Vehicle Storing in Extreme Temperatures

[eojjoe]

Winter is coming, and with it some complications, so I thought I'd create a thread to discuss the affects of different temperatures on our vehicle storage.

The 3 things I'm concerned about storing in my car are...

Water
Food
Ammo

Water:
-Summer: No issues.
-Winter: Would freezing temperatures cause water bottles to be damaged or break? I know I've had cans of soda break open because of freezing before, but I'm not sure about water bottles. Has anyone experienced this or know of a good work around?

Food:
-Summer: What's the best food to store in your vehicle during the hot months? I'd like to be able to store a weeks worth of food in my car all year around, but figuring out which food stores well in hot temps is tough. Have you found any foods that are good for this?
-Winter: Storing food in your car during the winter would seem pretty easy because of the cold temps. I was thinking about storing a few cans of Dinty Moore Beef Stew and keeping a manual can opener in there. Can you think of any issues with that? Any suggestions?

Ammo: I know that moisture can be very damaging to the storage life of ammo.
-Summer: How does hot and humid temps affect the life of ammo? Would keeping it in a sealed ziploc bag help?
-Winter: If ammo is stored in a frozen car overnight and had to be used quickly in a pinch, would I experience any problems?

[Gif]

Water in winter:  Leave some room in your water bottles for the water to expand.  They will be fine then.  Pop cans explode because they are already under pressure at room temp.

Food in Summer:  Mountain house pouches or similar.  Crackers and other grains work well too.  Heat will decrease storage life so rotate it through. 

Food in Winter:  Same as summer.  Your Dinty will probably freeze solid and you'll have a Stew brick   

Ammo:  Don't worry about this one.  Modern ammo can withstand all conditions.  If you are concerned, shoot it once a year. 

[eojjoe]

Water in winter:  Leave some room in your water bottles for the water to expand.  They will be fine then.  Pop cans explode because they are already under pressure at room temp.

Food in Summer:  Mountain house pouches or similar.  Crackers and other grains work well too.  Heat will decrease storage life so rotate it through. 

Food in Winter:  Same as summer.  Your Dinty will probably freeze solid and you'll have a Stew brick   

Ammo:  Don't worry about this one.  Modern ammo can withstand all conditions.  If you are concerned, shoot it once a year. 

That's a simple fix for the water, and one I figured would work. Thanks for the confirmation

Food: Grains are what I'm doing now. Over the summer I kept uncooked pasta in the car (which I enjoy eating raw anyways). For the Dinty Moore, you are probably right.   I'll still keep a few cans in there anyways, because I'll also have everything I need to make a fire.

Ammo: I planned on rotating it out once or twice a year anyways, so that works great.


If anyone can think of any other suggestions, I'm always open to more. No such thing as too much good info.