It’s 14F this morning as I write this post, and I have an old 3×5 index card in front of me from the first time I figured out what would go in my winter emergency car kit. It’s pretty beat up and has several revisions, and with good reason. No emergency kit is perfect, heck, no kit out there is perfect, but this one has been relied upon several times while living in the Colorado Rockies for over a decade. Weather up there is no joke and when you break down in such cold weather as this morning, in the middle of no where, you’re life is literally in your own hands. Many places still don’t even have cell phone coverage there!

So I’m going to provide you with my tried and tested PapaBravo’s Winter Emergency Car Kit. Please feel free to revise this for your situation and needs, that’s the great beauty about lists, they can be revised! After I list the items, I’ll talk about why I chose the items and why I revised the list.

The weather and road conditions which prompted this suplemental kit,  are quick to change and kill people not prepared for them every year. Determined to not ever become such a stastitic, I researched kits in both books and online and came up with the original. The food and water are self-evident, if I get stuck in my car for a day or two, I want to have those basics. I can use the car to provide warmth, as long as I keep the tail pipe clear of snow. The thermal blanket goes toward me, and the wool blanket over that, if needed. You have to stay warm if you’re stuck. The warmers are for that as well, but I figured if I’d have to change a flat in near-zero temps, even with decent gloves and coat, I could risk cold damage because I’d be working with metal. I needed a way to provide some pretty quick, deep heat once back in the car.

The lightsticks are for signalling more than personal light, which the car or flashlight on my belt-line kit provide. The candles, mathes and lighter were another source of heat and light if needed. The first aid kit is COTS (complete, off the shelf) that I picked up at the local big box mart. It contains much of what you need for common minor injuries. If figured the radio could provide an information/entertainment source if the car battery was inoperable, due to an accident or something and the multi-purpose tool would help out if I needed one, although I carry a Leatherman Wave as part of my belt-line kit.

After needing to use this kit more than once over a ten year period and being lucky enough to survive those situations, which was never a great worry, thankfully, I’ve made some revisions over the years. The main change was that I originally planned for myself, but after getting married, had to update all my kits for the possibility that another person would be around. That made me realize that I had been pretty selfish to begin with because what if someone else had been in the damn car anyways?! Now I suggest that if it’s even a remote possibility that you’ll have passengers, kit up accordingly BEFORE needing it all because 5 passengers and preps for one means some much tougher times than needed to happen!

Some of the energy bars were swapped out for self-heating MRE’s because they were less shocking to the system. If you’re situation is bad, don’t make it worse by eating cardboard and getting demoralized. I also boosted the water content for consumption and MRE use although in a pinch, ice or snow could be used for the MRE. It’s very foolish to rely on snow and ice for your water consumption needs because it can actually cool your body too much too quickly when in an emergency situation and your body is already on edge. The hand warmers I’d originally used ended up being total crap, and was one of the occurrences that led to my personal pledge that I wasn’t ever again going to rely on kit that I hadn’t tested myself before hand. I’ve since swapped them out for a Zippo-type hand-warmer, which really heats the whole car. Just remember to ventilate the vehicle if using in that small space.

I’ve added some extras to the first aid kit; things likely to help out during winter-time accidents, and there is a third thermal blanket too. The candles got replaced with a LED flashlight which has a sort of traffic guide attachment, which also works great as a “candle”. the flashlight also stays lite much longer too. In one situation, where I actually had to help rescue a big tough guy foolishly drive his big SUV like a moron (speeding, wreckless lane changes and such on bad roads, you know the type!), after he’d flipped it and came to rest in the median. I pulled up in my little PT Cruiser and broke my basic multi-purpose tool getting him taken care of. It’s a good thing the Leatherman on my hip was there for back up! Now I have a tougher one in the kit to match the tough one on my hip.

The duct tape, bailing wire and rope are honestly items I haven’t needed to use, but have always seemed to help MacGuyver out in a pinch, and while I don’t foresee the need to turn my exhaust pipe into a flamethrower or whatever, I do see the practical nature to having some amount of these items on hand.

How about you, what’s in your winter car kit or do you even have one?