Bug-out bags are possibly my favorite part of prepping. As I mentioned in the introduction, I’m a bit of a gear nerd, and I’m constantly retooling my bug-out bags to try out new gear and get the balance right.

But let’s back up a sec: What is a bug-out bag? You can probably find 100 definitions on the internet, but personally I like my bug-out bags to have everything my family and I would need to survive for 72 hours. This includes the Big Four areas of food, water, fire, and shelter, as well as health & safety items and a whole bunch of miscellaneous stuff.

In this post, we’ll talk about the basics of bug-out bags: the bags themselves, and the general areas of items they should contain (spoiler alert – we kind of already did that). Future posts will include deep dives into the contents of my bug-out bag, since I know you’re all dying to see it.

I have two bug-out bags, and I keep them at my house because ideally, we’d be able to bug in and not have to leave our home. I should probably keep one in my car in case SHTF while I’m at work, but for now they’re at my house. (Nobody’s perfect.)

When it comes to choosing the bag itself, personally I wouldn’t stress about it too much. There are of course different schools of thought on this, so do whatever makes you feel comfortable. The important things are that a) it holds your stuff and b) you can carry it.

One of my bags looks pretty badass, with MOLLE (little straps all over the outside that are good for holding things) and a sandstorm color. The other…is pink. They both hold stuff fine, although the MOLLE is really convenient and I might have to (sadly) upgrade my pink one someday. But for now, that’s what I’ve got.

Betcha can’t wait to get inside those bad boys! But we’ll hold off on going through the contents for another post.

In general, what’s inside them are all the items you’d use to survive, say, in the woods for 72 hours. There’s some food, water purification items, shelter supplies, and fire-making gear. I also have some health & safety items and several things that can only be described as miscellaneous (yet still essential – you don’t want to be lugging around any useless stuff).

There’s an old adage used sometimes in the prepping world: “Two is one, and one is none.” It’s a good idea to build some redundancy into your bug-out bags, but you still want to be as lean as possible. So invest in items that do multiple things, like the versatile bandana or a sweet multitool.

What questions do you have about bug-out bags? Posts you’d like to see in the future? Let me know in the comments!