1. The First Aid Kit
A first aid kit that complements your first aid skills should be the first component of your bug out bag and your choice of first aid kit should be governed by three things:
Contents
You should be able to effectively use all of the contents as and when the need arises, put simply there is no need to include a splint or dentistry kit if you are not competent to use them.
Size
Simply the more light, compact and easy to pack the better.
Quality
You tend to get what you pay for so get the best that you can afford – in the long run it will be better quality and do the job that it was intended for.
Even if you have not been on a first aid course you should still pack a simple first aid kit to take care of minor cuts and scrapes. Sticking plasters and disinfectant can go a long way towards stopping minor scrapes from becoming infected and escalating into a bigger problem.
2. Water
The second item in your bug out bag should be a ½ pint plastic bottle of mineral water. Not enough to last a single person more than a few hours in most circumstances but enough to keep you going until you can work out a water solution. The bottle itself then becomes a water carrier and measure.
Now, based on the type of emergency that you are preparing for, and your location, it should be possible to predict your most likely water source. Then it is easy to equip yourself with the means of collecting the water. Obviously your bottle can be used if the water is coming from a standing or gently flowing water source. Fast moving or flood water should be avoided because it can easily sweep you away and it could well be badly contaminated.
It is best to have alternative water collecting methods simply because water is so important. Your shelter sheet (more on that later) can be rigged as a rain water collector for example. In an urban environment there may be water available from broken mains or water storage tanks but beware of contamination from broken sewerage pipes.
Whatever the source of water is, always assume that it is not fit to drink or cook with. Boiling water before drinking makes a lot of sense but there are methods of water purification that do not rely on heat. Water purification tablets are available from most outdoor stores and are a light weight and compact solution.
3. Shelter Sheet, Tarp, Poncho
Your bug out bag should contain the essentials for making a shelter. Shelter from the elements is a survival priority and your kit needs to be capable of use all year round. It should be flexible enough to incorporate elements of the area that you are in. Walls, trees, abandoned buildings, whatever is in the area that can provide some shelter and can be improved with a few simple things. Bear in mind that insulation and waterproofing are the most important shelter elements.
Shelter Sheet or Tarp
Some sort of shelter sheet or tarp as it has become known is a required piece of kit in your family bug out bag. It should be light weight but strong. It should have a good number of reinforced suspension points to make it easy to rig. The suspension points should be at each corner with at least 2 intermediate ones on each side. There should be further suspension points across the middle of the tarp as this makes it easier to rig in many different ways.
It should protect you from the sun as well as being waterproof. Sheet should be big enough to protect all the members of your family plus your kit. It should have a small pack size and come complete with a stuff sack to make it easy to pack away. I have found that the best material for a shelter sheet is polyurethane coated nylon.
Poncho
Your shelter sheet, or tarp as it will be called in an outdoors store, could be supplemented by having at least one military style poncho in your bug out bag for each family member. These ponchos are strong and light and quite large but have a small pack size. As well as covering a person they are big enough to cover the bug out bag that you are carrying, helping to keep the contents dry and out of sight. They have reinforced edges with eyelets and press studs all around so they can be joined together to form a larger shelter sheet.
To make the rigging of your shelter as simple as possible it is best to use bungees as well as strong polypropylene cord or paracord. If your knot work is not so good bungees will keep everything taut. This is important as the more taut the tarp is the less likely it is to flap in the wind and become damaged. Wire tent pegs are also useful for pegging your shelter sheet down to the ground.
There are many ways to rig a tarp on its own or with additional ponchos. Rigging the shelter sheet that you have chosen is a good thing to practice in the back yard. You will soon discover that there are many different ways to use it and that some are better than others depending on the situation.
Tent
If you think that a tent is a better idea and easier for you to deploy then that is fine too, but seriously think about including some ponchos as well. A poncho rigged as a fly sheet will act as an extra level of waterproofing, or additional sun shading. If you go the tent route make sure that it is big enough for your needs while having a small pack size and being light weight. There are many tents on the market at different price levels, it makes sense to buy the best that you can afford. Again when you have selected your tent take a little time to practice putting it up. It is not always as easy as it seems in the store!
Sleeping Mats
Sleeping mats are useful to have with you but can take up a lot of space. Rather than having a roll mat attached to the outside of the bug out bag, a thin folding sleeping mat with a high insulation value is a better choice. It can be packed inside the bag to keep it dry and also gives a little extra padding to a rucksack.
Comfort, such as it will be in such a position, is important. Sleep and rest will help to keep you going for longer and if you are as comfortable as possible you are more likely to sleep naturally.
4. Warmth
The most obvious source of warmth is a good fire. Properly constructed and regularly fed a fire brings warmth for comfort and survival, heat for cooking (with some practice) and light. It will dry your wet clothes helping to keep hypothermia at bay. It is comforting just to look at. You can cook over, in and around it.
Starting the Fire
Starting the fire seems easy but it needs both thought and preparation, together with practice. The easy way to start a fire is to use a chemical accelerant, metholated spirits, petrol or paraffin for example. These are not really suitable for your bug out bag. Over time they could leak from their containers contaminating the other contents.
Your survival tin should contain a means of lighting a fire and some tinder. In addition to this a second method of lighting a fire is a good idea. A Zippo type lighter seems to be a good solution, but in keeping with the idea that simple is better a box of windproof matches is the simple answer. To start the fire some sort of tinder is required and torn up paper or fine wood shavings will work as well as some of the tinder from the outdoors store such as Maya dust or char cloth. Later on you will see that it is easy to make your own char cloth.
You will need to practice lighting a fire outdoors as part of your self preparation. Use the skills that you learnt on your bushcraft course. Simply grading your fire wood by size is a good start as the smaller pieces will be used at the start of the process with bigger pieces being added later. A good strong fixed blade knife is a tool that helps here. Go for a deep bladed and heavier bushcraft knife rather than a multi-purpose ”survival knife”.
Clothing
Clothing is a sensible addition to your kit and the layer system is the best one to adopt. It simply means that rather than wearing a heavy overcoat for warmth you wear several thin layers thus trapping air between each layer which is warmed by body heat. To control your temperature you simply add or take off a layer.
The clothing that you choose for each family member should be a thermal base layer of long sleeved top and long johns and a top layer that is both wind and waterproof. Moisture vapour permeable (Gore-tex for example) unlined jacket and trousers are the best option. They will keep warmth in and the rain out and be light weight with a small pack size. The clothing that each person is wearing when the emergency hits will act at the layers in between the base and outer layers.
5. Food
Dried long life camping or hiking food is a good idea and if you can get hold of some military ration packs they are a good balanced energy source. This is one of the parts of your bug out bag kit that takes the most planning. For the type of emergency that you are most likely planning for it is reasonable to assume that help will be on its way fairly quickly.
Food can be both bulky and heavy and we can survive without it for much longer than we can without water. Food however provides energy and, almost as importantly, comfort, remember that in a survival situation morale is a vital component of your survival mindset. Plan around the needs and preferences of all your group. Consider the length of time you will probably need to support yourselves. Finally give some thought to the preparation of the food. Dried soup needs clean water to reconstitute it, a can of soup does not need additional water but weighs more.
Cooking
Whatever food you decide to pack into, some of it will need to be either heated or cooked. Self heating food packs seem like a good idea. But in the spirit of keeping it all as simple as possible I give them a miss. Even if you have purified it by other means it is a good idea to boil water before use. Compact nesting pans are readily available, light weight and take up little space. Military style mess tins are useful for both cooking and eating from.
Remember that a pot with a lid will use less energy to heat the contents than an open saucepan.
It is very tempting to think that your fire, built up for warmth and comfort, is ideal to cook on. With practice and some ingenuity, it is possible to support pans over an open fire. After all people have been cooking that way since the dawn of time. But between starting to light your fire and eating food cooked over it can take a while. It is easier and quicker to use a cooker of some sort.
Cooking Pot
These days the simple solution as a back up to your fire is a single burner portable gas stove. These are available with a self ignition system and are very small and light weight. There is a model that packs the burner and gas canister into its own cooking pot complete with a close fitting lid, a good one will boil ½ litre of water in 3 minutes. These are ideal for your bug out bag.
Camping knife fork and spoon sets are possible additions but consider the spork or foon. This cunning device is a one piece combination knife fork and spoon. Available in plastic or light weight titanium they are a great solution.