Toddy mentioned in another thread [https://bushcraftuk.com/community/t...-advice-on-what-is-needed.160483/post-2005716] that it had been some while since there'd been a Bug-Out-Bag discussion on BCUK. So I thought that I'd start one.
My bag, a small Karrimor 35 litre rucksack, weighing in at 5.9 KG (with the static contents as discussed below - obviously a little more with the final grab items), lives in the car all the time. Its purpose is to Get Me Home (GMH) rather than to Bug Out in the conventional sense. Although it will, of course, enable me to "Bug Out" of wherever I am. It is designed to last me 24 hours and to enable me to get home from elsewhere in the UK if I lose automotive capability, e.g. I've parked it in a ditch, massive breakdown, accident, etc. It would also serve to feed, water and comfort-break me should I, for example, be stuck in a queue on a motorway for several hours while the emergency services remove the wreckage/blockage causing the delay and get everyone moving again. Or, as has happened, waiting several hours for the breakdown truck to come and rescue me.
There are Go Bags / Bug Out Bags / Grab Bags, etc. available off-the-shelf from various retailers but I wanted to put my own together so as to tailor it, and to include some gear that I already have and know and trust, but that is perhaps not so often used by me these days.
As to the contents of your GMH Bag this will be heavily dependent on your likely scenarios: if your daily commute is a 15m cycle ride into your place of work, or you have a 75m commute by bus and train, you will likely need a subset of, and a variation of, my inventory. Therefore you should tailor yours accordingly to the scenarios that are likely to occur, and your goal should disruption happen, e.g. heading for a friend's or relative's place rather than home.
I've included some links where appropriate; no affiliation, just the odd starting point for your own researches. And I'm sure that Mr. Google and Mr. YouTube, inter alia, will no doubt help in any further research you wish to undertake.
First Aid Kit (FAK)
I purchased a simple FAK from EVAQ8 [https://evaq8.co.uk/Travel-First-Aid-Kits/travel-first-aid-kit-in-soft-bag.html] and added a few items. (Note that I keep a slightly more comprehensive FAK in the car anyway, but this one below is in the GMH rucksack ready to go. Other stuff is kept in the car as a matter of course too, e.g. some of my hiking gear, clothing, etc.)
Cleaning Wipes x 6
Eye Pad Dressing x 1
Eye Wash Pod, 20ml x 1
Gloves (pair) x 1
Guidance Leaflet x 1
No 8 Medium Dressings x 2
No 9 Large Dressing x 1
Plasters, Waterproof Assorted x 20
Safety Pins x 4
Scissors x 1
Triangular Bandages x 2
To the kit above I added the following items:
Ibuprofen, 400mg x 3
Dioralyte x 2
Diarrhoea Capsules x 6
Razor Blade x 1
Moleskin x 1
Tick Twister x 1
I use Dioralyte as a general rehydration assistant after hard hikes anyway.
Main Kit
This is the remainder of the gear I keep in the rucksack. There is a Last-minute Grab List in the pack for me to grab other stuff that lives in the car as I depart. That is listed below.
Rucksack
Rucksack Liner
Water, 2 x 500ml
Knife/Fork/Spoon (Spoon in Rat Pack)
Food, 2100 calories Ration-x day ration pack (2 main meals, snacks and a pud)
[http://evaq8.co.uk/Survival-Food-Rations.html]
Flameless Ration Heater
Compass
Map, Ordnance Survey 1:250K Tour Map
Sunrise/Sunset Times (also in GPS, and probably available via phone)
First Aid Kit, as discussed above
Whistle
Toilet Paper
Poo Bags, 3 x Bog In A Bag Portable Toilet Bags; one could use dog poo bags
Hand Sanitiser
Multitool
Paracord
Cable Ties/Zip Ties, 4xL, 6xS
Paper & Pencil
Glow Stick/Light Stick, 1 x 8 hr white
Orange Flag
Covid Facemasks x 5 (perhaps not so mandatory now?)
Blizzard 3 Layer Survival Jacket, green
[https://www.blizzardsurvival.com/shop/blizzard-3-layer-survival-jacket/]
Hat/Woolly Hat
Gloves, Silk
Baseball Cap/Sun Hat
Neck Gaiter
Buffalo Gilet
Reflective/Hi Vis Jacket/Gilet
Gloves, Rubber x 4
Blanket, Small
Grab List, Last-minute
The Flameless Ration Heater is so that I can have at least one hot meal. Both the meals in the rat pack are cooked and ready to eat but hot food is a morale booster, and helps significantly if the weather is cold and/or wet. And you can warm your hands while it heats the meal.
The map in the pack is an OS 1:250K of the my most frequented area. I have 3 equivalent maps in the car of my less frequented areas of which I can do a last-minute grab if necessary. Obviously I can, and will, use my hand-held GPS or phone but they require battery power, and signals! Anyway, it's much easier to get an overall picture of the "domain" using a paper map. If necessary I could always tear a few pages out of the car's Road Atlas to help with nav.
Other things to consider including could be
Sit Mat;
Any mandatory meds. that you may need in a 24 hour or so period;
Useful Addresses and Phone Numbers: family / friends / breakdown truck companies / etc.;
Water Filter, Purification Tablets.
Final Grab List
This items on this list are categorised into Mandatory, Nice To Have, and Luxury.
Mandatory
GPS(s), Hand-held
GPS, Spare Batteries
Head Torch
Head Torch, Spare Batteries
Map(s)
Pee Bottle (A 1L wide-mouthed Nalgene bottle, indelibly marked with a P, lives in the car permanently!)
Spectacles
Money
Credit Cards & Debit Cards
PIN Numbers
Keys, Car
Keys, House
Phone(s), Mobile
Phone(s), Chargers for
Nice To Have
Torch
Torch, Spare Batteries
Sunscreen/Sun Block
Trousers, Waterproof
Hiking Pole(s)
Polaroid Spectacles (prescription)
Buffalo Special 6 Mountain Shirt
Luxury
Binoculars
Cagoule, Short or...
Cagoule, Long
Of course I can grab anything else from the car I feel may be useful at the time, e.g. sleeping bag, folding shovel, etc.
Anecdote Time
A few years ago, one morning whilst driving in a remote part of western Canada I came across a vehicle in a bad state a little way off the road. I went over to offer help, with some understandable trepidation, but it seemed that all was (reasonably?) OK and that they had been "rescued" before my arrival. Rather than bale out it appeared that they had sat and waited for some other vehicle to come along as they'd built a fire for warmth, comfort, bear protection, and possibly signalling to the road in the dark. So trying to make one's own way out is perhaps not always the best solution, depending on circumstances. Your call...
My bag, a small Karrimor 35 litre rucksack, weighing in at 5.9 KG (with the static contents as discussed below - obviously a little more with the final grab items), lives in the car all the time. Its purpose is to Get Me Home (GMH) rather than to Bug Out in the conventional sense. Although it will, of course, enable me to "Bug Out" of wherever I am. It is designed to last me 24 hours and to enable me to get home from elsewhere in the UK if I lose automotive capability, e.g. I've parked it in a ditch, massive breakdown, accident, etc. It would also serve to feed, water and comfort-break me should I, for example, be stuck in a queue on a motorway for several hours while the emergency services remove the wreckage/blockage causing the delay and get everyone moving again. Or, as has happened, waiting several hours for the breakdown truck to come and rescue me.
There are Go Bags / Bug Out Bags / Grab Bags, etc. available off-the-shelf from various retailers but I wanted to put my own together so as to tailor it, and to include some gear that I already have and know and trust, but that is perhaps not so often used by me these days.
As to the contents of your GMH Bag this will be heavily dependent on your likely scenarios: if your daily commute is a 15m cycle ride into your place of work, or you have a 75m commute by bus and train, you will likely need a subset of, and a variation of, my inventory. Therefore you should tailor yours accordingly to the scenarios that are likely to occur, and your goal should disruption happen, e.g. heading for a friend's or relative's place rather than home.
I've included some links where appropriate; no affiliation, just the odd starting point for your own researches. And I'm sure that Mr. Google and Mr. YouTube, inter alia, will no doubt help in any further research you wish to undertake.
First Aid Kit (FAK)
I purchased a simple FAK from EVAQ8 [https://evaq8.co.uk/Travel-First-Aid-Kits/travel-first-aid-kit-in-soft-bag.html] and added a few items. (Note that I keep a slightly more comprehensive FAK in the car anyway, but this one below is in the GMH rucksack ready to go. Other stuff is kept in the car as a matter of course too, e.g. some of my hiking gear, clothing, etc.)
Cleaning Wipes x 6
Eye Pad Dressing x 1
Eye Wash Pod, 20ml x 1
Gloves (pair) x 1
Guidance Leaflet x 1
No 8 Medium Dressings x 2
No 9 Large Dressing x 1
Plasters, Waterproof Assorted x 20
Safety Pins x 4
Scissors x 1
Triangular Bandages x 2
To the kit above I added the following items:
Ibuprofen, 400mg x 3
Dioralyte x 2
Diarrhoea Capsules x 6
Razor Blade x 1
Moleskin x 1
Tick Twister x 1
I use Dioralyte as a general rehydration assistant after hard hikes anyway.
Main Kit
This is the remainder of the gear I keep in the rucksack. There is a Last-minute Grab List in the pack for me to grab other stuff that lives in the car as I depart. That is listed below.
Rucksack
Rucksack Liner
Water, 2 x 500ml
Knife/Fork/Spoon (Spoon in Rat Pack)
Food, 2100 calories Ration-x day ration pack (2 main meals, snacks and a pud)
[http://evaq8.co.uk/Survival-Food-Rations.html]
Flameless Ration Heater
Compass
Map, Ordnance Survey 1:250K Tour Map
Sunrise/Sunset Times (also in GPS, and probably available via phone)
First Aid Kit, as discussed above
Whistle
Toilet Paper
Poo Bags, 3 x Bog In A Bag Portable Toilet Bags; one could use dog poo bags
Hand Sanitiser
Multitool
Paracord
Cable Ties/Zip Ties, 4xL, 6xS
Paper & Pencil
Glow Stick/Light Stick, 1 x 8 hr white
Orange Flag
Covid Facemasks x 5 (perhaps not so mandatory now?)
Blizzard 3 Layer Survival Jacket, green
[https://www.blizzardsurvival.com/shop/blizzard-3-layer-survival-jacket/]
Hat/Woolly Hat
Gloves, Silk
Baseball Cap/Sun Hat
Neck Gaiter
Buffalo Gilet
Reflective/Hi Vis Jacket/Gilet
Gloves, Rubber x 4
Blanket, Small
Grab List, Last-minute
The Flameless Ration Heater is so that I can have at least one hot meal. Both the meals in the rat pack are cooked and ready to eat but hot food is a morale booster, and helps significantly if the weather is cold and/or wet. And you can warm your hands while it heats the meal.
The map in the pack is an OS 1:250K of the my most frequented area. I have 3 equivalent maps in the car of my less frequented areas of which I can do a last-minute grab if necessary. Obviously I can, and will, use my hand-held GPS or phone but they require battery power, and signals! Anyway, it's much easier to get an overall picture of the "domain" using a paper map. If necessary I could always tear a few pages out of the car's Road Atlas to help with nav.
Other things to consider including could be
Sit Mat;
Any mandatory meds. that you may need in a 24 hour or so period;
Useful Addresses and Phone Numbers: family / friends / breakdown truck companies / etc.;
Water Filter, Purification Tablets.
Final Grab List
This items on this list are categorised into Mandatory, Nice To Have, and Luxury.
Mandatory
GPS(s), Hand-held
GPS, Spare Batteries
Head Torch
Head Torch, Spare Batteries
Map(s)
Pee Bottle (A 1L wide-mouthed Nalgene bottle, indelibly marked with a P, lives in the car permanently!)
Spectacles
Money
Credit Cards & Debit Cards
PIN Numbers
Keys, Car
Keys, House
Phone(s), Mobile
Phone(s), Chargers for
Nice To Have
Torch
Torch, Spare Batteries
Sunscreen/Sun Block
Trousers, Waterproof
Hiking Pole(s)
Polaroid Spectacles (prescription)
Buffalo Special 6 Mountain Shirt
Luxury
Binoculars
Cagoule, Short or...
Cagoule, Long
Of course I can grab anything else from the car I feel may be useful at the time, e.g. sleeping bag, folding shovel, etc.
Anecdote Time
A few years ago, one morning whilst driving in a remote part of western Canada I came across a vehicle in a bad state a little way off the road. I went over to offer help, with some understandable trepidation, but it seemed that all was (reasonably?) OK and that they had been "rescued" before my arrival. Rather than bale out it appeared that they had sat and waited for some other vehicle to come along as they'd built a fire for warmth, comfort, bear protection, and possibly signalling to the road in the dark. So trying to make one's own way out is perhaps not always the best solution, depending on circumstances. Your call...
