I agree with Sue. Using and knowing your gear and supplies will never be more important than in a bug-out situation. Don't pick and pack based on a list. Test it. Experiment. Nothing teaches like real life experience.

I've actually got 4.

Emergencies are not the time you want to be learning the ins and outs of your equipment. One of the reasons I avoid top-line equipment is so I can buy multiple copies of the same items. Generally, with a few exceptions, if I don't feel good about buying three or four of any item I feel like I can't afford to buy one.

I can, for instance, have one for home use, one in a disaster kit, and another riding in the truck. When the day comes I break out the kit I'm intimately familiar with the stuff inside. I know how it feels in my hand and know how far it will take me. Nothing, not well meaning advice nor expert reviews, tells you more about a piece of equipment than actually using it. And, within certain limits, the more you use something the better you know it.

I too watch YouTube videos of people explaining silly BOB items and think that these people have never carried the kit any distance, let alone lived out of it overnight. Test your BOB at least once a year.

I have since re-assembled my 6 bobs/ghbs of which,I disassembled not too long ago,as I was actually going "Batty" trying to determine what I actually needed,& Recently came to the conclusion,after trial&error on an outing that,I pretty much had it figured out to begin with!I realized that even the expired MP1 tabs,Still were potent enough to use as a disinfectant to clean water containers & such,The only real loss are the meds & occasionally some foods or candy,that have expired,that I decided not to chance consuming.I've also decided to start keeping a better stock of Actual edible's,sans the dehydrated crapola that gave me the turkey trots,I've since renamed it Fountain house,as it seemed fitting!Decent,edible food is good for the soul,& In a dire situation/emergency it will be a Major Morale booster!Of course,YMMV

Hey Dweste, this topic has come up before, IIRC.

I don't have a pre-assembled bag. I have my camping gear, then next to it a large tupperware filled with extra food, water, blankets and some tools. There's an extra case of MRE's in the garage with that "pile" of stuff. In my house are a couple of pallets of water, with a few 12-packs of ramen and some other extra food, stored in the pantry in the back so it's not used with the regular food. There is some gear that isn't quite camping, or BOB, but was bought for long-term situations in mind (5-gal gerry cans, for instance)

There are rudimentary kits in both cars.

The idea being, there probably won't be a situation in which I literally need to get the bag and RUN. If something is that catastrophic and fast paced, being in a car will probably be better anyway.

I'll probably be able to afford the time to throw the tupperware into my pickup, walk 8 feet, get my camping gear, toss it in the back, grab the dog and go. I assume my wife can walk by herself. And pick up the water and ramen on her way out. Literally I can be out of the house in 2 minutes - assuming, of course, I'm at the house. If I decide a gun needs to come, that adds on another minute (mainly thinking "hmm, which one?").

Your general approach has worked for me on two occasions when we had the van loaded up quickly due to nearby forest fires (one quarter mile away). The key was having a predetermined check list, so that each family member had a task and we could work efficiently.

I chuckle when I realize that one the first occasion I placed my sleeping baby daughter in the van, literally ready to turn the key and drive away, while on the second occasion, ten years later, she was in charge of downloading files from the home computer.

Nowadays, we would all just throw our laptops in the bag and run...

My personal Bob is my camping gear packed and ready to go minus food water and clothing. I have a duffel bag of clothing and a "messenger" style bag with more urban based tools that i would grab along with with it. I think making a BOB and never touching it till you figure it needs to be updated is a wrong approach. For most people in areas that are not often hit by natural disasters its a waste of money to double up on the same stuff just because thats what everyone else does. Camping gear and bugout gear is little to nill in difference. The big difference is the added Tools such as hammers and so on so forth and extra items for repairs such as duct tape and such.

When I started trying to be prepared several years ago, I used the "going camping" opportunity to test out my BOB, which at that time was what I could carry in one bag (A large Camelback at that time). While the family lived off the normal car camping gear, I restricted myself to living off my BOB.

Given that you have the general basics covered, what I learned the most was I needed to primarily get better at estimating quantity/redundancy of items.

Some thoughts that I'm recalling:

• Needed more cleaning and hygiene supplies such as bandanas, hand cleaner, liquid soap.
• Needed more basic FAK supplies (with kids around, you can go through bandaids and Antibiotic ointment quickly).
• Needed more coffee (I use the ones that are like tea bags). Made me a hero with a couple of the moms on Saturday morning though. They remember it and still thank me years later.
• More and better knives. I only had a benchmade folder (good quality), but not really suited for splitting anything but the smallest wood pieces (without putting serious wear on it).
• I had enough food for me but barely enough. I found I burnt more calories when camping and hiking, and was more hungry that just on the typical weekend doing chores around the house.
• I had too many clothes. Could have gotten by with 1/3 of what i took.
• Exception to clothes was socks, could have used another pair or two.

I learned a few things about the quality of my gear too.

So, FWIW, I advocate using it and resupplying (and adjusting) it immedately afterwards.

If "the curtain goes up" in that period when my supplies are down then, it is what it is. At that point I'll try to rely on a healthy dose of luck, fate and faith.

Regards,

Buckeye

With a family or 4 on just my income I don't have the resources to have a bag that just sits unused, I have to justify my gear by giving it as much use as possible.
My BOB/GHB/whatever you want to call it is a cabelback that I take on bike rides, short hikes, over night trips, etc.
First reason is I use some of the gear, the GPS logs our trips for example.
Consumabled would be food/water/batteries. I make up sort of my own MRE's, just take a zipock bag and put in a sncak or meal for each of us, breakfast bars or cliff bars, furit and nuts, etc. I'll have a few of those in My BOB and a few more made up at home. So when we are going to go on a longer bike ride and could use some of my bob food, I'll take an extra pack or two in my truck to refill as soon as we get done. Same with batteries and water, I take duplicates and those stay on the truck.
I rotate the food through my bob by buying new, putting it in the ziplocs and dating it then taking an older on to work to eat. This way my consumables don't expire as they are always rotating and carrying extra to the park or trailhead lets me use whats in the bob without fear or not having it.
As I get the funds I'm starting on bobs for each family member, going to get a camelak for my wife then add a few duplicates of consumables for her to carry too, then as the kids get older do the same for them.