Having descended even further into the black depths of internet paranoia (see The Urban Prepper, for example), I decided to make a Bug Out Bag.
A Bug Out Bag (a.k.a. "Grab and Go Bag" or 72- hour kit) is a set of evacuation supplies you would take if you had to leave the house in a hurry (e.g. earthquake, wildfire, flood, etc.). It should contain all the food and other items you would need to survive for a few days.
It should also, according to many, contain all the weaponry you need to fight off zombies or space aliens. Since all the reports of zombie and space alien sitings are unconfirmed, you'll have to speculate on the best weaponry. After extensive study (I watched Signs and War of the Worlds, as I felt space aliens were more likely, plus I'm just not a fan of zombie movies) I decided to include a fully loaded Super Soaker.
It seems most people use a backpack of some type for their bug out bag. The idea is that you want to be able to carry it even if you have to leave on foot. I suppose that's a realistic, if remote possibility, but probably more so if you live in a densely packed urban environment.
Nonetheless, if we have to drive to a Red Cross shelter and there are a bunch of other preppers there, I don't want them to laugh at me as I arrive with a rolling suitcase. Fortunately, I have a barely used back pack that has been sitting in the attic for the past 30 years, and the long storage time has lent it the appropriate rugged and weathered look.
Deciding what to put into my bag became somewhat of an obsession for a couple hours. Well, maybe it was a day or two. OK, it was at least a week, but oh my gosh the stuff you can find on YouTube. Basically, I broke it down into the following categories: Clothes, Food, Food Prep, Comfort, Shelter, Tools, Reference, Electronics, Hygiene, First Aid/Medication, and Miscellaneous Personal Items. Thinking about it in categories helped me stay organized and think more strategically about what I really needed. It helped me realize, for example, that having a 12 inch survival knife AND a jungle machete was redundant. I settled, of course, on the machete.
Expense is definitely something to consider when making a Grab and Go Bag. If you decided to purchase all the items you might need, it could easily cost a few hundred dollars. That's not realistic for many people. I personally wanted to spend no more than about $100, but fortunately I have a long history of paranoia, and had many items already on hand (e.g. the jungle machete and the Super Soaker).
I had an extensive internal debate about the shelter component. Ideally it would be nice to have ultra lightweight sleeping bags and a backpacking tent. That would also have blown my budget. But I do have a tent and sleeping bags for car camping (they are big and heavy), and the odds are extremely high that we would bug out in our car rather than on foot (the odds are also extremely high that we would bug out to a hotel with a queen size bed and continental breakfast and the housekeeping staff will wonder why we've pushed all the furniture aside to set up a tent in the room but darnit if I carry it I'm sure as heck going to use it!).
But I am going to throw a couple of plastic sheets and some tent stakes and utility cord in the bag so that I could fashion a tarp and groundcloth if absolutely necessary (although it's admittedly depressing to speculate what might create such a necessity). On the bright side, the plastic sheet could also be used for happy purposes such as a picnic blanket or a makeshift sail for a log raft.
The ideal food for your bag, according to many, is freeze-dried camping meals, due to their light weight and long shelf life. Such meals, however, are very expensive, and again, it would have blown my budget. I elected to go with inexpensive grocery store items. Most of the items I chose have a shelf life of only a year or two. However, I did vacuum seal them, hoping it would add another year or so (pure speculation, to be clear). The best case scenario would be for me to rotate the food items out every 18 to 24 months, using up the old and replacing it. We'll see how that goes.
As far as packing, my storm-weathered (er, I mean storage-weathered) backpack has six compartments making for easy organization, as follows:
1 - Personal
 |
| Hang a few items from the straps to add to your prepper cred. Also, consider removing the jungle machete before checking into the hotel. |
3 - Tools
4 - Electronics/communication
5 - Food, food prep & shelter
6 - Clothing
Any water-sensitive items were packed in zipper seal plastic bags.
It's a bit strange, I admit, to spend so much time on something we'll likely never use. The process did, however, provide me with several hours of amusement, which perhaps is more than you'd want to know about me but you did read this far so you kinda asked for it. It's also worth mentioning that most of the items could be used for the much more likely "shelter in place" scenario, e.g. if we lose power for a few days. It helped me to identify some gaps in preparation for that type of scenario as well.
For further amusement, here is a list of most of the items in my bag. I've indicated the cost for items I had to purchase. Also note that these are the supplies for two people.
CLOTHES
Sox - 2 prs ea
Sweater/sweatshirt - 1 ea
Emergency rain ponchos
Ball caps
Long pants - 1 pr each
Underwear - 2 ea
T-shirts - 1 each
Warm gloves
Nylon shell
Warm caps
Long johns
Scarves
FOOD PREP
Stove - $10
Water purification tablets
Utencils (eat/cook) - $4
Dogdish
Aluminum water bottle
Cook pot - $4
Fuel for stove - $7
Water filter - $10
Dish cleaning sponge
FOOD (3 day supply for 2)
Instant oatmeal (6) - $1
Ramen noodles (6) - $1
Vienna sausages (2) - $2
Tuna packs (6) - $7
Granola bars (12) - $2
Quick mac & cheese (6) - $3
Canned meat (4) - $3
Tea bags/sugar
Dogfood
HYGIENE
Soap
Toothbrushes
Toothpaste
Dental floss
Comb
Toilet paper
Razor
Q-tips
Nail clippers/tweezers - $1
Insct repellant - $3
Towels/washcloths
SHELTER
Stakes
Sleeping pads
Bivy sacks (2) - $15
Mylar emergency blankets (2)
Plastic sheet (tarp)
Plastic sheet (groundcloth)
TOOLS
Compass
Flashlights - $4
Matches
Zip ties
Folding shovel - $4
Rope/cord - $2
Trash bags
Lighters
Knife
Work gloves - $1
Pliers
Wire camping saw - $1.50
REFERENCE
Telephone list
Pen/paper
Maps
Survival references
Important documents
ELECTR./COMMUNIC.
Spare cell phone
Walkie-talkies
Signal mirror
Phone/iPod chargers (12v & 110v) - $5
Batteries
Backup device charger - $20
FIRST AID/MEDS
First aid cream
Tylenol
Ibuprofen
Benadryl
Bandages
Immodium - $1
Bandaids
Alcohol swabs
Ace bandage
Razor blade
COMFORT
Earbuds
Cards
Candy
Book
Radio - $5
PERSONAL
Handkerchiefs
Bandana
Sunglasses (2pr) - $1
Reading glasses - $1
Eyeglasses
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