The French do like their wine and certainly drink wine with lunch and diner. Both take forever. I was a bit surprised to see the fire service chief jump in his car after lunch, but apparently, that was normal...

More annoyingly is that you now have to have an alcohol tester in your car, when driving in France.

Back on compact food; freeze-dried is my choice for something that actually looks like a meal. But for an emergency kit, something like a ration bar might be mine choice, simply due to shelf life. The NRG-5's are now rated for 20 years.

Interesting, Tjin. I saw a checklist of things you must have in your car when driving in France, and I don't think it's half bad --

http://www.drive-france.com/checklist/

People can get fined on the spot if they don't have a high visibility vest! One day perhaps some sort of basic safety/first-aid kit would come standard in all cars, like seat belts and air bags.

Interesting. I must wear glasses while driving, so I determined a few years ago that my spare specs are best cached in my vehicle. I also keep hi-vis items handy, unfortunately stashed in the truck.

What are these "head light converters" of which you speak?

Headlights are built asymetric to iluminate the curb side of the road more. Continetal Europe has right side traffic and the British have left side traffic. Those head light converters shape the light to avoid blinding oncoming traffic. The are not required if your head lights are already built for right side traffic.
The courtesy of requiring those converters is returned by the british if you take your car over there.

Me too. Highly recommended.

As a proper ETS'er, i do have a pretty good collection of things; mine is equipped to handle all EU county laws, so 2 warning triangles, safety vests for everybody, spare light bulbs, spare glasses, FAK, fire extinguisher, alcohol testers, lots of stickers on the windscreen, etc...

Bingley: What are “ headlight converters” ?

Acropolis, it looks like Max has answered your question above.

Tjin, which countries require a fire extinguisher in the car? (I'm assuming a regular passenger car.)

Yes passenger car. In Europe: Greece, Portugal and Turkey (well sort of Europe).

And Estonia.