It’s imperative that you have a bugout bag on standby for when you’ll need it. You need to have the items within the bag all packed up and on hand at the various places where you spend a lot of time.
A BOB that’s at your home won’t do you any good if you’re at the office and can’t get home before you need to leave the area in the event of a SHTF situation. So you need to have a BOB that you keep at your place of employment (or in your car) and one that you keep at home.
There should be a bag ready made for each person. Some people also like to keep a BOB in their vehicle in the event that they’re caught in a situation where they’re not at home or the office and need to bug out right away.
To pack a bug out bag, some people use regular nylon bags like a bag that you would see used for a child’s schoolbooks. You want to be careful with these. They’re not roomy enough, they’re not durable enough – and most of them don’t have enough compartments to keep items separated for easy location.
Don’t choose a duffel type bag that you’ll have to hold onto as you leave. You want both of your hands to be free because you don’t know what you’re going to run into as you’re leaving an area.
Other people choose to use larger, tough backpacks to hold the gear. Regardless of which type you choose to purchase, the bag needs to meet some basic criteria.
First, it has to be roomy enough to hold everything that you need it to hold to be able to survive for the crucial 72 hours that you’ll be relying on the bag’s contents.
Second, the bag should be sturdy. If you spend the money on something cheap that’s poorly made, you’re betting your life on that material holding up. If it breaks down and rips from the pressure of the content, your items could fall out and leave you without if you don’t notice the tear when it happens.
The bag that you buy should also be waterproof or water resistant. If you get a bag that absorbs water, it stands to reason that the content within will get soaked and won’t be any good for use.
If you choose to get a backpack, you’ll want one with wide shoulder handles. These handles are what will help distribute the weight. This makes carrying the bag a lot easier.
In the event that you’ll have to travel long distances, you’ll appreciate this additional comfort. When you look through the various types of backpacks, you’ll want to look for ones that say they’re military grade or used for tactical maneuvers.
These are backpacks that are like the ones used by the military and they’re made to withhold a lot of wear and tear. These are also the bags that won’t stand out. You want to make sure that you get a bag that blends in with the surroundings.
If you’re in a wooded area, you want your backpack to be difficult for others to see. A neon green or pink backpack could alert people that you don’t want to know your whereabouts that you’re in the area.
Not everyone fleeing from a SHTF situation will be someone that you can trust. Your best option is to choose a backpack that’s made of dark material to make it easy for it to blend into a wooded area. A good example of such a bag as this is a camouflage backpack.
How Many Bug Out Bags Do You Need?
This is an area where some people are unprepared. You need a bug out bag for yourself. But you also need one for every single person in your family or those who will be bugging out with you.
Each of the bags should contain similar items for survival. The bags should all have food, water, clothing and shelter as the minimum. In the event that you’ll be bugging out with small children who are unable to carry their own supplies, you’ll need to carry theirs or divide it between adults.
It’s the same situation if you’re traveling with the elderly who can’t take care of their own supplies. Some children are able to carry a backpack and for those, you would make their bug out bag weight appropriate for their age and ability to handle the responsibility. Some kids can handle taking care of additional supplies, while others can’t.
