To keep a sort of survival kit in the car

[Soopertooter]

I travel alone by car with my three children quite often and I always think I ought to keep some essentials in the car. I think if we were to ever get stuck in mega traffic or breakdown I would be so screwed with three kids under five and a few squashed cereal bars from the bottom of the nappy bag .

Is it OTT to keep food, drinks, blankets, maybe even a pop up tent in case we had to wait on a verge in pouring rain? I tend to imagine worst case scenarios!

If you do have something similar in your car, what do you keep in it?

I did when the kids were little!

It was a plastic tool box of essentials nappies wipes dummies packet milk and snacks. Was handy in non emergencies.

Have also been stuck on the motorway in 6/8 hours jams - not funny with a cold tired hungry children

Get some juice cartons central bars wipes nappies warm spare clothes blankets and love the pop up tent idea - genius!!

We used to do lots of car trips so our car was always prepared and loaded. I still carry most of the things listed except for cat litter (good idea!). One thing I didn't see (apologies if I missed it) on anyone's list is the windshield hammer. We were all given one for Christmas one year, so I keep it in the car door holder. If you or someone in another car becomes trapped they are hot damn for breaking the windows safely. Lots of car accidents due to weather in my country, so it's a good idea.

And on top of what I have mentioned upthread, driving home this evening I remembered my trusty crowbar which I hope I'll never have to use. It's for self protection, for breaking a window of my car from the inside or someone else's from the outside, and probably has other uses too. Hopefully my car will never be searched by the police.

Ginghambox I live in a place that gets hot, humid summers and very cold winters (including a recent polar vortex).

I have towels (can also be used as blankets, mats etc), water, snacks and spare change of clothes (eg old school tracksuits etc) and old coats for kids. Also golf umbrella, and first aid kit.

It's come in useful on several occasions eg if we get caught in pouring rain, stuck in traffic jam, kids run a bit too far in to sea / river / puddle, someone falls over etc.

Food, drinks, and blankets are great things to have in your car. I'd also suggest adding in some laminated copies of local and regional maps (in case your phone dies and your charging cord is on the fritz), a torch and spare batteries, and a set of jumper cables. In my area (Canada) you can buy commercial emergency kits. They would usually include supplies such as emergency blankets, jumper cables, and traffic cones, at the very least.

ginghambox

Have you ever lived in an area where there's no cell service on the road for over 60 mi and that's literally the distance between communities? Have you ever lived in a place where it can get down to -40*C in the winter and the roads aren't always in good shape? I have lived in BOTH of those places. You need to be prepared.

I've done this for years after getting stuck on the bypass for 6 hours in snow. I have a bag with spade, cat litter for under tyres, wind up torch, foil blankets, water, hazard triangle etc. I also have 2 thick coats which live in car and some wellies.

I think it is a very sensible idea.
I'll never do it.
Best I can manage is a bag of sherbet lemons and a bottle of water when going on a long journey.

Great ideas

I’m known for having a shit-hot emergency kit system. The other mums laugh pretty hard, until their kid is stung by a bee at the church fete or my pocketknife is the only way to open the prosecco!

I have a little cosmetic-type purse kit in my handbag, larger kit in the boot of the car and a wheelie case for trips away (not on planes). Oh, and one of those ‘credit card’ shaped multi tools in my wallet.

My best tips to include are: eye drops (you can’t do anything else if you can’t see), sting wipes/strong numbing wipes (buys you an extra hour when dealing with stings), safety pins, chucky bags and tea-tree ointment (anti-itch, antiseptic, anti-fungal, etc).

And a wind-up phone charger and radio. But that might be an Aussie thing. Remoteness and bushfire can change your day pretty fast.

Ginghambox I got on the M8 motorway several years ago. A commute of 45 minutes ended up taking 14 hours because of the snow/

I also work in some of the remotest highest parts of Scotland and have to be prepared for bad weather

I'm assuming gingham has rarely left the south of England.

Don’t pack water, if it’s cold it’s useless.

I was stuck on the a1 when it was closed after an accident. Water was frozen.

I happened to have coke in the car. High sugar content meant it was not frozen

Not an emergency box for kids but for DH who works away all week.
Packets of shortbread and Mars bars. Packet soup. Coffee. Therma blankets (amazon) toilet roll. Ordinary blanket. Warm top. Torch. First aid kit to include painkillers, imodium etc. Peanut bars.

DH travels a long distance to work every day and keeps the basics in the car especially in winter. Warm jacket, pair of boots, gloves, scarf.

But if the weather is very bad, he just doesn't travel which is the best course of action.

gingham I'm going to guess you are in London.
I drive through extremely remote areas with no lighting, no mobile signal and very few residences. Deer, snow and ice are real hazards and if I break down it could be quite some time before anyone passes me. I think I'm quite sensible to carry emergency kit.

Depending on the trip (long / winter / rural etc) I might have
Space blankets (always live in glove compartment)
Blanket / fleece blanket
Plastic snow shovel
Cat litter (ice under wheels plus weeing)
Small bucket
De-icer and scraper
Cereal bars / choc bics / dried fruit / nuts
Drink (may include a flask of hot coffee. An Insulated bottle will stop water freezing)
Good torch/ camping lantern with good batteries
Charging cable
Road map / atlas
Breakdown kit incl hi viz and triangle
Boots, mac, hat, gloves
Umbrella

Pack of baby wipes (for hands after putting air in tyres, filling up petrol etc)

I always have my Swiss Army Knife in my bag.

Must add ‘sherbet lemons ‘

Screen wash topped up
Tank topped up.

(DH was in a 24 hour snowed in motorway jam years ago, being able to keep the engine running sporadically for the heater was vital through the night)

I have two large brollies, a first aid kit, drinks, snacks, foil blankets, scissors, pens, paper, a wind up torch, a fully charged charger pack with lead for my phone, spare nappies, sanitary pads and tampons and believe it or not, wrapping paper, sellotape and a small sewing kit. (The wrapping paper and sellotape are just because I once turned up somewhere having forgotten to wrap the gifts. Ooops)
I have a “false bottom” in my boot that lifts to reveal a fairly large hidden “panel” of boot space directly above the spare wheel. Everything is kept in there.

People from my work were astonished that I kept a foot pump in the car - the notion of being that far from a petrol station just didn't occur to them.

I even upgraded it to a fancy cig lighter powered one, INCLUDING SOS auto flashing light, but it was nicked when some bastard broke into my car.

When my boys were young we always kept spare drink cartons and later cans and multipack of crisps in the boot along with a spare t shirt fleece also an activity book just for journeys Saved my sanity and money at times.. and a fabric conditioner bottle with a wide neck for those " I need a wee" moments but I have 3 DS's To this day though I have a She wee

Um, my boot (big old batters estate car):

• wellies

-blankets

• water
• spare clothes
• first aid kit
• spare tyre, maps and tools
• penknife

-pump

• torch

-multipack crisps, box of wheetos

• wipes

At least, god knows what else. And I’m not even preparing. We just seem to need stuff regularly

When my two were babies and drinking formula we always kept pre sterilized bottles (Steri Bottles they're called, you can buy in Boots) and little cartons of formula for emergencies.

When we were kids my parents were so organised as I suppose there wasn't the 24 hour shops like nowadays so my Dad always drummed into me to carry:

bottles of water
snacks
blanket
spare clothes for the kids
towel (My brother had a habit of falling in streams when we used to go picnics as kids )
First aid kit
sick bags
Cash
Nappies and wipes

Emergency phone charger pre charged
Emergency poncho things you buy in supermarket made from plastic

Long winter journeys we always take warm coats even if its short journey

Always have these things packed in a bag together (we use an old change bag) and accessible so you can grab it out the boot in a hurry as you don't want to be scrabbling around on the hard shoulder trying to find everything

I also bought those things that you can use to cut your seatbelts and smash the window last year after the awful tragedy of the Irish family who all drowned when their car slid off the pier, but stupidly haven't got round to attach them to my roof/hand hold bit, this thread is a reminder to do so asap

Where I grew up and still visit people die of exposure every year - usually in the winter when car gets stuck in the snow. I carry the light survival blankets (5), the same material as a "sleeping bag" for 5, two litres of water, a large bag of sweets, a box of breakfast bars, waterproof clothing and waterproof hiking boots, two flashlights, spare batteries, duct tape, a folding knife and spare power bank for mobile phone all in a "go bag" rucksack (except the boots of course) all in the boot. Back in the day you were considered an idiot if you weren't able to walk 6 miles to help in any weather with what you had with you in the car as it was typically about 3-5 miles between houses. Everyone left doors unlocked in case a strandee needed shelter and you were away - we had people use the fire and eat the canned goods in the pantry on two occasions - they did leave money.