Preparedness.
Sep. 20th, 2020 03:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blimix[This is an expansion to and concatenation of my posts about the Bag of Useful Stuff and the bug out bags.]
I have a backpack called the Bag of Useful Stuff. It is the closest thing to a D&D style magic item that I own. Often, when someone says, "I could really use [X]," I can pull [X] out of the bag for them. I've heard it compared to a "mommy bag" and a "bug out bag," but those are different concepts.
The idea of the Bag of Useful Stuff is to include items of maximal utility, where utility is roughly proportional to the product of "How likely am I to need this?" and "How bad would it be to need this and be without it?" and the inverse of "How much space does this take up?" (the opportunity cost of not being able to fit other useful things).
I intend to ramble and reminisce about the utility of some of these items, but you can skip all that and just skim the list for suggestions of things to keep close at hand.
Not included:
Nobody wants to think about crisis preparation, but that's no excuse. If you're caught unprepared, you'll want to punch your past self in the face for not doing a little planning and shopping when you had the chance.
Being prepared for emergencies involves more than just knowing where your flashlights, batteries, and first aid kit are. It bears thinking about now, because the moment you realize that you desperately need some item, it will be days (or weeks) too late to go out and get it. (I am not a "prepper," and I don't have to be one to recognize that preparedness is a good thing. Even the National Weather Services has long recommended having a bug out bag ready in case you need to evacuate quickly.) Preparation is an ongoing project of learning and equipping. Feel free to comment with suggestions or links.
Let's consider four categories of situations:
1. Staying home, unable to go out for supplies. (Threat models, starting with the most likely, include being snowed in; an oil crunch or pandemic causing the cessation of food deliveries to grocery stores; riots; hostile police or military occupation.)
2. Staying home, with no electricity or water. (Threat models include breakdown of the existing, outdated, and poorly maintained and regulated electric infrastructure (as has already happened), local weather-related outages, and sabotage (to which the electric grid is quite vulnerable; see the National Research Council's report).)
3. Leaving home to find shelter with others for a while. (Note that the converse of this, sheltering others who have had to leave their homes, is not covered here. Assuming that none of the other categories apply, clearing out a guest room and shopping to feed extra mouths (and even shopping for an air mattress) do not require advance preparation.)
4. Leaving home to survive in the wild for a while. (Threat models include, well, nothing terribly likely: Finding yourself in a war zone, or having no recourse to people you can trust to help you (for whatever reason; maybe they left first) when running from authorities or lynch mobs. I include this situation mostly to make a distinction from situation 3: A distinction which is needed, but lacking, on the web pages by preppers about bug out bags. Also, if you already live far from civilization, and your transportation fails, situation 3 becomes situation 4.)
Having said this much, I can leave it to you to think about these possibilities, do the research, and figure out how you'd like to prepare. The following sections detail some of my own thoughts and preparations. Your mileage may vary.
Situation 1: Stuck at home.
Priority 1: Don't starve to death. The local supermarkets and wholesale club provided us with plenty of shelf-stable food: Mostly canned fruits, vegetables, soups, and baked beans. Also jars of nuts for protein. Trader Joe's has some sustainably harvested (pole-and-line caught) tuna. Watching the price-per-pound on all of these purchases kept the whole thing surprisingly affordable. Pay attention to expiration dates. Occasionally eat something from this stash and replace it at your next shopping trip, to make sure it doesn't expire. I don't like to eat a lot of canned products due to BPA, but I figure that some exposure is unavoidable. ("BPA-free" products usually substitute BPS or BPF, which appear to be just as bad but haven't been as widely scrutinized.) So we're rotating this supply at a slow rate.
Consider pets, too. The large bags of cheap cat food that feed the neighborhood cats (and thus also the opossums, skunks, and raccoons) can suffice once the good cat food runs out. When we had a bearded dragon, we kept freeze-dried crickets that we could get him to eat by pushing them around. The snakes can go over a month without food (and will not eat each other because they're ball pythons), but if it gets really bad, we'll try trapping some of the mice that use our drop ceiling as a highway.
Situation 2: Power outage.
Yes, know where your flashlights are, and test them periodically. Know where your candles and matches/lighters are, too.
Do you have options for cooking with gas? We don't, so we've made sure that our stock of canned goods mostly consists of food that is palatable at room temperature.
If the outage is town-wide, then there is no water being pumped into the water tower. When it runs out, you're out of potable water. This at least gives you enough time to fill a bathtub for later use. I have washed many 2-liter bottles and filled them with filtered water, but due to a lack of appropriate storage space, we're limited to about a four day supply. Have water purification methods (see situation 3) available as a backup.
We already keep a large stash of batteries from the wholesale club. (Note that they may go bad after about five years, but that's almost how long it takes us to go through them, so that's okay.)
Climate control is a huge problem in a power outage. Obviously, air conditioners won't work. Even if you have gas heat, it's probably in a system that requires electricity for pumps and for zone flow valves. Most fireplaces are terrible for heating homes: Not only is a lot of heat lost to the outside through the chimney, but all that hot air is replaced by frigid air from outside, pulled in through the house's exterior walls. This is not an easy one to address: You'll have to think about whether you want to (and can) invest in an efficient style of wood stove or fireplace (with an air intake and the ability to radiate most of its heat into the house), or find ways to live with it. (A small room can be notably warmed by body heat from people and pets, but that may not be enough. Worst case: Keep the fireplace running (presuming you have one) and spend most of your time right in front of it. You have plenty of wood, right?)
If you have the financial means, research and think about backup power and fuel. Backup generators go through a reasonable supply of gasoline in a few days. However, some can be modified to work with natural gas. Often, but not always, natural gas will be your most reliable utility. Here's some discussion on how long you can expect natural gas to work during a power outage, which boils down to, "It depends, but probably a fair while barring a flood or earthquake, presuming the supplier has backup generators for their pumps or is outside the outage area. Maybe think about having propane or other fuel at home."
A generator does not have to power your whole house. An electrician can install a second circuit box, which feeds only your most essential circuits. A switch allows that box to be fed either by the main box or by the generator. That keeps your generator from trying to power the whole grid, too. (Or you could put such a switch on the main box, and just shut off or unplug anything non-essential when using the generator.)
Again, consider pets. The cats will be fine wherever we are. The emergency plan for the reptiles is to put them in boxes with towel-wrapped chemical hand warmers (ordered online in a big pack for economy). Luckily, they don't need a lot of air. If we're down to one warm spot in the house, of course they'll join us there.
Situation 3: Leaving to stay with someone else.
You might be walking two blocks or driving for two days. You might have a week to casually prepare, or you might have time to grab one thing as you run out of a burning house. In any case, this is where your bug out bag comes in. It's a single bag that you can grab as you leave, which has everything you need to survive for at least three days.
There are some good sources for how to assemble your bug out bag. (Here's a great example. A web search will turn up more.) But when reading them, one may feel overwhelmed, both by the sheer amount of equipment listed, and by the intense focus on wilderness survival. If you don't have experience in survival techniques, it may be demoralizing: "I can't live off the land, so why should I bother planning for it?" This is why I have divided my bug out bag into two bags, to cover situations 3 and 4 separately. This first bag is for when "living rough" means, at worst, sleeping in your car. If you don't anticipate trying to live off the land, don't stress yourself out worrying about it.
Everyone's bug out bag will be different; don't think that you have to replicate any. Just make a list, prioritize it, and see what you can easily get online, at hunting and fishing stores (e.g., the Field and Stream store), at outdoor equipment stores (e.g., Eastern Mountain Sports), or at a sporting goods store. Take the time to compare prices. It's okay if it takes months to get everything together.
My bug out bag (BOB) contains things that aren't already in the Bag of Useful Stuff (BoUS) above. (Mostly: A few items are duplicated in case I need more.) So remember to look at the BoUS list, if you're using my posts to inspire your BOB list.
My list: The bag itself. (Normally, the BOB would be a lightweight but spacious backpack, but since the BoUS is a backpack, my BOB is a voluminous shoulder bag.) Clothes (3 pairs socks, 1 pair thick oversocks, 3 short-sleeved shirts, 3 pairs underwear, 1 pair pants, 1 long-sleeved shirt). (I assume that if the weather calls for a sweater or jacket, I will be wearing it, not carrying it.) Water. (I looked at packs of bottled water at the supermarket, but they were Poland Spring, which is Nestlé, meaning that this water was stolen from people who needed it more than I do. I filled a 1-liter bottle with filtered tap water instead.) Anti-diarrheal pills. Mylar reflective emergency blanket. Cash. Sealed tin with waterproof matches, candles, wax paper, aluminum foil. Water purification tablets (the kind with extra tablets to remove the iodine so it's not gross). Hand warmers (chemical; 2 pairs). Long lighter (utility lighter). Toothbrush/toothpaste/floss. Superglue (1-use size). Dry soup, trail mix, beef jerky, and protein Bars (expiration dates noted). Cotton balls dipped in candle wax (fantastic fire starters). Tiny pencil sharpener (to shave twigs into tinder). Printed contact list of phone numbers and addresses. Flashlight with spare batteries. Sewing kit. Lightweight binoculars.
Situation 4: Roughing it.
For this purpose, geography matters. I live in the suburbs. In the unlikely event that I am trying to survive in the wilderness, I will almost certainly have gotten there by car. So a separate "wilderness bug out bag" lives in the trunk of my car. Even if I am never in situation 4, any of these items may come in handy as a backup plan when something goes awry during one of the other situations.
This spare bag has two constraints: Nothing that will freeze, catch fire, or explode from being left in the car in extreme temperatures; and nothing valuable. I know far more people who have had their cars stolen or broken into than who have had to flee their homes at a moment's notice. So, as a general rule: If I would be sad to lose it, it doesn't stay in the car.
The "wilderness BOB" list: Tarp. Wire saw. Stainless steel eating utensiles. Camp soap. (A generally useful bottle of shampoo-like substance that washes off easily even in cold water. A bar of soap is also good, and lasts longer.) Magnesium fire starter. More cotton balls dipped in candle wax and another tiny pencil sharpener. More clothes (2 short-sleeved shirts, 2 pairs socks (1 dress, 1 thick), 2 pairs underwear). Duct tape (light roll from dollar store). Food (dry soup, dates, trail mix (expiration dates noted)). Hand towel. Heavy duty aluminum foil (5 feet, folded). Shelving brackets (for cooking over a fire). Collapsing camp bucket. Folding saucepan. Tube tent. Hand cranked power charger. 2 large garbage bags. 2 clothes hangers. Emergency poncho. Plastic tubing/hose. Galvanized steel wire. Another flashlight with spare batteries. Glow sticks. Water key. Leather work gloves. Dust masks.
I have a camp stove (with butane/propane mix, so it lights cold and burns hot) to supplement the wilderness BOB, but it and its fuel canisters live in the house (packed with the domestic BOB) due to the "can't explode" rule.
Also in the car (not in the bag): Spare pair of waterproof boots. Spare clothes. Sleeping bag. Yoga mat. Road maps and atlases. Tire repair kit (12V air compressor/pump and slime). Tire pressure gauge. Jumper cables. Reflective hazard triangles. Flares. Toilet paper. 2 flashlights with spare batteries. Sweatshirt. First aid handbook. Wilderness survival handbook. Tissues. Trail maps (handy for local hiking, if I haven't already memorized the trail system). Sweatshirt. Mosquito hat. Paper towels. Soap. Water for hand washing. Spare face masks. Snow shovel (seasonally). You might want to include spare religious items, if applicable.
Both of my bug out bags contain items not on these lists, as they are more a matter of personal whim than recommendation. If you come up with some lightweight addition that makes you think, "You know what? Let's have some fun with this," then go for it. Make it your own.
Unsurprisingly, the lists compiled by survivalists will also include weapons. The choice of whether and what to pack is a personal one, and I have no recommendations of my own to make, beyond consideration of what I've already said here about accessible weapons in the home.
Lastly, I have a list of things to grab and prepare when bugging out, prioritized from the top down. (e.g., "Take the Bag of Useful Stuff and the Bug Out Bag." "Open all the cat food and slightly open a tap for them to drink from." "Pack more clothing in garbage bags and garment bags." "Take everything from the medicine cabinet.") In an emergency bug out, I'll do those things that I have time for.
Thanks tobotia for reptile care tips. Thanks to two helpful and talkative sales reps at Field and Stream for camping tips.
Part I: The Bag of Useful Stuff.
I have a backpack called the Bag of Useful Stuff. It is the closest thing to a D&D style magic item that I own. Often, when someone says, "I could really use [X]," I can pull [X] out of the bag for them. I've heard it compared to a "mommy bag" and a "bug out bag," but those are different concepts.
The idea of the Bag of Useful Stuff is to include items of maximal utility, where utility is roughly proportional to the product of "How likely am I to need this?" and "How bad would it be to need this and be without it?" and the inverse of "How much space does this take up?" (the opportunity cost of not being able to fit other useful things).
I intend to ramble and reminisce about the utility of some of these items, but you can skip all that and just skim the list for suggestions of things to keep close at hand.
- The backpack
- The backpack itself requires many pockets and compartments, so that items can be found without too much digging. I remember where things are the same way squirrels do. You know the "mystery" of how squirrels memorize the locations of all their winter caches of nuts? They don't. They just look in the sorts of places where they would store nuts, and they find nuts there. (They thus miss a few, and also find other squirrels' caches that way.) That's how, despite my forgetfulness and my pack rat tendencies, I can quickly find any item I own: I just look where I would have put it. The same system applies to the many pockets of the Bag of Useful Stuff, although it can take a bit of time to get so used to a new bag that this works consistently.
- Digital camera
- Small, shock resistant, and not too expensive, because the bag gets knocked about a bit.
- Medical tape and gauze (optionally adhesive)
- My first inkling that my backpack could become a Bag of Useful Stuff was when a friend scraped her knee badly on a hike, and by pure luck I had napkins and masking tape with me. I merely upgraded to supplies more suited to first aid.
- Toilet paper
- Take some off of the tube, and roll it tightly into a small cylinder.
- Granola bars (at least two), a protein Bar, and (optionally) candy
- Because someone in your group is starving, and it's still two hours before you even get back to the car.
- Ear plugs
- Sleep better while away from home. Enjoy that too-loud concert without destroying your hearing.
- Triple antibiotic ointment
- Any personal disinfectant will do; a tube of cream is neat and compact.
- Lanacane (benzocaine topical anesthetic anti-itch cream)
- Nothing else works on mosquito bites, for me. But then, I'm weirdly sensitive to them.
- Analgesics: Aspirin, ibuprofen, acetaminophen, and naproxen sodium.
- In high school, it pissed me off that students with headaches couldn't even get Tylenol from teachers. (The bottles were right there!) So I started carrying it with me. Now I keep labeled, sealed sandwich bags, tightly rolled up around a small number of pills, including aspirin, ibuprofen (Advil), acetaminophen (Tylenol), and naproxen sodium (Aleve). Naproxen sodium is my anti-inflammatory drug of choice, because it works at regular doses. Ibuprofen only has anti-inflammatory effects at twice the regular dose, which is the most you can take without courting kidney damage. But if someone is already taking ibuprofen, then that's what they get from me, because you can't mix the two. For regular analgesic use, it's just whichever the sufferer prefers. (Acetaminophen if they need to avoid the blood-thinning effects of NSAIDs.) Aspirin, of course, is also useful during heart attacks.
- Band-aids (various sizes, some latex free) and Tegaderm
- Tegaderm is a large, clear, breathable, adhesive bandage. Great for big scrapes.
- Antihistamine tablets
- Pseudoephedrine
- Pseudoephedrine
- I don't usually need it, but those who do tell me that it works better than other decongestants.
- Tampon, pad, and cup
- For anyone who needs them. (Also, apparently tampons are good for plugging bullet wounds.)
- Epinephrine auto-injector (EpiPen)
- A friend once gave me his old one, which I kept for a while. Note that this is illegal without a prescription, but it might save a life. Even an expired one should work, as long as the liquid is still clear and free of precipitate. (That's according to what I read on the Internet. I'm not a doctor!) (Topical note: A prescription marked "EpiPen" cannot yet legally be filled with a generic, even if the "generic" box is ticked. Ask your doctor to instead write a prescription for an "epinephrine auto-injector" so that you can afford it.)
- Waterproof matches
- LED flashlight(s)
- LED flashlight(s)
- On the same hike with the skinned knee, the sun set while we were still on our way down the mountain. Not through any intentional preparedness, I just happened to have three flashlights with me. My backpack and my luck impressed me that day, and I resolved to be less dependent on luck (i.e., be prepared) in the future. Flashlight switches and batteries crap out all the time, so check them regularly.
- Thumb drive
- Sometimes, I'm over at a friend's house, and they want to give me a file to check out. Having a thumb drive right there makes it way faster, easier, and more secure. Also, I can keep a few truly awesome Jonathan Coulton songs on it, in case said friend turns out to be one of today's lucky 10,000.
- Quarters
- For metered parking. Possibly redundant with the car's change holder, but then, you might be out in someone else's car.
- Batteries
- For the camera and/or flashlights. (I like to have a camera that doesn't require proprietary batteries, though I've compromised on that for other qualities.)
- Writing implements: Ballpoint pens, mechanical pencil, Hi-Liter, Sharpie
- Moustache scissors
- Moustache scissors
- It's among the least used items in the bag, but that's mostly because I go for the (less useful but more conveniently located) nail clipper on my key ring when I need to cut something.
- Monocular (tiny novelty telescope)
- I wouldn't even know where to get this, but my workplace gave them out once. It's very small and light, and offers 5x magnification with adjustable focus. You can get a higher quality one by searching for a "mini" or "compact" monocular, but I don't know that the increased weight is worth it. If you expect to need it, you probably want to bring real binoculars, so I'm talking about something so light that you can forget you have it until someone says, "Is that driftwood or a turtle?"
- Resealable zipper storage bags
- You never know when you'll come across some wild garlic, wintergreen, sorrel, or even pretty (but dirty) rocks that you want to take home. A few cheap sandwich sized bags can come in handy.
- Hemostat
- You might also know this as a "fishhook disgorger". It's surprisingly useful for grabbing and extracting all sorts of tiny objects from hard to reach places. If you have a small enough hemostat, you can sometimes even get the fortunes out of fortune cookies without breaking them, leaving both on the table to mystify your server. The straight ones are more useful than the curved ones, in my experience.
- Lens cleaner
- For glasses.
- List of nice places to walk/hike
- If you're into walking/hiking, that is. When the question of "Where do we want to go?" comes up, you don't have to search your memory for the perfect spot. (If you have a smart phone, you may of course keep the list accessible there instead, or rely on the AllTrails app.) Anyone in the New York capital region is welcome to ask me for my list. All the best spots are in bold face.
- Whistle
- I've never had to use it; I can only hope to remember it's there if I need it.
- Insect repellant
- An atomizer/pump bottle, not an aerosol can. You can fit more repellant in less space, and (to my nose) it smells less offensive.
- Leatherman tool
- Whichever one you like. I'm a fan of the oversized Leatherman Core tool. I've used the (fantastically sharp) saw on it to make sturdy walking sticks in a matter of minutes, the awl to punch new holes in a leather belt, and the knife to cut cheese at a picnic. (I was emphatic about not closing it again, and about washing it as soon as possible.)
- Magnetic compass
- Honestly, I rarely take this out, because I navigate by the sun, moon, and stars, and by trail topology. Also, I've been mislead by bad compasses. But in extreme (and overcast) situations, I've been known to break out the compass once or twice. (Carry one or three compasses, but never two: If they disagree, you'll be stuck.) Auto engines create magnetic fields, so don't trust a magnetic compass in a running car (except for the dashboard kind, which can be calibrated to compensate for the car's field). [Insert nerd joke about the strength of the magnetic field of a Tesla here.]
- Survival card tool
- It includes a compass, can opener, wrench-type slots, and more.
- Emergency ponchos (compact)
- Local street map
- Local street map
- I'm rather a fan of Jimapco maps, and they don't pay me to say that.
- Collapsible umbrella
- My one trip to England netted me an umbrella that folds up quite small. They know how to make 'em.
- Magnifying glass (large, plastic)
- Good for starting fires and searching for clues.
- Wet napkins
- These can be commercial baby wipes, commercial wet wipes, or just a resealable plastic bag with napkins, water, and a bit of soap or detergent. Avoid antibacterial products (which is good advice in general, to avoid dooming the human race). (ETA: It looks like antibacterial soaps got the kibosh from the FDA, for not showing any evidence of working better than regular soap.)
- Masking tape
- Maybe I have a fondness for it after the skinned knee incident, but it has proven useful on further occasions, especially for taping improvized signs to doors.
- Wool cap (hunter's orange)
- A seasonal item; it comes out of the bag in warm weather, and goes in at the start of deer hunting season.
- Bathing suit
- Another seasonal item, for warm weather.
- Windbreaker
- Thick socks
- Thick socks
- These can be used as spares, for when you soak your socks, or as oversocks when it's cold.
- Bucket hat
- This gets lots of use, both for weather (sun and rain) and bugs. I sometimes wet it with insect repellant (when I don't feel like putting it all over my face), and so I leave it in a plastic grocery bag to keep it from contaminating and/or stinking up the rest of the backpack. (My Panama hat is even better for sun and insects (deer flies land on top instead of bothering me), but I don't always have it with me.)
- Plastic grocery bag
- For collecting litter during a hike.
- Personal water filter
- Look for Sawyer rather than LifeStraw. It lasts basically forever, as long as you occasionally flush out the crud by forcing water through it backwards, and don't let it freeze.
- Belt pouch
- Often, I don't want to walk around with a whole backpack of stuff. (In that case, I leave the Bag of Useful Stuff in the trunk in case of emergency. The belt pouch comes out before I leave home, so that I'm not stowing something in the trunk at my destination, which would be an invitation to thieves.) The belt pouch then holds the camera, spare batteries, small insect repellant bottle, Lanacane, antibiotic ointment, plastic grocery bag, toilet paper, water filter, one flashlight, and one granola bar. (Within one or two hikes after I added the water filter to the pouch, I needed it. Preparedness for the win!)
- Belt
- This is to make sure I have a way to wear my belt pouch, in case I haven't put on a belt that day.
- Bandana
- This is one of those items that preppers say has all all sorts of uses, from face covering to holding items to gathering dew from grass.
- Microfiber cloth
- QuickClot trauma pack
- QuickClot trauma pack
- For stopping heavy bleeding.
- Narcan kit
- Because maybe you can keep Fentanyl from killing someone. It's good well past its expiration date.
- Sawyer venom extractor kit
- Anti-diarrheal pills
- Calcium/antacid/Tums
- Fisherman's Friend
- Anti-diarrheal pills
- Strongly flavored but effective cough drops.
- Hand warmers
- Moleskin
- Moleskin
- Good for preventing blisters when shoes start chafing.
- Cellophane tape
- Scotch tape if you're American. Cellotape if you're British.
- Tissues
- Hair bands / hair pins
- Superglue, one-use
- Hair bands / hair pins
- Not just for gluing objects, it'll stick skin back to skin like nobody's business. Expect scars, though.
Not included:
- Chemical ice pack
- I used to carry this (inside a plastic zipper bag). The first two proved useful during my martial arts class. I didn't notice when the third one broke; its plastic bag leaked (as they all eventually do). It made an awful mess inside the backpack that took quite a while to clean up, and required me to just throw out some stuff. The chemicals corroded the zippers, all of which eventually stuck or broke. I replaced the backpack, and left a box of chemical ice packs at the martial arts class. (The ruined bag had been a favorite of someone else's cat, to whom I donated it. She loves it.)
Part II: Bug Out Bags.
Nobody wants to think about crisis preparation, but that's no excuse. If you're caught unprepared, you'll want to punch your past self in the face for not doing a little planning and shopping when you had the chance.
Being prepared for emergencies involves more than just knowing where your flashlights, batteries, and first aid kit are. It bears thinking about now, because the moment you realize that you desperately need some item, it will be days (or weeks) too late to go out and get it. (I am not a "prepper," and I don't have to be one to recognize that preparedness is a good thing. Even the National Weather Services has long recommended having a bug out bag ready in case you need to evacuate quickly.) Preparation is an ongoing project of learning and equipping. Feel free to comment with suggestions or links.
Let's consider four categories of situations:
1. Staying home, unable to go out for supplies. (Threat models, starting with the most likely, include being snowed in; an oil crunch or pandemic causing the cessation of food deliveries to grocery stores; riots; hostile police or military occupation.)
2. Staying home, with no electricity or water. (Threat models include breakdown of the existing, outdated, and poorly maintained and regulated electric infrastructure (as has already happened), local weather-related outages, and sabotage (to which the electric grid is quite vulnerable; see the National Research Council's report).)
3. Leaving home to find shelter with others for a while. (Note that the converse of this, sheltering others who have had to leave their homes, is not covered here. Assuming that none of the other categories apply, clearing out a guest room and shopping to feed extra mouths (and even shopping for an air mattress) do not require advance preparation.)
4. Leaving home to survive in the wild for a while. (Threat models include, well, nothing terribly likely: Finding yourself in a war zone, or having no recourse to people you can trust to help you (for whatever reason; maybe they left first) when running from authorities or lynch mobs. I include this situation mostly to make a distinction from situation 3: A distinction which is needed, but lacking, on the web pages by preppers about bug out bags. Also, if you already live far from civilization, and your transportation fails, situation 3 becomes situation 4.)
Having said this much, I can leave it to you to think about these possibilities, do the research, and figure out how you'd like to prepare. The following sections detail some of my own thoughts and preparations. Your mileage may vary.
Priority 1: Don't starve to death. The local supermarkets and wholesale club provided us with plenty of shelf-stable food: Mostly canned fruits, vegetables, soups, and baked beans. Also jars of nuts for protein. Trader Joe's has some sustainably harvested (pole-and-line caught) tuna. Watching the price-per-pound on all of these purchases kept the whole thing surprisingly affordable. Pay attention to expiration dates. Occasionally eat something from this stash and replace it at your next shopping trip, to make sure it doesn't expire. I don't like to eat a lot of canned products due to BPA, but I figure that some exposure is unavoidable. ("BPA-free" products usually substitute BPS or BPF, which appear to be just as bad but haven't been as widely scrutinized.) So we're rotating this supply at a slow rate.
Consider pets, too. The large bags of cheap cat food that feed the neighborhood cats (and thus also the opossums, skunks, and raccoons) can suffice once the good cat food runs out. When we had a bearded dragon, we kept freeze-dried crickets that we could get him to eat by pushing them around. The snakes can go over a month without food (and will not eat each other because they're ball pythons), but if it gets really bad, we'll try trapping some of the mice that use our drop ceiling as a highway.
Yes, know where your flashlights are, and test them periodically. Know where your candles and matches/lighters are, too.
Do you have options for cooking with gas? We don't, so we've made sure that our stock of canned goods mostly consists of food that is palatable at room temperature.
If the outage is town-wide, then there is no water being pumped into the water tower. When it runs out, you're out of potable water. This at least gives you enough time to fill a bathtub for later use. I have washed many 2-liter bottles and filled them with filtered water, but due to a lack of appropriate storage space, we're limited to about a four day supply. Have water purification methods (see situation 3) available as a backup.
We already keep a large stash of batteries from the wholesale club. (Note that they may go bad after about five years, but that's almost how long it takes us to go through them, so that's okay.)
Climate control is a huge problem in a power outage. Obviously, air conditioners won't work. Even if you have gas heat, it's probably in a system that requires electricity for pumps and for zone flow valves. Most fireplaces are terrible for heating homes: Not only is a lot of heat lost to the outside through the chimney, but all that hot air is replaced by frigid air from outside, pulled in through the house's exterior walls. This is not an easy one to address: You'll have to think about whether you want to (and can) invest in an efficient style of wood stove or fireplace (with an air intake and the ability to radiate most of its heat into the house), or find ways to live with it. (A small room can be notably warmed by body heat from people and pets, but that may not be enough. Worst case: Keep the fireplace running (presuming you have one) and spend most of your time right in front of it. You have plenty of wood, right?)
If you have the financial means, research and think about backup power and fuel. Backup generators go through a reasonable supply of gasoline in a few days. However, some can be modified to work with natural gas. Often, but not always, natural gas will be your most reliable utility. Here's some discussion on how long you can expect natural gas to work during a power outage, which boils down to, "It depends, but probably a fair while barring a flood or earthquake, presuming the supplier has backup generators for their pumps or is outside the outage area. Maybe think about having propane or other fuel at home."
A generator does not have to power your whole house. An electrician can install a second circuit box, which feeds only your most essential circuits. A switch allows that box to be fed either by the main box or by the generator. That keeps your generator from trying to power the whole grid, too. (Or you could put such a switch on the main box, and just shut off or unplug anything non-essential when using the generator.)
Again, consider pets. The cats will be fine wherever we are. The emergency plan for the reptiles is to put them in boxes with towel-wrapped chemical hand warmers (ordered online in a big pack for economy). Luckily, they don't need a lot of air. If we're down to one warm spot in the house, of course they'll join us there.
You might be walking two blocks or driving for two days. You might have a week to casually prepare, or you might have time to grab one thing as you run out of a burning house. In any case, this is where your bug out bag comes in. It's a single bag that you can grab as you leave, which has everything you need to survive for at least three days.
There are some good sources for how to assemble your bug out bag. (Here's a great example. A web search will turn up more.) But when reading them, one may feel overwhelmed, both by the sheer amount of equipment listed, and by the intense focus on wilderness survival. If you don't have experience in survival techniques, it may be demoralizing: "I can't live off the land, so why should I bother planning for it?" This is why I have divided my bug out bag into two bags, to cover situations 3 and 4 separately. This first bag is for when "living rough" means, at worst, sleeping in your car. If you don't anticipate trying to live off the land, don't stress yourself out worrying about it.
Everyone's bug out bag will be different; don't think that you have to replicate any. Just make a list, prioritize it, and see what you can easily get online, at hunting and fishing stores (e.g., the Field and Stream store), at outdoor equipment stores (e.g., Eastern Mountain Sports), or at a sporting goods store. Take the time to compare prices. It's okay if it takes months to get everything together.
My bug out bag (BOB) contains things that aren't already in the Bag of Useful Stuff (BoUS) above. (Mostly: A few items are duplicated in case I need more.) So remember to look at the BoUS list, if you're using my posts to inspire your BOB list.
My list: The bag itself. (Normally, the BOB would be a lightweight but spacious backpack, but since the BoUS is a backpack, my BOB is a voluminous shoulder bag.) Clothes (3 pairs socks, 1 pair thick oversocks, 3 short-sleeved shirts, 3 pairs underwear, 1 pair pants, 1 long-sleeved shirt). (I assume that if the weather calls for a sweater or jacket, I will be wearing it, not carrying it.) Water. (I looked at packs of bottled water at the supermarket, but they were Poland Spring, which is Nestlé, meaning that this water was stolen from people who needed it more than I do. I filled a 1-liter bottle with filtered tap water instead.) Anti-diarrheal pills. Mylar reflective emergency blanket. Cash. Sealed tin with waterproof matches, candles, wax paper, aluminum foil. Water purification tablets (the kind with extra tablets to remove the iodine so it's not gross). Hand warmers (chemical; 2 pairs). Long lighter (utility lighter). Toothbrush/toothpaste/floss. Superglue (1-use size). Dry soup, trail mix, beef jerky, and protein Bars (expiration dates noted). Cotton balls dipped in candle wax (fantastic fire starters). Tiny pencil sharpener (to shave twigs into tinder). Printed contact list of phone numbers and addresses. Flashlight with spare batteries. Sewing kit. Lightweight binoculars.
For this purpose, geography matters. I live in the suburbs. In the unlikely event that I am trying to survive in the wilderness, I will almost certainly have gotten there by car. So a separate "wilderness bug out bag" lives in the trunk of my car. Even if I am never in situation 4, any of these items may come in handy as a backup plan when something goes awry during one of the other situations.
This spare bag has two constraints: Nothing that will freeze, catch fire, or explode from being left in the car in extreme temperatures; and nothing valuable. I know far more people who have had their cars stolen or broken into than who have had to flee their homes at a moment's notice. So, as a general rule: If I would be sad to lose it, it doesn't stay in the car.
The "wilderness BOB" list: Tarp. Wire saw. Stainless steel eating utensiles. Camp soap. (A generally useful bottle of shampoo-like substance that washes off easily even in cold water. A bar of soap is also good, and lasts longer.) Magnesium fire starter. More cotton balls dipped in candle wax and another tiny pencil sharpener. More clothes (2 short-sleeved shirts, 2 pairs socks (1 dress, 1 thick), 2 pairs underwear). Duct tape (light roll from dollar store). Food (dry soup, dates, trail mix (expiration dates noted)). Hand towel. Heavy duty aluminum foil (5 feet, folded). Shelving brackets (for cooking over a fire). Collapsing camp bucket. Folding saucepan. Tube tent. Hand cranked power charger. 2 large garbage bags. 2 clothes hangers. Emergency poncho. Plastic tubing/hose. Galvanized steel wire. Another flashlight with spare batteries. Glow sticks. Water key. Leather work gloves. Dust masks.
I have a camp stove (with butane/propane mix, so it lights cold and burns hot) to supplement the wilderness BOB, but it and its fuel canisters live in the house (packed with the domestic BOB) due to the "can't explode" rule.
Also in the car (not in the bag): Spare pair of waterproof boots. Spare clothes. Sleeping bag. Yoga mat. Road maps and atlases. Tire repair kit (12V air compressor/pump and slime). Tire pressure gauge. Jumper cables. Reflective hazard triangles. Flares. Toilet paper. 2 flashlights with spare batteries. Sweatshirt. First aid handbook. Wilderness survival handbook. Tissues. Trail maps (handy for local hiking, if I haven't already memorized the trail system). Sweatshirt. Mosquito hat. Paper towels. Soap. Water for hand washing. Spare face masks. Snow shovel (seasonally). You might want to include spare religious items, if applicable.
Both of my bug out bags contain items not on these lists, as they are more a matter of personal whim than recommendation. If you come up with some lightweight addition that makes you think, "You know what? Let's have some fun with this," then go for it. Make it your own.
Unsurprisingly, the lists compiled by survivalists will also include weapons. The choice of whether and what to pack is a personal one, and I have no recommendations of my own to make, beyond consideration of what I've already said here about accessible weapons in the home.
Lastly, I have a list of things to grab and prepare when bugging out, prioritized from the top down. (e.g., "Take the Bag of Useful Stuff and the Bug Out Bag." "Open all the cat food and slightly open a tap for them to drink from." "Pack more clothing in garbage bags and garment bags." "Take everything from the medicine cabinet.") In an emergency bug out, I'll do those things that I have time for.
Thanks to
botia for reptile care tips. Thanks to two helpful and talkative sales reps at Field and Stream for camping tips.
