Let me tell you something about bug out bags: No one gets it exactly right the first time. If you think you can assemble a bug out bag once and then forget about it forever, you are gravely mistaken. There are bound to be a few crucial items missing. That’s why it’s important to regularly look over and update your bug out bag.
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If you haven’t updated your bug out bag in a while, or haven’t even built one yet, check out this list of 15 items you might have forgotten. These items are commonly overlooked.
This list comes from the Youtube channel, Survival Know How, and it’s spread across two videos. Here’s the list:
- Anti Diarrhea Medicine
- Sewing Kit
- Water Filter
- Bandana
- Road Map
- Bug Spray
- Emergency Radio
- Camaflouge Change Of Clothes
- Oral Hygiene
- SAS Pocket Survival Guide
- Cash
- Copies of Personal Info
- Enough Food
- Fishing Equipment
- Toilet Paper
Watch the videos below to learn more about these items. You can also check out the description below the video on Youtube for links to his recommended products.
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Perusing the list, I always see the fishing equipment. But this is an area specific item. There are some places where fishing equipment is just not needed as streams and lakes may not be nearby. One of my choice go to locations has a good stream, but there’s not a fish to be found in there. It’s glacial fed and DOW doesn’t stock that lake as it’s too inaccesible for fishermen. I have seen crayfish, but they’re very small, few and far between, and have a very short season of activity at that elevation. Squirrels, rabbit and White Tailed deer are abundunt spring through fall. As the cold sets in Mule Deer and Elk are seen, as the White Tails drift down lower in the winter. The biggest obstacle for game is going to be preservation of the meat, especially if the ability stabilize the country is not forthcoming or gone all together. So adequate supplies of salt will be needed.
Another area which isn’t mentioned, but will either debilitate or kill a lot of us off, is having a stockpile of Multivitamins on hand. Our diets at first won’t be a problem, but as time goes on and we’re walking the line between adequate and starvation when it comes to food, a multivitamin may be the difference that keeps you functioning. Without vitamin’ A,B, C,D,E and a few others, Dropsy and Scurvey both rear their ugly heads and can kill you off if untreated long enough. Here in my area of SW Colorado, wild Rose Hips can provide you with C, but during the winter, the few left behind will be next to nothing. Protein we can get from our meat and dried legumes, but a diet without some of those vitamins will kill a number of folks off. Once the dust has settled and we can begin to grow a sufficient garden, there are veggies high in most to fill our needs, but we may be having to wait a year before we can start that project. Especially if SHTF in late summer or early fall.
So, while I don’t think we need vitamin supplements in our B.O.B’s per say, we may want to keep a stockpile in our longterm supplies as insurance against a nutrient deficient diet.
I was glad to see antidiarrheals on the list, because the diet change and stress alone are enough to start the trots for most of us. Likewise a small supply of stool softeners might be wise as well to avoid the equally painful constipation that an abrupt change in diet can precipitate too.
A lot of preperation is largely academic, and while the thought of escaping to the mountains and surviving society’s collapse looks and sounds good on paper, the reality is that unless your community is being ravaged by whatever it is to come, for most of us, Bugging in may be the better option, and we should be preparing for that scenario as well. Looking at my own situation and the physical limitations my own body is presenting, at the very least, I’m going to have to knock over a pharmacy on the way out to get sufficient amounts of the medications I have to take to stay alive. The reality of that tells me I won’t survive the collapse in the long run. Heart issues including a prosthetic heart valve will limit the time I have left. Sure, I might delay it for a few years, but my best bet is seeing that the next 2 generations are set up with sufficient shelter and the ability to grow and hunt to survive and thrive. Passing down the 60 years of knowledge and experience as quickly and completely as I can, because once the Warfarin runs out, I’ll be a walking stroke waiting to happen. Willow Bark tea only thins the blood so much, and then it’s Sayonara Sucker for me. I only pray that when it hits, it’s complete and doesn’t leave me a paralized, drooling burden on my family.
I for one wish you the best, I am just starting to learn, but I get where you’re coming from. I have Chronic Kidney Disease which will lead to end stage kidney failure. I am learning all of this, only to pass it on to my son. I know the value and importance of your mission. Keep up the good work. It is well worth it!
While toilet paper of some kind is a must, I’ve gotten away from stockpiling it, in favor of Baby Wipes. Toilet Paper is worthless if it gets wet. Even after drying it comes off the roll in chunks (unless it’s John Wayne Toilet Paper which won’t take sh*t off anybody?). Wipes are much more versatile and keep your bum and other parts cleaner. Even if they dry out, add a little water, and they’re as good as new. Wipes can be used as a quick wash when water’s a premium. They come in the flat travel packs for easy storage in a bag, but I stockpile them by the case. In my neck of the woods, Mullein leaves are a good summer/fall alternative. Much better than pine cones?
Don’t you have to deal with a wet bum which can get a rash?
I’ve been using wipes over TP for 15 + years Lily, and have never had a problem at home or out in the woods. If they’re soaking wet out of the package, wring them out first.
Not being grotesque about it, but at 59 I’ve suffered from hemorrhoids for more years than I care to think about. Since switching to wipes, I’ve had a huge decrease in flareups. I use to have a flareup nearly every month, now I haven’t had a flareup in going on 8 years. Best and cheapest advice I received from my proctologist.
If you’re worried, keep some talcum powder handy. Although I think most of the powders are corn starch based nowadays rather than talcum based as talcum causes talcosis and is suspected of being carcinogenic.
What toilet paper does when soaked and dried, I learned on a backpacking trip many years ago. All I can say is “Thank God the Mullien’ leaves were in season.”
There is no way I’d put a LifeStraw in my BOB if I had a choice. You do so get a Sawyer Mini
I agree, especially since there’s only a couple of bucks difference at Walmart. 100,000 gallons vs. 1,000 gallons, for 2 bucks more you get a filter that lasts 100X longer. When I first started prepping and building up B.O.B’s for the four Grandkids, Grandma and I, I bought Lifestraws, but quickly learned of their much shorter filter lifespan. So now everyone’s equipped with a Sawyer Mini, and the Lifestraws are in the crate of barter goods.
Whatever you use for water to drink or cook with, you need a purifier, not just a filter. Filters don’t remove chemicals or pesticides or metals, three things most likely to be found in ponds, streams or lakes near farmland.
I may be wrong on this, mainly because i lost the instructions and just haven’t looked it up yet, but i think the Sawyer Mini actually does remove those. Even if it doesn’t, i will stick with mine. I live without running water so i collect rainwater. I have been using my Sawyer daily since July 2020. All you have to do is backwash the filter with clean water when it gets clogged. My brother has used his on camping trips with his sons where they have run out of water. They drew water from a brackish, black water swamp area, filtered and drank it, and none of the 3 of them had ANY problems after. I love mine so much i have invested in 2 more, both still in their packages, just in case my clumsy butt drops and steps on one. I swear by this filter!!!