Hey guys, looking to start organizing and storing some items like gas, water, food in my car.   How are you guys storing these things without them going bad from the temperatures, sunlight etc?     Is gas safe to store long term in your car?  What about mres, dried food,  water etc?

I keep food and water.  Water gets hot, gets cold... whatever.  I keep prepackaged "snacks" in a thick styrofoam cooler.  If it's going to be out in the sun during the summer, I take it out while the car is parked.  But I'm not picky about food quality.  There's really not much you can do.

We have hot humid temps in the summer, and cold freezing temps in the winter.  So, I don't store any food, water or gas in any vehicles.  I bring what I need with me on any road trip.  Not worried about it two and from work (30 miles one way) but always have water with me.  Food at home, food at work and I try to never let my work car drop below half tank.

The only gas can I leave with a vehicle is on my rat rod Honda civic.  Has a 2.5-gallon jerry can attach to the side of it.  I rotate the gas every few months and put it in the car and fill the can back up.  

If I am going on a road trip or further than 100 miles from home with my truck, I will put a 2.5-gallon gas can in the back.  Even when traveling I keep the truck over half full.

Heat will spoil food in the summer, I would absolutely not store gas in a car for any period of time unless you can keep it outside the vehicle, gas fumes are bad for you and can ignite.

I have food/water in a safe in the back of my SUV. Usually keep a cased rifle in there as well when I'm going further than the grocery store.

Food and water are both kept in a tupperware that snaps closed. It doesn't freeze here often but I did have a bottle blow up last year in a cold snap. Using plastic bottles that can expand a little has been enough.
Food is mostly freeze dried camp meals and snacks, like mountain house ice cream sammiches and some pasta dishes, and some of those lifeboat rations.  Just enough calories for a few days and more for morale with my young kids. I just rotate the bottles and food every 6 months or a year, whenever I remember really. it's "good enough" when there are few supplies handy. Really I also keep $100+ in cash in the car, too, as I could always buy something on the way if it's not an emergency.

This year I added a little gas canister stove from amazon. 2 un-opened gas canisters, a few redundant ways to light it, some instant coffee and hot chocolate. Again same idea, more morale and emergency than pure nutrition. I am seldom more than 15 miles from home alone, my wife works from home, and my kids go to school a golf cart ride away. So it's usually just me venturing out there.

For gas I keep a 2.5 gallon Jerry Can strapped to the inside of the safe. It's been there 3 years now without any appreciable wear and I've never smelled gas, so I'm not worried about it. More worried about the shitty plastic 27 gallon tank that's under the truck....

Freeze dried food lasts a bit longer, but heat takes it's toll.  An MRE will only last about a month in a car that gets hot vs 2 years on a climate controlled shelf.

I keep one of those Ozark Trail 26qt coolers strapped behind the passenger seat on that little folding thing Toyota calls a jump seat in the Access Cab Tacomas (I mounted some footman's loops and have two straps over it); there are a couple of gallons of water in various size bottles (whatever is on sale at the grocery store when I need to buy more).  Some of them have been in there over a year including when the outside temps were below freezing with no issues.  They're in the cooler to help keep them from freezing or getting too hot, to keep them stored together and, in the event of an accident, so they can't fly around the cab and if one or more were to leak I could just dump the water out or use it if I needed to.  

Food stays in containers in the back; the truck has a camper shell and essentially stays set up for minimalist camping year round unless I need to carry larger items.  Canned stuff stays in a Rubbermaid tote (I want to say they're the three gallon size; I've got four of them stacked back there with various camping stuff stored in them).  I don't normally eat much canned food but things like Chef Boyardee and non-dairy based soups will keep well past the date stamped on the can even with the temperature changes.  My truck is black, the camper shell is black and it's common for us to have temps in the 90s for several weeks in a row in the summer.  I also have a metal storage tin, just a rectangular cracker type can with snug fitting lid, that I use to store stuff that's in soft packaging that I don't want rodents or insects getting to.  There are a couple of packs of various flavors of tuna, some pulled pork that someone on here recommended, some freeze dried foods* and soup and noodle packs, packs of instant coffee and things like that.  I'm not recommending anyone else do it, but I've eaten tuna and other food that been stored in the truck well past the dates on the packaging and never worried about it as long as it didn't smell funky and the packaging was in good condition.  At any given time I could stay a couple of days to a week in my truck with no problem.  One of my older water filters lives back there too so if I have access to water I could stretch the time frame out a bit.  

There are two 1# Coleman propane bottles, a couple of Jetboil type canisters, a Jetboil stove and one of those tiny Chinese stoves in the truck; if I'm actually going camping I'll carry a better stove that I can actually cook on.  Seasonings do start losing their flavor so I'll rotate them out but I've got one of those camping kits with little tins of various seasonings that stays with the other cooking equipment.  

I rarely carry extra gasoline except when I'm going out west and then I'll carry a NATO can; never had any issues with them either as long as the seal is intact and I sleep back there.  I'll carry more food and water if I'm going camping- and stuff I actually like to cook and eat.  Again, not recommending anyone else do what I do, just saying it's what I've done since the late eighties.  I used to be a lot more diligent about rotating foodstuff but I quit worrying so much about it years ago and, knock on wood, haven't gotten sick yet.  


*Side note, Readywise Emergency Food is practically inedible, even when it's fresh off the shelves it's some of the nastiest I've tried.    Practically all of the freeze dried stuff has way too much salt, just something to keep in mind if you're sodium sensitive or just don't like salt.

I used to drive more and would spend a lot more time "on the go" than I do now.   It wasn't uncommon in the old days to plan on a ten hour day at work and come home 36/48 hours later.  So back in the day, I kept a go bag with some clothes and a Pelican 35 quart cooler in the back of my truck.  

The cooler held a half dozen cans of food, eight to ten bottles of water, some chocolate candy, a small tupperware of batteries, some small bags of jerky, and two 2-liter bottles of water frozen.   When leaving for work, I would try to swap the 2-liters with freshly frozen ones from the freezer in the garage.   I would eat and drink out of the cooler on a regular basis so the stuff never really had a chance to get old and I stuck with stuff that I didn't mind eating on the run.   It worked pretty well.  

In the summer I would typically swap the bottles every morning but the last swap would be on Friday morning and then I would leave the truck in the sun all weekend.  By Monday morning the contents of the cooler were still cold but the ice was pretty much gone.   And to be clear, the ice wasn't to keep the food cold enough to preserve it.   It was just to keep the weather from temperature cycling the contents of the cooler.   Also the two liters were straight water frozen.   So although it wouldn't keep the cooler as cold (or as long) as frozen salt water or manufactured ice packs, I could drink it in a pinch.  

It was interesting how often that cooler was really appreciated.   I stopped unexpectedly to help a relative clean up some storm damage.  It was hot, the power was out, and we worked for a couple of hours in the yard cutting up and hauling downed trees.   Grab a couple of bottles of cold water and two chilled cans of fruit cocktail and it is amazing how refreshing that is if you can consume it in the shade.  

Now I manage people more than I do the work myself so the cooler isn't in the truck often any more.   But I sure do miss the work.  

As for gas, If I HAD to store gas in a vehicle then I would use Wavian brand NATO style gas cans.    The ones that I have do not leak.   I have filled them, put them in the back of the SUV and forgotten about them for a couple of days.   With plastic cans, when you forget about them you are reminded when you get back in the car hours later because you will smell gas.   I don't smell gas with the Wavians.   I would not put more than four gallons into a five gallon gas can, I would store them upright, and I would empty and refill the cans reasonably often if they are kept in a vehicle.   With the non-carb compliant fuel nozzles the Wavians will empty a five gallon can into a vehicle in about thirty seconds.  

The reason that I would underfill them is because the temps of the car will cause the gas to expand and it can "bulge" the can.   I have one that I overfilled and left in the sun and it doesn't sit exactly flat any more.  

I have heard people say that metal NATO style gas cans can develop leaks over time from the constant flexing at the metal seams.   I don't know what brand(s) they may have encountered that issue with.   There are some really cheap Chinese knockoffs out there.   I know people that have used Wavians for a long time that haven't reported that issue but it is something to keep in mind.   Wavians are a bit pricey but worth the cost in my opinion, especially if it is a SHTF type application.  

I hope that helps.