcome EricNewguy!!!

Since you already have a good wool blanket in your kit, I would add something like an AMK Heatsheets blanket to it. I specifically say Heatsheets blanket instead of Heatsheets bivy because I feel that the blanket gives you much more versatility. While the bivy is good for sleeping in, the blanket could be used as a make-shift tarp, sun shade, wind break, rain catch, fire reflector, etc. much better than a bivy can.

I don't suppose anyone thinks about automobiles in terms of being a large Bug Out Bag? Is your vehicle a big 4wd expedition backpack or a Mini Cooper fanny pack? Forget spaceblankets and buy more wool blankets. A spaceblanket in a car that can hold a quantity of wool blankets is like replacing a battleship with a Dinghy. Do not buy any foods in quantity until actually eating the stuff. If something tastes godawfull or gives you an upset stomach it becomes a PROBLEM and not an asset.

thanks for the responses,
And I agree, oldbaldguy. I don't think spam is ever "good", personally I hate the stuff. lol

From what I've been hearing I will keep the blanket. Thinking about it, it's nice to have and now thinking I'll add a bivvy inside the kit. A little redundancy is fine as long as I have the space. Hearing what eric said about the blanket I don't think It a good idea right now to remove it. Also a bivvy doubling as a rain collector or shelter is an win/win.

As for food I will look into the datrex or sos right now, maybee into dehydrated foot... or mre packs. I'm going to try and find out some more info on those brands, see if they have a website.
For now some canned food in there; maybee harty soups, fruit bars, maybee some nature valley bars. I don't know my basal metabolic rate, and I have no idea of my current intake. Would I need higher calories in winter or If I'm not in shape? I would guess that's the case, guessing then having some high calorie food would be good suppliment for those other items??

Couldn't have stated it better... Part of my worries is if it's "godawfull or gives you an upset stomach".. That would suck to be stuck with that if no other sources of food are available. Finding out later that its hard to eat or worse case makes me sick would make survival harder and would be like pissing money away.





Another question, could multi-vitamins, skim milk or energy bars be a good solution?

I would also recommend keeping the wool blanket. If it gets wet it can still keep you warm. As far as the food goes you might want to consider if others will be driving or riding in your vehicle. I keep Snickers Marathon bars in the car. They have a lot of protein, 300 calories and taste just like a Snickers bar. Especially great if you have kids. The only down side is that they will melt fairly easily in the heat.

Dehydrated foods and MREs can and often will cause flatulence or constipation over time. Even in a vehicle you should think about wieght. Canned foods, especially soups are largely water and heavy. If you need to carry water, carry it seperate. Vitamens can be had in so called SURVIVAL TABS, essentially multi vitamens with minerals and a few other goodies. Longterm they may be usefull. In a short term bugout situation your turning your urine yellow without knowing your specific needs. You also have to consider the salt content in foods. In all honesty, I would go to the market and buy foods you enjoy, a GOOD combination can/bottle/cap opener and think about some safe stove arrangement. All foods taste better hot. And this brings us to coffee,tea and cocoa and some cold Tang or koolaid mixes. You have taken a big step in thinking about this kit. Continue by implementing one, even if 99% of the stuff gets rotated out or improved on. It's hard to lose money on food you can actually eat and wool blankets. You have put yourself in a mindset of preparedness. This asset with a blanket, jar of peanut butter, gallon of water, matches,wool blanket and the obligatory knife tossed in the back seat puts you light years ahead of the guy inthe next lane over with his CD collection and a coke in the center console cupholder. I bet he's listening to Celine Dion's greatest hits.

how do you plan to use your car ??? just around town or
the back road to Stony Rapids??..and what do you expect to
happen that you will need your gear???..a winter break down
where someone will come by i a few hours just calls for
a good sleeping bag and maybe a single burner propane stove.
if you expect to way out in the bush i would pack the car
with all the camping gear i had and a few bags of grocerys.

"I bet he's listening to Celine Dion's greatest hits." lol. I hate that showboating canadian harpie!!!

Canoedogs, to answer your question. I use my car mostly to get to work and around town. But I expect the occassional fish trip, or missed turn, etc... I've also had my former car break down and needed a blanket (which didn't have at the time), so I know of the should have could have senario. The rest of the time I don't expect problems but If something happens I want to have some gear just in case + it's not alot of money to invest in.

I have kept something in my trunk ever since my first real breakdown. I've been undecided for a while just what food can survive the winter and summer without freezing, etc... I can always carry a "mess kit" and some drink mixes, soup mixes like mr noodle and some candy, bars and some jerky for now.

Welcome mgjscdhl and Eric.

OBG, how come you aren't "grand poo bah?" I am a little disappointed in you.

I've got a Mainstay, and some Datrex rations in my car. But, i've also got raisons, some power bars, 1 chocolate bar (morale), and some of the "Complete meal" rice/bean packets from Zattaran's. They're really high in sodium, however. After 6 months they tasted OK still. The best idea, I think, is find stuff you like, and then buy a few of those things, in different forms. Like, buy pork&rice from Zatarrans, then have a Pork&rice MRE, then buy some rice and toss it in a ziplock bag. Hopefully something will be tough enough to stand up to use. Don't forget to replace it occasionally.

As for your shelter, it's your call. I'm currently in Michigan, I've got 2 wool blankets vacuum-packed (bought some of the Ziplock-type bags from moving day). I've also got 2 space blankets. They're cheap and small, so why not? If you do get a Heatsheet, I'd suggest the 2-person size. I tried out the 1-person last night, and it was barely adequate to cover me (5'7", 165 lbs). I tucked one end with my feet, and my head wasn't able to be closed off. Plus, wrapping it around me (like a burrito), I barely had enough to completely wrap around me.

Something else to consider, The Sportsman's Guide has some pretty cheap 20-degree sleeping bags online, if space isn't a big issue.

Welcome: mgjscdhl

With the cold problem I would be no help as I live in So. Calif. as for food to carry in the car, may I echo Mr. Chris Kavanaugh suggestion as to types of food, may I also suggest that you get a small alcohole stove to cook on. (small cheap and less likley to cause problems if use inside a car) as for types of food go to www.beprepared.com I am sure you will find somthing that will make you happy.

beprepared doesn't ship outside of usa... :-(
I wish there were more canadian retailers. Last time I bought some supplies for psk the brokerage fees were through the roof!

MDinana, have you tried the ration packs already? If so are how are they (tasting)?

You can get MRE's through this Canadian company, however they are expensive.

As for other PSK/BOB supplies, I have been able to find anything I need here in Canada without having to order from the USA.

Is there anything in particula that you are looking for?

what store do you regularily use? I generally use ebay for most items. I am looking for inova microlight and some scalpel blades if you know (a) source, also like a canadian site with some general items if you know one or any other canucks here.

Last thing I bought was some rescue mirrors, spark lite tinder and nato matches. The fees cost me 60% of total cost of items it was just rediculous.

General Items:

I use MEC. They are the equivalent of REI in the USA. MEC also does mail order at a very fair price and offer free shipping on orders over $150.00. This is subject to orders must meet Canada Post's size and weight requirements (no dimension greater than 1 metre, weight less than 30kgs).

For anything else, check some of the local rescue clothing/supply stores, it is surprising what some of them carry. Depending on where you are are, some speciality stores such as timer cruising and mining supply places are a good find also.


Medical:
I find that as a former firefighter/1st responder, I find that many local medical supply companies sell me just about anything I need...within reason. Perhaps it is because I know and can talk about the products, their intended uses and limitations that the sales people have no qualms about selling to me.

I make a car kit every winter.

Heres some of the stuff I include:

sardines in cans
chocolate bars
nut bars of some sort
granola bars

the chololate bars are wful by the end of the season, but hey thats 6 months around here

For car storage, I would want something like a 0 degree sleeping bag and lots of water. I might not want to cook anything, but it would be nice to have a way to heat things up, so some chem heat reactors would be nice. Cans of spanish peanuts have lots of food energy in them, and seem to store well hot or cold. Spam also seems to do well in vehicles. Packages of Ramen noodles seem to last forever and also seem to do well regardless of temp. You've got all that space, you should be able to capitalize on it better than just a couple bags of jerky and some candy. I could imagine packing supplies enough to last a couple weeks in some of the worst conditions, with the ability to signal rescuers really well, and still not be overly encumbered.

I have a Ranger pick-up with a FG tonneau cover over the bed. It's really a two seat car with a big trunk. I store a lot of my camping gear in the back including 15 deg mummy bag, wool blankets and tent. I also keep a couple MRE's water and cold weather clothing. My get home walking kit (similar to what many would call a BOB) has additional gear.

I live in SOCAL and my body has acclimated to the nice weather here. When it gets cold I feel it and if I happen to be traveling through the mountains of CA, OR or WA, it can get very cold (and wet). At any time, my truck and I can handle anything from the mild/warm weather of the SOCAL coast to the Washington Cascade Mountains in January. Overkill? Probably, but I need to store that stuff someplace. Don't do Death Valley. . .

I'm running on 4 hours of sleep so this will be a quick post. Somewhere in our archives I posted about alcohol stoves for cars. They are a small coffeecan just big enough to slip in a roll of TP sans cardboard, alcohol and the retained lid for storage. The TP acts as wick to slowly burn the alcohol. If the TP singes brown you need more fluid. Thses things are dirt cheap and significantly raise the temp in a small space.

I hadn't considered an alcohol stove for use in the truck. I do have an MSR Pocket Rocket and an 8 oz fuel cannisters in the walking kit. I'm not sure I'd want to light that up inside the cab. Is alcohol safe to burn in a confined space?

thanks chris, I think I have bookmarked that but will check for it later on. I'm also wondering if you should/need to crack open a window a little or if safe in that small of area. I would assume since the fire would eat up the oxygen but what about the alcohol or ethanol fumes?

Any combustion will give off carbon monoxide if oxygen is not readily available to the chemical reaction.

• Lots of oxygen available: carbon dioxide emissions.
• Little oxygen available: carbon monoxide emissions.
• No oxygen available: carbon no-oxide (soot) emissions.

Crack a window.

I failed to mention keeping fresh air in a vehicle. During El Nino in the San Ferndando Valley the Sepulveda basin flooded. It does this, as planned when that area was still largely agriculture. And everytime it floods people with no sense of history and just no sense drive through before it's closed and get stranded. This guy had a lovingly restored 1957 Chevy Nomad. And he lovingly drove it into the floodzone and got stuck. And he refused to leave his pride and joy. So he sat there with the windows up and engine running for warmth. And the exaust backed up from the water and he died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Heres another cheap,renewable emergency item. Pick up a couple newspapers and toss them inside. You now have ; additional insulating material ( crumple up and stuff inside clothing) fuel, fairly sanitary emergency bandaging material ( the inside pages)notepaper and reading material.

"...Pick up a couple newspapers and toss them inside..."

In addition, with a little windex you can have super clean windows!!!

Speaking of carbon monoxide, I visited the Sedna IV (german boat used by Jean Lemire and his team for making documentaries about global warming in Arctic and Antartica) and there's a special carbone monoxide button to press in case of fire emergency inside the lower rooms. It's heavier than air and will smother the fire (people must of course evacuate the rooms before). It was interesting to see that everything on board had at least 3 back up alternatives in case of failure. They have to live on their own for months so it was an interesting lesson from a survival perspective.

I still prefer this to Britney Spear's Gimme More...

I'm lucky enough to never heard or seen that one. But I think both would be equally painfull, especially that titanic song on a loop. lol

Man, I hope they're using carbon dioxide, and not carbon monoxide for their fire suppression systems. They'll both kill you if they displace all the oxygen in the room, but CO is much nastier.

If we're still talking cold weather, storing water in a car is a problem, 'cause sooner or later you're going to have a canteen/bottle/hydration bladder full of ice. Our winters here involve plenty of ice and snow, so there's usually plenty of that just outside the car if you get stuck. What you need is a means of melting it that doesn't reduce your core temperature. I keep a Nuwick emergency candle in the car. I can use a pop can, Altoids tin, or the cup from my car emergency kit to melt snow. The Nuwick also brings up the temperature in an enclosed space a little bit.

I also keep a poncho liner, 2 military ponchos and sportsman's blanket rolled up together in the back all year long. I put a Mainstay 3-day ration pack in the car emergency kit for food. The kit also has plenty of fire-starting gear, tinder, whistle, compass, mirror, flashlight, spare knife, small FAK, etc. I also throw a wool hat, wool socks and a heavy pair of wool mittens in the back, and this year I'm going to add my old insulated boots (as soon as DW buys me the new ones for Christmas). And, of course, my trusty short-handled snow shovel and a bag of sand.

I consider the above a minimum winter-emergency car preparedness kit (I always have my cell phone with me). In a perfect world I'd add another ration pack, a couple of wool blankets, snowshoes, a set of winter coveralls, flares, an axe, a pistol and a handheld CB radio with extra batteries. For one reason or the other (usually the other), I haven't added them yet.


Frank2135, who sometimes thinks that global warming wouldn't be an entirely bad thing...

Actually I don't remember exactly, maybe you're right and it's carbon dioxide.

I still think Peggy Lee singing Snowbirds and the Old Dominion flag were winners.

Didn't Anne Murray sing "Snowbirds" and I am to young to remember the Dominion flag.

Mike

I'm a little confused (not all that uncommon these days). Heavier than air, so it goes down. What if the fire is overhead???

Ah, Peggy, from Lady and the Tramp...

this is what I have so far. What do you all think of my "half-as**d car kit"? <-- no, it's prob not the greatest!

all season: water 4l, tire sealer, tow cable, pump, maps, boosters, charger (phone), flashlight /w batteries, psk (fire-starting, tinder and more tinder, whistle, saw, compass, puri tabs, mirror), small fak (/w meds -- headaches, stomach, allergies), swiss army, bandana, paracord, mess kit, poncho and teepee for my bunghole (more tinder), pen/pencil, paper.

winter: blanket, wool socks, extra mittens, 3x tea candles, shovel, sweater, baclava.. never removed them this year

I've bought some protein bars, candy, rice, powdered milk and some soup mixes for now. Gonna fortify it before winter comes though and prob get some space blankets or 2 person bivvy too. Everything is either glade(d) or waterproof bags.



oldbaldguy: I did not know that she was in lady.... course, its been years since I've seen that movie.What

"...teepee for my bunghole..."


I am not even gonna ask...

"I am the great cornholio, I need teepee for my bunghole.."


sorry man, too much beavis and butthead. It's rotten my brain

I have never ever (and never will) see beavis and butthead, but I think you've got the idea....