I'm in one of those situations where it's really hot in car in the summer and pretty darn cold in the winter too... does anybody know if a basic unpowered cooler (with no ice in it) would insulate enough to be a sufficient buffer for the extremes in temperature, or if it's better to schlep the food to and from the vehicle every day?

It depends on the food. I wouldn't try to store anything that wasn't reasonably shelf-stable to begin with. With a good cooler and cold packs you could expect eight hours or more of reasonable temperatures inside a car trunk.

Temp range where I live is -30F to +100F. In winter, I keep only dry food in the car. I bring water with me in the morning, and take it out when I get home at night. In summer I leave emergency water in the trunk in metal bottles.

A cooler will help dampen the peaks and valleys of temperature. IMO it's worth doing. But extreme heat will generally reduce shelf life.

My always-in-car food stash is pretty barbaric: about 2 kg (4.5 lb) of cheapo peanut butter. Fat, protein, salt, and simple carbs. I can usually get water and fuel from the places I go to, but ready calories are hard to come by.

I think the current batch of PB is the wally-world house brand. I keep it factory sealed and under temperature-reducing cover, but I don't baby it. Nobody will break into that stuff unless they're really hungry. I get about 2 years' trunk (shelf) life, based on tests. After that it turns into dog treats.

When I'm on a long drive, I add stuff that's a little more edible, jerky+crackers+cheese+gorp, if only to avoid the obscene price hike in mountain resorts.

Thanks for the replies, that's about what I thought. I think I will invest in a cooler

I generally have various canned items rattling around in the vehicle, along with a good supply of water bottles. I pull them out and consume them every six months or so, stocking with fresh items. I don't bother with a cooler.

Gotta love the morale boosting of a nice Earl Grey tea.. My prefernce is Tazo Earl grey and comes right under air on my priority list..

I keep about 30 gallons of water, a fe Mountain House meals, misc dry snacks, peanut butter, and a few cans of Tuna (plus paper plates and can opener) in the tote box in the back of the CRV. The tote also carries other car prep item like Tarp shelter, fire kits flare, et.........

Must be a big tote box.

I keep a 3 gal jug of water in the back of my truck.

I will re-confirm quanities might be more like 20-25 gallons. Some containers are in the large tote box and some are secured strung thru their handles with bungies to tie down points.


These are all thoroughly cleaned 3 liter Ocean Spray containers with very beefy handles. The conatainers are very thick walled and high quality. I'll post a picture...

That's over 200 pounds (100 kilos) of water. It will be while before you are thirsty. How's your gas mileage?