Everybody needs a bug out bag for emergencies, fire, flood, storms, power outages, whatever could happen. When things happen, sometimes it's not feasible to put together what you need to spend a few days at another location. So planning ahead for such emergencies will increase your odds of surviving a situation beyond your control.
The Bug Out Bag is meant to be that bag which you can grab on your way out the door, for whatever emergency reason, the contents of which can keep you alive for three to seven days. Some readers who live in truly remote areas may feel that isn't long enough. Other readers in urban areas are going to have a hard time imagining circumstances wherein they'll have to live out of a single bag for three days.
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Alabama Mountain Mans Blog
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16 comments:
What's in your bag,James? I've tried it before, and the only thing still left is a bottle of Purell hand sanitizer, some gauze bandage and a water filter. Everything else has expired (the food). I keep jugs of water in the house for when the electricity goes, but IT even has an expiration date - still good for washing hair! Anything you can suggest that won't give you food poisoning?
Thanks,
Ali
I am like you, have had things that the expiration date run out on. I am thinking of ordering some MRE meals to stock in mine. I think about 3 days supply for each family member might be enough to keep on hand. The MRE meals should have a very long life and shouldn't expire any too soon. I try to keep about a 30 day supply of my maintenance medicine on hand also just in case.
I've found that the trick is to use your bag often..
I go to the farm a lot and take my bag with me when I do.. But you could take yours when you go into the big city or to sports events or a picnic or visits to family or friends in other towns.. When you do this kinda routine, you will use the stuff you have in your bag and then replace it so it dont get old or ruined, and it gives you ideas of what else you may need or want to include in your bag..
Dried fruits are good cause they last a long time, and some crackers always come in handy if you also carry some potted meat, viennies, or spam or peanut butter with em..
If you take and use your back on a regular basis that also makes it possible to include dried meats in your bag like Slim Jims or Jerky..
To go with my bag I also keep a coupla 5-gallon buckets handy to load with some pickled stuff(jars) I wanna take with me too.. After I use whats in the jars of pickled stuff I can reuse the juice to pickle somethin else later.. In case I happen to find a nest of eggs I can use the juice to pickle the eggs to last a while if refrig is not gonna be available..
And the buckets will always be handy to have too in case I wanna catch rain water or for carryin water from a well or pond.. Lids for the buckets will also make it good for storin stuff in to keep the critters out of..
But if you get in the habit of takin your bag with you, you will be surprised at how much you will use the stuff in it.. Just dont forget to restock it !!
That's some very good tips WB. An item that I like is Corn Nuts. Some people might like them as they are hard and crunchy, but basically Corn Nuts are parched corn and that's what the frontiersmen used on their long trips afield as it keeps a long time.
Back when I worked, I tried to keep a small bug out bag just for taking with me to work. It contained small flashlight, bottle of water, matches, Bic lighter, knife, pistol, ammo and a handful of hard rock candy. All that was for if I broke down and had to wait a while or travel through some indifferent territory.
In the winter time, I always kept a sleeping bag and extra coat in the back in case I needed those.
One thing I forgot to mention on my small bug out bag. I found a nice Danish military heavy canvas gas mask bag at a local gun shop for four bucks. It comes in handy not only as intended, but also to carry to gun shows to hold what you buy. It also is handy when you go to trade days or flea markets, just strap it on your shoulder and if you want, you can put a good sized handgun inside and no-one will know the difference. It will hold quite a number of small items. The opening folds a couple of folds and a heavy strap slips through a metal slot. The end of the strap is sewn back, so when it goes through the slot, it won't come back out unless you depress the sewn fold back on the strap, which makes it secure in not losing anything out of it.
Just about any old military gas mask bag will work, I just liked the looks of the Danish one that I found at a bargain.
I put in several years and over a million miles long-haul-truckin and I got plenty of experience livin out of a bag and a cooler !!
Just a coupla thangs that dont get much attention, but would be "niceities" to have, as much for "mood" enhancers as anythang else.. Sugar dont last long but Karo syrup does and its just nice for somebody like me to have a sweet and creamy cup of coffee to start my day off with and I caint stand those little packs of SweetnLow.. They now have milk that lasts for months unrefridgerated too.. I keep both handy for the "getaway"..
One way to help start off an otherwise bad day is to have some good campfire coffee doctored-up the way you like it.. It can make the difference of how the rest of your(or anyone elses who is with you) day goes..
I used to take a Coleman stove and coffee fixins with me on the truck and lots of times I would spend the nite out in the middle of nowhere at a rest stop or pull-off and I made some good friends over a cup of my coffee on those mornins when a bunch of other truckers and fellow travelers would come out to take a mornin limberin-up stretch..
WB, I also have spent some time on those long hauls. When I would get laid off from my regular job, I'd hit the road in a flatbed hauling all sorts of stuff. I might have came across you somewhere on the road, don't know. I carried a small backpacking stove and one of those 12volt ice boxes. One time I stopped at a truck stop in Georgia and there was several other truckers pulled over on the edge of the lot with their stoves out cooking. I got mine out and we all cooked up a nice meal and shared it with each other. Made some good friends that way. Sometimes if I was way up north where it was cold, I'd just fire up the backpacking stove setting it up on the doghouse. For any of you that doesn't know that term, it's the cowl over the motor inside the cab. Once I got stuck out in Kansas without a load and no money. I manged to scrap up enough for a jar of peanut butter and a loaf of bread and made do with peanut butter sandwiches for about 3 days or so. Got so good at making them, I could drive the 18 wheeler with one hand and make a sandwich with the other all while running down the Interstate at 70 mph with a load of steel on the flatbed. I've met many a hungry trucker out there that didn't have a load and no money to get something to eat and managed to fix something for them to make do until they got a load to haul. It pays to be prepared for the bad times beforehand.
thank goodness our getaway cabin is well stocked with essentials and we keep a couple of rough totes (loaded with pertinent documents and such) inside the garage door here to through in the back of the suburban if we EVER had to get away. we also keep cash on hand just in case and if we don't have enough, our children are usually loaded thankx to us!
we also keep those little wind-up radios here and there and a good supply of water and water treatment.
there are first aid kits in every vehicle and at both houses. a very good idea is to go to your local feed store and purchase a five dollar bag of erythromycin antibiotic just in case - we've been using it for nearly eight years as needed and it has kept us from the doctor's office on a number of occasions - this the doctors DON'T want you to know.
we have been in survival mode for quite some time - so much so that we are prepared for ANY disaster.
nanc, does the erythromycin antibiotic have instructions on how to use it and how much to take?
for a two thousand pound cow!
honestly - the people at most feed stores will tell you how to administer for a person.
i usually mix it in a medicine bottle with water and we've taken it like 3-4 times a day (half tsp) for 7-10 days.
p.s. - don't use the whole bag - figure out how much you need for how many days and mix it about one-eighth tsp. antibiotic to every half tsp. of water - refrigerate and throw out after two weeks.
it comes as a powder in about a half pound mylar bag - keep it sealed and dry - there's enough in there to last until the cows come home!
bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahaha!
also, a handy tip - buy several tubes of the storebrand equivalent of neosporin - it can be melted and put in ears (a small amount) twice a day for a few days for ear infections. for pink eye, use a splitpea sized amount in the corner of your eyes at bedtime - it will be gone in two days.
hey - we don't have medical insurance so do as we have to!
OK thanks, sounds like a winner. Anytime I can doctor myself, it is a lot cheaper than a visit to the doctor.
I use a lot of natural products, and colloidal silver is fantastic! I have to replace my generator, but I can make a gallon in 15 minutes, keep it at roon temp. in glass jars, shake and drink 2 ounces a day to kill up to 615 biologics(bacteria and fungas). Apply to skin injuries to. Use tea tree oil for canker sores and infections of the skin. Doesn't take much.
Living in Florida, during hurricane season you are always in potential evacuation mode, I keep a rough tote in my Tahoe for a first aid kit and some other on the road necessaties. We each also have an emergency backpack with 3 days worth of food and water, radio, flaslight, survival blanket, plastic sheeting AND duct tape! Plus jugs of water, 5 gal. down to 1/2 gal. Plus hurricane food supplies and a generator.
tmw
tmw, I have often wondered if many people in your area keeps emergency supplies ready to go on a moments notice. I live far enough inland that the hurricanes have fizzled out by the time they get this far up, but we do get a lot of rain and some wind. I live in northeast Alabama and the motels all around here fill up with people from the coast each time a hurricane hits. When Katrina hit, the rest areas on the Interstate not far from me filled to capacity. There were people sleeping in vehicles and tents pitched all over the grassy areas. It's good that the state allows them to utilize those areas during evacuations. The last two hurricanes that hit, they closed down the south bound lanes of I-65 from Mobile up to Montgomery and used both the north and south bound lanes for getting all the vehicles they could moving north. Even at that having four lanes moving north, it took them 2 to 3 times longer to drive as there was a lot of vehicles moving northward. The overhead digital signboards in Birmingham area had messages letting drivers know that they could not go south from Montgomery and to find a comfortable place to stop beforehand.
amm-During Frances, I evacuated myself, 2 teens, a large dog and a cat from south of Cape canaveral to Silver Springs, went with a couple from my Sunday school class. The wife's parents were up there, we got back and had no power for another 8 days.
Jeanne, we just weathered it, had neighbors who also stayed. The generator came in handy because we had another week of no power and no phones for 5 days.
We did have the fridge, some fans and a few lights, tv and computer.
Read a lot, and went to bed early and bbqed with the neighbors.
We made our own fun!
tmw
The state has a tax holiday for all hurricane supplies the first week of June, so people get things then.
no forget put cookies in bag!
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