I'm filling up an empty 2 liter Coke bottle this instant and sticking it in my black plastic lined pickup truck bed. I expect to be able to pour a hot shower out of that bottle by about 10:30 a.m. tomorrow morning, sunshine willing.

Ok, two Coke bottles.

Not at all crude, informative as ever. As you say many of the folk here are guys, but many of us want to prep for the other half too, and (I think) many guys don't get a huge amount of active support from the Mrs, so its great to have some female specific input and ideas.

Thanks bacpacjac

PS - Seeing tea lights in your post prompted me to remember that in various kits I have included not just tea lights, but also some vanilla scented tea lights, and some bug repellent tea lights, which frankly repel everyone. The vanilla lights are purely for aesthetics, and perhaps after some time in survival mode may be a pleasant distraction, although after a long enough period the bug repellent lights may be necessary !

I learned an interesting lesson yesterday: Regular stick deodorant will melt if it gets hot enough, leak out of the container and leave a film and scent on everything it can reach. (left one in the car in a shopping bag yesterday.) Once it cools down again though, it will be just fine.

I think minimal grooming supplies are a good idea in a kit.

Mine has a lot of the things others have suggested like nail clippers, floss, etc., but some things I've trimmed down compared to above.

For example, no shampoo, lotion, shaving cream; rather just a small (1oz) bottle of Castile soap and the little soap strips mentioned above. Only a single razor, etc.

You can shave with soap if you need to, and I'd rather have a multipurpose item even if some are less effective.

The one thing I did want to mention is that every type of "wet wipe" that I've tried eventually dries out in my kit. You might want to keep an eye on that as it is really a bummer to need one, open them up and find them all dried out.

-john

I Much prefer to have the basics for BOB and Vacation situations. Petroleum Jelly, Bar Soap (3 bars Minimal), Vicks Vapo Rub, Aspirin, Bismuth, Talcum powder, Burts Bees Chapstick, So on So forth. I find when I break things down to the basics there are more uses per item then fancy "All in one" things ironically.