Prepping Your Vehicles

Prepping Your Vehicles
From: Jolynn

Most Americans spend an average 2 to 3 hours per day driving in their cars.  For those dedicated parents who commute their children to and from school, to soccer games and then to karate classes, may call their cars their "Second Home".  I'm a mom with a 21 year old son who is now driving himself around in his own car, and my husband and I share a car.

A year ago, I started to research about surviving a natural disaster.  It's been a year since our state of Hawaii issued a Tsunami Warning, which thankfully did not happen.  Most people in our state are not prepared for such a disruption to the kick back lifestyle in paradise, so a Tsunami would have been crippling to just about everyone I know, including myself.  What do people living on a tropical island do when there's an unexpected disaster....!PANIC! And that's what we did.  Our markets were so busy at dusk, cars inched their way in to the parking lots and it was another feat to find an empty cart.  The gas stations had around the block lines causing traffic jams on the main streets and highways.  So this lead me to my decision to be prepared, and not be a Hawaiian ostrich with its head in the sand.  I wanted peace of mind knowing that if anything was to happen, whether by natural disaster or by an economic collapse, that I was prepared for the unexpected events of the future.

The first Youtube videos I watched on prepping talked about BOB aka Bug Out Bags.  I didn't think that was enough, so I prepped my car as my BOC aka Bug Out Car.  Then I prepped my sons car.  As a mother, what a great feeling of comfort knowing that while we are on the road going about our busy days, we could all survive for 3 days or more in our cars.  The main categories I decided to prep our vehicles: Water, Food, First Aid and Tools.

Water: I bought a case of bottled water and looked for nooks and crannies in my car.  Our SUV has a compartment under the back floor for storage and access to the spare tire with lots of air space.  This compartment also served as a cooler with added insulation from the rubber floor mat.  My packing skills of my many travels with limited suitcases helped, and I managed to get the entire case of water stored out of site.  Check

Food:  I picked up a large priority mailing box from the post office, this fits perfect under the drivers seat and out of the way of back seat passengers.  Filled it up with complete freeze dried meals, vacuum sealed bags of oatmeal, dehydrated vegetables, snacks, teas, hot chocolate and dried saimin.  The box sealed up nicely with added tape so that no uninvited critters will get to the food anytime this century (let's hope). Check

First Aid and Tools:  This section created a challenge and again my packing skills were of great use.  Here is a list of items I packed in a plastic tool box from our local hardware store which measures 10"x7"x14" and sits on the floor behind the drivers seat and can easily be moved around in the car.
SS Folding Knife
Scissors (Kid's size)
Hydrocortizone Cream
Alcohol Wipes
Hydrogen Peroxide (small dropper bottle)
Band aids/Butterfly closures
Sting-Kill insect Bite Swabs
Emergency First Aid Pocket Guide
Q-tips and cotton pads
Fingernail Clipper
Elastic Bandage Wrap
Waterproof Matches
Anti-Bacterial Gel
Wet Ones hands and Face Wipes
Ziploc Bags (gallon and sandwich sizes)
Multi-purpose tool
3 Face masks with filters
Rubber Globes
2 Glide Dental Floss (multi-purpose uses)
Sunscreen (sample packets)
Votive Candles
2 Flashlights
Spare batteries (both AAA and AA)
Yellow Electrical Tape
Grocery Plastic Bags for trash with rubber bands
Utensils (Forks, Spoons, Knives)
Emergency Water Filter by Aquamira
Mosquito Net
100' Parachute Cord
Mylar Emergency Blankets
2 Sternos
Chlorine Bleach (Dropper Bottle for Disinfecting/Water Purifier)
Shampoo
Folding Stove and Pan
Large Cooking Spoon
Coffee Mug
Super Absorbent Hand Towel
and more Matches


The last thing I added to my car were rolls of toilet paper and rolls of nickels, just in case we had to barter with money worth more than paper.  Sitting in our living room we have a soft car top luggage carrier, in case we are forced to evacuate our home.  If we did have the time to pack, our comforts of home would be added like pillows, blankets, extra clothing, and towels...maybe even the kitchen sink.  I can now say that I do feel the "peace" knowing that my family gained an added chance of survival while driving in our cars.  Check.

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