Food Ideas for Winter Car Kit / GHB

[Brian]

I think this came up on another thread recently, but it's that time of the year again. Time to start thinking about swapping out car kits and prep bags to ensure you have cold-weather gear and fresh water/food. Thought I'd post what I was thinking about what I was planning to toss in there this year, and see if anyone has any other ideas. We have a lot of BOB/kit threads but I didn't see one specific to car food... unless I missed something.

For me - I'm specifically focusing on food that is likely to be consumed rather than true emergency rations. So while I may stash a MRE here, or a Datrex/SOS boat ration there, I consider those more of an emergency prepping thing than I'm talking about here. Boat rations keep for quite a while and I don't swap them out that often, so they can sit unused in the bottom of the bag. I subscribe to the "pack what you'll eat" idea, and in previous years have been happy to see some of this stuff get used on occasion, even when it's not a true emergency.

So:
-Low effort (prefer not to have to boil water etc. for ramen or M.House)
-Wife and kid friendly
-OK to keep in the car for at least 6-9mo.


1) Protein/Granola/Clif bars (I like the Clif Mojo PB Pretzel bars myself) http://amzn.to/Y272HE
2) Individual GORP-type bags. I like these, they have them at Costco: http://amzn.to/1CbCdiI
3) Jerky - Looking for ideas for individual small bags of Jerky that would be good for car storage. Slim Jims aren't my personal favorite but they'd work well. Maybe some of those Jack Links snack packs? How long will these keep?
4) Hard candy like jolly ranchers or something, few packs of gum
5) Powdered drink mixes

My wife really likes these Go Picnic meals http://www.gopicnic.com/ because they're great for kid meals on roadtrips or on the way to sports practice, etc. I shot them an email to see if they had any comments about how well they'd keep in a car. They'll pack a bit better if you remove them from the boxes and put in ziplocks, etc.

[SouthPaw]

I keep mine pretty simple.

Ramen noodles - cheap, can be eaten dry, easy to replace
SPAM - can eat cold or hot, no tools needed to open package
Jerky - fairly cheap and can suppress hunger well for a short period of time

I think I will add a jar of peanut butter as well. Lots of calories, good fat and protein ratio. I would be interested in others ideas as well.

[Brian]

How about individual peanut butter packets? That's another popular kid-food my wife packs, and is easier/less messy to eat with the squeeze packs... The Justin's brand are gluten-free and all natural which is important to our kids, but probably means they don't keep as long. Since we use/pack these in lunches already, would be easy for us to rotate them into a car pack.

http://amzn.to/1mqSLPT
http://amzn.to/1sWhNTY

What jerky do you use? What's the longest you've kept it in the car and still eaten it?

[fj605]

I don't have a specific food kit but this is what's typically in the car on any given day:

Jerky
Sunflower seeds
Trail Mix (aka M&Ms with obstacles)
Granola bars
Mio drink mix
Dog food

[SouthPaw]

How about individual peanut butter packets? That's another popular kid-food my wife packs, and is easier/less messy to eat with the squeeze packs... The Justin's brand are gluten-free and all natural which is important to our kids, but probably means they don't keep as long. Since we use/pack these in lunches already, would be easy for us to rotate them into a car pack.

http://amzn.to/1mqSLPT
http://amzn.to/1sWhNTY

What jerky do you use? What's the longest you've kept it in the car and still eaten it?

I can see how your scenario is different than mine, but those are expensive. I am pretty cheap .

[Great-Kazoo]

How about individual peanut butter packets? That's another popular kid-food my wife packs, and is easier/less messy to eat with the squeeze packs... The Justin's brand are gluten-free and all natural which is important to our kids, but probably means they don't keep as long. Since we use/pack these in lunches already, would be easy for us to rotate them into a car pack.

http://amzn.to/1mqSLPT
http://amzn.to/1sWhNTY

What jerky do you use? What's the longest you've kept it in the car and still eaten it?

For us it's how everything is stored.If you rotate your food stuffs there should no safety issues. Are the items you have able to take extreme / sustained temp swings. Jerky's great unless the sun is on it, same for canned meats bottled drinks etc. A few caprisuns (since they store easy) in a freeze they have room to expand in those foil pouches. Sunflower seeds, i like the peanut butter packet idea, maybe some other condiment pkgs, like sugar, salt. The items depend on how far you are from home daily. We're local, maybe 1-2 miles from the homestead.

[Brian]

I can see how your scenario is different than mine, but those are expensive. I am pretty cheap .

Yeah I didn't even look at the prices that I linked - it's just easier to link to amazon because it's so fast to find stuff. I think they are usually about 25c/pack local though.

[SouthPaw]

What jerky do you use? What's the longest you've kept it in the car and still eaten it?

It keeps for awhile. After a long period of time and some extreme temp changes it gets a little stale. I still ate it with no side effects. As long as the expiration date is still good, you should be fine. It might not taste as 'fresh' as the stuff you keep in your pantry.

I also love saving the peanut butter jars after they are empty. I wash them out and use them to make homemade first aid kits. They are tough jars, water proof, and can fit a lot. Plus being clear you can see what is in them. They are big enough to fit a lot of stuff crammed in or don't take up too much space in the pack. One in the truck bag, one in BOB bag, and two on my ATV bag (one first aid and the other fire starter kit).

[StagLefty]

TV dinners-they're already frozen

[HoneyBadger]

I have a couple of Datrex boat rations stuffed under the back seat of my car that I replace every few years. I think the current ones have been there since 2011. I also have a few ziplock baggies full of animal crackers, cheerios, and other kid stuff for HB Jr. Any time I'm going outside of my usual commuting pattern, I grab a prepacked small or large B.O.B. Any time I drive into the mountains I bring the big B.O.B. Driving up to my in-laws' place in Parker, I usually grab the small one.

Otherwise, I keep extra jackets, boots, and towels in the car year round. In the winter months, I'll throw some gloves and a hat into the back. My B.O.B.s each have a proportionate amount of food in them, but I always intended to find food instead of carry it everywhere.