What do you keep in your car for an emergency?

[MrsPeacockInTheLibrary]

I have been meaning to get around to doing this for a while, and now is as good a time as any. So far, I am thinking:

water
blankets
cereal bar type snacks/ chocolate etc
first aid kit
disposable urinals
torch
wet wipes/tissues
Part of me thinks summer car kit, should be different to winter, but then things like finger warmers could just be left in the car. I'm thinking of scenarios from being stuck on the motorway for hours (as has happened a few times to people where I live near the M5) or being stuck for a while down a lane waiting for the breakdown service, as happened to me last year.

Any other ideas?

Do you have children? I have little ones so I keep a few calpol sachets with syringe, and a few emergency pull ups. (Very useful when my 4 year old needed a wee in the dark in a traffic jam on a motorway as I could put her in one to wee!)
Set of spare clothes always useful too- even adults t shirt, pants and leggings could roll up small.

I’ve just emptied the food & drink out of mine as we aren’t using cars at the moment.
I have blanket, waterproofs, water, cereal bars, crisps, cup a soup /just add water type food, first aid kit, torch, gloves/handwarmers/extra socks/wooly hat.

Blanket
Bowl, plastic bag, towel, wet wipes, bin bags and spare set of clothes for DC2.
Wouldn't keep chocolate, especially not in summer. Not water. But I always take a fresh bottle for everyone if we're going any distance and generally have snacks in my handbag anyway. Also coats, always take coats for me and the DC.
First aid kit, tissues.

Bottle of water, wellies, pack of dog food, cereal bar, sunscreen, power bank, book. And that there sums up my life

If I had younger children, I might think about adding a cheap set of colouring books/felt tips, so that if we were waiting for breakdown services, there would be something to occupy them.

I carry oil, battery booster, de-icer, replacement fuses, and mini pressure pump for blowing up tyres constantly in my car. I also have my work PPE bag in the boot which contains high vis clothing, overalls, warm boots and a supercosy hi-vis bomber jacket designed for being used on cold boats...it's perfect for the unplanned cold breakdown scenario!

If I'm going on a trip of any length beyond simply the supermarket, I would pack plenty water and some snack bars.

I don't have children, but there are useful ideas here thank you.

Oh yes I have hi vis too. I always had one in my car as I drive a lot but Dhs car broke down at 6am in Jan on motorway and I was stuck for 4 hours.

Also add a book (even if you routinely carry a kindle!)

Along with some of the items listed above, I keep an old but comfortable big coat in the boot, in case I break down somewhere when it's either very cold or raining and I am not properly dressed for the outdoors.

I have a small Stanley toolkit box in the boot. It always has:
Torch
Work gloves
2 pairs disposable gloves
Smallest size Ikea Ziploc bag with mini 1st aid kit (few antiseptic wipes, band aids, 1 bandage and pins, 1 emergency foil blanket)
WD40
2 straps for tieing things to the roof (not my idea, they "appeared" courstesy of DH)
2 pocket packs of tissues
2 rechargeable handwarmers (the kind you boil up to recharge)
2 mini bags haribo jellies (I used to have cereal bars, but DD keeps eating them all).

I also have a bag of shopping bags there too.
And a proper kit to change tyre, including the stuff to blow up a tyre in a can, and a pump to inflate with air, under boot carpet

In the car, I have hand sanitiser, disposable gloves, pocket pack tissues, nail file, pen and notepad (one from beside a hotel phone), bag of change for parking meters etc, painkillers, bag of sucking sweets (currently werthers, often fruit flavoured boiled sweets or mints), and window scraper.

I keep meaning to put bottles of water and cereal bars or similar back in - whenever I do, they get used up very fast! And wet wipes also need replacing as DD left the current pack open and they dried out.

I usually also have sunscreen there in summer too.

When DD was smaller, I always had a pencilcase filled with crayons (not pencils as can't pare them when driving) and a small colouring book or notepads for her, and we used to also have a dvd player as we had a lot of long distance driving to do. And a CD of children's songs to sing along with. (And some audiobook stories on CD sometimes as well). The multipacks of small boxes of raisins are also useful for car door pockets when small DCs are involved...

I usually have my work bag in the car with me, and that has a small pouch containing emergency san pro and spare underwear, which has been helpful once or twice over the years. And that also has my asthma inhaler, so I don't worry about a spare in the car generally.

£10 in the glove box
Various toys lying about
Random sweets
Phone charger
In an emergency I would phone dh or RAC.

• Gloves, mini resus mask and first aid kit
• Blanket
• A mini jump start machine we bought from Robert dyas a few years ago. Its smaller than a shoe box. Our old car had a dodgy battery, so we'd always need to jump it if we hadn't used it longer than a week. Very handy though.

There is a hi viz in my stan;ey box too

Packs of cereal too.

Maeking place as this is do nothing I need to do.

I have a window smasher/seat belt cutter tool.

I keep hi-viz under the passenger seat so if I broke down I could put it on before getting out the car.

I wish I'd have done something like this a year ago, last year our car broke down on the hottest day of the year (that 40 degree day) with no food, water or anything like that. It was an uncomfortable few hours!

An emergency bottle of wine under the seat. It's come in handy many times!

Nothing. But after this thread I'm going to make an emergency box ! Thanks !

First aid kit, hi-vis jacket, water, jump leads, foot pump, oil, blankets, waterproof poncho, torch, wellies, suncream, reflective warning triangle

In winter, if there have been reports of snow, I usually put in a sleeping bag, too. If I were doing a long winter journey, e.g. to family in the depths of West Dorset or rural Wales, I might think about a shovel, too. If I'm going out for the day, I'd pack a bottle of water, power pack (and cable) for phone and snacks anyway.

Agree with lots of above.

With snacks consider ones that will stand up to heat. Also with water try to get an aluminium bottle otherwise the plastic tends to leech with changes in temperature.

If you have a dog it might also be worth chucking an extra lead in there - nothing would be more stressful than trying to keep a dog from running into the motorway!

Could also work on DC

Jump leads
Tyre compressor/inflator.
Spare bulb set
Spare fuse set
Reflective bib
Set of screwdrivers that fit my type of car.

Lots of good suggestions. Not maybe essential essentials, but in case you get stuck overnight, toiletry bag with
Deoderant
Hand gel
Hairbrush
Dry shampoo
Toothbrush and paste
Spare knickers
Spare T shirt if possible

foot pump, tyre pressure gauge, torch, card with the phone numbers of the insurers and the breakdown company. Maps as needed (do have a satnav but don't keep it in the car). Numbers for the garage I use and a couple of local taxi firms.

I take a water bottle almost every journey, and a snack if needed. Plus of course my small robust two week battery life mobile. Have been meaning to get a hi viz jacket. It's a solid 10 year old car, not a crappy modern one, so it has a spare tyre.

shopping bags live in the back, and currently so does a bottle of hand sanitiser. There's also a small purse with coins hidden somewhere.