Preparedness Kits and Bags - A Few Examples

 Ask my fiancé and she'll confirm, I'm a sucker for a good bag. Tactically designed with lots of pockets and expandability and I'm throwing my money at the cash register. In the preparedness community there are several types of bags, and kits most 'preppers" herald to suit a variety of purposes. In this post I hope to cover and clarify a few of those kits along with their intended purposes from convenience to surviving disasters.

The EDC Bag

EDC = Every Day Carry for those of you not familiar with the parlance. For most of us our EDC kits consist of what we can stuff in our pockets or on our belts (hence why I swear by cargo pants/shorts), but for a few that's not always enough. A small bag for the over-fill is either necessary or comforting to these folks. EDC bags tend to be smaller in size, maybe only a liter or two, and contain knives, a fire making kit,...even a firearm and ammunition, etc... . In my particular life situations, an EDC bag is overboard, but, again, for others it's a suitable solution.

The Day, or Hiking, Pack

A few steps bigger than an EDC bag, a day bag is designed for outings where more resources, such as food or snacks, may be needed. This is the bag I use for hiking. Not only do I drop a bit more food and water in there, but I'll also have a first aid kit, a fire building kit, a heftier knife, rain poncho, and some paracord. The volume of these items will depend on where we're hiking for that day and the weather. Hotter means more water. Farther will mean more food. The other items are "just in case" necessities that would allow me to live off the land should the hike go really bad or we get lost, etc... 

The Vehicle Bag(s) 

I warred with this one for a while. I've seen countless writeups on car kits and most articles seem to trip over whether the bag is designed for automotive repair or survival of the occupants. My solution? Two bags - one for each purpose. 

Vehicle Repair Kit

This bag contains items needed for quick-fixes and maintenance for your car. Items should include (among other things) reflective triangles, flares, a shovel (for snow and dirt), a can of Fix-a-Flat, etc.... I also have a wrench and socket set that includes screw drivers and a hammer and other tools. These types of kits can be found even in local retailers so it's not necessary to build one of these from the ground up, in my humble opinion.

The Car Survival Bag

This one tailors to you and your occupants in the event of an emergency. Extra food, water, a candle and coffee can (warmth and light), first aid kit, a change of seasonal clothes, etc... should all be included in this bag. The contents may rival that of a 72 hour bag and some people into preparedness refer to this particular bag as a Get Home Bag since the contents may have to be robust enough to get you through a hike back to home or at least to safety once other options are exhausted or it becomes too dangerous to stay with the vehicle at some point.

The 72-Hour bag (or...Bug Out Bag (or....BOB))

Everybody into prepping and preparedness knows this one. The bugout bag contains enough food, water, shelter, medical supplies, etc.... for it's pack mule (i.e. you) to survive for 72 hours, on or off grid. The bag should be kept at the ready at home, it's contents checked at least once every six months, and should be employed when it's no longer safe to stay at your home. This the bag that, when it's no longer safe to shelter-in-place, you grab and go with the intention that you will return to your house at some point once the danger is past.

The INCH bag (or the I'm Never Coming Home bag)

I've seen this idea tossed around a bit, but I've not quite been able to wrap my head all the way around it. Supposedly the INCH bag is a BOB on steroids. If you know you're not returning to your place of residence, this is the bag you grab. Sustainability is key, here. Space you would take up with dehydrated meals may now be taken up with equipment for making snares or performing a field dressing on a hunted kill. A smaller hydration pack may be used to make way for a larger water purification system within the pack. The bag itself would be a minimum of 70 liters or larger, and may be an external frame design for long treks. The bag and the load-out would be identical to a through-hike backpacker setting to trail over the course of two months or more.

Final Thoughts

There are endless types of bags and configurations in between these general examples I've listed, but over all this set of bags should cover most catastrophic disruptions (and minor convenience needs) depending on where you are and what you're doing. The first thing to consider when looking at these types of bags, should you decide you want to expand your bag collection, is the intention of the bag and contents, 100%. Once you have the intention, pick the right-size and type of bag, then start stocking the bag from there. As with a 72-hour bag, I think it's critical to regularly review all your bags, their content, and make replacements, restock, or improvements as needed.

Peace.