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How to Make Emergency Survival Kits For Your Car

Member
By bar10dr98
User-Submitted Article
(13 Ratings)

We all know that emergencies can strike at any time with very little notice. Having emergency survival kits for your car is important for when emergencies strike and we're already away from home. Also, if you break down or get stranded on an isolated stretch of road, emergency survival kits can get you through for a day or two until help arrives. Here's a simple guide to putting together emergency survival kits for your car.

Difficulty: Easy
Instructions
  1. Step 1

    Find a medium sized waterproof storage box that will fit in your trunk for your emergency survival kit. Your survival needs for your car will be streamlined for what you would need for a home emergency survival kit. You will be covering the most basic of needs for survival in a car emergency survival kit. Food and water, first aid, shelter, and heat will be the most important.

  2. Step 2

    Line the bottom of your emergency survival kit with a few bottles of water. If you face a snow emergency, you can melt snow to use. Although there may be streams nearby, the water may be contaminated, so use that as a last resort. Include a small pot, so you can bring water to a boil to kill organisms, but keep in mind that does nothing for any chemicals that may have contaminated the water. Gather a few granola bars, a package of almonds (very rich in nutrients), and other small non perishable snacks and place in a ziploc bag inside your emergency survival kit.

  3. Step 3

    Add a couple blankets, rope, and a tarp. You can use the tarp tied from your car to a nearby tree to give you some shelter. Keep a few firestarters and waterproof matches so you can build a small fire about 10 feet out from your tarp. Use a ring of rocks to keep your fire contained, and if it is windy, skip the fire. You don't want embers flying around and starting a brush fire. Firestarters can help dry out wood you find along the road enough for it to burn.

  4. Step 4

    You will need a couple of flashlights for your car emergency survival kit. Don't store the batteries in the flashlight, and keep extras on hand. The new LED flashlights will last practically forever, or you can even use the flashlights that don't have batteries but that you shake for power. Keep these toward the top of your emergency survival kit, so they will be easier to find in the event of an emergency.

  5. Step 5

    Add a small first aid kit to your car emergency survival kit. A few bandaids, gauze and tape, antibiotic ointment, tweezers, and instant ice packs should be a good start. You can use super glue for deeper cuts, it acts just like stitches and is safe to use for this purpose. Duct tape is also good to have on hand in any emergency, and can be very effective at keeping bandaging on bigger cuts while waiting for help to arrive. As with food, store your first aid products in a small ziploc bag inside of your car emergency survival kit.

Tips & Warnings
  • You can make waterproof matches by dipping stick matches in melted wax and cooling before returning to the box. The strike anywhere type of matches work best for this.
  • Don't wander too far from your car if you are stranded, emergency personnel may not be able to find you.

Comments  

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kerrylf said

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on 1/22/2009 Good info.

rorsich said

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on 12/17/2008 Great ideas! Most people don't realize how important things like these are. Excellent advice - 5*s!

HowDragon said

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on 12/11/2008 Excellent advice for preparing for emergencies. Thanks for the info!

ethoslogos said

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on 12/4/2008 Very valuable ideas here. 5* and thanks!

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on 12/3/2008 Very timely. My daughter just got her first car!

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