Dan, traveling on foot with young children is your absolute dead last option. If things have deteriorated that badly, you're in big trouble. If it's part of an actual plan..... start over.

You need to make a list of what kind of problems you are likely to encounter where you live, in the order you think they are likely to happen. Then break them down into whether they are shelter-in-place situations, or bug-out situations.

If you live in a high-crime area, you might choose to leave immediately, if you think there is a reasonable chance of rapid civil breakdown (which, in itself, would be half of a double-whammy).

But, before you buy your first backpack or Rubbermaid tub, you have to know where you're going. Just picking a compass point and running in panic is no plan at all. If you and your wife tend to keep at least half a tank of gas in each of your vehicles, and you have a siphon, you would probably have a full tank for one vehicle. Where can you go with one tank of gas? Can you make arrangements with family or friends?

Start with a small core of what you could take with you if you did have to run. Put it in Rubbermaid tubs and stack them in the front hall closet or something. Everything in them would still be usable in a hunker-down situation.

The basics are always the same, sometimes in a slightly different order of importance: First aid, shelter, fire, water, signalling, food. And don't forget toilet facilities.

First Aid stuff can fit in a box or bag. Bright red is good. Just pack what you know how to use.

Shelter can be a tent, or a good-sized tarp and some rope. A fairly large tarp can be both floor and roof, formed into a triangle.

Fire-making for a family should probably consist of multiple ways to start a fire, and something to burn. A pot with a folding handle, a small stove, fuel, paper plates, mugs and eating utensils, and a large spoon and some kind of knife. A cheap BBQ with extra briquets is better than nothing.

Water is easier to store in various nooks and crannies if it is in one-liter containers or smaller. One or two gallons per person per day. Rain can be caught in your Rubbermaid containers with a smallish plastic tarp or cheap emergency blanket hung on clothesline rope with clothespins.

Signalling can be cell phone with car charger, flares, mirror or any of the fancy PLBs, etc, depending on your budget. Where will you be, and whom will you be signalling?

Food should be what you're used to, esp with kids. Stuff to eat cold, heat and eat, or add water and heat. Include comfort foods.

Toilet facilities can be a plastic bag in a large coffee can, a 5-gallon bucket with a clip-on seat, etc.

A tub with just child necessities and diapers.

Just cover all the basics as you go, and increase each as you can.

The big advantage to having your stuff stacked and ready is that you don't have to take time to look for necessities that are scattered all over the house. Lots of people here in the WA flooding failed to plan ahead, and got out with virtually nothing.

Sue