Packing for a Disaster – Pack Like You’re Leaving Today
Aug 16th, 2010 | By Andrew | Category: Education, Prepping | Print This Article
Careful thought and preparation needs to go into any evacuation plan. Among the most important aspects of a sound plan is your supply checklist. When disaster strikes, you won’t have time to gather the essential supplies and provisions, so it’s not enough just to make a list. Everything you will need, with consideration for all of the contingencies and alternative modes of transportation (vehicle, biking, walking) needs to be ready to go at a moment’s notice.
One of the most important pieces of equipment to consider is your bug-out bag. Duffle bags and regular backpacks will fall short of your needs if you’re forced to go by foot or bike. A full-frame hiking pack is the recommended type because of its sturdiness and its multiple pockets and features.
Your bug-out bag needs to be chosen based on its features as well as its fit to your body. Carrying a heavy bag for long distances can be debilitating after awhile unless it is physiologically compatible with your body size and type. It’s important that your hips bear the bulk of the weight of a fully loaded bag so that your back is spared unnecessary stress.
It is also recommended that you choose your pack only after thoroughly trying different sizes. It’s best to load them fully when trying them on so you can get an accurate measure, and know how the belts will feel when the pack is attached to your body.
Even though you may be bugging out in your vehicle, it is recommended that you have with you a bike or pedestrian cargo carrier, or some way of towing your supplies long distance should you be forced to walk or bike. Even a wheel barrow or jogging stroller will enable you to tow a fair amount of supplies.
What to Pack
For the most part, the situation will dictate what you can and should take. There is no way to know ahead of time the nature or extent of the disaster you will face. It is difficult, therefore, to determine whether you should prepare your pack for a one-day hike to a shelter or a one-week excursion to get to a safe retreat. A safe bet would be to have a three-tiered packing plan that includes contingencies for bug out by vehicle, bicycle and walking.
Everything you might need for any situation ought to be organized in one place so that you can make the necessary packing adjustments within a very short period of time. Bugging out due to an anticipated weather event may allow you a little more time to adjust your packing than if your area comes under in a sudden emergency. Be prepared for either situation.
The contents of your bug-out bag are of great importance because it could be used in any contingency. I recommend your ‘stand by’ preparation be for a 3-day trip. If, after you evaluate the situation, you find that you need more or less, adjustments can be made quickly.
The core essentials for your bug-out bag should include:
- A water filter
- A complete backpack camping kit including a butane stove
- Plastic garbage bags
- 6 high calorie MRE-type meals
- Battery powered emergency radio
- Solar battery charger
- A backpacker’s tool kit including a multi-purpose tool
- Extra thermal underwear and wool linings for shoes and gloves
- Emergency blankets
- Sleeping bag and ground cover
- A poncho
- Extra pair of hiking boots or shoes
- A complete medical kit
- Insect repellent
For biking, add the following:
- 2 extra tubes per bike
- Bike tool kit
Essential supplies for your vehicle (stored within close proximity for quick loading):
- 1 to 2 weeks of food
- Clothes
- Document safe, along with a water proof satchel that can carry the documents if walking becomes necessary
- 7 to 10 gallons of gas
- 12 to 16 gallons of water
- Full set of cooking gear, including propane stove
- Extra propane
- A cargo carrier that can be used when biking or walking if the vehicle breaks down.
This three-tiered approach to packing for a bug out covers all of your contingencies while providing the most flexibility for situational adjustments. Should a quick evacuation be necessary, it would take less than 20 minutes to load the car. And, as always, I recommend that you practice! Decide on a moment’s notice to pack up and head out the door, giving yourself just 10 minutes. Hike down the road or around the countryside for a morning, then stop and have lunch, or maybe even camp out for the night. I promise you that 12 hours of real-life practice will yield a number of lessons learned.
Please add your own ideas!
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Great article! Thanks for sharing. Never thought of “bugging out” on a bicycle!
Good article, however, I would like to know how one might take into account one’s family size when considering the contents of each member’s ‘bug-out’ bag by age. For instance, my own immediate family consists of 9 members with the youngest being a mere 15 months old.
Any suggestions for someone who has erlderly parents and a quadraplegic to care for. We will have a difficult time traveling, I hope we don’t have to leave, because traffic would be impossible and hiking and biking won’t cut it. Maybe the Lord will return soon and we can leave all our stuff for those left behind. I hope they will read my bibles and Christian books.
Great article!!!!
I would suggest a backpacking stove. Very compact (we have the brand wisperlight). I just recently purchached at Walmart (I know…the Evil Empire…but need to buy Scott’s TP there for our plumbing system…and they are the only one’s that I know that carries it…speaking of that…load up on that TP for survival…thin and breaks down fast). Anyway, the small stove at Walmart. It’s made by coleman, it’s called a micro stove, operates on a butane/propane cartridge. Thought this would be great to store in the car kit (I have a suburu and can store items with the spare tire…plent of room). Very small and burn time on high is 60 minutes. The butane/propane canister is compact too. Plan on having 2 canisters in the car kit. Let me know of other brands as we our plan…if we can, is to take off in our cabover camper if we need to leave our place….but would like to have something in both cars.
Would love to hear other ideas of what people are doing.
Really liked this article.
Also, I suggest packing wool clothes for wicking and also a wool cap/gloves/socks to keep the warmth in.
We recently purchased KELLY KETTLE from Ireland and I am impressed with it. You can use all kinds of things for fuel. you can google it and they have videos.
I recommend Vaseline on cotton balls as a fire starter. We have tried this and it seems to work well. Been saving dryer lint as well, but have not tried that yet.
I look it over. I must have one thanks.
Very nice read, Just might want to add some clear plastic trap, Very useful to have in a pack if on foot to make a solar still, back up for you filter setup, and adds to your clean drinking water. On a hot day and a not so trusty water source, makes enought to help fight the thurst.
Andrew, excellent article. I noticed the majority discussion centered on a backpack stove. My opinion – carrying a portable stove (and plenty of fuel canisters) adds a lot of weight to your bug-out carry which will contain food, water, a water purification system, weapons, ammo, first aid kit, sleeping bag, tarp, and other items one deems important. Rather than packing a portable stove and multiple fuel canisters, I plan to pack MREs (Meals Ready to Eat). MREs will last at least 5 years and can be eaten right out of the pouch. Or, if you want the MRE heated, you can use a flameless MRE heater (a pouch with a chemical in it – you add one ounce of water and the chemical reaction will generate enough heat to warm your MRE). Case of 12 MREs (one person, 4-day supply, at 3 meals per day) cost $77.49 (at thereadystore.com).
Or, if you want to spend less money than the cost of MREs and need only a 3-day food source, I recommend the 2400 calorie ERbar pack (US Coast Guard approved) which costs only $2.89 (at quakekare.com). Each pack contains 6 400-calorie bars. Boring and tasteless meal but what do you expect for less than $3; after all, we’re talking about survival, not gourmet eating.
No portable stove for me; however, I do plan to carry a StrikeForce Fire Starter (and several Bic lighters) to start a campfire (using forged wood) for my coffee or to cook the rabbit that I just shot.
Thank you Watchman, I’ve looking everywhere from nut-free energy bars for our bug out bags. I have a family member that is deathly allergic to nuts.
I know what you mean. It seems that almost every food product has either nuts or a diary product added to it. I feel for you, having someone with an allergic food condition adds an additional challenge to survival preparation.
Good article, Andrew.
I’d suggest a couple things: 1) instead of a common battery-powered radio, pack a radio that can be charged by crank and/or solar. All chemical batteries (and that’s virtually all types) have a limited storage life and lose their charge over time, and the last thing you want in an emergency is a dead radio because the batteries failed. 2) Pack a flashlight! Not only will it help get you through a dark woods, but it can be a lifesaver if you need to signal others. Again, get one that doesn’t rely on chemical batteries; “shake” types are a good alternative.
For both radio and flashlight, be careful about quality. There are a lot of cheaply-made wind-up radios and human-powered flashlights on the market that won’t stand up to serious use — remember, we’re talking here about things that can save lives! A very good choice is the Bayliss Freeplay (http://snipurl.com/10p4ss) combo radio / lantern which uses a clever spring-powered generator instead of batteries: good quality, sensitive radio and reliable even in emergency conditions.
Important to have every vehicle with a get somewhere safe bag. Good quality items, that will last, should be the priority over cheap and plentiful. Shelter, fire, food and protection; all this in a handy backpack.
Have been thinking about this for quite a while, looking for ideas on how to keep a car bug out bag cool/warm in all conditions so I can leave the bag in the car at all times, one never knows when some simple supplies can help out, have had some weapons redone so i can store them in rust proof bags, but am worried about the effects of summer heat or winter cold on ammo, any ideas out there, I commute a 100 miles a day
Moisture is the biggest problem for ammo regardless where stored. This is especially true for ammo stored outside of a climate controlled environment. For ammo kept in a car, I suggest storing it in vacuum sealed bags (the kit can be purchased at Wal-Mart and just about any grocery store) — the ammo should last almost indefinitely store this way. However, since your life depends on it, I suggest you rotate and shoot up ammo stored outside of a climate controlled environment about every two years.
Ammo stored in vacume sealed bags is a great idea. I’ve heard, though, that extreme heat (inside a car during the summer) can cause the primers to malfunction (I bought some Israeli .308 where that happened in the desert and only about 50% worked).
Also, I suggest making a large “Go-Bag” for the car in Rubbermaid type totes lined with plastic garbage bags. Each tote should be labeled such as Food, clothes, cooking, tools, shelter, etc. These are easy to have close by to grab and load up in the car, truck, trailer (camp trailer is the ultimate 72 hr. kit), RV. Have a location mapped out as a final destination where you, family, friends, etc. will meet. Whether it’s a cabin or land it’s up to you. If it’s far away then have “Way Points” mapped where everyone will meet up for a pre-determined amount of time before moving to the next “Point”. Always carry a good shovel in the car because if you have to bug out you may run out of gas or the roads may be impassable (mud, abandoned cars, etc.) then you may need to bury some of those totes until you can return to retrieve them. Hope these ideas help. P.S. Don’t forget a good compass with good Topo maps and skills to use both. GPS may be down so you may need to “Old School” it.
I dont know why the ammo would do that (50% worked) I did a tour in Iraq 03-04, and never had that problem. It got extremely hot and we didnt do anything special for our storage of ammo. As far as the GPS, too many people rely on those today. Even in the military, the young ones dont know how to use a compass. We go camping quite often and I only use a compass. Lots of folks are in the woods with their way-points in their gps. A compass doesnt need any outside tech and will always get you where you want to be. IMHO, with what is coming, old school will be the best tech you could have, plus, depending on what type of senario happens, gps, etc. may give you away. If I bug out under a martial law senario, my phone, gps, etc. will be left at home. As far as a Bug-Out Bag, I prefer the good ole’ Ranger Ruck with frame. (Large Rusk Sack) You can stuff it without worrying about the seams breaking and the frame helps alot.
Scouter27, good points. Also, it’s interesting that your ammo functioned at 50% firing ability. Are you sure it was the heat? Our armed forces in Iraq store their ammo in metal containers in their Humvees in the daylight heat of the desert and don’t seem to have any problems with their ammo (at least that I am aware of). I’m wondering if your ammo was very old and that’s the reason for the 50% firing reliability??? I’ve heard that a lot of surplus army ammo is very, very old. Just wondering.
Another suggestion is to only use armed forces’ surplus ammo or ammo that has been reloaded for practice sessions (but you probably already know this). As for me, I want 100% firing reliability ammo (or at least, 99.99%) when relying on it for self-defense and that means buying/using high-grade ammo from very reputable manufacturing companies. I know it will cost more but it is worth it when a life depends on it. Just my opinion.
I prefer to get once fired brass and reload for everything that I have, .223, .243, .308, .38spec and .357 12ga 20 ga and 9mm. I can keep my costs low for the quality and type of ammunition that I need and I can customize the output for what ever purpose that I need. Longer range, harder hitting at short range, multiple purpose, target shooting, small game or what ever I need to teach my kids to shoot better. If things keep going the way that they are reloading is going to be a major source of income for the prepper once things go bad. Buy up all the assorted primers and powder types you can for reloading and for trade… Remember the primer and bullet shortage in early 2009, now imagine that no factories are able to produce anything. Once everyone is out of their factory loaded ammunition where are they going to get more? You the reloader with the knowledge and supplies to keep the fancy club a weapon. I work at a sporting goods store in the midwest and hornady manufacturing is only 40 miles away and we couldn’t get primers, bullets or brass for almost 10 months in 2009. Just passing on information that I thought you should all know. If you are just starting or want to have something available get the Lee starter set and dies for every caliber of rifle and pistol that you and your group have access too and then find out what the local police, sheriff, and State patrol use to be able to generate good will with them once things get “messed up”.
On the other hand if nothing ever happens…. (Please Dear God, dont let this go crazy), you will have the ability to make your own ammunition at about a 70% savings and to how you like it. God Bless and keep your powder dry.
We are a family of 6 that live in a rural neighborhood. We aren’t near forests to be in danger of a forest fire. There is a field across the highway from our home, so I don’t see us being in alot of danger from a possible wildfire. We are far from a flooding possibility. If for any other reason, someone would come knocking on our door saying we must evacuate, couldn’t we just stay put and use what we know on how to keep ourselves protected from other kinds of danger? The last thing I want to do is to be taken to a “goverment shelter”.