What Are the Best Foods for an Auto Emergency Kit?

While many roadside emergencies can be resolved in a matter of hours with a quick phone call, there are times when you might still end up stranded on a road trip. You might have weather preventing emergency services from reaching you, or a lack of cell phone reception on desolate rural routes, and in these situations you’ll want to have some emergency foods on hand. When you pack a kit for roadside emergencies, include these staples to make sure that you have plenty to eat while you wait for help.

Dehydrated food packs

Camping meals are great for emergency kits, because they are compact, lightweight, nutritious, and require minimal water to prepare. Though they do require hot water, so you might need to keep a jet boil or small camping stove on hand too.

Trail mix and cereal

Small snacks that don’t require preparation are a good addition to your emergency stash, because these might even be helpful if you only find yourself stuck on the roadside for a few hours. Cereal, granola and trail mix all have long shelf lives and come in individual serving packs to ensure freshness. Just make sure you don’t choose any with chocolate or other ingredients that might melt.

Sealed jerky

Jerky is another food that lasts for months with no refrigeration, but you will want to make sure that you only keep sealed packages in the kit. Once it’s opened, it won’t last very long stowed away.

Meal replacement bars

There are tons of different meal replacement bars that actually don’t taste too bad and offer ideal nutrition for a single meal. They are typically packed with protein and have pleasingly sweet flavors to keep you satisfied for hours.

Bottled water

You may be able to find water nearby—unless you happen to break down in the desert—but most sanitizing tablets take at least 30 minutes to work. Therefore, it’s best to have some drinking water stashed in the car.

What are the staples in your auto emergency kit? Share your ideas with us in the comment section below.