If you’re new to Judy.co, we’ll walk you through some of the most important items to put in your bug out bag. If you are unfamiliar with emergency preparedness kits and bug out bags, have no fear. We will get you up to speed on the benefits of having a bug out bag, as well as the different situations that emergency preparedness gear can help you navigate.
What Is A Bug Out Bag?
If you have recently been diving into the world of emergency preparedness, you may have read about or heard about bug out bags. These carefully crafted emergency kits are designed to keep you and your family stocked up on 72 hours’ worth of survival supplies for use in a crisis. A bug out bag typically contains first aid supplies, food, water, wearable items for staying warm and dry, and more.
Why You Should Own A Bug Out Bag
Bug out bags give you all of the resources you need to survive for up to 72 hours if your access to power, food, and other necessities is cut off. This may be a circumstance that is hard to imagine, but there are plenty of crisis situations that can leave you without the ability to meet your basic needs.
In the event of a natural disaster or another type of emergency, you may find yourself unable to get to a grocery store, turn on the lights or the heat in your home, or get outside medical help. In these situations, you need to be able to stay afloat even in the midst of dire circumstances.
Owning a bug out bag can help you maintain your peace of mind when things go downhill. Even when you are in the midst of an emergency, you can have a clearer head and greater confidence knowing that you have supplies handy that can help you get through and protect the people you love. When you are underprepared in an emergency, it is easy to get overwhelmed and flounder in the midst of the chaos. When you have a bug out bag, you can quickly access items that can be a huge help.
What Your Bug Out Bag Needs: Medical Supplies
There are plenty of circumstances in daily life where a first aid kit can come in handy. When you have basic medical supplies on hand in your home, dealing with cuts, scrapes, burns, and bruises is much easier and less stressful.
You don’t need to be a doctor to do a great job of patching up a minor injury. In many circumstances, you can pull out a simple combination of items from your first aid kit and address a situation that would otherwise become an emergency with ease.
A basic first aid kit should be able to help you deal with any minor injuries that can occur in your home on a daily basis. In a major emergency, having your first aid kit handy is an absolute must. If someone gets hurt and you do not have access to professional medical help, it is up to you to care for the injured person using your knowledge of first aid and the medical supplies that you have.
Speaking of first aid knowledge, you will never regret going the extra mile to familiarize yourself with the basics of treating wounds at home. You can gain more first aid experience by taking an online course or simply consulting a friend or family member who has already mastered the use of the items in your first aid kit.
What Your Bug Out Bag Needs: Non-Perishable Food And Water
No survival kit is complete without reliable sources of food and water to keep you going when your access to the refrigerator or the grocery store is cut off. If an emergency leaves you without electricity, the food in your fridge will quickly go bad and be unsafe to eat.
In these circumstances, you can sometimes rely on non-perishable foods in your pantry like canned goods, nuts, jerky and similar items. However, if you are unprepared for an emergency and do not have any non-perishable foods to turn to, you will be much worse off.
Because you cannot always count on the non-perishable food sources in your home, it is always a good move to keep something extremely reliable stocked in your bug out bag that is ready to eat whenever you need it.
The ideal source of emergency food is something that will not go bad for years and can provide you with a significant amount of nutrition and calories. That's why we chose energy bars as our number one pick for bug out bag food. These bars are high in calories and macronutrients, highly portable, and last a long time without needing to be replaced due to expiration.
What Your Bug Out Bag Needs: Wearable Items For Staying Warm And Dry
No bug out bag is complete without the resources you need to keep warm and dry when an emergency leaves you exposed to the elements. Since bug out bags are primarily designed to sustain you and your family for 72 hours without access to any other resources, one of the most important sets of items to include in yours is anything you would need for protection from cold and weather. If you do not have the ability to get to warm, dry clothes or blankets, you will need something easily packable and readily accessible to use instead.
Some of the most important wearable items to include in your bug out bag are emergency blankets, hand warmers, work gloves, and ponchos. Each of these items serves a specific and unique purpose among the other supplies in your bag and is small, easy to use, and lightweight. These attributes make each of these items ideal as last resort sources of protection from cold and weather.
Ponchos provide quick protection from bad weather when you do not have a full-sized raincoat with you. In situations when you need to quickly evacuate your home and only have time to grab your bug out bag and nothing else, ponchos can make a major difference in your ability to ride out a crisis well. When packaged, ponchos are extremely compact and can be stored in your bug out bag without taking up much space. Everyone in your family should have a poncho ready for use in your bug out bag.
Work gloves can keep your hands warm in an emergency, but they can also be used to handle dangerous materials and protect your hands from getting injured. A pair of work gloves is small and lightweight enough to easily store in your bug out bag for use in emergencies. Put your work gloves on whenever you need to handle something hot, sharp, or otherwise potentially harmful to you or others. For situations where you just need to keep your hands warm, packaged hand warmers are a perfect solution that can last hours.
Emergency blankets are another must-have resource for your bug out bag. These simple sheets of heat-reflecting foil can be used to help you retain your body heat when you are exposed to biting cold. Exposure to the elements as a result of an emergency can leave you and your family uncomfortable and discouraged, but if you have protective, warmth-preserving resources handy, you will be much better off.
What Your Bug Out Bag Needs: Portable Means Of Staying Clean And Healthy
When you are in an emergency, you often do not have quick access to everyday conveniences that help you and your family stay safe from germs. A crisis can cut off your access to soap and running water, meaning you need a backup method of sanitizing your hands.
Hand sanitizer and wet wipes are two ideal items to store in your bug out bag to keep hands clean when soap and water are not available. These items are small and reliable and can help to protect you and your family from disease-causing germs.
In addition to hand sanitizer and wet wipes, it is wise to pack protective face masks in your bug out bag. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, masks are one of the most effective means of preventing the transmission of germs from person to person. If your family is forced to evacuate your home, masks can help keep you safe from getting sick if you need to stay in a public shelter or are otherwise coming into contact with strangers.
Sources:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/about-face-coverings.html
https://www.businessinsider.com/worst-face-masks-for-coronavirus-protection-2020-11
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