Winter Preparedness Kit for Vehicles
Winter Preparedness Kit for Vehicles: Essential for Safe Winter Travel
Winter poses unique challenges for driving, making it essential to prepare for unexpected roadside emergencies. Creating a winter preparedness kit for vehicles can make the difference between staying safe and comfortable during a breakdown or being caught unprepared in harsh conditions. This kit should include essential items for warmth, signaling for help, maintaining hygiene, and more. By assembling a thoughtful and thorough winter kit, drivers can confidently face winter travel knowing they are equipped to handle emergencies. One can create a multi-use kit using a five-gallon bucket, providing a compact and versatile storage option. This kit is not meant for extended winter expeditions; instead, the intent is for it to support you until help arrives. Remember, the key is to “Be prepared to Save the Day.”
Real-World Example: Those living in the Washington, DC area might remember when a portion of Interstate 95 shut down for almost 24 hours due to winter conditions. During this time, most people were stranded in their vehicles, relying on whatever they had in their vehicle and their everyday carry (EDC) items. Many would have been more comfortable with a kit like this on board.
Keeping Warm
One of the primary concerns during a winter roadside emergency is staying warm. To conserve fuel and reduce the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning, drivers should avoid running their vehicle for more than 10 minutes every hour. This limited use allows the heater to keep occupants warm while also charging the battery to power electronic devices as needed. Temperatures can drop quickly, especially at night or in remote areas, so including items like mylar (survival) blankets, heavy wool blankets, and portable hand warmers is crucial. Mylar blankets reflect body heat, and when used to enclose the area around occupants in larger vehicles, they can reduce the space needing to be warmed. Wool blankets, which retain insulation even when wet, are also highly fire-resistant due to the natural properties of wool.
It’s recommended to pack extra clothing layers, such as hats, gloves, and thick socks, to retain body heat. In case of extended waits for assistance, these layers can help prevent hypothermia or frostbite, which can occur even in mild winter temperatures. Extra clothing might be best kept separate from the rest of the kit, making it easy to transfer between vehicles. Many do not have enough clothing to keep extras in each vehicle.
Including an emergency bivy sack or a sleeping bag rated for low temperatures can also offer essential warmth and is compact enough to store in most vehicles.
Signaling for Assistance
Snowstorms, fog, or early nightfall can limit visibility, making it harder for passing vehicles or rescue teams to spot stranded drivers. Signaling tools such as road flares, LED emergency lights, and high-visibility reflective triangles are crucial in any winter kit. One can also attach a brightly colored cloth or flag to the antenna or car window to signal distress. Additionally, a fully charged portable battery for cell phones ensures drivers can call for help, even if their vehicle’s battery fails. Many portable batteries also include LED flashlights, making them doubly useful.
Occupants should remain inside the vehicle whenever possible, as it provides warmth and shelter and is more visible to rescuers than an individual on foot.
Food, Water, and Emergency Supplies
In addition to warmth and signaling tools, it’s important to include non-perishable food and water. Keeping several bottles of water in the vehicle is essential; insulated containers are best for preventing freezing in sub-zero temperatures. In a short-term emergency, water is often a higher priority than food, but snacks like granola bars, nuts, jerky, and energy bars offer a morale boost and are compact and calorie-dense.
Other essential supplies include a trauma kit, basic first aid kit, multi-tool, and a small shovel for clearing snow. A flashlight or headlamp in the kit allows for visibility within the vehicle without using the vehicles interior lights, potentially draining the battery. Adding sand or kitty litter can provide traction if the vehicle gets stuck, and floor mats or specialized traction mats/recovery boards can also help.
Maintaining Personal Hygiene
While hygiene may not be a top priority during a short-term event like we are describing, being able to take care of bodily functions properly can help maintain health and morale, even if only stranded for several hours. For this reason, it’s advisable to pack items like wet wipes, hand sanitizer, a roll of biodegradable toilet paper, and a few eight-gallon trash bags. This is where the five-gallon bucket becomes a multipurpose item, serving as a portable toilet when lined with one of the trash bags. Including a small container of clumping cat litter can help manage liquid waste. One can place the bag outside the vehicle or in the trunk, just ensure you take it with you upon departure. One can create a makeshift seat for the bucket using a pool noodle (cut the noodle a little shorter than the circumference of the bucket, then make a slit in it so it will fit around the top of the bucket) or a specially designed toilet seat for five-gallon buckets.
Being able to handle hygiene needs can improve both comfort and morale when waiting for assistance in challenging conditions.
By assembling a winter preparedness kit that addresses warmth, signaling, sustenance, hygiene, and essential tools, drivers can be well-prepared for the unique challenges of winter travel. Below is a list of recommended items for a comprehensive winter preparedness kit.
Winter Vehicle Emergency Kit Items
This kit is an Emergency Kit and not a Survival Kit. This is to help you if you get stuck in an area where rescue should within 24 hours, like the issue on I-95 several years ago. Feel free to reach out with any questions – scott@wksgllc.com.
5-gallon bucket w/ lid (found at Lowe’s or Home Depot) The bucket serves as the storage container for most of the items in the kit and doubles as a “porta-potty.”
“Seat” for bucket. You can search “Bucket Toilet Seat” on Amazon or use a cut pool noodle (instructions above).
8-gallon trash bags (you can use these to line the bucket if used as porta-potty)
Wet-Wipes (your choice of brand, etc.)
Female Urinal. This is somewhat self-explanatory, and its inclusion will depend on your personal situation. *
Small plastic jar of clumping kitty litter. Add some to the plastic bag with liquid waste Depending on your vehicle type and how cold it is, you can put used bags in the trunk of the vehicle or just left outside the vehicle (remember to take it/them with you when you are able to leave).
Wool blanket. Wool does not lose its insulative properties when wet and is inherently fire resistant. The higher the percentage of wool in the blanket, the better. (The blanket may not fit in the bucket, it may go under a seat). *
Mylar “Space Blankets.” If one is alone or there are only two people in the vehicle, one can use these to separate the front seat from the rest of vehicle, so you are only heating a small part of the vehicle. One can also use them to help keep you warm if you do not have other items to use. These are also relatively inexpensive, so you can keep multiple of them in the vehicle. *
Mylar “sleeping bag.” One can get in these and have additional mylar blankets and/or the wool blanket wrapped around you. *
Extra warm clothes, such as a hat, mittens, pants, etc. Wool when possible.
External heat source. Survival experts are divided on how to provide the external heat. Some are for candles; some are for using hand/foot warmers. You may not need much external heat if you have the mylar blankets, mylar sleeping bags, extra clothes, and wool blanket. With those items and running the car heater for a short time every hour you can stay warm unless the temperatures are incredibly cold.
Using the hand/foot warmers requires a large amount of these items, since you would want to place them in armpits, on kidneys, groin area, back of neck, feet, and hands. Each of these items provides heat for approximately 10 hours, so you would need to double the number of items for a 24-hour period. *
Survival candles require ventilation of the vehicle to avoid the possibility of carbon monoxide issues and bring the potential for fire, but they provide a source of light while lit. There are candles that are designed to burn for extended periods of time for survival situations but may not necessarily be the best for the enclosed space of a vehicle. When looking for survival candles, look for the ones that are in a metal tin and have a burn time of at least 12 hours (do not get a freestanding individual candle). Do your research before you determine if this is the right solution for you. If you decide to use a candle, get some lighters. Nothing special, just get a multi-pack of Bics. *
Get a headlamp and keep extra batteries with it. *
Keep a cell phone charger with necessary cords.
Keep a few bottles of water and some snacks.
Remember that one hour of idling your vehicle burns approximately 1 gallon of gas. Be careful if idling the vehicle to ensure the tail pipe is clear of snow and debris.
We suggest, once you decide which items you are going to have in/near your kit, you make a checklist, put it inside a page protector, and tape it to the outside of the bucket. That way if you do not have everything to start off with, you can check them off as you add them. You can add expiration dates to know when to check things. You can create a summer version and put that checklist on the back side of the paper, so you just flip it back and forth within the page protector.
*There are links to these items on the Our Recommendations page of our website.