The Ultimate Bug Out Bag Checklist: How to Pack the Perfect Survival Go Bag

When disaster strikes, being prepared with a well-stocked bug out bag can mean the difference between survival and tragedy. However, building an effective go-bag requires forethought to include gear that addresses fundamental needs for food, water, shelter, first aid, and other bare necessities.

This article will provide a comprehensive, step-by-step bug out bag checklist for assembling the perfect go bag customized to your survival situation. Follow along to learn key factors in choosing a bag, must-have survival tools, and mistakes to avoid.

Key Considerations:

• Essential items to pack based on survival experts’ recommendations

• Bug out bag sizing and features to fit your needs

• Water filtration, fire starters, shelter, and other critical gear

• First aid supplies tailored for emergency scenarios

• Food selection criteria for nutrition, weight, and expiration

• Navigation tools, light sources, and communication devices

• Personal Protection and Self-Defense items to consider

• Clothing considerations for various environments and durations

• Securing important documents in case of evacuation

With this definitive guide, you’ll have confidence knowing your go-bag is stocked with versatile supplies to give you the best chance of enduring a crisis until help arrives. Let’s get started on assembling your perfect, life-saving bug out bag!

TL;DR Checklist:

• 3+ days’ worth of water and long shelf-life foods  

• Light/heat sources like flashlights, lighters, fire starters

• Navigation/communication devices such as map, compass, radio

• Shelter necessities – tent, sleeping bags, blankets

• Multi-purpose tool kits and pocket knives

• Robust first aid kit + personal medications

• Weather/terrain-appropriate clothing and footwear

• Personal hygiene items and sanitation supplies 

• Important documents in a waterproof bag

• Cash in small bills

Why it’s important to choose the right bag

When assembling your bug out bag, selecting the right backpack itself is a crucial step that’s often overlooked. You’ll want sufficient durability to handle various terrains, enough capacity to organize multiple days’ worth of survival gear and handy features like MOLLE (Modular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment) panels to attach tools.

Consider weight, water resistance, and interior compartments to separate items by category or priority for quick access when every second counts in an emergency.

Choose based on the climate, landscape hazards, and evacuation scenarios you’d likely face. If having to hoof it out of an urban area, a form-fitting backpack allows easier transport of your robust go bag essentials. But navigating mountains may require more heavy-duty backpack frames to evenly distribute the 30-50 pound weight.

What about your Every Day Carry (EDC)?

While your fully stocked multi-day bug out bag is vital for disasters, an EDC (or Every Day Carry) kit prepares you for more common sudden threats. Stash an EDC pouch in your workplace, vehicle, or even on your person for daily accessibility.

This go-to mini survival kit should contain bare necessities like a flashlight, lighter, knife, phone charger bank, mini first aid, bottled water, high-calorie snacks, and other essentials you regularly use. Customize based on your lifestyle, job hazards, daily risks, and personal preferences. An EDC bag bridges normalcy and emergency readiness.

The Bug Out Bag Checklist

When disaster strikes, quickly grab your pre-packed bug out bag to evacuate within minutes. Use this checklist to build your ultimate emergency go bag customized for your region’s climate, likely risks, and necessity:

Water

Having ample drinking water is perhaps the most vital component of your bug out bag. Pack at minimum one gallon per person per day for at least 3 days. Store using lightweight, durable water bottles and hydration bladder systems.

Pack a water filtration system and water purification tablets to produce potable water from uncertain sources when on the move.

Food

Stock non-perishable, high-calorie foods with long shelf lives like protein bars, dried fruits and nuts, jerky, and MREs (Meals Ready to Eat). The goal is around 2,000 calories per day per person for at least 3 days.

Pack foods that require minimal tools and preparation to maximize mobility.

Fire

Critical for cooking, warmth, sterilization, and signaling, stock multiple fire-starting options like matches, lighters, flint rod fire starters, tinder, kindling, and fire starter cubes. Cotton balls coated in petroleum jelly also make excellent long-burning tinder.

Pack waterproof matches and store fire lighting tools in a dedicated pouch to keep them dry and organized for quick access during an emergency situation or survival scenario.

Shelter

Being protected from the elements is vital to survival. Pack lightweight, insulating sleeping bags and blankets for each person bugging out. A 2-person tent or tarp provides overhead shelter from wind, rain, and snow. Foil space rescue blankets also conserve body heat.

Light

Pack multiple light sources like LED flashlights, glow sticks, and headlamps with extra batteries or crank charging options. A fire provides light of course, but portable illumination keeps hands free for navigation, food preparation, first aid, etc.

In a bug out situation, personal light sources allow you to conserve energy and battery/generator power of limited shared resources while allowing critical tasks to continue after dark.

Personal Protection Equipment

While fleeing disasters, you may encounter panicking masses or opportunistic criminals. Packing protective equipment preserves safety, health, and well-being. Must-have PPE includes respiratory N95 masks, sturdy boots, and gloves for hazard resilience.

Self-Defense Gear and Firearms

When disaster strikes, you may encounter aggressive people desperate to take what you have. Packing protective self-defense gear preserves safety. Must-have items include pepper spray or bear spray and a loud whistle to draw help. Only use these tools legally and as an absolute last resort. Avoid confrontation when possible by bugging out discreetly.

If properly trained, licensed, and insured, concealing a compact firearm like a 9mm pistol can provide vital protection from attackers when exiting a catastrophe zone. Weigh personal readiness, lawful implications, and group dynamics before introducing firearms into your bug out scenario plan.

Tool Kit

A multi-tool device like a Leatherman packs useful survival tools like pliers, screwdrivers, bottle opener, knife, saw, etc. into one portable tool. Also, pack a full tang fixed blade knife and a folding saw for preparing firewood and shelter materials.

Duct tape, carabiners, rope/paracord, and zip ties also provide utility for repairs, gear attachment, improvising shelter, and more. Heavy work gloves protect hands during debris clearance, shelter construction, gathering firewood, etc.

First Aid Kit

A bug out bag first aid kit should at a bare minimum include:

• Sterile gauze pads & roller bandages

• Adhesive medical tape & butterfly closures

• Elastic wrap bandages, triangular bandages

• Alcohol pads & antiseptic ointments

• Trauma shears & safety pins

• Digital thermometer

• Medical gloves & face mask

• Over-the-counter medications

• Prescription medications

• Backup eyeglasses or contacts

• Personal medical information:

  • Blood type

  • Drug allergies

  • Medical conditions & history

The goal is to help stabilize injuries, dress wounds, prevent infections, manage pain, and treat common ailments until full medical care is available after the natural disaster has passed. Having your personal medical info and extra glasses easily accessible ensures continuity of treatment.

Trauma Kit

While first aid kits have basic tools to address common injuries and pain, trauma kits prepare for life-threatening wounds beyond most people’s emergency medical training. Pack quick clotting gauze, tourniquets, chest seals, decompression needles, sutures, staplers, airway tubes, and other professional-grade gear to stop severe bleeding, punctures, and collapsed lungs as much as possible.

Having advanced stabilization items extends survival time until EMS first responders can provide surgical/ER-level treatment. Consider completing emergency response training like Stop the Bleed to properly utilize such intense gear. For legally murky reasons, trauma gear availability varies by region.

Communications

Reliable communication enables coordinating with others and seeking help when in peril. Pack a weatherproof AM/FM/NOAA hand crank emergency radio to receive disaster alerts, local news, and directions. Two-way radios allow for communication with your party.

Also, pack charger banks to keep cell phones powered plus a flashlight for visual night signals. Let loved ones know your plan and consider an inReach satellite communicator device for remote contact via text outside of cell phone networks.

Clothing

Having proper apparel for the climate and terrain makes or breaks survival and mobility. Pack season-appropriate inner and outer layers, plus waterproof, well-insulated, broken-in footwear. Include extra socks, gloves, hats, protective eyewear, and moisture-wicking base layers.

Choose durable, neutral-hued clothing for discretion and to withstand the elements. Don’t forget personal sanitation items like toilet paper, feminine products, soap, hand sanitizer, and toothbrushes.

Documents

Bugging out requires proving identity and ownership to access accounts, services, and government assistance programs. Scan crucial documents like driver’s licenses, birth certificates, passports, insurance policies, etc., and store them securely in a USB drive plus offline in a waterproof bag.

Inventory home/vehicle contents for post-disaster claims and pack irreplaceable keepsakes like family photos.

Miscellaneous Gear

Round out your bug out bag preparations with miscellaneous items for navigation, security, productivity, survival supplies, and creature comforts:

• Maps, compass, local trail guides

• Emergency thermal blankets and tents

• Physical maps and trail guides for the area

• Notebook, pen, permanent marker

• Playing cards, books, and headphones for downtime

• Sunscreen, sunglasses, or goggles for eye protection

• Garbage and zip lock bags for organizing, waterproofing

• Local currency, coins for vending machines

• Emergency rations like energy bars, dried fruits

• Mess kit

What are some mistakes to avoid when building a bug out bag?

It’s easy to go overboard prepping, but an overweight bug out bag jeopardizes transport and mobility. Avoid packing unneeded tools better suited for camping trips. Venues to get supplies will be limited, so redundancy just wastes weight and space. Test gear functionality and pack smart by categorizing items efficiently.

Don’t forget to schedule swapping outdated food, medications, and equipment. Invest in quality tools that withstand heavy use instead of cheap imitations. Lastly, the best bug out bag is useless without proper physical conditioning and navigation practice.

Final Thoughts

Preparing for a worst-case scenario is extremely important and gives peace of mind to handle life’s surprises. Make bug out bag building a manageable project by gradually acquiring key items over time. Develop related skills like emergency first aid, orienteering, securing clean water, and other training tailored to likely regional risks.

Let preparedness empower and bolster self-reliance to thrive no matter what happens. With a reliable go-to survival kit, you’ve got this!

FAQs

How big should a bug out bag be?

With mandatory evacuation orders during sudden disasters, every ounce counts during transport on foot. Strive to keep your loaded bug out bag under 35 pounds. The bag itself should be 40-60 liters or around 25-30 gallons for ample capacity.

Pack smart by prioritizing multipurpose survival tools and carefully weighing necessity versus nicety. Remember you can’t take it all! Only pack what will best aid 72+ hours of independent survival through a worst-case scenario.

How much cash should you have in a bug out bag?

During disasters with stretched emergency response services, cash will be king to get supplies, lodging, food, or transportation not provided at relief sites. Experts recommend around $300-$500 in small denominations and coins to cover these essentials.

For discretion and to prevent theft if displaced around strangers, consider putting cash in a concealed travel wallet or belt under your clothes. In dire scenarios, cash buys options, so bring enough for a motel room, gas, vending machine necessities, or haggling any available resources from locals during shortages.

How much will building a bug out bag cost?

Quality survival gear adds up quickly, but view it as an essential home insurance investment rather than an extravagant hobby expense. Factor $500-$1000 to build an effective 72-hour bug out bag including a backpack, shelter/sleep system, food stocks, and water capacity.