What's the best kind of food to have stored in your car?

I live in an area where summers hit 100+ and winters can drop below 0, so I need something that can stand those extremes. I'd also like it to be relatively compact, because half my trunk is filled with other survival like blankets, boots, clothes, etc. Any advice?

 

Canned goods and a can opener. I like ravioli, beef stew, maybe corned beef hash, chili. Something substantial. Bottled water. Some cash too. Keep some cash in the car, you never know when you could need it. One time we were driving down the interstate and there was a guy walking on the shoulder with a small backpack. He looked like he was in distress. We happened to stop just ahead at the roadside park for a pit stop and before we left, this guy came walking up, fell on the ground and was resting. We had a lot of food in our car and some money. Mr. Cluckeyo went out the car and filled a sack with food, then pulled out a $20 and sat down with him for awhile. He accepted the help and was greatful. That's one thing that I really like about Mr Cluckeyo.

 

As I have posted in another thread, our house is in a low lying area that is prone to flooding. Although our house is safe unless there is a deluge like the storm Ondoy in 2009, the flooding is confined to the blocks around our street. However, when the main road is flooded waist-high, there's no way the car can traverse. My husband and I have an agreement that in those cases, we should be ready to sleep it over the night in the office or wherever safe from the flood.

For that purpose of overnight away from home, my car is equipped with a bag that contains overnight clothes and some toiletries. For the food, there is crackers and candies which I replace every week since they expire. Candies can deaden extreme hunger while the crackers can serve as a meal with water or anything to drink. But that kit is ready only during the rainy season since it has no purpose during summer.

 

At those temperatures, the best foods are those not prone to fermentation. It should also have a high energy punch. With this in mind, potato chips come to my rescue. During the process of cooking, they undergo dehydration through frying which enables them to keep well at high temperatures and they are also tasty and compact. They are very versatile and can be eaten at any time of the day. When cold, adding pepper restores the zing.

 

Been there and done that, the glovebox is strictly a winter thing as I the museli bars I have trird all turned to crap after just a few days in summer!
I use a small lunckbox type esky now with two 600ml water and a dozen museli bars!

 

Heat is worse on stored food than cold. If it is 100℉ outside it is way hotter than that in a parked car. Replace all your car food at the end of summer. Use it at home, feed it to the dog, or toss out.

In the winter, remember that wet canned food will freeze. You won't be able to get it out, the cans may bulge and the contents can turn on you when they thaw. You can find suitable winter food that will last in summer as well and only change the car food once a year or you can change it twice or more often if you use it.

 

I pack dehydrated foods. Also, pack water in glass jars (with enough headroom to allow for expansion during freezing). I despise plastic for storing drinking water in hot vehicles, but it's OK for winter.

Glass jars can have multiple uses in a moderate or long-term survival situation:

1) After all the water is used up, glass jars can serve as a handy-dandy SODIS method of water purification if my favorite methods are not available for some reason (used up, lost, or damaged). Having multiple ways of water purification, fire, etc. etc. is not a bad thing!

More on SODIS: (this will also work with plastic bottles, but not as well as glass because, with use, plastic tends to accumulate scratches and cloudiness.)

https://www.sodis.ch/methode/anwendung/index_EN

https://www.cdc.gov/safewater/solardisinfection.html


2) The glass jar is useful even when broken. Pieces of it can be used to start a fire (Google dat!)

3) I have made nice arrowheads and small knives with broken glass. Arrowheads can be put to use in an atlatl, blowgun, or crossbow (all of which can be made with natural and/or found materials). And, if something should ever happen to my knife...no worries, I can make another. It does not take long to make arrowheads or small knives out of glass.

Making arrowheads from broken glass and other trash items:
https://mysurvivalforum.com/threads...ives-out-of-trash-broken-glass-and-more.6535/

Atlatls:
https://mysurvivalforum.com/threads/what-is-a-atlatl.6118/

There are other threads here and on the internet about bows, crossbows, etc.




To reduce the chances of breakage, my portable glass jars wear silicone jar jackets and some sport wire bail handles. (Amazon.com --> "Jar Jackets")


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Good grief, some days I am a writer and other days I are a writer...duh...

I edited the beginning of my previous post so that it makes sense. The way it was originally written, it sounded like I pack dehydrated foods IN jars of water...


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I'd guess the lifeboat ration bars might be the best for longevity, but never tried them personally.

I keep candy and snack bars in the glove boxes, the non-chocolate types since they keep better in the summer months. Mostly just a convenience thing if we get hungry while on the road, and we get enough visiting kids that rotating stock isn't a problem. In the truck kits I like canned food since weight isn't an issue, pork 'n beans, spaghetti-o's, ham, chicken, tuna, etc. Not a huge amount, about 6 cans in each vehicle along with two cans of dog food. Also a jar of peanut butter, great survival food. To heat food, and thaw water (or melt snow) in the winter, we have sterno (canned heat) and a folding sterno stove for use inside the trucks if needed. For the dedicated BOV a single burner dual-fuel (white gas or gasoline/petrol) stove too, but using that inside the vehicle makes me a bit nervous both for the fire hazard and the CO. The sterno stoves work well placed on the passenger side floorboard. And coffee and tea bags, hot drinks are a good way to stay warm if sheltering in a stuck vehicle.

 

I keep a couple of Mountain House meals and have a small cooking system; collapsible stove with sterno cans. I agree with Gate Crasher. I keep peanut butter and honey. Great survival foods. I also keep Saltine crackers. Aren't Saltines today's hard tack? The recipes sure do seem the same to me.

I keep Cliff Bars, nuts, and drink mixes; water of course. I have one or two of those survival bricks. You know. The ones that have 5000 calories per serving, and they are the only thing you would ever need. I don't have anything that will melt, and 95% is ready to EAT; not ready to cook.

Make sure you have utensils and some kind of dish if need be. I do keep a can opener even though I don't have any canned goods. Something to clean up towels, napkins, Wet Wipes. I keep salt and pepper packed with utensils, and a couple of napkins in a zip lock bag. Everything packs in a 4 gallon milk crate.

 

Canned foods like Chunky soups and Ravioli, among others, do just fine in the Florida heat. I keep a 30 emergency supply of food in the van and some of those cans are over 3 years old. I eat some from time to time just to check them and rotate i n newer stuff. Never had a problem. I never expose the cans to direct sunlight, most of them are in foot lockers under my bed

 

Big D;

I'd like to introduce a thought here for prep in re "best kind" of food. Rather than a focus on the area you've mentioned above, augment this planning in case HADES requires an extended trip elsewhere well away from the planned-for area.

A military example that can be used for food inventories and the rest that's related:

When China's PLA trains, they get a basic scenario to prepare for. Eg: 1 maneuver division + 10 coastal boats to do some exercise near Vietnam. The prep starts. The staging areas are gearing up. The specialized equipment is issued out.

Often, the exercise planners make last-minute changes and the schedule is accelerated. Forget Vietnam area, Pro (Proceed) Route 1A to Tibet Province. In February, it's different than the Gulf of Tonkin. (You know I'm making all this into a joke for a memory aid.)

Our food plans must factor in the REALISTIC worst case that could occur. This might be an area with even more temperature extremes as mentioned above. The are might have an overabundance of rodents. My ancestors and inlaws were familiar with this line of thinking.

Flexibility must be considered for our uncertain world.

 

Morgan, saltines are a fine replacement for hardtack but pilot bread is closer. I grew up on Sailor Boy and you'll still find it on most commercial fishing boats, at least in Alaska.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=pilot+br...fix=pilo,instant-video,236&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_4_4