Emergency Car Kit and Get Home Bag

Family Emergency Preparedness

You can read the rest of the Family Emergency Preparedness Series here.

This past weekend I had to travel several hours away. I don’t particularly like being hours away from home. But we travel and spend the night away from home on average at least once a month. We’re on the road a lot. 

My husband, as a pastor, is also on the road a lot during the day – visiting church members and making hospital visits on a regular basis. Often 2 or 3 hours away from home.

Emergencies can happen anywhere – and you just never know when an emergency will take place. Remember the couple stranded for days in their car in the snow? Don’t think that could never happen to you, because you just don’t know.

Emergency Car Kit

The DMV recommends you stock your car with a few basic essentials for road side emergencies. They say your emergency car kit should include:

• Roadside flares
• a first-aid kit
• Work gloves or latex gloves
• Two quarts of oil
• Jumper cables
• One gallon of antifreeze
• Brake fluid
• Extra fuses
• a blanket
• a flashlight with fresh batteries
• a Phillips head screwdriver
• a flat head screwdriver
• Vise grips
• an adjustable wrench
• a pair of pliers
• a tire inflator
• a tire pressure gauge
• Some rags and a funnel
• a roll of duct tape
• a roll of paper towels
• a spray bottle with washer fluid
• an ice scraper
• an AAA or roadside emergency card
• Triangle reflectors and flares
• a pocketknife
• Bottled water
• Granola or energy bars

Get Home Bag

A Get Home Bag is similar to your Grab and Go Bag, except that it only contains the necessary items to help you get home. You’ll want to pack a nondescript backpack with your supplies and keep it in your trunk or under your car seat. If you plan to hike home, abandoning your car, you can go through your emergency car kit supplies and take anything with you that you feel would aid your situation including the bottled water and energy bars.

• Cash
• Sturdy Shoes
• gloves
• extra socks
• hat
• lip balm
• pocket knife
• 2 bandanas
• paracord
• flashlight & batteries
• matches in a waterproof container
• lighter
• fire starter/ flint
• rain poncho
• emergency blanket
• handwarmers
• first aid kit
• sunscreen
• bug spray
• emergency light sticks
• toilet paper
• map of the area
• compass
• Life Straw
• N-95 face mask
• energy bars and/or MREs
• water/ container
• emergency sleeping bag/ bivvy
• duct tape
• 2 heavy duty trash bags

What do you keep in your emergency car kit?

Mom with a Prep has a great article on her husband’s Get Home Bag. Check it out!