The Prep is Real…
When I first started on this little journey into prepping, I thought I’d get some gear together, stack up some food and water in my garage, take an updated first aid course, and I’d be set. I didn’t realise how INVOLVED it would be. It’s full on. I really wanted to cut through all the noise and get my family organized and set up in the event of an emergency.
In the process, I thought my journey could help the average person - maybe in suburbia or the city - get their own selves prepped and ready for just about anything. Without the overwhelm or stress of too much unrelatable information. There’s enough out there to stress you out on the daily and being prepared is suppose to help you be LESS stressed, not more.
The more I delve into it, the more it can feel overwhelming. I get it. There’s a ton of info out there, and sometimes I find myself completely going down the rabbit hole of prepping. Trying to be ready for every single scenario is really just not that possible. Or even desirable. You can only carry so much with you. And that’s not what I want for us or you. You don’t need to be ready for everything. You just need to be ready for the most likely scenarios for your area. And to be honest, the more prepared you are for the majority of things, the less you need to worry about the particular things.
I want prepping to be chill, and possibly even enjoyable. No matter how many podcasts I listen to, how many blog posts I read about simplifying and multi-use items, I can’t help but be a little taken aback by how complicated it can seem. Especially when you’ve got a family of 4 and a pet and an elder in a separate location to consider; or whatever your own personal situation may be. It’s no wonder prepping is considered a “rich” person thing. If you throw enough money at it, you can get everything you need delivered right to your door with a few clicks of the button.
But then I remind myself that it’s not about that. Skills are important. Being healthy in mind and body is a massive advantage. Having a mindset that’s ready for anything is important too. And even though all the shiny things are nice and can be something you strive for in the future, for now, we can just do our best with what we’ve got. And even though they’re important, and care and consideration should be taken when putting these kits/bags together, what’s really important are the things that will keep you alive and well for the first 72 hours. Then it becomes more simple in our minds. So I decided to tackle some things that were bothering me this week:
Bug Out Bags are bringing the whole prep down.
My bug out bags and stay home kit are in perpetual purgatory, neither here nor there, until I can fund all the things I actually need for two full weeks at home (or a few days out in the “wild”) AND a car kit. And the no double-dipping rule really makes me see how ill-prepared I am for different scenarios (mostly bugging out/evacuation). If we’re staying home, we’re not in bad shape - we have access to our home pantry and all the tools, gear and things in our house, plus our kits. And some water stashed. But a short-notice evacuation could leave us FUBAR.
Things are EXPENSIVE. Like medical supplies. Pre-packaged food. Tools. Batteries. And spare “things”. And everyone and their uncle are out there trying to sell you a bunch of specialty prepper things you might not need. I only want to share the things I actually use and recommend - so that you’re not left with a whole bunch of specialist gear that you’ll never use and a credit card bill you’re paying off for months. That won’t help anyone.
So what have I been working on?
My mindset coming up to the summer is to make sure that all our BOBs are ready and set to get out in a hurry. That will be the main priority. One BOB per person (with the adult packs sharing extra gear for the kids). Then, I’ll beef up the supplies in the home kit/car kit. Especially with how our communities are set up, there are not a lot of exits/roads that lead out of here, so we want to be on the road pronto and beat the rush if at all possible). We live in a suburban community about a half hour drive from a city. Inbetween us are rolling hills and acerages. Everywhere else around is just farmland, acerages and rolling hills. Mountains on one side. A river nearby. If we had to go anywhere on foot, we’d be camping out for a night or two for sure. And the weather here swings from -40 (winter) to +30 (summer) and everywhere inbetween. So shelter and fire are potentially bigger priorities for us than others.
The priorities for each of our BOBs:
water/electrolytes
food
shelter
seasonal clothing/protection from the elements
emergency info
communication/signalling
fire making
first aid kit (focus on trauma, then build out)
hygiene
I would LOVE to grab one of those sexy first aid kits for each of our BOBs (I’m looking at you My Medic), because they tick A LOT of boxes and come in a neat little package. But that’s just not in the budget at the moment. My DIY first aid kit is pretty solid, and each time I’m out shopping I’ll grab a couple extras: pack of rolled gauze, tums travel size, paper tape, etc. The kids’ kits have started out as mini boo-boo kits (alcohol wipes, bandaids, etc.), and are slowly growing into stand-alone kits.
This past week I beefed up our BOB food and water supplies - adding in several packs of ramen noodles and granola bars into each pack. At 47 cents each, the ramen noodles seem like the most budget friendly option at the moment. And the granola bars come in around 60 cents each, so also not going to break the bank. I will be upgrading the food as we go to some freeze-dried, add hot water meal bags. But for right now, the ramens/bars would keep us alive for a few days. And my hubs loves noodles for a late night snack, and kids could eat these granola bars all day errrrrrey day, so rotation of food will be easy. Everyone got two 500mL waterbottles. I added in a sturdy silicone bag for the kids first aid kits (until I can get something better), and added in bandaids, alcohol wipes, rolls of gauze and tums. Everyone got a roll of tp in a ziplock bag and a small roll of ducttape. Those without toothpaste were gifted a tube. Everyone got an emergency blanket if they didn’t have one already, and I’ve even thrown in the thinnest fleece blankets we have into each bag for a little comfort/something familiar from home. I want to get a few of those mini sewing kits the size of a zippo, one for each bag, but that will have to wait until later. For now, I took our smallest plastic tupperware containers, raided our home sewing kit, and threw one in each adult bag. This will be added upon into a more well-rounded repair-all kit with vinyl patches, etc. so we’re better prepared.
The additions this week:
more food (ramen noodles, granola bars)
boo-boo kits for the kids
tp
ducttape
toothpaste
sewing kits
water
emergency blankets
This is definitely a work in progress. I think focusing on the BOBs first, then starting to build out the other kits is my best move at the moment. There’s no point in getting stressed with the thing I’m working on to help me reduce stress!
So after this week, I’m feeling way better about our bags. Mine is the biggest and heaviest, but my rucking and strength training means that I can handle that extra weight for a decent distance.
What’s next? More food. More Electrolytes. Phone chargers. Lights/headlamps for the kids. Sunscreen for everyone. Hats/buffs (I just gotta dig them out of the accessories bins). Contact info/emergency numbers and important documents.
My advice? Take it slow. Something is better than nothing. Start with water, food (even if it’s just a box of granola bars to start), some cash, a first aid kit and some spare clothes, phone charger. Then build out from there when you have a little time and money. Slowly but surely, your kits will start to come together. I know mine are starting to shape up now I’ve been at this a couple months. I think a mistake would be to just put some food and tp in a bag near your exit and never look at it, add to it, or adjust things based on changing times. It’s an ongoing thing.
How are your BOBs looking? I hope this post has helped chill your mindset about prepping if you find it overwhelming. The last thing we need is to get overwhelmed and have added stress into our days. Hope you’re staying chill about your prepping - just keep going.
