Alanis Morissette carries a bikini in her bag

Alanis Morissette carries a bikini in her handbag.

The 41-year-old singer has revealed she makes sure she has a skimpy swimsuit on her at all times in case she feels like jumping in a lake when she's out and about.

Speaking to PEOPLE, she said: "I have a Laura Urbinati bikini with me at all times. You never know when you'll be near a pool or an ocean - or if I'm up north, up a creek!"

Along with her bikini, the brunette beauty stashes up salad rocket and natural protein balls for her five-year-old son Ever, whom she has with her husband Mario Treadway.

She explained: "I've got a bag of arugula for my son, and GoodBites' raw chocolate truffle balls for me. I assuage my guilt by saying, 'They're healthy!' "

The 'Ironic' hitmaker previously battled with an eating disorder and compared the struggle to alcoholism.

She said earlier this year: "The big question for me around eating-disorder recovery is, 'What is sobriety with food?' We know with alcohol, you just don't drink it and don't go to a bar. With heroin, you just don't go near it."

She added: "Whereas with food, you have to eat, so how can one go from, in my case, binging and purging, starving, overeating, the scale going up and down - how can I go from that to a 'sober' approach?"