How prepared are you on the road during this holiday season? Make sure you have car emergency kit essentials in tow so you’re always well-prepared wherever you go!
7 Important Things to Have in Your Car Emergency Kit for the winter holiday season.
We spend a lot of time in our car especially during the holiday season. Traveling to see friends and family during the winter months can be a lot of fun, but dangerous if you are not prepared.
Preparation is something we all know about considering our year of shutdowns, coronavirus, and shortages. Being ready for anything should be a top concern when traveling with your family this holiday season. Having a car emergency kit for this is even more important than in the past. Having these important items in your emergency kit could potentially save your life during your travels.
So how can you outfit your vehicle to be prepared for the winter chaos, calamity, or disaster on the road? Let’s look at a number of preps that add up to create a car emergency kit to keep your family safe while traveling this holiday season.
1. Car First Aid Kit
It’s not hard to understand why you need a first aid kit on the road this winter season. Everything you need a first aid kit at home for, you need one in the car for the same reason.
I have had terrible experiences with store-bought first aid kits. Now, I simply build my own kits. I use some of the components from store-bought kits but making our own is simply better.
My car first aid kit contains the following:
- Band-Aids
- Pressure Bandages
- A Tourniquet
- Shears
- Activated Charcoal
- Single-use pack OTC Meds
- Sunscreen
- Burn Cream
- Neosporin
- Rolled Gauze
- Tape
2. Get Home Bag
One of the most important things I carry in my vehicle is a get home bag. This bag is filled with everything I will need to get from wherever I am to my home base.
There are tools, knives, clothes, and all things survival in my get home bag. I also keep snacks, drinks, and another first aid kit inside. This is an essential piece of car kit preparedness.
We have other great articles on building get home bags here at Survival Life.
3. Seasonal Weather Preps
You can build seasonal weather preps in a Rubbermaid kit. The most important season to do this in is winter, so this step is crucial. Your kit should contain things like:
- Heavy Blankets
- Candles
- Hats
- Gloves
- Sleeping Bags
- Emergency Communications
Basically, your seasonal weather preps are designed to help your body maintain its core temperature and to get you rescued. This is highly recommended during winter holiday travel.
4. Jumper
The technology for jumpstarting vehicles has really improved.
Having an accessible jump starter could be the difference between being stranded and finding a way to safety. You don’t need to have jumper cables in your car if you invest in a high-quality jumper for your car. One of these can act as a phone charger and a portable power source for a number of things. They are well worth the investment.
5. Tire Inflation
You can get a dirt-cheap tire inflation system that will allow you to fill your tires when they are either leaky or just need to be topped off.Keep that with a bottle of fix-a-flat and you have everything you need to deal with tire inflation issues that don’t require a spare.
6. Fire Extinguisher
Electrical fires can be a serious problem in your vehicle. Not only could your car catch fire and be ruined, but you might have a family member trapped inside a burning car. Your car fire extinguisher will make quick work of most electrical fires. These are small and affordable.
Look for a 2lb, 100psi dry chemical extinguisher.
7. Road Safety Kit
Flares, reflectors, bungee cords, and the like can all be purchased in a simple road safety kit. Now, this kit should not be your only car survival kit, but save yourself the time and just buy a basic road safety kit to add to your overall kit.
Be Prepared When Disaster Strikes
During the winter holiday season, you will be behind the wheel with the people you care about the most and if a disaster strikes you might find that your trunk offers you a whole lot of nothing. This puts you and your family in a bad position, and no prepper wants to find themselves unprepared for something like this.
You can make an investment in your vehicular readiness over time. You don’t have to go out and spend tons of money on all of this stuff right away. All of the preparedness happens in small bites.
Most of the items we talked about in this article are affordable. You might even be able to repurpose extra items like Rubbermaid containers and winter car kits from items already in your home.
Do you have other car emergency kit essentials to add to this list? Let us know in the comments section!
