I bought a big can of patches, and glue form my local auto parts store. Some of the patches are pretty big, but it's easy to cut them down to bike tube size. Unless it dries out, I'll never have to by glue again for the home shop. And I can save the little tubes for use on the road.
Like the other guys, I get a flat on the road, I swap tubes, and patch it later. If it's a really bad day and I get multiple flats on the road, I carry a patch kit and fix it on the spot.
When the pile of holed tubes get to be about 6 or so, I'll spend some time to patch them all(in comfort, with a beer close at hand).

BTW, I've had a 700x32 tube in service in one of my 29x2 tire for at least two years, maybe three, with no real issues.