Car winter kit

[useless]

Hi there

Having read elsewhere about survival kits, I thought i would seek peoples ideas about a car kit for winter.

I guess the scenarios are that, 3 weeks (or more) after the initial enthusiasm of making the kit.......

1) Stuck in some gods awful traffic jam for 8 hours, very cold, very dark.

2) Accident on a dark road side, away from mobile phone signal (OH MY GODS!!!!!) and other people (what a relief)

3) Anything else people can think of that might be a) educational or b) entertaining

Last year I had a small kit with some of those instant hot coffees (horrible), chocolate, extra clothes blah blah blah... nothing imaginative or well informed. I'm not talking about preparing for each journey before setting out, more a kit for those who have a long journey into and around work. In particular, what are the thoughts o packing a cooking system (alpine stove and soup?)?

It's not survival, more "prepared and smug".

 

[Voivode]

I don't really see the point of packing a stove and fuel around in the trunk of your car. If you want food, there are powerbars and their ilk. If you want heat (and your car is unable to provide), you want chemical hand/footwarmers. None of it runs the risk of spilling fuel at the most inopportune moment.

As for the rest, we pack a couple of blankets, a flashlight w/ extra batteries, some road flares and the ubiquitous first aid kit. Standard loadout in nearly every vehicle out this way includes jumper cables and an ice scraper/brush (we had 32cm of snow in November!). Sandbags for ballast and traction never hurts. That's all I can think of at the moment.

 

[Tengu]

This is what I did

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=15901&highlight=car+kit

 

[Kirruth]

Some good suggestions!

Here's what the Highways Agency recommends:

* Ice scraper and de-icer
* Torch
* Warm clothes and a blanket
* A pair of boots
* First-aid kit
* Battery jump leads
* Shovel - in case you get stuck in the snow
* Take food and a warm drink in a flask when you are travelling in wintry weather

Personally, I'd also add

- high visibility jacket (people are harder to see in dark or fog or snow)
- an in-car phone charger (and phone!), batteries store less power in cold
- a candle lanthern: a Canadian friend of mine always carries one of these as its a good way to heat up a small space
- a poncho: if you need a rain jacket, plus doubles up as a tarpaulin, just in case the glass in the car is no longer intact

Plus the remaining elements of the ten essentials , so
- knife
- matches
- firelighter
- map
- compass
- sunglasses.

 

[Mastino]

and, as a further addition, 2 (open) rubber mats (like the ones in front of your house door) to get your car out of the mud/snow etc.

 

[pierre girard]

I have a day pack in the trunk (boot?) of the car with enough food for three days, a small kettle, sterno to cook, and water (freezes in the winter, but I suppose you could thaw it). I also have a pair of Canadian military cold weather boots, choppers (a type of mitten), scarf, tuque (cap), a small pair of bear paw snowshoes, and a hunting knife - sealed inside a plastic garbage bag - which is in a duluth pack.