Your Get Home Bag
72-Hour Of Preps On The Go!
When the storm hits and the lights go out, you need to make sure you have enough food, water, and key preps to keep your family safe for a minimum of 72 hours. The list below is a small list to get you started, depending on your budget you can always come back and buy some of this gear later. For example, I bought my family bags one at a time over the entire year. A good bag will run you $80-$150 so plan on buying one every few months depending on the size of your family. Some items you may already have in storage. So before you go out and buy all this stuff take a good inventory of your supplies and get creative!
Bag Selection: Size Matters
If the prepper bug has you then let me put your mind at ease you will never be satisfied with only one bag! Through your journey you will change bags and down size all the time. The important thing is don’t buy cheap buy stuff that will get the job done. My other suggestion is to buy a bag that is not so big that it allows you to carry the world on your shoulders. A 72hr bag or a bug out bag is meant to keep you alive for a few days while you get the heck out fo dodge!!! You do not want your bag to slow you down.
Where Are You Going?
This is a really important question for you to answer before buying all of your gear. Are you really Bugging Out to a secure location? If so where and how will you get there? What kind of obstacles may you encounter along your way. What are the bare essentials you need to get to your location alive? This is what should go in your bag…to read more about this check out this article.
Here are a few of my favorites:
Multiple Bags from Patagonia: These are great gray-man options as the packs do not look tactical at all for example: Patagonia Refgio 28L Backpack
Why Start Small?
You need to be agile and get where you are going. The goals is that you have what you need to survive while getting as far away from danger as quickly as possible. The smaller the bag the more selective on gear you will have to be. In the beginning this is really good protection against a gear happy prepper on a shopping spree. Also If you want to go bigger in the future you can turn this bag into an office bag, an auto bag or gift it down to another family member. You will always fine-tune and change your gear up…so start small and get a bag put together so you are covered until you learn more.
The Basics:
First aid kit
Water bottles for each family member
Food for three days (remember foods that are lightweight and high in calories)
Mylar blankets or emergency bivvy for each member of the family
Snugpack Tent or some sort of alternative shelter
Season appropriate clothing (3 days worth)
Waterproof matches and/or Bic lighters
Charged cell phone or alternate communication
Power Bank
Maps of the city and state (if you have not already purchased)
Flash lights for each bag with extra batteries
Mess kit and utensils for each family member
Bonus Prep Idea:
Prep Your Pets
If you have pets you need to think about prepping for your them! You need to make sure you have enough of your pet's essentials to get them through at least the first 72 hours of a disaster. Make a list of the preps you need and be sure to keep all of those items on hand.
Extra harness, leash, and/or carrier
ID tags with your contact information
1-2 week supply of food for all pets (if not already bought in week 1)
2-5 gallons of water for each pet
Current vaccination and medical records for each animal (contact your veterinarian).
2 weeks worth of medication for each animal (if applicable). Note: Pay attention to the expiration date and routinely rotate medicines to ensure they are not wasted.
Pan or doggie pads
Survival Library
The Preppers Cook Book is a great resource for people starting to build up their survival pantry. Tess Pennington is a blogger and authority on self-reliance, you can learn more from her by checking out her blog Ready Nutrition.This book not only helps you to better understand how to create a survival pantry but also illustrates how a pantry can be used to save money and create amazing meals for your family on a daily basis. She also supplies you with a ton of pantry recipes for everyday meals and Jared meals per-assembled in a jar.A Pantry is a life saver and can help you and your family to avoid food fatigue during an emergency or a hard financial time. That being said, a pantry can also be a money suck and the land of spoiled out of date items if you're not careful. Learn from a pro a build your pantry right the first time! This book is a great place to start.
Prepper Projects:
1. Create an evacuation plan including an emergency meeting area for family members, multiple evacuation routes, a list of emergency phone numbers.
2. Start to assemble Your 72 Hour Bags.
3. When your bags are packed place packs near an emergency exit or in an easy to access area.
4. Discuss the evacuation plan with your family so everyone knows their roles in it. Discussing these ideas a head of time with your children will help them be a little more comfortable when it comes time to bug out.
Prep Like A Pro
Remember your 72 hour bags can hold many items, just start one with this paycheck and add to it as you can afford to in the future. You need to realize that a 72 hour bag is just meant to keep you alive for 3 days and it should not be confused with a bug out bag. People often put far too many items in their 72 hr bags which defeats the purpose of having a lightweight bag with the basics that can assist you in getting home to your supplies.
“Tools and gadgets are great but know how to use them, practice now so you can have success when it counts.”