Can y’all help me with the basics? Or point me in the right direction?
As of right now... I’ve got nothing in the vehicles except for jump pack and jumper cables and maybe a tire inflater.

I was wanting to keep a rifle in one vehicle, and an AR pistol in the other for starters.

I’d also like some type of backpack in each vehicle with essential survival/SHTF stuff.

Where should I look to find what I need?

Thanks guys.

Here's a decent list I found once and have worked off of. Change it to fit your needs.

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people ask this all the time without stating the intended purpose.

what are your objectives, travel to a BOL 2k mi away or get home from work 20 mi away??

Until you figure out what you need, any information would be useless

agree with the above about what is it good for. I bought a Land Cruiser Prado to use as my daily with the intent that it's a BOV if needed. Most likely just 15 urban miles to get home, but then potentially the ability to get further. I set it up for regular life, which happens to help cover BO stuff well. Currently with the following, I built a rear rack system so I can keep stuff under the flat part of the rear and still use it for groceries and shit.

10/22 take down, dozen mags, bunch of ammo. More for range trips but good in a pinch
Ammo for other EDC guns
Shield in console vault
first aid kits
water water water. I'm in texas. It gets hot.
power bars
more first aid
knives/lighters/warm clothes/walking shoes since at work I'd be dressed like an office drone
Ability to carry more fuel. I have good Jerry cans (Duechoptik or whatever) and room to store them
some cash, basic tools, fluids a car needs

Want to add a roof rack
maybe eventually sliders and a bumper, but it's very grey man in my town.
It's already a 4x4 350HP V8 mini monster truck but in dressed up clothing. I keep it in good shape, and most importantly have it 25 feet from my desk.
used to keep an AR in there but switching to a shockwave I think, too. good to have options.

20 miles. Or 500 miles if I can drive.

To or from what?

What special considerations (desert, rivers, urban, children, grandma)?

What vehicles (determines where/how much you can securely store etc)?

Just keep the tank full of gas
Drive like the wind when shtf

Start with a reliable vehicle that's well maintained.

Could you give a little more detail about what you're trying to accomplish? What area are you in? Where are you going? What disaster scenarios are you most concerned about? Is it just you, or other people with you? What's your level of training? How will you secure those guns in your vehicle from theft?

Missing antibiotics and bug spray and sun screen, vaseline

to/from where?

Think basics and essentials.

Some type of first aid, some type of additional clothing (whether you need to change due to climate or due to clothing damage or to change appearance quickly), tarp, blanket, plastic sheeting, multi tool and/or knife, lighter or fire making tools, some bottled water.

The list can go on and on depending on your situation.

AR is pretty simple.  Get AR...put in vehicle.

Not following your logic by asking him that question.

Unless you change your loadout daily its kind of silly to have such precision.

Sometimes I'm at work and not far from home...sometimes I'm driving an hour out to go camping or the store or who knows. I'm sure OP's case is similar.

I would also say it is seasonal.  Currently in addition to my regular GHB, I carry seasonal specific gear to where I am.  I travel often for work, sometimes up to 200-250 miles from home.

This time of year I keep things like my insulated Carhart bibs and coat, Merino wool socks, insulated and water proof boots, heavy thermals, etc.  Takes up a lot of room but a worthwhile precaution.

Basics that are always there include:
- Tool kit
- Jumper cables
- Water
- Blanket
- Extra change of clothes
- Rain poncho

The GHB has the basics that will always be needed, there are lots of lists floating around for those.

Work to my house. 10 miles.

My house to my brother’s house is 302 miles, 4 hours in a car.

I just want get the basics down now.

CASH.  In a variety of small and big bills and a bunch of quarters.

And, keep an ear to the ground and head on a swivel. Figure out what is going on and get to solving it fast. BEFORE the masses figure out what to do.

The section of the exodus from New Orleans on the Listening to Katrina blog is good reading about it.

One of the big issues I have yet to resolve in my SHTF scenario is what to do about crossing rivers. In my reality I will be VERY restricted as to where I could drive to due to either 1) bridges out or 2) Authorities CLOSE bridges to restrict travel. I happen to be retired and LIVE in my BOL so it's not that big of a deal for me. My sons on the other hand live in a more suburban environment and don't have the ability to get here just as I don't have the ability to get to them. I grew up in DFW and can just imagine what it might be like if the bridges over the Trinity river were shut down.

I carry a couple of heavy duty 55 gallon trash bags. Countless uses, including an expedient airbag for buoyancy during river crossings.

Where I live I went the "short trip" route. I rarely go further than 20 miles from my house and live in a built up area of Southern CA.  We do have a second place (daughter rents a room from us there and it remains occupied) - 1028 miles away so unless we were already there I will count that out any short term plans

While I have alternative power at my house  I wanted my truck to be able to take some of the load if needed. Now with a insulin dependent son I am happy I did this in case our house power goes tits up.

I have a 2012 F150 Super crew. I have upgraded to a North Star dual use battery.  I ran a fused 12 Ga wire set from a Anderson PP connector on my dash to the battery. This gives me clean power for my HAM radios and also gives me a port to plug in a Renogy 100 watt panel if we are sitting in one place a while (handy when camping - panel sits in the bed and I run the cable thru the rear window)

Also ran a 10 Ga wire set from my battery to a dedicated port to plug in a Dometic portable refrigerator. I used the ARB connector and cable for this. Much better than a Cig lighter

To finish out my power needs I installed a Pro Mariner 1000 watt industrial inverter powered by 4 ga welding cables and fused with a Blue Seas 80 Amp fuse box.

Supplies in my truck:

Glock 17 with 3 magazines in a console vault, 870 on a mount behind the rear seats. Extra shotgun rounds, big first aid kit and jumper cables are also stored behind seat. (if you are a F150 crew cab owner google how to access behind the rear seat - lots of unused space there).

I am a HAM radio operator and belong to a local RACES group so I have a "go bag" with spare handheld, battery, and other recommended gear.

I also have a larger bag that fits under the seat that has lifeboat rations, a gallon of water, spare stuff for my sons diabetes, a Jet boil (with some Starbucks VIA's) rain gear etc.

In my console vault I keep, in addition to the Glock, some cash, few power bars, my dads old Navy K bar, pair of Steiner 7 x 50 Binos, Goal Zero lite a life lantern and two more liters of water. Ford consoles are huge

I realize what I have done is not for everyone, but is a result of many years of experimenting and seeing what exactly gets used. It fits our needs.

This is my "everyday" GHB/supplies. I have identical kits in each vehicle.

The kits and winter garb fit into a small Action Packer tote for storage. Everything fits into a decent but "normal" looking backpack if I am going to hike it out.

Each vehicle also has things like booster cables, recovery gear, my CCW, tire repair kit, air compressor etc.

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really

if he was just going 500 miles to a BOL he would need to carry less stuff, vs going 500 miles to some family land in the middle of nowhere.

just "I'm going 500 miles" means nothing.

since he finally answered he got more detailed response

Honestly, 80% of the gear is the same whether you're going 20 miles or 500 miles on foot. He is looking for a starting point. Something so that he doesn't find himself in the middle of a bad situation, in need of some tool or item RIGHT NOW that he neglected to add because he doesn't have experience in such matters.

My kit, which is based off the list in the first response in this thread, is designed around 20-50 miles but not all the items are necessary or needed within that range. Ex: I have WAY more food than is necessary in my kit for the distance I plan for. Somewhere around 12,000 total calories. --Do I need to carry all of that? Nope. Do I do it anyway? Yep. Likewise, I could probably carry a little more water than a few liters but it's pointless in this environment (Minnesota). There is so much water everywhere that it's silly to worry about having gallons on hand. (That plus it freezes solid in my truck for 5-6 months of the year).

I think the point of threads like this is to get someone thinking in the proper direction, rather than knowing every single detail of the scenario they think they're planning for before you're willing to give any sort of useful information.

Leaving guns in cars if the dumbest thing ever. Most of all gun theft occurs that way. And all it does is gives stats to the gun grabbers. So make sure you bring you edc on your person. Other then that fill your car with all the other things your heart desires. I'd say just identify your goals, is your goal to get home? If so leave the camping axe, fishing poles and other camping gear at home. People working 10miles from home and have a 40 pound bag to get 10miles is just puzzling.

Normally I would agree with this 100%

However it is all depending on personal needs and situation. I keep two guns in my truck. Pistol is listed on my carry permit and kept in a very secure Console Vault, and shotgun is behind seats that most people do not know fold down.

In addition my truck is parked inside on a daily/nightly basis and is about a "grey" man vehicle as possible. No stickers of any kind, looks like any other of the thousands of same color F150's in my state.

Instead of focusing on gear focus on the mode of transportation first.

Now i dont know if there is a real statistic but what deal with at work is that 70% of the issues you will have on your mode of transportation is either battery, fuel or tires. Everything else is usually covered with basic maintenance as long as you keep on top of it.

So make sure you have the best battery money can buy (i prefer optima) bad battery, no ride.

Make sure you always have a full tank or at least the base minimum to go your location to resupply

And making sure you have tires in good condition.

Everything else in the lines is gear is okay but why would you ditch your ride to walk 10miles or more when driving should be your foremost option first?

ETA: herr in WI and most of the north just experinced one of the coldest streaks ever. And all three items i mentioned were affectes in a negative fashion. And all three were only looked at protecting or replacing while the event happened. Very few people took precautions before hand.

But lets look at that cold streak albeit an extreme why would you want to focus on exterior gear for a load out if the vehicle wasn't taken care of first. I dont knoe about you but i sure as shit would not leave my car trying walk in that kind of weather when i have a read made shelter

This also why having more details on what the enviroment is the travel distance is the concealment etc is as to best hone the best possible answer.

And [3], ... having a place to go to that's actually safe & secure, is the point of the plan.

Otherwise, 'bugging out' just means you're just driving 'til you're running on empty.

Security should be your first step. You need some type of reasonable secure steel container fastened to the vehicle, especially for a vehicle gun.

10 miles?

Weather permitting, just walk back.  Won't need supplies other than clothes.  That's a 3-4 hour walk in good weather.

500 miles, you're best served with a few jerry cans.

Walking 500 miles is damn near impossible.  If you insisit, foxus in water and food procurement.

My truck has a tow strap, some shackles, flashlight, multi tool, flares and FAK.  Small BOB with a khukri and Mora knife tucked back there, probably around 10 lbs.  Small soft shell with liner and gloves.

That should cover the 60 miles from work to home.  I have a friend about halfway where I can bunk for the night if needed.  That 30 miles should take about 12 hours if I hustle.  The other 30 is likely closer to 24.

You're being so vague now that you might as well just guess and hope for the best.

Now, If you're comfortable with giving details then this forum might be able to help you.

I'll take my chances of having but not needing (it gets stolen) to not having and needing (in which I or my family could die)

Cost of doing business. It's a damn scary world and bad things happen at random times. Including theft.

Could I get mt stuff stolen? Absolutely. But I'll take that chance every day of the week and twice on Sunday, vs not having something when I need it.

And I don't have to carry all my gear to accomplish my goal on my back if the SHTF. I can select the right gear I do need and abandon the truck if I must. The buzzards can have what's left.

With the decreasing size and cost of jump packs and the boost one can get out of a lithium jump pack, why jumper cables are discussed is a head scratcher for me. I have a set buried way under the back seat of my truck. My jump pack is much more accessible.

Some jump packs have a bulit in air compressor too, so 2 birds 1 stone thing.

My ViAir 450 compressor isn't going anywhere though.

One thing not mentioned in detail is a good T-handled tire plug kit. "Good" meaning one with metal T-handles. You dont want the cheapo Walmart T handle one smapping off and getting a metal shaft in the wrist. That'll really fuck up your plans on exfil.

The following doesn't leave my truck:
-Spare upper and lower radiator hoses with clamps
-Spare serpentine belt (and the long arm flat bar to get to the tensioner.)
-JB weld is irreplaceable as well.
-HI-Lift jack
-Large Crowbar (If Gordon Freeman can't live without it.....)
-Frogtogg 2 piece rainsuit; being wet sucks, being wet AND cold can be fatal
-Hi-Vis florescent yellow Duster style outdoor jacket like you see cops wearing on traffic duty.  Being seen has its advantages, especially at night. Retroflective material sends back 90% of the light that hits it.
- Three 30 min railroad flares
- Handheld dual band HAM (Public Safety channels on scan)radio with AA clamshell batterypack. The NiMh factory batteries are always dead when I need the radio to work

Yes We Can Help.

OP You need to accept the problem you have put to us.

I live in the wilds of west TX and yet in a 300 mile radius there is every terrain.

For me to build a BOV that than go anywhere in that radius.  I would have to have an amphibious rock crawling ambulance.  Just not practical.

Gas mileage is a concern...CVICC

But wait You need to haul your kids to day care and your BOB...Navigator AWD and ignore the mpg.

You got lots of choices to make in that radius you posted OP.

EMP- off road bike, tire repair kit, sheet of thick LDPE, plus above mentioned stuff.

Extreme cold kills lithium batteries... a BOV needs a dual battery on charge isolation system, preferably with some form of solar.

I'm building my DD jeep grand cherokee into something that probably will meet the OP requirements. I wont be fording any creeks or rivers, but the thing is already capable of most terrain from rocks, mud sand, etc. On my list is an auxillary fuel tank for extended range too. 50 gallons of diesel at 20 MPG will take you a long ways. I just wish it wasn't a common rail system so I could use WMO.

OP better be very mechanically inclined if hes going to go down the road of a customized vehicle. Need to know everything about it inside and out.

A lot of good ideas have been presented here and I don't really have much to add item wise that has not already been suggested.

I would add that you need to be sure of the temperature limitations of the items in your kit and the temperature extremes in your area. There can be crazy temperature swings in a vehicle that can damage or degrade various things like batteries and water filters.

Toilet tissue.......TOILET TISSUE!!   Most of my roadside emergencies involve the need for toilet tissue

I laughed, but started remembering about a few leaves that did not quite do the trick...

have no fear, Haley strategic is here!
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Jump packs have their place but I would always recommend having jumper cables. Jump packs don't last forever. Jumper cables basically do last forever, short of doing something stupid with them. It's usually not too hard to find a car to jump yours from.....As long as you have cables you can. The jump packs have to be kept charged. Many people simply forget to keep them charged and they then don't work when they need them to.

I'm not opposed to having a jump pack but if I could only have one and not the other, I'd pick the cables every time. Each of my vehicles have cables for just that reason.

I have stopped a few times in the last few months to assist people on the side of the road.    Most of them have been flat tires, one was a dead battery/non-operating alternator.   On the flat tires, two for them didn’t have a jack to change the tire.   One of them had a spare tire that was also flat.   On that one we couldn’t air up the spare because the valve stem of the spare didn’t have a cap and it was packed full of dirt.   One of them was an Army vet that didn’t have a jack and it was -4 F outside.   He was nearly giddy that I stopped to help.   He figured that he was going to be stuck for hours.   One of them they had the tire off but couldn’t get the spare on.   It was interesting in that it was a full sized spare and it had really deep holes for the lug nuts.   I had to lay on the ground to line up the holes with the studs.

If you are prepared with a spare tire, jack, proper lug wrench, jumper cables and jump-start pack then you are miles ahead of most people.

Things that I carry and am thankful that I do:

Flash lights/Head lamps
Phone Charger
12 Volt Air Compressor
Tire guage
Spare fuses
15000 lb tow strap
Shackles and short chain for the tow strap
Small First aid kit
Small Collapsible Snow shovel
Military issue E-Tool
Work Gloves
Rain gear
Cold weather gear, including 0 Deg F boots
Poncho liner
Poncho
Mosquito repellent
Knee pads
Zippo Style hand warmer with extra bottle of fluid
Full Change of clothes
Topo and County maps of the state
GPS
Small Cooler with some water (keeps it cool in the summer and unfrozen in the winter)

I have used everything on this list on more than one occasion.

Hopefully that helps.

2Hut8

One thing that I’ve had in my truck which has proven surprisingly useful is a small folding saw.  
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I have not read all the replies.  Most, I suspect, will talk about stuff IN the vehicle: Water, shelter, fire starters, firearms, etc...

In my limited experience the stuff ON the vehicle, or directly pertaining to the vehicle, can easily be overlooked.  And these things are the things that often prove to be problematic.  I've seen a thousand "this is my vehicle survival kit" posts.  Not nearly so much "this is the basic car stuff that counts"

My number one recommendation:  Tires.  Yup, boring old tires.  Nothing will let you down faster than a crapped out tire.  Or a worn tire that won't cut the conditions.  I know AR isn't NY or Canada, but worn tires simply won't get it done in snow, slush or mud.  Or for that matter in heavy rains when hydroplaning is a potential issue.   Other things to think about:  Battery condition (and possibly a backup), basic belts, wipers, regular routine maintenance.  Another must have:  a stashed key.  Odds are high that your car will let you down far more often than the zombie apocalypse occurs.  I'm still of the opinion that 2wd, reasonable driving and GOOD tires will get you further than any 4wd and half crapped out cheapo tires ...

Other things to consider:  towing, jumping, pulling, jacking, or bridging.  Towing:  Some cars/trucks don't have good tow points.  Check yours out now.  I know my 2wd Silverado 1500 does not have an easily accessible tow hook on the front.  But for about $30, I can buy and install one.  Easy fix now (and its on my to do list).  And of course you need a chain or tow strap.  Jumping:  Battery pack or cables.  Or both.  Jacking:  There are times that jacking the vehicle up high, then pulling can get you out of a deep hole.  Probably not an everyday item, but when you need one, you need one.  If you haven't got a winch then get a come along and cables.    And as for bridging, there are times when  nothing helps quite as much as a whole bunch of small limbs and branches tossed in the bottom of the seemingly bottomless mud/snow hole....  A six inch by 25 foot tree makes a hell of a lever too!  A saw/axe helps.  Its also very good for clearing the downed branch/tree crossing the road.  And then of course just a basic old shovel.....

One of my favorites:  a cheap Harbor freight 4x6 tarp.  I never seem to have a flat or other issue on a nice dry, warm day in June.  Its always 28 degrees, and a road covered in salt/slush/mud.  Being able to lay the tarp down before getting to work means I don't get as wet or dirty, and warm/dry always beats wet/cold.  Hypothermia sucks...  Along those lines a good knit cap and gloves are a must up here.

This is admittedly a biased view of things.  However, I've done a couple road trips to Hudsons Bay area for the Quebec winter caribou season (again, not Arkansas for sure!).  In a 2wd truck.  Really good snow tires (Blizzaks or Michelin X ice), some extra gas and the gear mentioned above has saved our a$$.....

I keep a half roll in a Ziploc in the cab and one in the back as well.  I also keep one of those plastic bottles of antibacterial handwipes in the door pocket.  As long as you remember to snap the cap back on they last a surprisingly long time without drying out.

I'm single and leave my truck set up for camping so I likely carry more stuff than is practical for most folks, especially if they have kids.