Bug out bag who has one?

[rhoda_bruce]

I know what you mean.......Last bad storm, Gustave, we had a mandatory evacuation issued. My grandparents wanted to stay home, but the police went to their house and told them to leave, so they did. I didn't get a visit from the police, but I had all the lights off, that could be seen from outside and we were all boarded up. Plus DH and I are civil service employees and it was true enough that we didn't have autorization to leave...not sure if the police would buy it though. Mandatory my foot. I got paranoid cuz the police kept calling to tell us we weren't in compliance with the order to leave (recording) and I got to thinking they might be using the phones to figure who was home, so I stopped answering it.
I'm not like Icu4doz or Bee. I'm not at all where someone would go in the event of an emergency; except if its just a relative who wants to stay behind like me and wait out a storm, offering each other moral support and all. They might think my house would be a good house to be in due to the generators, supplies and being 8 feet up though.
Nah.....more of a bug out house, than a bug out bag. I can't take a hundred animals with me and leave the state, and with no idea when to come home, its best I just stay put.

 

[Beekissed]

House fire, this can happen to anyone. I'm wondering, those who say they'd never need to leave home, what about this? This is not sarcastic, it is an honest question. Do you have back-up living quarters (camper, etc) you plan to go? We do have family in the area we could stay with, but I wouldn't choose to for more than a day or so. A go-bag would be nice, even if you're staying with family or at a hotel.

Well...if my bug out bag was in the house, I guess it would be burned along with everything else. If it were in the car, it wouldn't hold near enough to make up for the possessions lost in the house fire. Anything I could pack into a bag, at that point, is something I could purchase at Dollar General. My nearby family has everything I could ever need and more than I could ever pack into a bag.

That being said, I always have a travel bag with the basic necessities that I use whenever I travel that stay in that bag....toiletries, etc. Nothing new there and nothing I would consider in the nature of emergency supplies. If there is a fire, that bag is under my bed...no use at all. I don't have room in my truck for anything but basic road emergency supplies.

If the house burned, we still have a fairly large log outbuilding in which we could camp out....it even has varnished wood floors, stored water, etc. Since we have an outhouse, that takes care of bathroom needs. Getting that hand pump installed on the water well is the only missing component.

But...if our house burns we'd just bunk in with my sis, she has plenty of room in a nice warm home. She is a widow and the children are up and gone, so no probs there. She's a real sweety and would love the company.

 

[Joel_BC]

Ours are more "survival kit" than bug out bag. Each of my kids has a kit at school and hubs has one at work, in case they get stuck (say during a blizzard). I've posted about it before:

The 72-hour kit at school is something that perhaps others don't do (and may not be feasible for younger kids) but in case they get stuck at school due to blizzard or similar, our 2 teenagers each have 3 neoprene dollar store pencil cases in a drawstring gym strip bag in their lockers at their schools containing:

72-Hour Emergency Kit: Flashlight/batteries, Hand-warmers, Gloves, Toque, Socks, Matches, Candle, First Aid kit, Tylenol, Emergency blanket, Sewing kit, Duct Tape, Notebook/pen, Deck of cards, City map, $20 in coins, Emergency contact list

6 Water bottles and a 72-Hour Emergency Food Kit: 6 Granola Bars, 3 Trail Mix, 6 Fruit Leather, 3 cans Pork & Beans, 3 Fruit Cups, small Stainless Steel Bowl, Spoon, Emergency contact list

72-Hour Personal Hygiene Kit: Toothbrush, Bar of Soap, Washcloth Tablets, Sanitary Pads, individually wrapped Wet Wipes, Hand Sanitizer, Q-tips, Tissues, Emergency contact list

Each kid has an Emergency Contact list in each of the 3 kits as well as in their wallets with phone numbers for all family members including our out of town contact so they can check in either by cell phone or school land line. The bag 'o stuff fits easily into their school backpacks should they need to take it anywhere, and they also always have a change of clothing (gym strip) in their gym lockers plus whatever coat/jacket/outdoor layers they wore to school that day so we feel they are pretty prepared to go it alone for a while.

Hubs has a Workplace 72-hour kit in a zippered nylon bag containing similar items (slightly different food choices plus a hand-crank radio, work gloves and basic tools) in his desk drawer at work.

What a great itemization.

We're in a situation that, as several have also expressed, you'd want to go to if there were an emergency - plus we have a number of households within a 10-minute walk (or minute-and-a-half drive) who would cooperate to make things easier on each other. Personally, we have probably a year's worth of food for our household stored in our house, and at least half our neighbors have the same.

But looking through moolie's list, most of the things she's talked about having in the neoprene bags are within three meters (10 feet) of each other in our house. Plus a focussed LED flash lantern (said to be durable enough to drop on concrete from 15 feet without breaking). Runs on batteries, but rated to go for 50-hour on a set of batteries, and some wind-up small flashlights. Don't have a wind-up radio yet, but do have one with batteries (and fresh replacement batteries). Could, within 10 minutes, put all the stuff into our backpacks, but probably wouldn't need or want to. But we do keep blankets, wind-up flashlights, TP, and survival carbs-food in our car & pickup.

I still want to get a camp type LED battery lantern for room light, since the big honkin' 50-hour flash lantern I described is directional, not for room light and would be awkward for reading.

 

[Beekissed]

Only thing I'd include in all those kits~a fresh pair of undies. I can't count how many times my kids or I have needed a fresh pair for one reason or another(personal emergency!) and didn't have them. Grandma was right...clean underwear is one of the important things in an emergency.

 

[CheerioLounge]

Just because...

Funny this subject came up today... markdown.com has this today: For the low. low price of only $129.99

Ready to Go Survival Kit
Be prepared and achieve peace of mind with this custom made emergency bag exclusive to Markdown customers.

What You Get:
One (1) Ready to Go Survival Kit that contains:
Special top of the line (Wise) freeze dried foods that you can cook-in-the-pouch (just add water). 7 year shelf life.
Seychelle filtered water bottle, filters 99.99 percent of all
pollutants from 100 gallons of water.
Cook stove (with 12 fuel tablets); chow set; 4 in 1 Dynamo
Radio/Flashlight, 2 mylar sleeping bags; 57 piece Deluxe First Aid Kit and much more!
Food includes: 2 servings of Cheesy Lasagna; 2 servings of Pasta Alfredo; 2 Servings of Savory Stoganoff; 2 servings of Teriyaki and Rice; 2 servings of Chili Macaroni and 2 servings of Creamy Pasta and Vegetable Rotini

http://www.emergencygobags.com/

 

[moolie]

Only thing I'd include in all those kits~a fresh pair of undies. I can't count how many times my kids or I have needed a fresh pair for one reason or another(personal emergency!) and didn't have them. Grandma was right...clean underwear is one of the important things in an emergency.

Good point. Both of my girls keep a pair in their gym bags in case of that time of the month surprising them at school, and I keep a pair in my purse in an inside zippered pocket for the same reason. My kit is actually my purse--only real "survival" thing not in there is any food. My purse is not a "girly" purse, I can't/don't wear makeup etc. or carry a hairbrush, but when someone needs a Leatherman tool or flashlight, I'm your girl

 

[Beekissed]

Yep...mine has multi-tool, two pocket knives, flashlight, eyewash, etc., etc. I've set off alarms when entering government buildings and my purse was retained at the guard's desk....

 

[moolie]

Yep...mine has multi-tool, two pocket knives, flashlight, eyewash, etc., etc. I've set off alarms when entering government buildings and my purse was retained at the guard's desk....

Lol! Good thing I don't have any reason to go into government buildings! Although I did have to go to jury selection a few years ago, but didn't bother to bring a purse--just wallet with ID in my pocket. I didn't want to set off the metal detectors.

The eyewash is an interesting choice... something you anticipate needing?

 

[Beekissed]

Well...I wear contacts and you never know when you need to wash them or take them out and store them. I carry extra contacts with me in all my bags and in my truck. You never know when something is going to happen to your contacts...dust, tear, loss, etc. I was out four wheelin' once and a bee flew in my eye and stung me....there was a huge sac of fluid all around my contact and I had a difficult time getting the contact off my eye due to the swelling around it. I basically had to squirt a steady stream of eye wash across the eye and dislodge the contact to get it to come off. Ick. I looked like a Dr. Frankenstein's assistant.

The guard who x-rayed my purse asked, "Is that a knife in there??" I guess where he lives, gals don't carry knives. I said, "Uh-uh...two knives and a multi-tool knife." He just looked at me like I had rabies, shook his head and told me to take my wallet out and leave my purse there with him. City folk.... What in the heck do they cut stuff with when they are out and about?

 

[terri9630]

Well...I wear contacts and you never know when you need to wash them or take them out and store them. I carry extra contacts with me in all my bags and in my truck. You never know when something is going to happen to your contacts...dust, tear, loss, etc. I was out four wheelin' once and a bee flew in my eye and stung me....there was a huge sac of fluid all around my contact and I had a difficult time getting the contact off my eye due to the swelling around it. I basically had to squirt a steady stream of eye wash across the eye and dislodge the contact to get it to come off. Ick. I looked like a Dr. Frankenstein's assistant.

The guard who x-rayed my purse asked, "Is that a knife in there??" I guess where he lives, gals don't carry knives. I said, "Uh-uh...two knives and a multi-tool knife." He just looked at me like I had rabies, shook his head and told me to take my wallet out and leave my purse there with him. City folk.... What in the heck do they cut stuff with when they are out and about?

The ones I work with go looking for scissors and when they can't find any they ask me to open it for them. They don't even want to hold the knife.