Hows And Whys Of The Bug Out Bag

I have come to question myself on a bug-out bag and just how prepared am I to get out of town.

To be properly prepared for any crisis, a bug-out bag should be made available for not only yourself but for each family member. What Items Should Be In My Bug Out Bag to consider should include everything from needed medications to simple drinking water.

Bug Out Bag Situations

When they talk about rising water….get out….take what you can and get out.  A survivor from the Midwest flooding in March 2019

If a Cat 2 hurricane is on its way to my neighborhood and unexpectedly increases in strength to a Cat 4 or 5 do I stay, or risk my life and that of my family and pets and try to ride it out?

You need to understand what items should be in your bug-out bag to know what you should take with you and what to leave behind with no hesitation at the last moment.

Hesitations can lead to dire consequences, so it is best to do your homework on this subject now.

Know your situation. Be aware of where you are living.

Before you have to ‘get out.’

Bug Out Bag Basics

With all the rather nasty weather and sudden fires and flooding going on, the Bug out bag is the hot topic of a lot of questioning conversations these days, even within the government. This increasing awareness is good because a bug-out bag is not just a great idea; your bug-out bag could save your life. And you should have an idea as to what items to include in your own bug-out bag,

You never know when you will be faced with an emergency and must evacuate your home. With a bug-out bag at the ready, you can leave quickly and be sure you have everything you need to survive.

That doesn’t mean that a bug-out bag has everything you might want in it.

There is no time or space for fancy clothing and wall hangings.

We’re not talking about packing a suitcase for a weekend vacation but rather preparing something available for use in an emergency situation. For a bug-out bag to be effective, it needs to be focused on survival, nothing else.

Think about this…..what are you going to do if you are quite helpless in a broken-down car?

The biggest problem is deciding what is absolutely necessary to put into your bug-out bag. If you start listing all the items you might want to take in the case of an emergency, you’ll end up with a huge load.

You’ve got to ensure you have the most important bug-out bag contents. Then, if you have room left over, you can think about extras.

17 Items Of What Should Be In Your Bug Out Bag

Food. A bug-out bag is supposed to have everything you need to survive for at least three days, so it needs at least 72 hours’ worth of food. Avoid cans, focusing instead on dried foods, which are lighter and easier to carry.

Water. You’ll want some water in your bug-out bag, but there’s really no way that you can carry enough.

Water Purification. Since carrying freshwater is burdensome, ensure that you have some means of water purification. Better yet, pack two means of water purification.

Canteen or Water Bottle. When you can find water, you not only want to drink up but fill up your canteen so that you have water to take with you.

Backpacking Cookware. If any of the food you are taking with you needs to be cooked, you’ll want to have something to prepare it in. Backpacking cookware is made of aluminum or magnesium to make it lightweight.

Fire Starters. This is another essential that you want more than one of. A butane lighter and some waterproof matches will work great. If you know how to use it, throw in a metal match.

Backpacking Tent or Tarp. When you need temporary shelter as you are getting away, a lightweight tent made for backpacking is ideal. If you don’t have a tent, take a tarp with you. You can make some great shelters out of a tarp and some cord.

Parachute Cord. A rope is one of those universal survival items; there’s so much you can do with it. Parachute cord, often called paracord or 550 cord, is thin, lightweight, and incredibly strong. It is the ideal survival rope.

Knife. The knife is probably the most important piece of survival equipment. Make sure you get a good one that will hold an edge. A fixed-blade knife with a full tang is best as it will survive the most severe use.

Hatchet/Hammer. A hatchet is great for cutting firewood when you are out in the woods. Get a combination tool with a hammerhead on the other side so you can also use it to drive tent pegs into the ground.

Documents. Since a bug-out bag is supposed to be for any emergency, ensure it contains copies of important documents. This can be done by scanning them and storing the files on a flash drive. That way, you’re not carrying five pounds of paper around.

Compass and Maps. If you have to leave home, you’ll have to find your way to someplace where you can stay and hunker down. You should have road and topographical maps of your area and where you are going. If you have to leave your planned route, a map will make that much easier. And a real compass, not an app on your cell phone that may not work.

Rain Poncho. The rain has a habit of appearing at the worst possible time. A poncho will help keep you from getting soaked to the skin. It can also double as a groundsheet when you are sleeping or as a way to carry extra items you come across that doesn’t fit in the bag.

Clothes. While you won’t have the room to take many clothes with you, you should have at least one change of rugged clothes in your bug-out bag.

Soap and Toothpaste. Personal hygiene is important for maintaining your health. Make yourself a little kit with soap, toothpaste, a toothbrush, and other items in it to help you keep clean.

Fishing Gear. Your survival food will run out eventually. Catching a few fish along the way can make your food last longer. An emergency fishing kit doesn’t need to take up much room or add much weight, but with it, you can feed yourself indefinitely.

Weapon. The world is full of predators, both four-legged and two-legged. Disasters seem to make both types come out of the woodwork. Escaping the disaster merely to find yourself killed by a hungry attacker isn’t exactly the ending you’re after. Think about defending yourself.

Common Sense Items That Should Be In Your Bug Out Bag

Your bug-out bag should be prepared based on your personal circumstances.

Keep in mind what the weather is like where you are. If it is cold, add warm clothes. If it is arid, you’ll want more water. It has to meet your needs and not fit someone else’s idea of a best-case scenario.

It’s also important to know how to use everything in your bug-out bag. Don’t bother carrying along with a fancy piece of survival equipment just because someone recommended it.

If you try to carry everything that survivalists recommend, you will have a very heavy pack. Before you bother bringing any item along, make sure you can and will use it.

Bug Out Bag Quality And Costs

The main idea behind a bug-out bag is to understand what items should be in your bug-out bag that will give you enough equipment and supplies to last for at least three days.

You can at the very least have a rather large one of those plastic storage containers you can buy at a big box store for about $15 and keep it ready in the corner of your garage or basement.

Or you can use a small carry-on type luggage case with wheels.

However, they will be cumbersome to carry around with you if you can not use your car.

You should have something a little more portable with ease of carrying.

I shopped for bags designed especially for bug-out situations and could not believe the price range of these things.

From $60 to several thousand dollars. Yikes!

Now granted, when you go searching or google ‘bug out bag,’ you are most likely going to see bags already supplied with some of the basics.

What makes some of them so pricey?

This pre-packed bug-out bag, for the most part, comes in a high-quality backpack or equipment case with enough for a three-day ordeal. Including food and water.

It is the equipment that will drive up the cost. Quality survival equipment is not cheap. A good knife may run in excess of $100.

The weight of the bag is another concern when setting these things up and to help in that, ultra-lightweight is the go-to product.

When you start getting tent pegs and pots made out of titanium to save weight……you get the idea.

I am not saying this is a bad option if you have the money and want to save some time, go for it. Price aside they are excellent in that they will cover all the bases in survival supplies and equipment:

• Food
• Food gathering
• Cooking
• Purified water
• Water purifier-mechanical
• Water purifier-chemical
• Firestarters
• Shelter
• Survival tools
• Light sources
• First-aid kit
• Personal hygiene items
• Communication devices
• Survival guides and manuals

That is a lot of stuff and, for the most part, high-quality stuff. These pre-made bug-out bags do it well. And how they do it and what will determine the cost.

Build Your Own Bug Out Bag

In my opinion, some of those pre-made kits are a little on the overkill side of common sense.

Those companies providing them are not ripping you off; they are actually giving you a good deal for the equipment you are getting, especially when you consider the ease of ‘having it all.’

You do not have to do it all today.

A little at a time.

Acquire a comfortable carrying vessel* and with a common-sense listing, start putting things into it that you know will be needed.

Don’t wait until the last minute.

The floodwaters will not wait for you.

And as a final thought, keep in mind the only thing that keeps these expensive kits from being enough to survive for months in the wilderness is having enough food and a few other consumables.

That’s why I believe someone with the right survival skills could live off them. They would have to be able to come up with food from the land.

*Do not buy that bag first. We will tell you why in the next section.

Bug Out Bag Preparation Mistakes

Can you run into problems when putting together that bug-out bag?

Yes, you can, and they can be major.

I will give you some tips here:

• It does not make sense to go out and buy that bag first and then try to put your purchased items in them. Your first job is to determine your needs and how to organize and carry them. You do not need to overspend on something too large or worse, not large enough. It sounds simple enough, but you would be surprised.
• How much weight is too much for you? Like most people, you might see some ‘extra’ room and decide to fill it up. Think first of what you are doing to the weight of that thing you might have to carry for some time.
• Two things about the water. (1)It is most likely the heaviest thing you want to put in that bag. (2)Don’t forget the water. It happens. Big mistake. Keep an eye on the weight and ensure you have some water purification options in that bag.
• Flashlights are an important part of a bug-out bag. Make sure they have working batteries.
• A bug-out bag should be ready. Now. Not at the last minute. When the bad weather is just hours away, the fire down the street, or the rising waters lapping at your front door, it is too late. You will be in a frenzied rush to everything in that bag all in the last minutes. You will forget things and, in all likely hood, leave some important items out because you can not find them or you just forgot during the chaos.

It is not complicated, nor should it be. Just use some common sense and be ready before the calamity strikes.

Know where you live, know the potential risks, and be aware of your situation.

You will be fine.

Around The Web: 

The primary purpose of a bug-out bag is to allow one to evacuate quickly if a disaster should strike. It is, therefore, prudent to gather into a single place all of the materials and supplies that might be required to do this, such as a bag or a few storage containers. The recommendation that a bug-out bag contains enough supplies for 72 hours arises from advice from organizations responsible for disaster relief and management that it may take them up to 72 hours to reach people affected…..need to get away?... Find out how……

Pedestrian Evacuation Analyst Tool

The Pedestrian Evacuation Analyst is an ArcGIS extension that estimates how long it would take for someone to travel on foot out of a hazardous area…..read on to find out more about taking a walk.

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