In January, I put together a list of food storage/emergency preparedness goals that I wanted to complete this year. Revamping my car kit may be the only one I cross off the list this year!
I'm not going to lie, the most important thing in my car kit, is definitely the snacks. We use those for every day emergencies all the time. Back in April we did a reader question asking about different kinds of snacks for the car kit. A couple of you suggested nuts, which I thought was a great idea! Nuts are healthy, plus they have a great storage life. Another snack that I also put in are the crunchy type granola bars. Because I don't like them, so I'm less likely to sneak and eat them. Which is good because my "I'm really hungry, what's there to eat" emergencies tend to happen more often than actual "I forgot snacks for my kids" emergencies.
New bandaids went into the first aid kit (those always run out), new snacks, new package of wipes (which I use for just about everything), a little cash in small bills, and so on. 
I used to keep my car kit in an open bucket, but I noticed that dirt got into everything and I didn't like that, so I borrowed Hannah's idea and found a lidded tub thing. Another great idea would be an old backpack.
It's all set and stashed away until I need it again. And I'm resolved to not wait this long to do a full restocking of my car kit.
What about you? When was the last time you revamped your car kit? What was the most outdated thing you found?
I had a 2T jacket for my almost five year old. That's not going to help us!
11 comments:
DIAPERS! My kids are always outgrowing them. I keep some in the glove compartment and those get rotated pretty regularly, but I recently ran out, so I opened up the car kit. I only had newborn diapers! I've got two in diapers: 9 months and 2 yrs. Newborn did not work.
Misty,
I AGREE! Just last month I totally forgot my diaper bag and didn't have diapers in my car kit, so my 9 month old went commando from swim team practice to home. It was very scary. :)
Don't beat yourself up too bad about the 2T. You do have younger children that could have used it! Miss you. Glad you are still doing the blog.
I need to get busy on my car kit. I had a flat tire yesterday and had to figure out how to lower the tire under my SUV. Come to find out, I was missing the tools that were suppose to come with the vehicle and had to go out to the dealership before I could do it.
I also found out that the jack that came with my SUV doesn't get it up off the ground enough without a wooden block to assist. Grateful it happened in my driveway so that I can make sure I am prepared for a flat away from home. That is my first order of business, then to get the rest of the kit taken care of.
Thanks for this reminder post. This has been on my mind and items are scattered in different places of the house and garage. I just need to put it together. -New plan- Put car kit together by Sunday!
For my car emergency kit I have barf bags. In a large ziplock bag I keep a set of old clothes, preferably a t-shirt and cotton shorts, an old wash cloth and those airline barf bags. Just in case one of my kids will throw up in the car, I can at least wipe them down (always have water) and get a change of clothes...if I get to the barf bag in time - that's all the better.
Hm, that seems like a solid car kit. And yeah, ha ha, sometimes people can get too relaxed and forget about emergency kits like this. On the bright side, you provided some excellent ideas on what to put in those kits!
Wanted to add to "anonymous"'s barf bag suggestion. I learned a long time ago when my daughter was little and go car sick a lot. I would keep lunch sized paper bags along with grocery bags in the car. I would fold down the top of the paper bag about an inch, put it in the grocery bag, then when she would throw up, just roll down the paper bag, tie up the plastic and when you get to a garbage can, throw it away. I do this at home too, no barf bowl for me, eww! Great post!
Great idea on the barf bag!
Definitely diapers/wipes. I reuse the small bags you put veggies and fruit in at the store for garbage bags, diaper disposal and could be used for barf bags. Thanks!
I'm late to posting this but wanted to share, be careful about keeping nuts if you don't live in a very cool climate. Nuts will quickly go rancid in hot cars :)
Just found your post on Pinterest :) I totally agree with the barf bags idea. My poor little 3 yr. old always tosses her cookies on the windy country road to our good friend's house, lol. It's terrible! I've actually been working on getting our car kit all put together as well. I've created a printable spreadsheet of items to include in your kits, if anyone is interested. It's REALLY thorough :)
http://newlifeonahomestead.com/2012/11/emergency-car-kit/
Hope that helps spark some more ideas!
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