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?

Add a fire extinguisher (sorry not read whole thread so don't know if it has already been suggested).

1st aid kit
Red triangle
Blankets
Tyre pump
Water
Biscuits and crisps
Spare pair knickers
Scissors
Spoon
Straws
Map
£20 and coins
Spare spectacles (I smashed mine once on a cleaning job- Henry hoover fell from top of stairs onto my head and can't drive without them)
Pen and paper
Baby wipes
Umbrella
Spare bags
Pair of trousers
Gloves
Heat up hand warmers
Pen knife
Book and playing cards
Breakdown service phone number written down incase phone has no battery.
After reading this thread will now
put my spare petrol can in car and buy high-vis jackets.
School run and work are 20miles round trip down country lanes.

OP is being sensible. Blanket and water would head my list.

OP has the right idea. We have a few essentials in the car all the time, particularly clothing, such as spare gloves, woolly hat, boots and blankets, plus a dayglo orange jacket and some torches, but also some snacks and bottled water. If we're going on long journeys, we pack a load of extra stuff to keep us fed and watered. When DS was young, we'd always have 2 changes of clothing. Be prepared!

We just have windscreen wash, a shovel and a tow rope. Drive a 4x4 pickup truck with winter tyres.

No kids and no food or drinks because it would freeze. It was -30 this morning. Always have hats, gloves scarves on us anyway in winter.

We take food or drink if we're going on a longer trip, but not just pottering about in the city.

Chains, snow shovel, sleeping bag, water, high vis+, coat+, boots, pull on crampons, hat, gloves, waterproofs, chargers & battery bank (packed when snow is predicted), compass, camping stove, lighter. If it is a looooong journey with several miles between places I would pack something to eat.... and there could be a couple Firepot meals lurking in the car.

• = carried for work

• = forgot to take out of the car last time we went away

Ironic. If I put this onthe Prepper topic (this stuff is what Preppers do), we'd have numpties popping on saying we preppers were all nuts.
I'm glad people just do sensible stuff and don't get bogged down with labels.

Decent first aid kit
Space blanket
Shovel
Sacks x2
Bottled water
Cash
Triangles
Puncture repair can
Golfing umbrella
Gloves and hat
Torch
Spare spectacles
Fire extinguisher
Rope
Spare wellies

bloody mumsent.you had me searching and I think I found the one...

evaq8.co.uk/Deluxe-Two-Person-72-Hour-Emergency-Go-Bag.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8Yrlz7Kl4AIVqpztCh1D9gOdEAQYASABEgLBBvD_BwE
thank me later ;)

Always build your own bespoke gobag. If you buy one it'll be full of stuff you never use and won't have the stuff you need. Use your money more sensibly.

Yes when DC were small we had a spate of being stuck on motorways and I made sure to have weather appropriate food/drinks. Also a "spill kit" of plastic bags, wipes and a bottle of water.

We just live on the edge now!

I've got permanent winter weather gear in my boot (been stuck on snow bound motorways too often) - so silver blanket, wool blanket, wellies, small shovel, heavy duty torch, hat, gloves, scarf, huge brolly, poncho and padded coat. Can't be bothered to empty them out at end of winter.
I keep high viz light jacket and emergency medical kit. Keep sweets, puzzle books and phone charger too. Puzzle books great if stuck in mega traffic jam.
In fact, lots of this stuff is essential travel gear for crossing M62 and Cumbria heading north - sites of some of my worst travel experiences.
Trouble is, not too much room left for shopping.

oh and toothbrush and toothpaste - hate not having clean teeth if stuck overnight.

Perfectly sensible! Fire extinguisher, blankets, shovel, rope, multi tool, water, waterproofs, she-wee! First aid kit. Torch. All permanently in our car and we top up/ replace water/ carry more blankets/ sun cream whatever depending on the season. It really just needs checked 2-3 times a year...

When the kids were small I kept juice cartons, long life snacks, change of clothing, towels, wipes and through the winter warm clothes, partly because it's expensive to keep buying drinks out and we like to be spontaneous. I still keep water, first aid kit, and dog related items now

Oh and have a couple of survival blankets plus ponchos

These things are not necessary for most people who live in Britain. This country is on the whole, mild and temperate. If you live in parts of Britain that are exposed on on high ground that get snow and freezing temperatures then of course you should prepare.

Similarly on long journeys where you are likely to encounter a sudden and heavy downfall of snow and not be able to get off the motorway.

But for the most of us it's mild and wet and a bit sleety and gloomy in winter, pretty in April, nice in May and maybe really nice in July.

The idea that most us have to go out equipped for a road trip through Alaska with provisions and tyre chains or we'll die - someone recommended tyre chains like the whole of Britain lives in Minnesota - is mad.

But since many of us are not unlikely to make long motorway trips when it might snow, or just plain old get stuck in traffic, it's easier and more reliable to just keep the stuff in the boot all the time.

We’re in south east and get completely cut off in even slight snow. If we breakdown or come off the road it’s up to four mile hike along unlit single track roads to get mobile reception or find a house with a landline. Many’s the time I’ve had to sort out injured cyclists who’ve come skidding off on muddy corners or pulled townies out of bushes. Rope also useful for helping injured deer, as is the blanket to calm them.
It’s not all about deep snow drifts.

I have a long commute but also have a horse I visit daily in the arse end of nowhere.

As a result my boot always contains a variety of warm but smelly coats, fleeces and layers. Hats and gloves, wellies, riding boots, head torch, bottled water (not fashionable I know but no drinking water at horse yard). I often have cereal bars too,
I could survive a good while in an emergency

Empty petrol cans have been mentioned.
This will be of little use if you run out of petrol, and could tempt you into resorting to accepting a lift to a petrol station, work out the dangers of that for yourself , I always take a full one if going on a long journey. If you are stuck in a traffic jam for a long time in the winter you will need to keep the engine running for the heater, so you may run out of petrol or freeze.
Also for extra leverage an extension socket set bar with correct wheel nut socket kept separate, trying to remove wheel nuts if you get a puncture with the tool supplied by the car manufacturers will be impossible.
It is also handy for smashin car windows in crashes to allow occupants to escape, (Prince Phillip).
And as a defence weapon in road rage attacks, kept on floor by drivers door, just saying.

when heading on a long trip out car has...
warning triangle
hi viz vest
folding shovel
water
flask of hot water
some of those coffee sachets - 2 in 1
biscuits
sweets
blankets and cushions

that is the main stuff..
also
baby wipes
loo roll
plastic bag and a folding waterproof dog bowl - very handy for car sickness!!
also sanitary pads,
spare knickers (after a very embarressing d&v incident!!)
socks
a swiss army knife
charger
we used to have some cat litter, but then realised that if needed to soak up pee its better to use some swell gel that you add to hanging baskets as it absorbs loads of fluid and also takes up a lot less space!! oh and a cheap plastic water jug will be handy for both male and females to pee in!
a soft hand broom to brush snow off the car.
I sometimes wonder how there is room for us in the car!

Most people in Britain don't make long motorway trips and even then, we are likely to get stuck in extreme weather safariboot

The fact that they make the news is because it's so unusual. I'm not saying you shouldn't be prepared if you live somewhere that regularly gets bad weather or are planning a journey in winter when you're going somewhere it's likely to snow heavily, and especially if you might get stranded behind a load of stuck, broken down or abandoned vehicles on a motorway.

Some people drive in challenging conditions in winter but most of us don't do that.

On Mumsnet I notice that there are a lot of nervous drivers. Adding to their anxiety by suggesting they might freeze to death in their car when that's very unlikely doesn't seem very helpful to me.

I grew up in the south east and regularly missed school because the school bus couldn't make it through... but yes it's balmy down there, no need for any precautions 🙄

Has anyone mentioned jump leads? I always have those.

I don't keep water in the car because it would get hot and yucky in summer and freeze in winter but I always have some with me, and a snack. Plus warm coat, gloves, and essential medication. I suppose it's a start. I'm inspired to have more now! I do have snow tyres (I live in a place where it snows regularly) but they didn't save me last week when I skidded on an uncleared road in heavy snow and landed in a ditch. Luckily the car and I are fine. So will be adding snow chains and better footwear in case I have to walk home.

On Mumsnet I notice that there are a lot of nervous drivers. Adding to their anxiety by suggesting they might freeze to death in their car when that's very unlikely doesn't seem very helpful to me.”

Hopefully most people will recognise that very few of these precautions are needed to nip down to Asda in Clapham Junction, and some, like hopping out to use a she-we on Lavender Hill would be seriously counter-productive.