I've just completed getting a new genset ready to go online.

I purchased a metal .50cal ammo box from Harbor Freight (no affiliation) for $15.00 each. Each box belongs to a genset and has chain & a lock/key, spare spark plug, 1qt of 5w30 synthetic oil, spark plug wrench, genset canvas cover, owner's manual, ignition switch key, wrenches for ea genset's nuts & bolts, electrical plugs & adapters.

The new genset runs on either gas or propane. I will only run propane in it because propane burns cleaner AND after I disconnect the propane tank, I won't have residual gas fumes to deal with while travelling with the genset & propane tank in the back of my truck.

The Nitecore chargers I have are excellent. So are Xtar and others. No affiliation.

I've been very lax on prepping the last little while so I'm currently re-stocking the pantry and re-working our family BOB.

The Pantry

The pantry's the easy part. I just buy a little extra every time I go shopping. I realized last night, though, that even though there's lots of food in the house, we've eaten our way through our stores of our favourite ready to eat comfort foods. I have tons of ingredients to cook with and make great meals, but not enough easy ready to eat food that the kids can manage on their own without having to cook, with the exception of MRES. We need more stuff like canned pastas, stews & soups, jerky & canned meat other than fish, cookies & bars, chocolate, etc. Going shopping today!

The Family BOB

Because everyone in the family now has their own personal BOB, an update of the family BOB is long overdue. It was slowly cannibalized to make individual kits. I think we're in good shape in terms of having what we need, but everything is scattered around the house and garage, with the exception of our BOBs, which are diligently packed and ready to go.

Our plan is to bug-in for just about everything, and only leave home if truly necessary. House fire, train derailment or problem at one of the local nuke plants are the top three reasons we'd hit the road. In such an event, we'd head to family outside of the danger zone, planning to drive around whatever the calamity is. BUT... it's going to take us longer than I want to round everything up. It's time to centralize better. All our BOBs are easy to access and ready to go, but gathering extra stuff could result in some unnecessary chaos.

In a stroke of good timing, Liea55's thread about preparing your inventory appeared. Also, I was recently challenged by a fellow YouTuber to make a list of ten things I'd want for my family in a SHTF scenario. The two really have my wheels turning!

So, for this thought exercise, I'm trying to come up with my top ten list of things that we could use at home and away, as well as while traveling, in addition to our personal BOBs. I'm not restricting myself to those eleven items though. I'm also making sure we've got all the supplies we might need beyond those.

Here's how my list looks right now:

Top Priority Items for a bacpacfamily SHTF Situation:

1. A BOB for everyone!
*I'm currently updating FAKs, batteries, food, water and kids clothes/footwear

2. Family fire box
*Fireproof lock box with important documents, ID, bonds, cash, pictures, emergency credit card, etc.

3. Family-sized tent & tipi
*Everyone has some form of personal shelter in their BOB (i.e. SOL Bivvy + GI poncho or tarp)

4. Personal Bed Rolls
*Everyone has one but they aren't kept with our BOBs so this is currently an additional step for packing for a bug-out. Each roll has 2 sleeping pads (Thermarest + closed cell foam pad) + 1 sub-zero sleeping bag + 1 wool blanket + a thermal mylar blanket + a couple of bungee cords to keep them rolled and allow them to be attached easily to a pack.

5. Family stove & fuel (i.e. 2-burner Colman propane stove) + large cook pot (i.e. dutch oven)
*Everyone has a personal cook pot + a canteen or esbit stove in their BOB

6. Water Filter & 5L collapsible water bag
*Everyone has a water bottle and some MicroPUR tabs or filter straw in their personal kits

7. Extra seasonal clothes for everyone
*It's winter! We need coats, snow pants, boots, sweaters & long underwear to compliment the change of clothes already in our BOBs. This stuff is already in the car, but it's not packed, just tossed in there. Putting it all in a large duffle bag today.

8. Extra food, water and coffee
*Bottled water, MREs, Mountain House, canned goods, pasta, rice, etc.

9. Electronics
*Phones, GPS, laptop, tablets, solar-crank radio, charging stuff, solar panel, etc,

10. Family FAK & Hygiene Kit
*Everyone has personal FAKs and hygiene kits, but this is a more robust kit with extra med supplies, vitamins & meds (including KI pills,) TP, soap, wipes, towels, purelle, bleach, garbage bags, pail, shovel, etc.

11.Additional Comfort Items:

*Special stuffed animals *I doubt these would be left behind but we should double check!
*Kid & Gear Hauler *Wagon/stroller/sled because driving may not be an option!
*Camp Chairs
*Lanterns
*Fishing kits
*Alcohol
*Cigarettes *Hubby is a smoker
*Pillows

HELP?!
This is in no way a complete or final list. It's an on-going exercise, but I am going to try to round up my top ten items ASAP so they are ready to go. Any advice, as always, is welcome and appreciated!

This month I bought more items at Sam's Club to replenish the canned goods I use. Our emergency food supply is progressively getting organized.

I'm also considering new things as I remake my EDC. I mentioned toilet paper in another thread. I've also considered getting another PSP. I can't remember what I did with my other one; it did come in handy a few times such as the needle and thread, duct tape and one time I attempted to start a charcoal grill with the Spark-Lite. There have also been situations in which a compass would be handy.

I considered something larger than Ultralight .3 but based experience the Ultralight .3 is all I would need.

I told my therapist I prepare as if I still live in Dallas. I guess that is a good thing.

Jeanette Isabelle

One: Let experience be your teacher. You have seen my posts on my EDC. You know what situations you have faced in the past. Assume any of those will happen in the future and prep accordingly.

Two: Use what is comfortable and familiar to you. If you have an unplanned overnighter on the floor of a house with no electricity and water, having items that have the comforts of home is a good thing. That is not always possible. If you have yogurt for breakfast every morning, packing yogurt with you would not be practical.

Three: If you bring a comfort item that requires some sort of resource, what are the chances of that resource being available? Example: if you bring Coffee Singles for coffee, consider what is the likelihood of hot water being available.

Jeanette Isabelle

What I do everyday is boil water and when we had our last electrical power outage the water boiled faster because I used a counter-top butane stove (many available on Amazon) instead of the electric stovetop. Most any camping stove will work.

Making coffee is easy if you can make a fire and if you aren't reliant on a drip coffee maker. Check out the Melitta 6-Cup Pour-Over Coffeemaker -- totally manual, no moving parts. Boil the water by any method and pour over the grounds. Super easy and no, I don't have any other affiliation with Melitta.

Or even easier, you can skip the cone filter & carafe angle and pour the water you just boiled into a cup with Folgers Coffee Singles, Starbucks Via (my preference in instant coffee) or any other instant coffee.

I agree with you to some extent, but experience is all too often a harsh teacher,and the final exam can ofttimes be entirely too brutal. It is often instructive to heed the experiences of others (one of the justifications for this forum) and learn from collective, shared experience. This has definitely worked for me.

You are right on when you say use what is comfortable and familiar to you. Don't buy some nice survivee stuff and put it on the shelf, ready for The Day. If you need to boil water for that nice cup of coffee (or tea), it is much better to use that familiar stove that has come through for you in the past, not some unfamiliar gadget. Use and enjoy) your gear!

Yesssssss. This is why I much prefer pocket carry user gear to emergency kits. An emergency kit you build yourself with extra's of gear you already use is okay; but a store-bought kit with gear you've never used? How could that possibly go wrong...

I completely agree! Testing your gear and your skills before TSHTF, just like we do things like First Aid and CPR, is vital IMHO. It's hard enough to stay calm and think clearly in an emergency as it is, without the added stress of not already having done/used whatever it is you are trying to do/use. That seems like inviting unnecessary suffering to me.

For stuff that needs to be gathered a physical checklist with items and storage space is helpful (I do that for e. g. my CAS equipment). It avoids chaos and ensures the things are there. It makes collecting the items as team easier to.
Your BOB list has Thermarest in it. Those pads do not react well on being stored rolled up for a long time. Thre might be better options.
Your BOB list is fairly long. Do not only make a thought exercise. Try to actually fit the equipment into the available room in the car. The bug-out scenario is not the time to discover that the items claim more space than is available. It also gives you an idea about the required time.
Create a packing sequence (maybe reflected in the check list). You may wish to have some items available without digging through a lot of other stuff.
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