# 10 Things to Keep in Your Car Before the First Wintery Blast Arrives



## VADavid (Dec 27, 2012)

With the first major blizzard of the season slamming upstate New York and New England right now, I figured it was timely to remind everyone about some essential items they should tuck away in their vehicle:

*10 Things to Keep in Your Car Before the First Wintery Blast Arrives*

Growing up, do you remember the neighbor or relative that was always so prepared about everything? He was the guy who kept a perfect log of his vehicle maintenance in the glove box. He knew who the most trustworthy mechanic in town was. He washed and waxed his own car. And, he had a survival kit in his trunk for winter.

Winter is tough on vehicles and travel. Snow, cold temperatures, ice, slush and salt play havoc on a vehicle and test the skills of even the most experienced drivers. The odds of us having a driving emergency in the winter are much greater than in any other season.

Common sense dictates that it pays to keep a survival kit in your car trunk with all the things you are likely to need. Any of the kits offered at GrabPak.com tucked away in a corner of your trunk or hatch will do the trick. However, nobody living in areas hammered by winter storms should go without and for those looking to simply toss a few essential items into a Zip-Loc bag, here is what we recommend: 
1. Blanket: If you are stuck with a car that won't start, or that has conked out, and have to wait in cold weather for help, you will want a decent warm blanket as an extra layer.

2. Snow shovel: Get a short-handled shovel, probably a coal-type shovel, to stow in the trunk in case you need to remove snow from around the wheels of your vehicle. Do not buy a plastic one as you also need to chip at some ice or compacted snow.

3. Flashlight: Keep a good-sized, water-proof flashlight with fresh batteries in case your breakdown is at night. Better yet, buy a flashlight that is crank-powered. Pack emergency candles too, as a back-up.

4. Disposable Hand Warmers: Available at camping stores. Smash the bag and the chemical reaction inside creates warmth to defrost fingers that may be trying to change a tire or fiddle with an engine.

5. Waterproof Matches: You never know when you will have to manufacture heat. If you're stuck for hours, having a warm fire can be a life saver.

6. Bottle of Water and a High Protein Snack Bars. You hear of people surviving on ketchup packets that have fallen between the seats, but some planning will yield a better menu if you find yourself in emergency conditions.

7. Siphon Pump: If being out of gas is your problem, and you get offered help by a good Samaritan, you want to be able to get a gallon or two of gas out of another gas tank and into yours.

8. Glow Sticks: These cost almost nothing at a dollar store and can be used either as a light source or to wear in case you are shoveling snow around your wheels at night.

9. Emergency Road Flares: These should be in your trunk in all seasons for putting next to your car if you are pulled over in distress.

10.Whistle: It can be used to either signal for help to someone who can't hear you yell, or to scare someone who may be trying to take advantage of your distress.

A winter survival kit benefits everyone. Don't forget about elderly parents, loved ones who travel extensively by vehicle (sales representatives, delivery drivers, home healthcare workers) and keep college students heading back to school after the holiday break in mind. Check out the selection of survival kits at Grabpak.com and choose the survival kit that best fits their needs.

*End: Copy-n-Paste*


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## Tweto (Nov 26, 2011)

This list is really bad. From experience being stranded in blizzards you will need everything on the list and a sub zero sleeping bag, food, candles, cell phone with plug-in power cable, extreme winter clothes (much warmer then you would wearing just to drive).

BTW all of this needs to be withing arms length inside in the car. Most of the time when you get stranded in a blizzard you will have went off the road and in my be difficult yo get to. Do not keep it in the trunk (personal experience with this one). Everybody assumes that they will not be able to get out of the car, not true in a real blizzard. If you run into a drift it may jamb the doors shut.


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## backlash (Nov 11, 2008)

I don't think the list is all that bad.
It would be better than nothing.
Can it be improved? 
Sure, but to just dismiss it as "really bad" isn't very fair.
You could include a fully stocked motor home and still be missing something. 
The advise about keeping the kit in the front of the vehicle is absolutely correct.
You need to be able to reach it without getting out of the vehicle.


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## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

You're all right. The list is bad as a stand alone list (what can you expect from weather.com) but in combination with other essentials it's much better. The whistle part was lost on me. I have been out in some roaring blizzards and could barely hear a car horn honking near by. Not sure if a whistle will cut through the air. Replace it with an air horn and I am back on board. Fire in your car? What are you going to light on fire and why do the matches need to be waterproof inside of a car? Did the author plan on ditching the car for a nearby tree grove? When I was kid we used to keep a coffee can, rubbing alcohol, a roll of TP and some matches in the car for a quick and easy heater. I would change the list from blankets to wool blankets as well as other changes IF it were my list.

Check out these resources:

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/yago104.html

http://survival5x5.com/?page_id=251


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## Lorene2201 (Nov 18, 2012)

I 'd add an empty metal can with a candle ,too. 

Lorene2201


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## northfarmer (Oct 18, 2012)

Stupid list.

1-brains enough not to leave the car

2-extra clothing,blanket,water

3-cell phone

4-candle

5-shovel


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## kejmack (May 17, 2011)

Wow! I get emails accusing me of being too hard on the new people. You all are as bad as me. 

First, seems to me as preppers we should already have an emergency kit in our vehicles. You can get stranded in any season. Secondly, why would you go out in a storm if you didn't have to?? Why tempt fate?


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## Outpost (Nov 26, 2012)

Well, while the list is woefully inadequate for someplace like here in New Hampshire, I'll side with backlash in that it's certainly better than nothing. Try to remember that lists like this aren't intended for people like we, most of whom are comfortable crawling into a gulley just to get away from things for a while, but rather for the average pavement-pounder who's life never takes him (or her) more than a few miles away from someplace like Boston. For city-folk, that list is probably all they'll need most of the time. Yup.... someone will be by at some point. They never spend more than a couple hours alongside the road before they're noticed, and approached. (Except for the blizzard of '78 when we lost quite a few folks on Rt. 128... I was on duty with, what was then, Civil Defense, in New Hampshire.)

Never mind prepping for "the Zombie Apocalypse"...If more folks were prepared for basic daily life, even with just a basic list like that one, we could probably save a LOT of money on unnecessary government resources, and put a hell of a lot less responders at risk in the process! 

The one thing I'd absolutely put on that list though, especially for the average urban commuter, is a gallon of 50/50 anti-freeze. I can't count how many folks I've seen along side the road because something either froze and blew off, or blocked up and refused to pass coolant.

$.02


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## Tweto (Nov 26, 2011)

Outpost said:


> Well, while the list is woefully inadequate for someplace like here in New Hampshire, I'll side with backlash in that it's certainly better than nothing. Try to remember that lists like this aren't intended for people like we, most of whom are comfortable crawling into a gulley just to get away from things for a while, but rather for the average pavement-pounder who's life never takes him (or her) more than a few miles away from someplace like Boston. For city-folk, that list is probably all they'll need most of the time. Yup.... someone will be by at some point. They never spend more than a couple hours alongside the road before they're noticed, and approached. (Except for the blizzard of '78 when we lost quite a few folks on Rt. 128... I was on duty with, what was then, Civil Defense, in New Hampshire.)
> 
> Never mind prepping for "the Zombie Apocalypse"...If more folks were prepared for basic daily life, even with just a basic list like that one, we could probably save a LOT of money on unnecessary government resources, and put a hell of a lot less responders at risk in the process!
> 
> ...


There is a big difference for people stuck in blizzards in populated areas and people stuck in blizzards in remote country. However, we had a blizzard in populated areas and then found people froze to death one block from (sometimes in their cars and sometimes in a snowdrift) a business that was open all night for snow bound travelers. I have personally been stranded twice on remote roads 10 miles from any business and 5 miles from any farm in a blizzards that you can't see the hood of the truck because of the blowing snow. In both cases, I could talk to my wife on the phone but nobody would be stupid enough to try come out to get me and I was in my truck till the snowplows showed up the next day. In these cases it truly is life or death and only your preps can keep you alive.


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## Outpost (Nov 26, 2012)

Tweto said:


> There is a big difference for people stuck in blizzards in populated areas and people stuck in blizzards in remote country. However, we had a blizzard in populated areas and then found people froze to death one block from (sometimes in their cars and sometimes in a snowdrift) a business that was open all night for snow bound travelers.


Back in '78, the storm hit very quickly. Folks along Rt 128 (around Boston) were going home during a normal commute and suddenly, everything came to a halt. Snow packed around the vehicles to ultimately over 4 feet. Lots of folks died because they were trying to run their engines to keep warm. Since the snow was over the sides, hood, and trunk, the exhaust was buried and essentially redirected to the intake under the hood.

Mass was asking for folks with snowmobiles to help rescue stranded motorists. Lots of folks went down. Got a hell of a lot out too.... just not everybody...

Rt 128 doesn't really go through any real "rural" areas. Some kind of shelter was usually within 1/4 mile. Folks died for nothing.

Had a few here in NH too. Thankfully, nowhere near as many.

Folks always justify their inaction by saying "what are the odds?".

Well, if you play the odds long enough, you *WILL* lose. And *those* odds are 100%.


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## lotsoflead (Jul 25, 2010)

keep the gas tank full, even if it seems silly to top off the tank at 3/4, do it anyway, you'll be suprised at how fast a tank will hit empty while waiting for the snow plow or help.


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## BillM (Dec 29, 2010)

When you leave home in the winter or summer, wear somthing you can get out of your vehicle in and walk a few miles in.

I was a deputy sheriff and I used to stop vehicles for a violation and there would be a woman in a house coat and house shoes in the winter or a man wearing no shirt , shorts and flip flops on a hundred degree day.

God forbid they have to leave the conditioned comfort of the vehicle.


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## lotsoflead (Jul 25, 2010)

BillM said:


> When you leave home in the winter or summer, wear somthing you can get out of your vehicle in and walk a few miles in.
> 
> I was a deputy sheriff and I used to stop vehicles for a violation and there would be a woman in a house coat and house shoes in the winter or a man wearing no shirt , shorts and flip flops on a hundred degree day.
> 
> God forbid they have to leave the conditioned comfort of the vehicle.


I helped a very famous movie starwho was wearing pajamas one morning, he was dropping his kid off at a private school. he now knows that a wild turkey will cause as much damage to a car as a deer.


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