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In the next two chapters I am going to break down the rest of the supplies you may be carrying in your pack and discuss the pros and cons of each, as well as my own personal recommendations. Aside from the five core essentials I laid out in the last chapter, food would be the next item on my list. The only reason it didn’t make it into the top five is that it may not be necessary in the get home bag or the assault bag; you can easily last a day without food. After that, you can only go so long without food until your body starts to shut down. In the high stress, high energy activity of bugging out of a city, your body is going to need plenty of calories or you’re going to crash.
In recent years, there have been some new high tech survival bars, otherwise known as Emergency Food Rations, that can give you between 2400 and 3600 calories in a small lightweight package. I do not recommend them for bugging out though, and would only purchase them to use as a last resort when all your long-term food is depleted at your retreat. Regardless of how prepared you may be, a SHTF scenario where you are forced to leave home is going to be a very stressful situation with the potential to push you beyond your mental limits. Even the most “normal” people can be pushed too far to the point of insanity and deep depression. I am not kidding when I say that having good-tasting food to eat after a stressful and physically demanding day can REALLY lift your spirits. If you spend an entire day struggling to push yourself and your family, and then sit down to eat a survival bar that tastes like cardboard, you are going to want to slit your wrists. I know I would. Even if it requires carrying a little extra weight, give yourself something tasty to look forward to after a long day.
If you are forced to walk to your retreat carrying a pack or pushing a grocery cart, you need to realize that your body is burning double or triple the amount of calories you would be burning in a normal day sitting at your cubicle. Plan accordingly! Just because the Mountain House package says two servings on it, doesn't mean it’s actually two servings for most of us. In fact, a typical serving of Mountain House only has around 240 calories in it! With the large amount of food necessary to get you through three days’ worth of hiking, you need to be mindful of weight. The answer for most preppers is freeze-dried food. I always chuckle when I hear the survival “experts” mention this rationale. The one thing you need to remember is freeze-dried food requires water to prepare it. If you have to carry that water on your person, then it's not saving you weight. If you are travelling where water is scarce, that means you’ll need to carry extra water with you to make your meals. Technically, you can eat freeze-dried foods without adding water, but it will literally suck the water right out of your body like a sponge, forcing you to drink extra water to rehydrate. At the end of the day, freeze-dried foods don’t really weigh less because the water to reconstitute them has to come from somewhere, typically from the water bladder you are carrying in your pack.
Once again, I am not going to tell you what type or brand of food to carry. This is an area where every individual’s taste buds are different. Make sure you try each flavor at home before you stuff them into your BOB. You don’t want to discover that you absolutely despise Mountain House Lasagna (one of my favorites) and be forced with the realization that you only have that to eat the next three nights. Talk about a depressing thought. I personally have yet to try a Mountain House meal that I don’t like or couldn’t stomach. On the other hand, EVERY SINGLE knock-off brand of MREs has caused me to want to gag.
If you are going to go the route of MREs, I highly recommend you buy ACTUAL military surplus MREs. Especially when buying on eBay, beware of false advertising as a lot of manufacturers of fake MREs use terms like “military contracted,” “military approved,” “Mil-spec,” and other terms that may be confusing. Make sure they are official military surplus cases, which will be labeled Menu A or Menu B. Also pay attention to the dates as some unscrupulous sellers will try and sell MREs close to or past their expiration date. The other reason why real military surplus MREs are superior is they come with the heater packets to warm your entrée whereas the knock-off brands typically don’t. Being able to eat a hot meal with no fire, flame, smell, or smoke is obviously beneficial over a meal where a flame is required to heat water. Perform a simple Google search and you will find multiple online guides for buying surplus MREs.
In my opinion, and what I personally carry in my BOBs, is a mixture of Mountain House Pro-pack (vacuum packed) meals, MREs, and cold weather MREs otherwise known as LRP (Long Range Patrol) Rations. They are harder to find but can sometimes be found on eBay. LRPs are obvious as the outer wrapper is white instead of tan. LRP rations have all the same features as normal MREs except that most of the items are freeze-dried. This means the LRPs have a much longer shelf life than normal MREs. While I like Mountain House meals, they don’t give you near the variety or calories as a full MRE. You are essentially stuck with one item. In an MRE, you get extra side items like crackers and cheese, pound cake, brownies, drink mixes, and candy. It is a much more pleasant meal than simply eating a single pouch of food.
With either type of MRE, I recommend removing the outer bag and repacking them in zipper-seal bags to save space while removing items you don’t need. I have no use for six bottles of Tabasco Sauce, three dozen creamer and salt packets, or six plastic spoons, and therefore no need to carry the extra weight. Only remove the outer pouches on MREs that you are actually placing in your BOB. For the best long-term storage purposes at your retreat location, always leave the outer pouch intact.
In my get home bag and assault pack, I will typically carry a single MRE and a handful of Clif bars. In both those situations, I am carrying limited water and no steel canteen or the Esbit cup kit for heating water. In both those situations, I am also probably eating on the move and not in a stationary camp. In my main three day BOB, I carry two LRP MREs, three Mountain House breakfast meals, two regular MREs, and a dozen Clif bars for a four-day trip. If you leave late, or plan to travel longer, I would carry regular MREs for the extra days so you won’t need to build a fire to heat the food like you would with the Mountain House Meals (after day three, you need to adopt more evasion-based travel and eating habits). In a lone wolf pack, I’m going to jam every spare square inch of the pack with food and Clif bars after I have my other supplies packed. In this situation, I only recommend MREs for the evasion properties of the meal and the flameless heater packet. This is also one of the few times I would recommend taking as many of the high calorie survival bars as you can. Life as a lone wolf is going to suck anyway and the survival bars could extend your life expectancy dramatically.
After food, one of the most universal survival essentials that you need is a good portion of 550 cord. Otherwise known as para cord (parachute cord), the unique properties that make up 550 cord can be used for many things related to your survival. While first introduced and applied in parachute construction during WWII, it was quickly found to be useful for many other tasks like building shelters, snaring game, lashing items to your pack, replacing busted boot laces, and fishing or sewing with the inner cord. Unfortunately, today you have a lot of companies making fake 550 cord and passing it off as “mil-spec.”
True Mil-Spec (MIL-C-5040H Type 3) cord will have at least 7 core strands, each of which is three ply, and if made by an actual military manufacturer, one of the seven strands will have a colored cord woven into it, symbolizing which manufacture it came from. Authentic 550 cord is made from a specific type of Nylon which is abrasion resistant, kink proof, water resistant and mold proof. It has also undergone rigorous testing to ensure it supports at least 550 pounds (in most cases it will hold up to 700 pounds). "Real" military para cord can be quite hard to find in long lengths. On eBay, look for the 550 cord that has been cut out of military parachutes; unfortunately, they typically only come in 20 to 30-foot lengths. If you can find a 1000-foot spool of the real stuff from a trusted source, get it!
I have bought numerous off brands before and you can obviously tell they are not mil-spec. One of the easiest ways to tell is if they use 7 strands, but only 2-ply inner cords. What you will also find is that the sheathing on the outside of the cord will be kind of sloppy and loose over the inner strands, causing it to kink fairly easily which mil-spec cord is tested against. The commercial stuff will also hold 550 pounds, but once you've used the real thing, it's hard to go back. I highly recommend at least 100 feet in each of your BOBs. The best way to carry your 550 cord is in a daisy chain. If you daisy chain your 550 cord, you can ball it up and stuff it in any pocket in your BOB and it will never get knotted up or twisted. If you don't know how to daisy chain 550 cord, look it up on YouTube (just be sure to watch the daisy chain of a single cord and not a grouping of multiple cords).
The next item on the list would be a military surplus poncho; actually, two of them. A military poncho is cut extra large in the back to fit over top of your pack as well as your person, unlike most civilian models which are designed just to cover a person. The reason for my recommendation of a military poncho is that they can also be used as shelter with a little 550 cord. Snap two together and you have a large enough shelter for two to three people. Your spouse should carry a poncho as well, which can be used for a ground blanket under your sleeping bags. This is one area of gear that I do recommend dual purposing. When used with a Gore-Tex bivy sack over your sleeping bag, it completely eliminates the need for carrying the extra weight and bulk of an actual tent. In an evasion situation, you can even curl up under the bottom bows of a large pine tree and drape the poncho over you for extra protection from a hard rain while still staying hidden.
Now, I cannot stress this recommendation enough: only buy military surplus ponchos that have the light rubberized coating on one side. Never, ever buy “mil-spec” ponchos from Rothco or any other commercial source that now makes them. Regardless of what they say, they are nowhere near mil-spec. They are made from completely inferior products, cheap plastic buttons, easily torn grommets, and they don’t even shed water. Imagine my surprise, when I bought two of these knock-offs and on my first use, water soaked through them, drenching my shoulders and my pack completely. The best place to find military surplus ponchos is eBay. Almost all of them come in the older Woodland BDU camo with a few coming in the original Army digital (skip these unless you are trying to hide on your grandma’s flower patterned couch; Army Digital has almost zero camouflage properties).
The next item I carry is what I call my accessory pouch. It is a 6”x9” OD fabric pouch that I use to keep various items in. By using a pouch like this for accessories, it keeps things organized in your pack and you have fewer singular items floating around in different pockets to dig through. It is also easy to pull out of your BOB and throw in your assault pack, get home bag, or lone wolf pack. This is the pouch that changes the most depending on how long I plan to be away from civilization. First thing in the pouch is TP (toilet paper) wipes or “Wet Ones.” I’m not sure how fully I need to explain this supply item, but for sanitation purposes, it goes on the top of my list. I can go three days without a shower or brushing my teeth, but not without TP wipes. Yes, I know that I could probably shave 6 ounces off my pack by using leaves and vegetation to wipe, but no thank you. If at some point you run out of wipes or are forced to use “other” methods, be sure you are cleaning your hands well afterward and using anti-bacterial hand sanitizer. Dysentery and Cholera are outbreaks that will be common in a post-SHTF scenario and are typically caused by poor hygiene conditions and bacteria that are prevalent in feces.
The next item in my accessory pouch goes hand-in-hand with the last item: a travel-size bottle of hand sanitizer. Again, this item is to protect you from the many diseases floating around post-SHTF. Be sure to use it each time you use the restroom and before you eat. An item in my accessory pouch that is optional is a travel-sized deodorant stick. I have found that Axe makes an extremely lightweight (a couple ounces) travel stick which I picked up at Walmart. If you are trying to shave off every ounce, then this may be an item you cut out. Personally, when I climb into a tight sleeping bag after a long day of sweaty hiking, I would prefer to sleep soundly as opposed to wallowing in my own stench...but maybe that’s just me.
Two other small Items I carry in my accessory pouch are a small bit of moleskin and a couple dozen ibuprofen (or other pain-killer of your choice). If you skip the first item, the moleskin, you will probably need to pack more of the second. Even if you are regularly on your feet all day for work, having an extra thirty pound BOB on your back may cause blisters on your feet you weren’t expecting. If you start feeling hot spots in your shoes, stop immediately and use the moleskin! Don’t just push through, expecting to deal with it later. Stop travelling, use some moleskin and change your sweaty socks.
The reason for the pain-killers is obvious. While carrying a heavy pack, you are going to be using muscles in places you didn’t know you had muscles. Your shoulders, especially, are going to be very sore for the first few days. If you are travelling in a lot of pain, it makes it much harder to focus on your surroundings and locate potential threats. I carry the moleskin and pain pills in my accessory pouch instead of my first aid kit so they are easily accessible and I don’t have to dig through my tightly-packed med kit. Feel free to put those items in your med kit if you choose and if you have the extra room in it. My accessory pouch is also where I carry the extra batteries for my flashlight. Typically, I tape them together with a bit of masking tape to keep them together.
In my accessory pouch I also carry a long-handled Titanium spork and discard the plastic forks that come with the MREs. Be sure you get the long-handled version as otherwise your knuckles will be coated with food digging the last morsels out of the bottom of the MRE entrée pouches and Mountain House meals. Another good item to have is a travel-sized roll of duct tape. Everyone knows duct tape is one of the greatest products for universal jimmy-rigging. Don’t get crazy here and bring an entire roll, which is fairly heavy. Most hardware stores actually sell the smaller travel-sized rolls.
Even though you will likely be carrying a sleeping bag of some sort, it is always important to have an emergency blanket for...well, emergencies. Emergency blankets are the shiny silver, thin blankets that help reflect your body heat back towards your body. It could potentially save your life if the nighttime temperature suddenly dipped far below the seasonal average and what you had prepared for with your current sleeping bag configuration. This is especially true in the northern climates where a rare winter storm or “cold snap” could unseasonably push the temperatures below freezing or subzero conditions. It is important not to skimp here. The ones you can buy for one dollar aren’t that effective: they tear easily and they aren’t quilted. For a few more dollars, get the NDuR brand emergency blanket ($7); it is slightly quilted and has an Olive Drab exterior. You want the silver side to reflect the heat back to your body and not reflect the sun to the rest of the world, showing them where you are hiding.
The big drawback to emergency blankets is that most aren’t breathable. If you use a cheap emergency blanket in conjunction with your sleeping bag for extra warmth on an unseasonably cold night, you will likely wake up wet with perspiration. If you have the extra money, I would highly recommend the Survive Outdoors Longer Escape Bivvy ($55) which is a BREATHABLE emergency blanket. Except in the coldest of subzero nights, if you use this in conjunction with your three season sleeping bag, you should stay plenty warm. This is the system I use and weighing in at only 9 ounces, it shaves about three pounds off my pack over carrying the much heavier winter weight sleeping bag. I also carry this in my assault pack in case of getting stranded overnight away from my retreat. If you do go the route of the SOL Escape Bivvy, just be aware that it is a bit bulkier than the NDuR brand blanket and will no longer fit in your accessory pouch.
The last Item in my accessory pouch would be my set of bump keys/picklock set. There is probably going to come a time when you need to get into a locked door for whatever reason. You can either carry around a battering ram and a large set of bolt cutters, or you can go the lock-picking route. Lock-picking is a skill that takes practice to get good at, so I recommend that you practice beforehand! Personally, I prefer to carry a set of bump keys and padlock shims which are a lot lighter and take less skill to master than a lock pick set. A good set of bump keys will unlock almost 95% percent of the home door handle locks and dead bolts on the market within a few seconds if you’ve done a little practice. It is also a lot quieter than kicking down a door in the dead of night. In a post-SHTF world, QUIET is our friend.
One important caveat to lock picking equipment is to make sure you check your local laws before purchasing these items. Due to criminals currently using these items to break into houses, both bump keys and padlock shims are typically frowned upon by most local law enforcement officers. Even though they may be legal in your area, I would still only carry these in my main BOB and lone wolf pack and only AFTER the SHTF. Even though you are a law-abiding citizen, I wouldn’t lug these items around with you in the trunk of your car or in a get home bag; you’re just asking for trouble. The best place I have found to purchase these items is a website called Scamstuff.com.
In nearly every bag you carry, except for the assault bag, I would carry an extra pair of socks. Taking care of your feet when you need to get somewhere is vitally important. If you can’t walk, then you can’t travel. Sweaty socks will hold moisture against your skin causing the outer layers of skin to soften and flake off. This may be okay on day 1, but over the course of a couple days you could end up with red, inflamed feet and possibly trench foot in the extreme. A good pair of breathable boots or shoes goes a long way here, too. In a BOB, I would also include an extra moisture-wicking T-shirt. In a lone wolf pack, I would include an entire extra change of clothes and underwear.
The next item is a little more controversial and there are numerous opinions as to the best way to procure firewood when needed. When I was a SERE instructor, we carried a 3.5 pound axe to chop down, bolt up, and split firewood. During the winter months, I am not exaggerating when I say we spent multiple hours a day gathering firewood to maintain a fire throughout the day. I am not bragging when I say I became an expert on cutting and splitting trees with precision strokes. Becoming proficient with an axe is a time-consuming process similar to learning how to hit a curveball in baseball. If you don’t have the time to learn this skill, then I highly recommend that you leave your axe at home when bugging out. Axes are dangerous. To an unskilled, exhausted traveler you are just as likely to stick that sharp axe in your shin as you are to stick it into the piece of wood you are trying to split.
There are much more efficient ways to cut trees without burning nearly as many calories. Some people choose to carry a small camp hatchet, which I never understood, except for the fact that maybe they are thinking about weight and size of the item. Hatchets are nearly worthless at almost every task you put them to short of splitting small, very dry logs with very straight grain into kindling. If you use this for bolting up firewood or chopping down trees, you are doing it wrong and using WAY more energy than you need to. The other drawback to hatchets and axes is that they also produce a lot more noise in the quiet forest as opposed to the different types of hand saws. There are better options for procuring firewood that weigh considerably less than an axe or camp hatchet.
On the cheap side, I would recommend a pocket chainsaw, which is a section of chainsaw blade with two sturdy handles on each side. Do not buy the “survival” wire saws as they are worthless in cutting down anything more than a sapling the size of your thumb. A couple things to remember when buying a pocket saw is not to buy the cheapest one out there even if you’re on a budget. This is an instrument that gets harsh use and a broken piece of webbing on one of the hand straps will make it useless (speaking from experience). Expect to pay around $25 to $30 for a good quality pocket chainsaw.
One major drawback to these saws is your initial cut when felling a tree. Once you get about two-thirds of the way through your cut and the tree starts to lean, it may pinch the blade and make the process of finishing your cut nearly impossible. Two ways around this would be to carry a small wedge or to cut up trees that have already fallen (just make sure the tree is off the ground a bit and not waterlogged). You also want to stick with smaller trees that are less than 5 inches in diameter as you will expend less energy and you will be using your bolt knife to split them. The last thing to remember is to always wear gloves when using a pocket chainsaw. Even if you have well-calloused hands from your day job, you will develop blisters very quickly on the sides of your hands next to your pinky fingers if you don’t.
Even though I continued to carry a 3.5 pound axe for years when backpacking, I recently discovered a much better tool for the job that weighs a fraction of the weight. A good folding handsaw is the way to go. You use far less energy than an axe or a pocket chainsaw. The only drawback is that you are still limited to smaller trees, around 5 inches in diameter, especially if you intend to split them with your bolt knife. When I said a quality hand saw, what I actually meant is that you should buy a Silky brand handsaw. I have tried other brands with varying success but the patented tooth design that Silky uses far surpasses all others. In fact, they advertise that some of their larger saws can actually compete with a small chainsaw. Silky makes pruning and hand saws of varying size and they even sell a model almost two feet long, which is very popular with back country snowmobilers for cutting large trees out of their paths. For a BOB, I highly recommend the 9.5 inch Silky Ultra Accel which can be purchased for around $60. Yes, you can find similar looking handsaws at Home Depot for much less, but you are also getting much less performance and quality, which means more energy expended.
It is absolutely vital that you include paper maps of the areas between your home and bug out location in your BOB. You can’t rely on GPS devices functioning, although I wouldn’t discourage you from including one in addition to your paper maps. You have no way of knowing in advance if your pre-planned bug-out route is going to be impassable due to a serious accident or gridlocked traffic jam blocking your way. It’s important that you’re able to reference a map and find a way around any obstacle. Maybe you planned on taking the highway all the way to your bug-out location, only to find the highway completely overcrowded on day three (much sooner than you or I anticipated). In that case, you’ll have to move off the major highway and take secondary roads.
An item that goes hand-in-hand with your maps is a quality compass. The most important feature that you want to look for when choosing a compass is to be sure it’s a “lensatic” or “sighting” compass. Don’t buy the flat camping or button style compasses which aren’t efficient when performing point-to-point navigation. You’ll want a folding compass with the sighting wire which will enable you to hold it to your cheek and pick out a target on your heading. Point-to-point navigation with the proper compass can be very precise if you learn how to use it properly and practice with it. The gold standard for compasses is the Cammenga brand Official US Military Tritium Lensatic Compass, which can be purchased for around $75. On a budget, you can find knock-off compasses without Tritium for a lot less. But don’t go too cheap. Be sure the compass is made by a major manufacturer; don't buy the cheap plastic ones found on eBay. Expect to pay $20 to $25 for a metal, military-style lensatic compass.
The last essential item in your BOB would be a quality sleeping bag. It’s hard to discuss sleeping bags without also bringing your tent into the same equation as your choice in one depends on the other. For families with just a husband, wife, and a single small child, I recommend using your Military Surplus Ponchos as your shelter. If you go this route, you have to realize that it’s not a completely stormproof shelter. If you’re on a budget, buying a military surplus Extreme Cold Weather System (ECWS) sleeping bag system for each adult or teenager in your family is the way to go. They can be purchased in like-new condition on eBay and Amazon for around $100. You won’t get more bang for your buck anywhere. This sleep system includes a waterproof stuff sack, Patrol (summer weight) bag, Intermediate (cold weather) bag, and a Gore-Tex bivy sack. If you use both bags and the bivy sack, it is comfort rated to -10 degrees Fahrenheit. The only drawback to this system is its weight which comes in at a whopping ten pounds (when using all three bags together in the winter). You can definitely drop about five pounds if you’re willing to spend the extra hundreds of dollars on an ultralight sleeping bag.
The most important part of this system is the Gore-Tex Bivy bag. If you already have a sleeping bag you like, or want to purchase a lighter, more expensive down sleeping bag, I would still highly recommend that you purchase the Gore-Tex bivy bag on eBay for around $40 to go over top of it. The bivy bag is waterproof yet still breathable and almost acts as its own shelter. This system prevents you from having to carry a tent with its bulky and hard-to-pack poles. Like I mentioned earlier, using a Gore-Tex bivy bag over your sleeping bag allows you to crawl under the bows of a pine tree or under a fallen log, cover yourself with your poncho, and stay hidden in a dangerous environment. You can’t do that with a normal tent which requires a large level spot to erect it, and a tent stands out in the woods like a sore thumb. If you do go the route of the ECWS sleeping bag system, just be sure you aren’t buying a knock-off system which typically sell for the same price on websites like SportsmansGuide.com. Be sure it is true military surplus in excellent, used condition.
If you have a larger family or a bigger group you are bugging out with, you can simply carry a larger piece of waterproof tarp. I recommend a SilNylon tarp which is a very lightweight yet ripstop, silicone impregnated nylon. A 10’x 10’ SilNylon tarp will typically run you less than $100 online yet only weighs 18 ounces. Compare that to carrying a family tent, which could easily weigh over five pounds and needs bulky, awkward poles. On a budget, check out the Noah’s Tarps made by Kelty. You can purchase a 12’x 12’ Noah’s tarp on Amazon for about $70.
If you are traveling with a small toddler or baby, you won’t have the option of putting them in their own sleeping bag, especially in winter. In this case, I recommend buying an oversized two person sleeping bag so the small child can sleep between you and your mate for warmth. I have also found a couple companies that sell two-person waterproof bivy sacks: PIEPS, Oware, and BackpackingLight.com. This style of sleeping bag/tent system is what I would recommend as it’s lightweight and easy to set up in a hidden location, yet still offers protection. Other options include carrying a tent and poles or even a compact hammock-style tent. You have many options; consider the weather environment where you will be travelling, as well as the topography, and make the best decision for your family.
* Check the back of the book for multiple BOB checklists...