Emergency Car Kits + A Winner

After spending twenty-two hours pacing a rut in my floors and being riddled with worry over Honey stranded in his car on the highway, I promptly got to work putting together emergency car kits. 

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First, a few disclaimers…
1. I am no expert here.  I just read a whole bunch of articles and picked items I thought might prove useful to us.
2. Honey has already spent at least an hour hootin and hollerin over how crazy he thinks I am…please spare me the additional torture.  He swears he could have survived “at least another day” in his car.  I, however, never want to find myself stranded in a car with nothing but a half a bottle of Fanta and the foil from a gas station hot dog. 

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In a small plastic container, I channeled Daddy-O’s master packing skills to hold the following items.  I have just (as in one second ago) coined the “Three S Survival Strategy”.  (OMG, now I’m laughing at myself.)

Safety

  • Flashlight with batteries
  • Head light with batteries – one for each of us
  • Duct tape
  • Nylon rope
  • Swiss Army utility knife
  • Mylar survival blankets – one for each of us
  • Weatherproof matches
  • Rain ponchos – one for each of us
  • Hand warmers – two for each of us
  • First aid kit – I added a small bottle of tylenol
  • Bandanas (I’ve read these can be used for everything from a sun shade to a face mask to a tourniquet… lord save us if it comes to that)
  • Socks – I almost never wear them, and the littles often scoot out without them somehow too.  I figure they could also be mittens in a pinch.)
  • Large, heavy weight garbage bags
  • Disinfectant wipes (we also already have baby wipes and hand sanitizer in the car)
  • Flattened roll of toilet paper with the center removed
  • Whistle with thermometer and compass (has not yet arrived)
  • Fleece blanket (not pictured, stored in the back of my car)
  • Winter hats (not pictured, stored in the back of my car)
  • 2 umbrellas (already keep in car)
  • Emergency escape tool – I keep this in the glove box

Sustenance (you want things that are filling, have a long shelf life and that won’t melt)

  • Water (I have bottles of water stashed in the back of my car.  Not pictured here.)
  • Peanut butter
  • Crackers
  • Applesauce
  • Peanut butter crackers
  • Tuna
  • Soup
  • Oatmeal packets
  • Beef jerkey
  • Energy bars
  • Nuts
  • Powdered milk

Sanity Savers

  • Deck of cards
  • Chap stick

I keep my box right in the back of my car, and made a smaller “for one” kit in a little backpack for the back of Honey’s car.

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If we never need these things I won’t loose a wink of sleep over it.  I want to do something similar to have in the basement (have y’all seen these?), but I’m going to put that off a bit in fear Honey will check me into the insane asylum.

Last but not least, THANK YOU for the outpouring of support on Mother’s oyster shell necklace endeavor!!  The winner of the giveaway is Jane in San Diego!!!!  Email me to claim your prize :-)

The littles are chomping at the bit to get outside in the snow.  So glad Honey likes to freeze his tail off while I sit warm and toasty inside :-)

xoxo

By dixiedelights | Filed under Uncategorized | Tags:

29 thoughts on “Emergency Car Kits + A Winner”

  2. I am def hootin and hollerin over here. I know who to call next time I'm in an emergency…wait I already call y'all for all my emergency needs :) xoxo

  3. Great ideas! And impressive packing (especially the flattened toilet tissue roll….brilliant!) Thank you for a simple (and cute!) kit. I plan to upgrade ours right away.

    Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for bestowing me with Mother's GORGEOUS oyster necklace. I am very flattered and will wear it with much joy, thinking of happy mornings filled with DIXIE DELIGHTS. :)

    My special, dear stepfather passed away during the holidays. He and my mother had been high school sweethearts and found each other after fifty years. They were blessed with ten sweet years.

    I spent three weeks in Indiana, during the Polar Vortex!) and just returned last night to be with my ailing mother…so, waking up to this news brightened my day!

    I am soooo happy and excited!

    Thank you, so very much. I shall wear it with pride for al of my DD sisters!

    Sincerely, Jane

  4. A, I'm on my IPad (traveling) and don't see your email address. Can your please guide me to it? I may have to send mine, via a friend back home, but will do so as promptly as possible.

    Thank you again and please give my very best to your creative and beautiful mother. :)

    Jane

  5. I think it is a great idea…even with just day in and out traveling with children! The three S' s did take it to a whole new level;) but I think it is cute!!! MANDY

  6. First, Amanda-I too (like your little sis) had a really good laugh(well more than just 1) upon reading this blog post. You now have enough in your car to last a week or 2! Except, knowing those little angels of yours, all the food would be gone in about 1 hour!
    Second, to Jane- I hope you love the necklace, and glad that it brightened your day :-)
    Marme

  9. We will be putting them in our cars, and I will be making them for both girls as well. Do not think you are crazy at all!! Worst case, if we get a spring storm and neighbors are in need of quick supplies we can always donate our emergency box!! Something hubby mentioned (having grown up in the North) was to use car mats under the tires for traction. Just a good tip to know! The snow is melting quickly here in the sun.

  10. We have car kits and home kits (so I'm with ya). Our home kit used to be called a Hurricane kit but since living here we have renamed it to the tornado kit. One change I would make in your car kit is to keep the batteries out of the flashlights and just have them in the kit. Don't want them to oxidize, especially in the Atlanta heat!

  11. I am giggling a tiny bit over your emergency kit, but I definitely carried one when we lived in Minne-SNOW-ta! I have the remnants of it in my current Pennsylvania car, but who knows if anything is still edible! What I really want to know is what are you going to do with the duct tape, nylon rope, etc. Have you also been catching up on old episodes of MacGyver too??? : ) My husband would surely know what to use it for, but I'd be clueless!

  13. We have similar kits in the car and a 72 hour emergency stock pile in the basement. Each family member has an individual food and water supply along with emergency whistle, flashlights & blankets. I will say that I felt a little crazy when I was ordering things like flint fire starters and army grade can openers, but should we ever need them I'll be glad I went overboard.

  14. Great Emergency Car Kits! I think you thought of everything. Better safe than sorry. I am sure they give you peace of mind. What is that saying…Plan for the worst. Hope for the best.

    Love the oyster shell necklaces your mom crafted. Very pretty indeed.

    Enjoy the bonus time with your guys during the winter storm :0)

    ~Karen

  16. You kill me with your writing and spot on situations with hubbies. I had to be "firm" this morning with mine wanting to jump in his 4×4 SUV and go "no where" here in Raleigh today! It is snowing like crazy again here, we did go out at lunch and everything was closed, as it should be. The triple S kit is a winner.

  18. Good ideas for a car kit but you need to have shoes that anyone in family could walk a few miles in and not injure their feet. I live in warm/sunny climate (sorry) and usually wear flipflops or sandels and know that with a roadside/car issue and one has to walk you need shoes. And rotate the food probably monthly in your usual climate and exposed to heat/sun in back of your SUV. Winter weather isn't the only thing to shut down freeways and cause problems.
    Dee

  19. [email protected] Doesn't look crazy at all to me–I have a bag in the back of my car with most of the same and have had it there for years–you have given me a couple of ideas to add to mine–Oh and on occasion my hubby has been happy his "crazy" wife had such things in the car! Now he just expects me to have anything he needs LOL Brenda

  21. After taking a hunter safety course with my sons, and part of the course requiring us to create a safety pack that would get us through a night in the Maine woods, I would highly recommend you include in your safety pack a butane lighter or two. The motto was "two is one, and one is none." What it meant was being able to set a fire is too risky to rely on matches alone. I would also sacrifice some of the space you gave to food to items to keep two empty Nalgene bottles. One to put snow in and melt if you needed a drink and one for pee. If you are stuck for hours with your boys, someone is going to have to go. Getting out of your car can be dangerous even when in bumper to bumper traffic. If it is raining and you are already cold, you won't want to get out and get wet.

  22. Great ideas!! I'm sure you thought of it but I didn't see it listed…do you have utensils for the food items like soup & apple sauce? Napkins & straws? The latter just for convenience.

    Also, Dr's say not to leave bottled water in cars if the containers are plastic. Differences in temps, esp heat, can cause the water to absorb gasses from the plastic. My allergist swears that folks should only drink bottled water from glass containers. You know too that Dr's differ in their opinions so just another fyi.

    NO! You are not crazy. :) I'll bet if inclement weather & traffic should befall your hubby again, he will be thrilled with his kit.

    Thanks for sharing!
    xo
    Pat

  23. I just stumbled across your blog…I, too, recently put together a survival kit, complete w/that tool that knocks out your window or cuts your seatbelt, an orange cone, the mylar blanket and a bunch of other things! I think it's a great idea and I am not sharing my mylar blanket with my husband when we are stuck in the snow somewhere due to his laughter.

  25. I would add sterno stove or something to boil water for the oatmeal and maybe coffee and cocoa to drink. 100 hr candle for light and warmth. Kitty litter(non clumping)and shovel if it may snow. Extra shoes,I wear heels a lot prefer shoes to switch to just in case. A hand crank weather radio with cellphone charger and flashlight. We live in South Dakota and last October lots of people got stranded for days at their home and cars from a freak storm that dumped 24 inches in less than 24 hrs and no one could get to anyone

  26. It is really interesting and informative Blog. Everything you mention as elements of Survival Kits are so nice to add. I think there should be a proper tool package too. It will help you to manage your car, if any problem occur. I am really fond and crazy about these kits.

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