Is Your Bugout Bag Ready to Go?

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It seems like there have been a number of natural disasters hitting the US over the past couple of years…hurricanes, wild fires, floods…the list goes on. If you are caught in the face of a survival emergency, do you have supplies? Consider a bugout bag. These are sacks that you can take with you in the outdoors to help you survive. Here’s what you need for a three-day bugout bag:

  • Water – At least a liter per person each day.
  • Food – Pack backpack meals or energy bars.
  • Large cup or small pot – This is for boiling water, but if you have iodine tablets, you might not need this.
  • Clothes – Pack pants, two shirts, sturdy footwear, two pairs of non-cotton socks, long underwear, a wide-brimmed hat, and rainwear jacket and pants.
  • Tent or tarp with a sleeping bag.
  • First aid kit – you can build one, you don’t have to buy one. That way, you know what’s in it.
  • Fire starters
  • Poncho
  • Survival knife
  • Two flashlights with extra batteries
  • Small mirror – you can use this to get the attention of airplanes
  • Weapon – pepper spray is a good thing. If you want to carry a gun, make sure you have the right training.
  • Sunscreen and sun glasses
  • GPS or similar in case you get lost
  • Baby wipes to clean yourself
  • Paracord

That should be enough to get you through three days. There are obviously other things that you can put into your bugout bag, too. Depending on where you live and your skills, you might want to put in a compass or a snake-bite kit. Small plastic bags and shoelaces are also important, as you can use them to trap water from non-poisonous plants. If you want to create a seven-day bugout bag, make sure to add enough to survive.

Robert Siciliano personal security and identity theft expert and speaker is the author of Identity Theft Privacy: Security Protection and Fraud Prevention: Your Guide to Protecting Yourself from Identity Theft and Computer Fraud. See him knock’em dead in this Security Awareness Training video.