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. frown 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!
_________________________
Mom & Adventurer

You can find me on YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT9fpZEy5XSWkYy7sgz-mSA