DTG, I'm going to ask the obvious question- how long ago was the $100 worth of stuff? Inflation sucks.

But if you are carrying a grand of gear, that is a little high, but not horrible. As others have said, quality has a price. My ditch kit lives in a vest that if I had purchased it new would have been over a hundred dollars. But it holds everything I need, has it where I like, and becuase of the modular magic of MOLLE, can be changed in the future if I need to. Ditto my three season pack- if I had to replace just the nylon, that would be over $250 new. But also know that this gear can take at least as much abuse as my body can, if not more.

When I made my first serious bug out stash, it was a milk crate full of gear that might have totaled $150 back in '98, and it would have been packed into a rucksack that cost me something like $40 that had about $30 worth of surplus ALICE gear attached to it. I would say that I had too much weight in the wrong places then, with things like canned foods. But guess what- two thirds of that $150 was tools, like my Ka-bar and the Leatherman that is currently digging into my hip. *squirms* (I gotta get a better chair here.) And the $10 on clearance Grundig mini shortwave receiver that I still own.

So don't sweat it too much. You've got good gear. Truely good gear is working family heirloom stuff, in the same class as a good hammer or a rifle. Look to see how much of what you have is "survival bling"- stuff bought becuase it has a flashy name. While I'm not fond of a lot of it, it actually serves a purpose- you'll look like all the middle class slobs who, unlike you and I and the others here, are in dangerous need of a clue. It's suburban camouflage.