[TMCertified]

I was thinking about this the other day. We live in Florida where it gets absolutely stupid hot in the summer and then annoyingly hot in the spring and fall and might have 3 weeks of nice weather a year haha.

The reason for sharing the temperature is because I am often away by myself at work and should anything happen and I need to get back home and do not have use of my vehicle, I need to have some sort of back pack to grab and go with. Most everything can withstand the heat that I would want to put in there. However, having any sort of food, and maybe even water supply in the bag would be very tricky. Bottled water would not last well in the heat and any type of food would probably be pretty difficult as well to keep for any period of time.

My vehicle regularly gets well over 100 degrees inside and often times can get up to 120 to 130 degrees. To the point we open the doors and put on the AC for a couple of minutes before we head out and pack the kids in. This can't be good for storing any type of food for any distance of time.

With this being said, does anyone have any recommendations on how to go about keeping some sort of food or water in these type of temperatures that won't be bad when I need it the most?

 

[HuntingHawk]

Food tablets like these.
Survival Food Tabs (Tablets)

Water I keep in the vehicle for emergencies I keep in thermoses. Still gets hot but not as bad as anyother method.

Light weight basically like a school bag. For me, mostly just water, poncho, bug repellent, & flashlight. I call it a Get Home Bag.

 

[TMCertified]

My concerns is the plastics and when you heat them up it contaminates the water. That was my concern with the heat and anything plastic. Or do you use a metal thermos. That wouldn't be a bad idea. Of course some sort of water filtration tube would be a good Idea I'm sure but I would want something to get me started.

As for those Food Tablets that looks great, but it says max temp 90 degrees. We get well over that on the daily. Not sure what would happen after that.

 

[rice paddy daddy]

In the part of Florida where we live mid June through early September will see mid day temps 105 degrees and above in the shade. Maybe not every day, but enough days to really get to a person.
The wife and I each keep a case of bottled water in our vehicles. I don't know if the plastic bottles in that heat will give us cancer 20 years from now or not. But the taste has not been affected.
I keep three cans of vienna sausages as well. Heat does not seem to matter to these.
A human can last quite a while without food, but you have to have water every day.
Oh, and as far as ammo in that heat - last year I fired the 357 magnum that had been in my on board revolvers (2) for well over a year to see if it had been affected. It worked just fine.
It probably gets to 140 degrees or above inside the vehicles.

 

[TMCertified]

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I want to keep a gun some medical supplies, water (and some sort of purifier), and some type of food. But I don't want it to be something that I change out every month. Maybe once a year. I've been told on many accounts that a plastic bottle even left over night in a hot car the plastics start to seep into the water and can be pretty bad for you so I don't even let my kids drink a bottle that is left over night in the car. Obviously in an emergency I'm certainly willing to take that type of risk. But part of prepping is to figure out how to best be prepared. I'm liking a metal thermos idea. Now to figure out some sort of snack or food. I'm glad to hear about ammo cause that was another concern of mine. Maybe I should start leaving a couple of rounds in my glove box as a test for the next few months as well.

 

[HuntingHawk]

Take any thermos & open it from the bottom. Put styrofoam popcorn in it & reassemble. It will help with the insulating. Whatever you put in them, make sure it stays in the shade like in the trunk or under a seat. There are Florida laws about how dark tinting can be & I suggest going as dark as possible as it will help. Also, if you leave atleast one window cracked atleast the thickness of a coin it will allow excess heat to escape. Better yet is two windows to allow cross ventilation.
The solar powered fans do nothing. If its 120 degrees inside the vehicle then the fan just moves the 120 degrees around.

 

[Rigged for Quiet]

Ah, the BisephnenolA thing. I hate to tell you folks this, but there is not one single study by any government or non government agency, lab, or researcher that actually links BPA to a single case of cancer in the known universe.

A little history on BPA. It was originally created to be a synthetic Estrogen supplement, believe it or not. It proved to be ineffective for many reasons, but one of the primary reasons is because it is metabolized by the human body within just a couple/few hours. As is the case with many scientific discoveries, it was later found to be a very effective plasticizer for use in manufacturing.

BPA has been under scrutiny by every regulatory agency in every industrialized nation in the world for several years, and as I opened with, there is no evidence of any health risk. I happen to know this because I work on the technical end of an industry that would greatly effected by a ban on BPA. Before you go thihnkiing that that would prejudice my stance I'll share with you that the company began working toward BPA free alternatives about 4 years ago due to a realization that certain liberal states on both coasts might go all feel good and ban products containing BPA based on inconclusive scientific evidence. Realizing the major customers of our major customers would not bother to try and have seperate poroducts just to sell in a limited market they would want BPA products to sell everywhere.

So motivated we, as a company, have invested literally millions of R&D dollars as well as capital projects to build the manufactureing and technical abilities to offer a product. Then came the dismissal of possible legislation, first in Europe, then in Asia, then in North America by the 2 liberal state governments of a BPA ban due to a lack of evidence.

So here we are sitting on a 10 mil manufacuring room for BPA free products that we have manufactured a total of maybe 25K gallons in. On the other hand, major corporations who compete against each other are very aware of perception, even though it isn't scientifically supported, within the public. As a result, there is a race on hand to release BPA free products so they can basicaly claim they care about you more than the other guy!

We have field trials all this month on the latest versions of our BPA free products. Our earlier versions have a tendancy to, for lack of a better term, absorb micro levels of flavoring which is only added to products in a parts per billions in some cases. The human tongue is actually capable of realizing this small loss of flavor. Our challenge, wheich we think we've conquered, is to produce a slightly thicker coating which will remain flexible should the container it is applied to get crunched.

In case you think I'm championing the cause of BPA, au contraire. As a company, we are at leqst 3 years ahead of anyone else in the industry any where else in the world with regards to delivering a BPA free alternative to our customers. We will, for a decent amount of time, rule the world, so to speak, when our BPA free products wrap up field trials and our customers commit to the process that they have asked for. I fugure my 401K, profit sharing, and bonuses will do quite well.

All because of finding a solution to a problem that never existed, lol.

One other thing. Plasticizers typically won't leach in temps below the boiling point of water which is 212F. The change of flavor in bottled water left in high heat envirnments is due to the heat, but no more so than if you poured the same water into a pan and heated it up to 130F.

Living in Texas, where it was 103 with a heat index of 100andhell yesterday, I have the same concerns with regards to storing supplies in a vehicle. Food is a major concern, but my only concern with water is that water left in the car during the summer is more likely to raise core body temp.

 

[roy]

Don't try to confuse us with facts.

 

[AvengersAssembled]

You might want to look into Mayday Food Bars, emergency ration bars that come in different sizes/calories. They say they can be kept in temperatures up to 149 F, and are eaten with no prep. I've eaten a few before, they're alright. They fill you up, but make you look forward to a good meal later lol Anyways, hope that can help!

 

[Piratesailor]

Same situation with me in Texas. In the evenings or when I can, I bring my backpack with me inside. Otherwise, I leaving it in the car. I use a sun screen on the windshield and my windows are tinted. When I can, I crack my windows a little for ventilation. All this keeps the heat down a bit. Otherwise, I just deal with hot stuff. The water in the camel back gets hot and I have mre's, etc but I'm sure the army deals with the same problem in the Middle East hell hole.

 

[rice paddy daddy]

Here's a thought about water. Since the original question was about bug out bags, how about a surplus GI pistol belt with 3 or 4 GI canteens? I personally would stick with US surplus canteens, they have had real world testing under some awful conditions.
As an aside, one of my most treasured possetions is my original canteen cup that was issued to me when I arived in Quang Tri Province, Vietnam. It's sitting on the bookshelf in the bedroom at his very moment. :mrgreen:

 

[PaulS]

Water is one of the best solvents on Earth. It can absorb any number of things under the right conditions. That is the key - UNDER THE RIGHT CONDITIONS!
Heat and pressure are usually the right conditions in most circumstances.
Water left in a car under day-time temperatures - even up to 140 degrees will taste different because it releases the nitrogen and other gases that are dissolved in it. At less than double that temperature it will boil but it will not absorb most materials until it is also under pressure.

Foods stored at those temperatures can be a real problem - especially canned goods because they are vacuum packed and the contents will boil at pressures well below 212F. Luckily the coating in the cans is made to take high temps and that will keep the foods safe to eat. Most of the "food" bars contain chocolate or other sugar based binding that holds it together - High fructose corn syrup in quite common. Heat causes these to oxidize and separate - that white film that chocolate bars get. I would suggest some kind of food that has a different binder - or make your own. Roasted nuts, ground with dried fruit and oats can make a high calorie food that will withstand high temps without degrading fast and will actually hold its shape. Meat cut into very thin strips (it has to be free of fat) wrapped around ground nuts and dried fruit and then dried is also a good storage food as long as it is vacuum packed or in a container that allows moisture out but not in. (it is always hard to store meat - even dried meat because it will begin to spoil when it is exposed to moisture and heat. Packing dry food - like oats, dried fruit and nuts in vacuum bags is another good food for short periods of time but it lacks the fats that supply energy for stamina.
If you want to make your own do some research for things that work well for your climactic conditions and your pocketbook. While it is less expensive to make your own it is also a little work to do it right. I grew up doing this for "trail mix" and quick foods that could be eaten at a 10 minute rest stop on a 14 mile day hike. We had better food once we got to an overnight camp but while traveling we didn't eat more than a quick snack because eating a large meal requires the body to use energy in the digestion process that we needed for the hike.
This is the same thing you need in a "get home bag" or a "bug-out bag" so you can travel without wasting time to prepare and eat a large meal.

 

[HuntingHawk]

Another option is keeping water bottles in a cooler. Keeps the sun off the water & will be alittle cooler then if exposed.

 

[Prepadoodle]

Maybe try parched corn in a glass jar like a canning jar?

 

[retired guard]

One thing NOT to have in your vehicle in hot weather is defensive sprays. When I lived in AZ you would hear of some one returning to their vehicle and finding their car full of CS (Yes I'm dating myself). I haven't heard of that with OC but it doesn't get quite as hot in Northern NV.

 

[Fuzzee]

I live in the south and main thing with water is to just pour it out and put in fresh water regularly. Keep a water filter in the EDC go bag also and tablets. Any food is hard to maintain in a hot environment, but I've found granola and dried items in sealed packets keep well enough.