# Emergency food in the car?



## FatMoGuy (Jun 7, 2012)

What's best way to store emergency food in the car? Place in thermal container to maintain a low temperature?


----------



## kappydell (Nov 27, 2011)

It depends on how long...and what kind of food....among other things. 
Heat and cold temperature swings are the main problem I have had, so I only put things that can handle both extremes in the car, and must check and rotate them often. The temperature swings play havoc with storage for any length of time, so I rotate every 3 months. What I have in my car? Some jerky, vacuum packed in single servings; some powdered soups/ramen;some single serving size tubes of instant coffee; some of the wal mart water-flavoring tubes (to add to my bottled water which will probably taste like plastic after being in the heat); and some hard candy. I also have some caffeine pills, since I discovered that they will dissolve in water without a taste, in case I need a critical energy boost. I remove about 1/3 of the bottled water in each bottle for winter, to allow for freezing expansion. I also carry a way to heat that up in the cold months (sterno or buddy burner) as well as an unbreakable thermos (to hold some of that hot water after I went to all the trouble to heat some). Of course I am only talking about a get home ration here, not a very long term one. 

I did check on what storage items are freezable when I had only an outdoor storage area for preps. Most dry goods can be frozen (flour, wheat, beans, salt, sugar, dry milk, etc). Its the heat (and humidity) that shortens their storage life. Never found a way to beat that - I just rotated more often. Grains and beans lasted about 1 year, flour about 6 months, dry milk about 3 months, sugar and salt indefinitely. Fats can go rancid and heat shortens their shelf lives dramatically. My oils only lasted 3 months then I rotated them out and used the inedible stuff for making fat lamps for lighting or for lubrication. Just another good reason to eat what you store and store what you eat...it makes rotation come naturally.


----------

