My office BIB

The title of this thread is not misspelled! My employer has moved offices, and I now have a desk of my own with a medium-size drawer I can dedicate to a Bug In Bag. I can't spend a lot of money, take up more than about one drawer, or bring in anything that will cause me difficulty with my employers, but I can store a few things to make an overnight in the office more pleasant.

The assumptions I'm making are that I won't have my car with the large kit I keep in it, but that I would have access to the office and the minimal kit I keep in my laptop bag.

My thoughts are to have:

• Eight 1/2 liter bottles of water
• Sesame bars
• Spare contact lenses, with solution and a case
• toothbrush and toothpaste
• Sweatpants, sweatshirt, T-shirt socks and underwear

The office has a kitchen with snacks in it, and a decent first aid kit. I'm weighing whether I should add a pair of sneakers or other shoes.

What should I add?

Why wouldn't you have access to your car kit? You don't drive to work?

In winter I'd have a few chemical hand warmers in there.

I'd rather have extra glasses than contacts (especially if they are daily disposables).

Ear plugs (your office mates may snore, etc.)

Blinders (so your office mates can have lights on if they want)

Sore throat lozenges, Lipton Cup o' Noodles packets.

Fleece socks. Deoderant

Cards for playing poker

Hmmm -- Why 1/2 liter bottles of water? Is there a more space efficient size to store 4 liters (~1 gallon)?

For why would you be bugging in? Winter snowstorm? Hurricane? Major flood? Do you expect the power to stay on?

If the office has a real stove, keeping real food may also be something worth considering. For bugging in I always think about not having to resort to MRE's and snack-bars. Is the tap-water drinkable? Would it be drinkable with a water filter?

Is there a couch to catch some Z's?

Also, don't forget all the ingredients for a great cup of coffee and tea. This you should be able to keep in the kitchen.

Bacpacjac recently started an office prep thread recently and as I recall, there were some good ideas in there that may interest you.

Normally I take the train. If I have access to my car kit the gear in my laptop bag and office drawer will be irrelevant, or extras for coworkers.



Good idea.



I usually get 3-4 weeks out of a pair of disposable contacts. I have been looking for reader-style optical frames for spare glasses.



I carry these for work.



I find it easier to sleep with the lights on than with blinders.



Lozenges are in the kitchen FAK, along with coffee, tea, hot cocoa and the like. Some instant soup is a GREAT idea.



I might have a pair of heavy wool socks for this. Deoderant should have been on my list.



Another excellent idea.

Also, I want to add a candle to help warm up the small conference room I'm eyeing as my temporary bedroom.

That's how they come from Costco. They're easy to bring a few with me at a time on the train as I'm stocking up. They fit very nicely in the drawer.



Winter snowstorm is the most likely bug in scenario, followed by flooding. I'd like to be ready for the power to be out.



The tap water is good unfiltered but I'd like to be ready for it to be unavailable. I think I'll add a First Strike Ration (no, the military version isn't legal to sell, mine are a forum special from mreinfo.com). It's got some tasty grub in it.



A few.



I don't drink coffee but I love our selection of teas.

I read that thread again. Her situation is a bit different than mine -- she's anticipating at least a few nights being likely, where I'm looking at one night being very unlikely but possible. I also have much more limited storage and the need to look and act Socially Acceptable in the corporate environment.

I could stash a small pry bar, though, and not get killed by the weight like I would be in my laptop bag.

Okay -- winter storm -- Consider instead of "Sweatpants, sweatshirt" you include fleece pants and an appropriate fleece top (half zip, et al).
Disclaimer: I am a member of REI, but There are lots of other good, better places to get poly fleece & wool.

Bugging in during winter with the power off, cotton or even cotton-poly sweats just don't cut it. Fleece and wool.

Do you have a decent flashlight & multi-tool available or are those non-grata in this environment?

I deliberately left a hooded sweatshirt at work today as part of my incremental kit building strategy. I do have a spare fleece jacket -- I'll swap them out next time I go in.

Fleece pants are tougher, as I don't own any. I'll cast about and see if I can find some that aren't too expensive. What I'd like to do is bite the bullet and buy another set of UA Charged Cotton Storm sweats -- that stuff is amazingly comfy, warm, and it sheds water like you wouldn't believe.

I have two flashlights and a Leatherman PS4 on me at all times. My laptop bag has three flashlights (yeah, too many, I know) and a Leatherman Wave in it. One of my assumptions is that my laptop bag will be available.

If your desk is yours, it's a great idea to take advantage of things like your chair real estate. Keeping a sweater or fleece jacket there won't take up space or attract unwanted attention. Then you can use the pockets and sleeves as storage. A hat and pair of mitts in one sleeve, a pair of wool socks in another, a flashlight and whistle in a pocket, a heat sheet in another, etc... You might even consider a sweater/extra t-shirt, with a fleece jacket on top of that. (i.e. I keep a company t-shirt on my chair with my extra fleece.)

Likewise if your CPU is under your desk, it's a nice spot to keep a box of bars, oatmeal or the like. 1 box won't look cluttered or draw attention if it's something boringly health concious like oatmeal or fibre 1 bars.

Sadly my chair is frequently taken for nefarious purposes in my absence. And there's no CPU on the floor, my laptop is always with me. I'm stuck with what I can secure in a drawer.

Well, poppycock. That does make it tricker, doesn't it? Is your hoodie in that drawer or somewhere else?

When I think of my BIB for the office in the winter, my priorities are warmth, water, light, food, hygene and general comfort. That could be a lot for one desk drawer so you need small space stuff. You're off to a great start and there are excellent suggestions here. (i.e. Extra shoes might not work but maybe an extra pair of heavy socks that you could wear like slippers?)

How about a pillow case? You could stuff a jacket/sweater/other extra clothes in it to make pillow. Takes up little space and could help youu get some shut-eye.

A sleeping bag liner? They stuff down pretty small and could make sleeping more comfy, or give you the makings of a privacy sheet.

MRE heater or some other way to heat liquids if the power goes out?

Small LED lantern? The buiiding I used to work in got mighty dark at midnight when the lights really went off.

Small battery powered radio?

High fat snacks to help you fill up and stay warm at night?

Thermos of hot tea/coffee/chocolate on your desk throughout the day?

You folks all prepare like you have never slept in your office, for work I mean. I'm not sure who to pity. My office is more like my dorm room, I sleep there less and less these days but I do so much business on South African or Moscow or Kalcotta time zones, and acquisitions etc, its already fit out as if I need to stay there over night, or longer if necessary.

closed cell foam or self inflating sleeping pad
poncho liner
chem lights
3 wick emergency heater/candle (shoe polish type tin) with extra 1# of paraffin with metal cup or billie, Bic lighter
cocoa powder, ramen cup of soup, hard candy
toilet paper
baby wipes
battery powered charger for cell
wool watch cap or balaclava
ski gloves

I never have, Lono. Share the learnings - please.

Yeah, I dropped the hoody into my drawer. I've got the heavy socks on my "to be added" list. I'd love to find a way to leave some boots, but that doesn't seem likely based on space or expense.

I think I'll pick a bag that will serve this duty.



If I can find one that isn't too expensive that's a very good idea.



This is the biggest weakness of the kit as it stands, in my thinking. What I haven't figured out is how to fix this without violating cost and corporate standards.



I am well equipped with flashlights, and I can rig something to tail-stand them.



In my laptop bag.



Hmm. I've got snacks high in carbs, but not as much fat. I'll noodle this one.



This one I'll have to live without. If only our stove were gas-fired!

Our new office is definitely not set up like that.

Way too big for my drawer. It's either one of the couches or the floor for me.



This is bulky and I'm not sure what good it would do me, especially considering that I do have a Heatsheets in my laptop bag.



I'm not a big fan of these. I do have flashlights and I know where our office manager stashes the batteries.



Added to my list.



I'm thinking that I can get away with a metal cup nested with my Nalgene.



Definitely.



I've added the soup to my list, and the other things are available in the kitchen.



Our bathrooms are well-stocked and I do carry facial tissue.



Definitely!



I have one in my laptop bag and I recharge it regularly.



I'm very thoughtful about outerwear, especially riding the train. I've got both a good hat and a wool Buff along with warm gloves.

Mine either Chaos. We've got the bare necessities here, and even less than that. No couches, no stove, not even a first aid kit when I started. (We've got a good one now.) We've got a fridge/freezer, a microwave, an electric kettle, some warehouse shelving and a coat rack. I don't even have drawers in my desk. There are a few drawers elsewhere that I can sneak some stuff into but I'm mostly religated to a backpack under my desk, the top of my CPU and my desk top, a small set of drawers in the ladies room, fridge/freezer and a bit of space under the kitchen sink.

I think I've got the edge over you in terms of being without much corporate red tape or social BS and being able to keep a backpack under my desk and a jacket on my chair without any worries.

A single drawer would be tough for me. (I'm a chronic overpacker.) Check the second hand stores for used things like sleeping bag liners, thermals, etc. You can often find great deals there.

Can you use any of the kitchen space? We've got a very small office team so I get my own drawer in the fridge but this may not be practical for you. (I keep some water, packs of tuna & crackers fruit salad and microwavable rice in there, and have some frozen meals in the freezer.) I also snuck in a few cans of pasta, soup and some water under the counter. I don't want to look like I'm stocking for aramageddon so I don't keep more than a few days worth of food in the kitchen.

We've always got lots of fixings for coffee, tea and hot chocolate in there and we do a pot luck lunch every month so there's always extras floating around as well.

Anything left in the kitchen is going to get et. The only exception would be labelled things in the 'fridge, which have to be cleaned out every week. Thankfully I'm not in the office enough to keep anything in there.

We have plenty of food and hot-drink-makings at all times. Our kitchen's weaknesses are an electric stovetop and no stored water.

An FSR in my drawer will take care of any reasonable food requirement for a day, and could easily be stretched to two or three days if I keep activity to a minimum. That's without hitting the multitude of snack bars and pogey bait stocked in the kitchen.

One word of warning about relying on the corporate kitchen or the bathroom supplies. Just because it's generally available today, doesn't mean it will be tomorrow, especially in an emergency if you've got coworkers to compete for resources. Keep on eye on it and restock if you can/need to or let the powers that be know that it's time.

An excellent point. Our office manager has done a great job of keeping up with demand in recent months, but I really don't know how it will go with the new building and bathroom supplies.

a pretty slick and simple water storage idea is to just use a 5gal water cooler refill bottle from a Sams/Costco even if you don't have the cooler...usually around $6 + a $6 deposit which is cheaper than some of the blue water cans alone...easily sets on the floor, readily identifiable... more better with a pump.. several used by friends during hurricane season...

chaosmagnet.. the Esbit, trioxane bar Tommy cooker stoves are cleaner burning than the paraffin stoves (less soot) but don't give off the light..

That might work well for me at home but is definitely too bulky for the office.



One of the Esbit emergency stoves might be just the trick. I'm wondering whether my 3-wick emergency candle might not be used to heat drinks though.

This here is the candle I'd use: http://www.countycomm.com/candle.html . Pity it's discontinued. I'd be using a metal cup and expecting "warm" or possibly "hot" but not boiling.

Last winter I played around with boiling water atop a Candlelier - using a titanium cup. Took about 20 minutes, as I recall. Will see if I can find my posts on that.

Found my boiling-water-atop-a-Candelier experiment results - in a "Creating Heat Inside A Stuck Vehicle" thread from late-2010. Here it is:


I was curious how quickly water would heat up on top of a "Candlelier" (3-candle candle lantern) so I put a cup of water in a Snow Peak titanium cup and placed it on top of a Candlelier.

Within 10 minutes the one cup of water was warm. Within 20 minutes the water was cocoa-toasty. After 40 minutes the water was not boiling but it was painful to dip a finger in and tiny bubbles were forming on the bottom of the cup -- plenty hot enough for mixing with Mountain House freeze-dried meals.

With these candles still burning I emptied out the water, cooled the cup and started over with 2 cups of water. This time I put the pot set's "frying pan" over the cup as a lid. The time-line is about the same -- cocoa-toasty after 20 minutes, Mt. House-ready in 40 minutes (water not quite boiling but bubbles forming). Around 50 minutes it was boiling.

I've been carrying a single-candle candle lantern but this makes me think the 3-candle is worth carrying in the car. For this experiment I used the standard 9-hour UCO candles that come in packages of three ($3) and that are nearly burned out.

Candlelier (these are $29 at Campmor)
http://www.rei.com/product/624320

REI and Campmor also carry a Beeswax version of the candles that last 12-15 hours. They are three times as expensive ($10 for three) but in addition to lasting significantly longer, they generate less smoke. Seems worthwhile for a stranded car situation. Light + heat in one package that you can use inside the vehicle.

Beeswax UCO candles
http://www.rei.com/product/737330

I just ordered three packs of the Beeswax candles, from Amazon, for $9.84 each and free shipping with the Prime membership. Should receive them in two days and they'll be going in the car along with a Candlelier that's been sitting in a box. I went Candlelier-crazy in the 90s after a power outage.

Fortunately, camp gear lasts if stored well and sometimes sees much more use later on in a different application. I'd bought them for ambience.

The titanium cookset I'm using:
http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/41366?feat=506856-GN2

My problem with candles is that invariably they get hot and melt down into shapeless, hard to use blobs. Too bad, because I really like candle lanterns - great illumination around camp. Of course, car interiors get pretty hot in Arizona in the summer, and just about as hot in California....

My in car stove is a Trangia cook set. I can get water boiling in about four minutes.

tea candles in an Altoids tin or a 3 wick monolithic paraffin cast in something like a shoe polish tin would solve most of the melting and extinguishing problem...the Altoids would have the advantage of a reflector ... cut a chunk off a block of paraffin and refuel...

a Gerber baby food jar makes a good mini hurricane lamp... wick and approx 1/2 filled

of course it's hard to beat a can of Sterno and a small triangular wind screen pot stand

I've decided to stick with the three-wick candle. With all the tools and materials we have in the office I'd be embarrassed if I couldn't build a stand for it pretty quickly. I did pick up a Sierra Cup to put in my office BIB.

In my line of work, I don't even have a desk. I can keep some stuff in a refrigerator but that's it.

Jeanette Isabelle

Fortunately I work in a food distribution center. Unfortunately it's all electric. If by some freak set of circumstances we have to overnight it and power is unaffected, we're good.

Jeanette Isabelle

Do you have any real estate on your desk top, Chaos? I've got a pen/pencil holder on mine that's wrapped with duct tape. (Red rather than silver so a little camoflauged.) I keep a drinking straw, letter opener (a.k.a pry bar), a couple of pencils (a.k.a fire tinder), keychain LED, mini bic, little tube of advil, etc. in there. It takes up very little (about 3 inches wide and 6 inches high) space but is a good little resource pot.

A full SS water bottle and a little LED lantern are hiding behind my monitor, along with a little mason jar candle that decoys as an air freshener.

I realize I'm thinking outside the drawer, so my apologies for going off-topic.

I don't view this as off-topic.

Anything I keep on my desk is subject to being "borrowed" by coworkers. Almost without exception they are good-hearted people would would really mean to bring stuff back.

I could grab a straw or three easily enough for a "regular" drawer. I've never seen a letter opener that was worth much as a pry bar (maybe you have a better one) but I'm going to start experimenting with small and light pry bars in my laptop bag. We have a ton of pencils here; I could grab a couple and stick it in my top drawer. I'm set for flashlights. My laptop bag FAK and the big FAK in our kitchen both have Advil. Being male, having a candle on my desk could cause me some problems in our office culture . My water bottle stays with me.

Over the weekend one of my daughters had an event in the city, and I took the opportunity to bring in the bulk of the gear rather than doing it a bit at a time on the train.

Letter opener

Great idea!! I just threw one of those in my pen holder.

Heavy duty "letter openers" make much better pry-bars than do knives.

Great idea - it only needs a little cosmetic adjustment to blend more into the typical office environment... (but who says you can't chuck some of those into your office drawer...)

Choas, I just read his thread and, even though I think it's all been mentioned, I thought it might give you some ideas:

http://preparednessjunky.blogspot.com/2011/11/its-moving-day.html

I took my own advice and picked up one of those letter openers at H*Depot -- that 3/8" tip made a real mess of the envelope. The 6" with 5/16" tip is plenty for opening letters

Good blog. It looks like PJ has a bit more room and is thinking longer-term than I am. What I've ended up with gives me perhaps three days' worth of food and water at minimal exertion without relying on anything outside of my desk, along with clothes and toiletries to be clean and comfortable.

I went a bit heavier on food than my threat model called for, so that I would have some slack for snacking :-).

Sounds like you're in great shape then. More is better especially when you're not talking about hauling it on your back. Well done!

I have some stuff in my desk at work. The only food is some cans of sardines.

Is getting stuck at work a possibility IlBob? How confortable will you be if it happens?