Hi all,

I think I may have made a post in the the past but if not I will re introduce myself. Hi all from Algo, Southeast US. I read this site frequently but rarely cant find info on a subject. finally I have a question that I can not find much info on. I live in the southeast U.S. and temperature fluctuations can go from the low 100's during the summer and the low teens in the winter. These kind of temperature fluctuations have to dramatically decrease the shelf life of emergency food in your trunk. Currently I have a stack of power bars and a few MRE's in my trunk. I have been contemplating changing over to Mountain House or Mainstay bars. I don't like either one of those options though. I need water for mountain house and Mainstay bars are.......a last resort. What are your recommendation on long term food storage in a vehicle. Thanks in advance for advice.

Algo1911

I am in the tropics of south Florida and this has always been an issue. I do not have time to look it up right now (maybe someone else will), but someone on this board or a related board did a scientific study using food packed in Igloo-type coolers in southwest Texas inside their car to determine if the temperature issues could be managed. In short, they could not without judicious application of electricity and expensive technology.

I do not believe it is so much the temperature fluctuations as it is the high heat that you should be concerned with. So during the winter months, this should not be a problem.

Of course, the other thing that you can do is rotate out the food that may have been exposed to heat much more often.

In short, any food I keep in the car gets carried in and out of where I cam going which substantially reduces the amount I keep around. If I am planning on going off the grid, that amount changes substantially.

Mainstay probably has the best resistance to heat of the non-dehydrated foods, but like you say, not a preferred option.

I rely on normal foods, mostly canned, which are periodically rotated into normal consumption. These are mostly items that are heat and serve or eat right out of the container (Spam, anyone?).

Even when the climate is moderate, interior vehicle temperatures can really spike. Automobiles make excellent solar cookers.

I've settled on Mainstay bars, myself. At least I don't eat 'em when I'm feeling too lazy to go to the store :-).

Thanks for the input. I like the idea of having one cooler for water in case of a leak and another for food to regulate temps. I think I may just go with mountain house and Mainstay for my pack and keep a couple of cans of food in the cooler and rotate each season.

AG

A real issue that I've whined about plenty in the past (and as recently as today to DW). Simply no easy and practical answer. These EDV (vehicle) bags in our case are really just GHBs. In my case, I don't *need* any food in mine, so it's essentially snackage that I rotate by consumption.

In DW's case... she's potentially got 30+ miles more-or-less cross country; not going into more detail on that other than to say Plan A for her is SiP at work until we pick her up. So it's an issue.

1. I came to the same conclusion as hikermor - canned hi-calorie stuff is best bang-for-the-buck.
2. A few TOTMs (We buy a new case each time we open a case) - these get rotated via lunchroom consumption 1 per month.
3. Water is a PITN in the wintertime. USUALLY it does not freeze solid very often stored in her trunk, but it can get that way; our vehicles live outside. Have a sensible plan (and try it out) to deal with that - which may wind up being empty or mostly empty containers.

YMMV...

lol. With a recommendation like that, I think I need to pick up a case or two.

I typically keep some canned goods and DATREX (if I spelled that right) in the trunk. Not sure the DATREX is any better than mainstay, but in a pinch...

Cans seem to last pretty well, but rotation probably is key.

HJ

I keep a few cans of Chunky brand soup in various flavors in my company van. But I also eat it for lunch every day so I rotate through them quickly.

You could always keep something like this in there for a week or two, move those to the pantry to eat, and replace with the same amount back into the trunk.

A bag of dry dog food works pretty well. Hey, it's for emergencies, right?! When I was a scout leader we used to suggest dog bones for emergency food. Anything else was always eaten by the scouts on a routine basis, leaving nothing left for emergencies. Those dog bones were always still there, ready, waiting and available though...

I could eat Datrex bars every day. For some weird reason I just love those things!