The concept of being ready to bug out didn’t originate with preppers; but it is an integral part of the prepping movement.
Since we preppers believe in the old Boy Scout motto of “be prepared,” we know that it’s impossible to tell in advance whether a coming disaster will require bugging in or bugging out. While our default is usually to bug in, simple prudence dictates that we have a bug out plan ready.
Besides knowing where we’re going to go when we bug out and how we’re going to get there, the other really important thing is to have our bags packed, ready to go… in other words, have a bug out bag.
The idea behind the bug out bag is there to provide us with everything we’ll need to have, in order to survive, as we make our way from our home to our survival retreat.
It’s not a permanent solution, allowing us to survive forever, as a properly prepared survival retreat should have the survival gear and supplies that we need. This is an important distinction, as some people go overboard in trying to make their bug out bag a survival kit for any possible scenario.
To make any bug out bag, it is essential that we consider the specific bug out plan that the bag needs to be prepared for. Someone bugging out from the center of a major metropolitan area, on foot, whose destination is the suburbs, is going to have somewhat different needs than someone who is bugging out from those suburbs to the wild.
Related: How To Cook Steak On A Stone In The Wilderness
Another important consideration is weather, as bugging out in the summertime, in a hot climate, is different than bugging out in the cold of winter.
Regardless of the specific bug out conditions, the bug out bag must provide for the basic survival needs. That means it contains gear and supplies in order to:
- Help protect from adverse weather, especially cold and rain
- Have clean water to drink
- Have food to eat
- Be able to start a fire
- A couple of tools will make shelter in the wild easier
Many preppers spend hundreds of dollars to try and meet those basic needs; but in reality, that’s not necessary. One of the reasons for that high bug out bag cost, is the idea of making a bug out bag that will work for any survival situation.
If we don’t do that, we can get everything we need for $100 or less, especially if we shop at everyone’s favorite bargain store, Walmart. This $100 price tag is also going to necessitate leaving some things out, which other lists will include; but we’re creating a list that gives us just what we need, not everything we might want.
Start With The Pack
Before doing much in the way of building a bug out bag, our first concern is having something to carry everything in. That either means a small backpack or a duffel bag.
Walmart has plenty of either, which can be found either in sporting goods or luggage.
- Outdoor Products Packable 14.9 liter Backpack, blue for $8.77
- Ozark trail Adult 10 liter backpacking daypack, red for $5.97
- Protégé Rip-stop 18 inch duffel, blue and white for $8.98
Weather Protection
Protecting ourselves from the weather mostly means protecting ourselves from cold and rain. Cold is its own problem, but rain will make it so that our body loses heat faster.
Related: 5 Survival Shelters Every Prepper Should Know
This makes the combination of cold and rain worse. Adding wind into the mix gives us about the worst possibility we can have; so, whatever we use for weather protection, to maintain our body’s core temperature, must be airtight as well.
The standard survival solution for this is aluminized mylar rescue or emergency blankets. These are readily available from a wide variety of sources, including Walmart. You can buy them singly or in packages. I like the 4-pack, which comes at the price of $5.99. The extra blankets might come in handy and a single one is almost as expensive.
If you want to be able to convert one of those emergency blankets into a shelter, such as making a lean-to out of it or even using it as a rain fly, you’ll need some cordage. Walmart sells Hyper Tough 500 Utility Paracord in a 50-foot package for $4.84.
The other important thing to have, to protect you from the weather, is a rain poncho. Go for something lightweight, as the overall weight of your bug out bag is important.
The cheapest I found at Walmart was more or less disposable and sold for $1.42, but I’d go for something a bit better, along the lines of the Ozark Trail ¾ sleeve raincoat, which sells for $4.97.
Clean Water
In a survival situation, you have to take any water as being suspect, even if it looks clear. Bacteria won’t necessarily cloud water and those are the biggest risk any of us face, as they can cause dysentery.
A simple straw-type water filter will solve that problem, removing 99.99% of all bacteria and making the water safe to drink. The industry standard for a survival water filter is the Lifestraw.
A number of different companies are producing the same thing for a few dollars less than the Lifestraw sells for; sometimes adding other features. I found one at Walmart made by AoHao, which is rated for 1500 liters as well as being able to be screwed onto a standard water bottle and having a cap with a built-in compass. It sells for $10.01.
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The only other thing I’d add to this is a couple of half-liter bottles of water. I’m not going to put them down as an item to buy at Walmart, simply because almost everyone has some at home.
Why buy extra bottles, when you already have some? But fi you insist, you can buy a 12-pack of Ozarka water for $3.38.
Starting A Fire
The single most important survival skill is fire starting. We can use fire to help keep us warm, to purify water (by boiling it), to provide us with light, to comfort us and even to help protect us from wild animals. Most places in the wild have an abundance of fuel to use, we need only have a way of igniting that fuel.
The most common fire starters in existence are matches and butane lighters. There are many other means of starting a fire, some of which are quite popular within the prepping and survival community.
But if you have matches and lighters, you don’t need anything else.
- A box of 25 UCO Stormproof Matches are available at Walmart for $3.97
- You can pick up a Bic disposable lighter, which should be able to light roughly 1,000 fires, for $1.56
The only problem with just having matches and a lighter is that they may not work well with damp firewood, tinder and kindling. In that case, I’d recommend making “fire starters” out of cotton balls and petroleum jelly.
To make them, scoop up about a teaspoon of petroleum jelly with the back side of a spoon. Then use the same back side of the spoon to work that jelly into the cotton ball, in a small bowl. Once completed, store in an airtight container until needed. One cotton ball should burn for over three minutes, giving you enough time to get the wood burning.
- A small container of Walmart generic petroleum jelly is $1.00
- A small bag of cotton balls is $0.96
Survival Tools
It is easy to go crazy on buying survival tools, making that the most expensive part of the bug out bag. But if we’re going to keep our costs down, we can’t really afford to go overboard on tools.
In most cases you won’t need them anyway, unless you’re a highly skilled survivalist and planning on doing things like building your own shelter. For the rest of us, a few basic tools will do.
The first and most important one of these is a good knife. By “good,” I’m basically referring to a sheathe knife with a full tang. You can spend a lot of money on these, but I noticed a couple of decent ones in the hunting and firearms area for $9.95. Personally, I would spend more; but that’s impossible on our $100 budget.
Related: How To Correctly Choose Your Survival Knife
In addition to the knife, the most useful survival tool is a saw of some sort. This would be used for cutting branches to make a shelter, cutting down wood for the fire and maybe even making a walking stick.
The old standby for survival is a wire saw, which can be found in the camping section of Walmart for $4.47. That’s actually a fairly nice one, with cloth strap handles.
But if you want something that’s going to be easier to use, I’d recommend a folding pruning saw. Not only will it cut faster, but it will be easier on your hands. I saw several, including a model by Jetcloudlive, that was 150mm long and sold for $7.99, not a whole lot more than the wire saw.
Finally, I’d add a tactical LED flashlight to your tool kit. These have taken over from the old 2-cell standby flashlight. Not only are they brighter; but there isn’t a bulb to break. There are many models and the same models might be found marketed under different brands.
You can literally pay just about any price you can imagine, up to more than $100 for some of these. But the one I pick for an emergency light is the A50, sold under the Letmy brand. I actually have a number of these, mounted in closets and cabinets in every room of my house, in case of emergency. Part of the reason for that is that they are very budget friendly. You can buy a pack of two for $5.99.
Food To Eat
I have purposely left food as the last thing on this list, mostly because we’re going to spend whatever is left of our original $100 on food. As of this point, we’ve spent $56.05, leaving us with $43.95 for food.
As far as I’m concerned, there’s no such thing as too much food in a bug out bag.
Most people say “three days,” probably because that’s what FEMA recommends; but I like to have at least five days of food in mine. How many days you ultimately have will depend a lot on how well you want to eat.
⇒ How To Get 295 Pounds Of Extra Food For Just $5 A Week
As we’re mostly concerned with having the energy to get from our homes to our survival retreat, I’m going to concentrate on high-carbohydrate foods which will give us energy. We’ll have to forego the steaks and trimmings until we get there.
In addition to food, we’re going to need some way to cook. The standard survival solution for that is to use aluminum foil. You can form aluminum foil into pots and pans for cooking and if you’re careful with it, you can even reuse it. A 25 sq. ft. roll of Walmart’s Great Value aluminum foil costs $1.42.
As for the food itself, I’d suggest picking an assortment of the following items:
- Ramen – pure carbohydrates, but lots of energy
- Rice-a-Roni – a nice break from the Ramen, still providing those carbs.
- Mac & Cheese – good comfort good, which will also provide plenty of energy
- Granola bars – low-cost granola bars will provide plenty of energy, good taste and can be eaten while you’re walking – take along more than one kind, for variety
- Raisins – dried fruit is a great energy source, albeit a bit expensive. But raisins provide the same energy, at a much lower cost
- Canned meat, in pouches – You’ll probably want some meat. I’d recommend finding what you can that is in foil pouches or plastic “cans,” rather than in cans, just to save weight. You can get tuna, chicken, potted meat, corned beef, spam and chili packed in this manner; most under $2. For budgetary reasons, you’re going to have to limit your meat to one meal a day.
- Instant coffee – you’ll need it
- Salt, pepper and sugar – for flavoring
Keep in mind that the main reason you’re eating is to give you energy. We’ve made eating a recreational pastime in modern society; but if you’re bugging out, you won’t be able to eat that way. A diet of 1,200 to 1,500 calories a day should be sufficient.
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Why people bug out is beyond me. This plan doesn’t work due to the lack of water.
I have a water filter and extra ceramic filters that is the size of a can of Pringles. that will filter 25,000 gallons of water so yea, bugging out will work if you have the essentials.
Do you have a backup water plan when all your water filters can not get replacement filters?
Actually, he does say to add a couple of half liter bottles of water – just before the “starting a fire”. The reason I have a BOB is if we need to leave our home due to wildfire, hazmat spill, etc. It makes sense to me to have some supplies handy if we need to leave home unexpectedly.
How about calling it a Get Home Bag or Emergency Evacuation Bag. Long term survival is best staying at home that’s in a rural setting. But, what if a storm hits and a hurricane or tornado hits your home? When I lived in tornado alley not only did I have “bug out” bags ready to go into the basement or a emergency shelter, in that basement i hsd tools to help “dig” our way out if necessary.
Those are all three very different packing lists. It all varies based on where and how quickly you’re trying to get to. It all starts with a plan!
Bugout bags or BOB are a modern phenomena of survival. The military has used these for decades. These are temporary use ‘In Country’ as they have backup resupply to compensate.
In a real, SHTF – a tired overused word, we won’t have any resupply for the bugout bags.
If traveling between survival communities it maybe pay dirt or hazardous going. To barter for resupply as we go to our bugout locations.
We can get ambushed on the way. What type of plan do we have for that?
Do we go back or forward? Do we have the mindset and skills to be able to survive? Even deep cover agents and Spec Ops have a limit to surviving in the wild.
Many preppers here quote “Alone” as examples of surviving in the wilderness. They have a breaking point. How long do we think we will be in that bugout situation?
Eventually our equipment breaks, clothing tears, rips. Bugout concept should be a last resort and treated as temporary.
It depends on our point of view what we think bug-out/in really means.
Some think the bugout retreat will be like “Little House on the Prairie.”
For those with military background that will be a different outlook.
Those just starting out will have a high learning curve if SHTF sooner than later.
Survival, bugout, bugin will depend on our life experiences. Some think they will carry survival books with them. Some think books loaded on a smartphone will work. Electronics does not fare well in wet conditions.
How much stuff do we think we can carry for 4-seasons if necessary in the wild?
Right now we can dream about bugging out. What season will we be in when SHTF happens?
Are preppers prepared to live out winter in a Wally World China made tent? A canvass tent is great but very heavy for one person plus the bugout stuff. It takes time to build up a base camp to get to the final destination. You may have competition illegals, homeless and ill-prepared newbies. Willing to share your preps?
Same here the 19 years I lived back there in tornado territory as a long haul trucker…I also kept a bug out bag behind the front door of my house and another at the back door …just incase I was home when the tornado hit… got lucky never had to use them ….
If you lived in a place prone to natural disasters, you would definitely want to be prepared to bug out. When the flames are heading your way, you need to be on your way, not trying to hunker down. Same with flood waters. Bugging in is not an option. If you don’t believe me, look at Lahaina, Hawaii today, Paradise, Calif a few years ago. There are lots of other examples.
Ideally, you should already be living someplace strategically “safe,” but fire doesn’t care. It goes where it wants and where the conditions allow or encourage it to go.
I remember paradise all to well…a bit to close to home for confert….I now live back in oregon but already we have lost 48 homes and same number of out buildings this month alone from a wild forest fire on bly mtn…man caused …..
Total timber country …..last three years between here and Yreka…lake Shasta…chiliquin …bananza…little Shasta…weed ….siead….happy camp…and others in that area …all big timber locations .. loss of lots of homes and lives because people stayed put or got trapped on their way out
That is only true in desert climates. There are a number of ways you can get water to replenish your supplies.
That being said, the article does not cover this subject well.
You have three main requirements that determine survival. Core temperature control, Fuel (calories from food), Hydration (Water). The weight (of the pack) directly impacts how fast you’ll be traveling.
The more weight the less you can travel and the upper cutoff on weight is usually between 25-35 Ibs in total. This is what you don’t learn if you’ve only done commuter based-camping.
If you are serious about hitting the road in an event of life threatening proportions, why not have a GOOD bag? Get Out Of Dodge bag. See ya, I wouldn’t want to be ya! Remove yourself as far from the threat as is reasonable. In every vehicle responsible people have items that are considered EDC. (Every day carry) If rule number one is to be prepared and never get excited, rule number two needs to be “Obey rule number One”. If you worry about “stuff” you obviously have no affinity towards self preservation. When you need to flee, do it.
On a side not, since A. I. google and all the alphabet agencies record every key stroke in sites such as this, consider what they already know about you. Get in the habit of ditching your phone for a week or two.. leave it at home like it’s the old wall model from ma Bell. Turn your internet off randomly for days at a time. Literally unplug like it’s a game. Turn your BT off in your car if your unfortunate enough to have a car with a computer in it. We should all take a hint from a lot of the older generations….. G. O. S. go old school!
Yeah bugout is a last resort. In Biden’s economy most of us, seniors and the working stiff don;t have the money anymore. With the illegals and Mexican drug cartels operating on USA soil. We might, probably will encounter these unknown,. single, family and groups of unknown force factors.
The bugout pipe dream in today’s context is not the same concept we thought about before the great COVID reset. We got Biden’s midnight military/civilian plane flights to all corners of the American nation.
These are squatters sucking off taxpayer’s welfare taxes. On our fading American economy of the paper petro dollar.
Foreign country’s digital currency will takeover our once gold backed dollar.
We think bugout will be the answer, probably not.
There will be more obstacles to encounter as the homeless, illegals, Chinese CCP, foreign – prisoners, mental patients. And don’t forget Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for claiming the southern border of the US is “secure,” calling it a “lie” as the nation is shattered.
We got Foreign and Domestic terrorist cells roaming the backcountry. It is not the same America we knew since Trump left office.
Rich M. Thanks for this. It is the best description of what goes into a bug out bag I have read. And it directly addresses where to get the things plus the extra recommendation about the saw.
I hope I don’t ever have to ‘bug out’ but the weather has been so crazy lately that even living a rural area is not protection. Look at the fires in Maui. Who would have thought that would happen? It is always good to be prepared.
Look at California, they use to have conservation corp crews do brush cutting. Before the Summer fires which other States have also slacked in. Environmentalist restrict travel in the backcountry to civilians.
They have reservoirs that are drained to protect the endangered species. Some of the drought there is man made.
A follow up by some critics is the brush has overgrown there too. Weather conditions didn’t help, with cyclic dry weather patterns.
Modern first world things, like homeless fires, environmental groups, illegal encampments along with drug growers and plain mean arsonist are in the mix.
Weather modification – Wikipedia
We also have climate weather technology that is under the radar the can be used to manipulate weather around the world by agencies.
What you left out is :
Interpretor to understand the invaders , foriegners , UN , WHO who will occupy and control you
Then the NITE vision Googles for seeing who is roaming the nite
Then Good binocklers for vision
Great Cameflauge covers and stuff to help shelter , hide and protect you
Great Rubber blankets for cover
If you are out in about you will have to hide, cover , conciel
you wont be able to trust anyone
Gun , with silencer s , like an ravenging animal you will be hunted for goods as the bible says
the animals will eat people for food , and all will eat what ever for food
Good survival skills , so practice up , get ready and learn the how to , why, what s
Martial arts for self defense so you will know how to defend, deflect , protect your loved ones
just a few for all you who choose this , and dont want the real peace and safety of the rapture
like one comment said , this is a personnal thing , and YOU will choose your own destiny
Dont blame , you choose your own way and consequence of .
Victim of the evil left behind , Choice , YOU decide which way to go
Hide like an animal or believe, trust , obey the call of Jesus Christ for salvation John 14:6
God is Extremely loving , and Just , he send s no one to hell , they choose it thru disobedience , selfish will , and selfish lust and passion
If you want truth , seek it out , ask for it , like your digging for gold , precious stones, jewells and rubies , look like your intent is to truly see truth , not religeon , not clubs , not acceptance , not love of mankind and following the preachers of money
The military has extreme countermeasures to seek out the resistance day or night. Good thing most police agencies don’t have the budget for that type of technology. We civilians will need to be sneakier.
Most people will need to dump their smartphones and other trackable electronics.
Maybe take that microchip out of your pet too.
People will always leave heat signatures with the material currently available. We don’t have those restricted countermeasures for the average civilian, high costs.
With all said here, how many posters have real world experience? Such as more than 2weeks of national park camping. Or military experience of outdoors. Most may have been to a hiking trail for a couple hours.
Anyone dare try to walk with a BOB of the estimated things needed?
Think we can lug that for 5 to 20 mile hike in our present physical, mental conditions?
If a family how long or far will you go with young or disabled members?
These are some things to really figure out. Will we abandoned the weak if conditions get rough to extreme?
Bug in or out?
EXCLUSIVE – 65 Afghan terrorists were let into the U.S. after Biden’s chaotic withdrawal: Prisoner freed by the Taliban and men who planted IEDs got through dire vetting processes.
To be clear, this is just a suggested place to start. Those of us who have been prepping for a long time can easily find fault or issues with the items selected. This is meant to be an economical starting point for someone that has not given much thought as to what will be needed if they have to vacate their primary residence for a safer location. As long-time preppers, we have pretty much planned and taken into consideration all of the different scenarios and possible pitfalls to be encountered along the way. We have found a lot of lightweight, useful items to include in our BOB’s over time and continue to do so today. There are many resources to use to build on your BOB inventory. As an example, a plumber’s candle is .69 cents, small and will give you light for 6-8 hours burn time. A multitude of inexpensive first aid and pharmacy supplies are available at discount stores. A $1.25 plastic drop cloth is light weight, compact and can be used as a ground cloth, shelter or a raincoat. Be sure to include small denominations of cash and coin, a P-38 can opener, a change of socks and underwear. As they build their BOB, they will continue to find light weight, useful and needed items to add to their collection. Even today as longtime preppers, we continue to find better items and products to add to or upgrade our Bug Out and Get Home Bags. It seems to be a never-ending cycle and we try to have items that serve dual purposes to help reduce the volume of items needed to bug out. The list is long and continues to change. As they say, “the only thing that is constant is change”.
I have a bugout bag made for a temporary situation with water, lifestraws, some dehydrated foods, cash, a first aid kit, and a couple of long range walkie talkies, but it seems silly to think anyone can live long term this way. You’re better off just making sure you know how and what to do in a number of bad situations. Know how to find water, know how to forage, know how to build a fire with no tools, know how to trap, kill, skin and cook small animals, know how to catch a fish without a pole. If being self-reliant is the goal then stop relying on all of these gadgets that you have to drag around with you.
The ABSOLUTE most critical thing in a “bug-out/bug-in situation is MINDSET. Forget all the fairytale rainbows and unicorns bullshit. It will not be casual pleasant little walk in the neighborhood or stroll through the woods. YOU WILL NOT BE THE ONLY ONE. If something is coming from the west, everybody will be heading east, right along with you. If they don’t have something and you do. What are the chances of them saying ooh ok, have a good day, and going on their way? You can share till you have no more to spare. THEN WHAT? They will be thinking about themselves, NOT about you. You have something and they don’t, so that makes you a target of opportunity. This is where MINDSET comes in. If you can’t do WHATEVER it takes, no matter what, to protect you and yours. I say, just stay at home. You can not THINK you will do what it takes. You have to KNOW it, all the way down in your bones, that you can and WILL do what it takes.
This is my honest opinion. Some will agree and some won’t. So be it.
L.W.McQueary .aka. oldtroll57 at g mail dot com
Not the ideal situation, but at 73 years old, and living on the outskirts of a big city, located in the deserts of the Southwest … to me, bug out is a great idea … but factoring in my age … not very likely. My block constructed home, will be my final stand. I am securing water, I have about a year of survival food, plus a couple months of canned goods, and dried goods. It is a concrete block home, with all outside windows covered … a reinforced entry door, and protection in almost every room. I have back up medication for a few months, and with a pool in the backyard, low dose chlorine treated pool water. Living in the low deserts, water is the biggest issue … and save for a few lakes, water sources are hard to come by if you actually bug out.
I decided to do a little research on this and there is a way to save more. Instead of using Walmart for everything I matched prices up with Temu. I know that it comes from China, but all the other stuff from Walmart is too. You just cut out the middle man. *I could not find these items for the price the article said(probably where I live). Here is a breakdown:
Item description Walmart Temu
Emergency blanket 4 pack 5.99 3 pack 4.04
Paracord 50′ 4.84 100′ 2.17
Rain poncho 1 disposable 1.42 10 pk reusable 3.95
Straw water filter (exact match) 10.01 7.64
Full tang knife w/sheath 13.95* Bowie w/sheath 8.09
Wire saw cloth handles 4.47 actual handles 1.96
Folding pruning saw 7.99 5.39
Tactical LED flashlight 2 pack 6.97* 6.29
Total 55.64 39.53
SAVINGS: 16.11
Everything else on the list was cheaper at Walmart or did not exist on Temu. I have found great deals from first aid and dental supplies to **micro fiber striped dish cloth coral velvet**. This would be the Charmin on cloth wipes. We have found the equivalent to Northern and Members Mark also.
I am kinda advertising for Temu.com because if somebody uses leadhillfroggy as a reference we both get a discount. One major Thing!! You will get a Huge discount and things will really be priced low for a new user you won’t get some of those deals later. Also, some items will have a really low price (like 19 cents) and they have a limit to how many you can buy. I have usually found other vendors with the same price for the same day. They always have a bunch of good deals but I check with Walmart, Amazon,Costco, and other sites to make sure I got the best deal.
Most people will need to dump just about everything they own because RFID is embedded in nearly every consumer product and it can easily be turned into a radio beacon.
People have come up with interesting ways of repurposing materials like those emergency blankets for non-permissive environments.