From camping, to road trips we compiled a list of a few of our favorite gear items! Some of things would be considered essentials, and others are somewhat of a splurge. They are in no particular order, and if they are on our list we absolutely love them.
Let's start it off with an essential item to any car, a first aid kit. In both of our cars we carry a first aid kit, and cannot stress enough to anyone how important it is to have at least a basic kit on hand. It doesn't matter if you are camping in the wilderness, or running to the grocery store, an accident or injury could happen anywhere and having the necessary supplies could save someone's life. On our longer trips, or trips where we are farther from immediate help we usually take two smaller first aid kits just to have extras. We stumbled across Surviveware who makes first aid kits with campers and backpackers in mind. They have a wide variety of products from small to large, and at a very affordable price. What really sold us on Surviveware was their customer service, which is top notch! They stand behind their products and seem to genuinely care that each and every customer is satisfied. We will definitely be looking to upgrade our kit soon with some of their larger packs!
We do a lot of camping in the desert and temperatures frequently exceed 100 degrees. If you open an ice cold drink, it'll be warm before you know it if you leave it out in the wrong place for too long. We picked these Yeti Colsters up a while back, and are always in our camping bins. They come in a variety of colors and sizes and are a must have even for every day use.
We will not go on any trip without a portable power source. We currently use a Goal Zero 400, but there are several options available on the market today. From powering camp lights, portable fridges, charging phones, and all of our camera gear these things are a life saver. Pairing these power banks with a solar panel will keep you fully charged throughout your trip. While these are incredibly useful, they are also quite expensive. Depending on the size you're looking at a few hundred dollars to over a thousand dollars. That investment isn't locked up in something you would only use for camping, as they have unlimited uses around the house or in the garage. Even in the unfortunate event of a natural disaster you can keep your devices and electronics alive.
4. Tool Set
Not only should you carry a first aid kit for yourself, you should always have a basic first aid kit for your car. Even the most basic set of tools can get you out of a jam. First, we carry a small tool set with sockets, ratchet, and a few other small tools. We like this one because it conveniently folds up into the size of a small book. Along with that, we carry a bag of bigger tools and miscellaneous items such as fix-a-flat tire repair, lifestraw, zipties, bolts/nuts, duct tape. We consider this a very basic set, that always stays in our cars. On our trips, we also carry an air compressor, tire plug kit, recovery equipment, and a few extra tools that we may need. For such a small amount of space that a basic tool kit would take up, it can save a ton of headaches and uneasiness when something happens while far from help.
As much as we enjoy camping and traveling, we have yet to tap into backpacking. Last year prior to the pandemic we began building our loadouts for backpacking. One of the first things we kept hearing about was the JetBoil cooking system. We bit the bullet and picked one up and it has been used heavily ever since. We still have yet to go backpacking, and it has already paid for itself. Paired with Mountain House Adventure Meals we have emergency food, road trip meals, and a versatile kitchen system! Even with a portable two burner stove, it is so much more convenient to boil water for tea on the JetBoil.
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