Emergency Bags: What You Need When SHTF

Emergency preparedness requires different bags for different scenarios, with each serving a unique purpose in your overall readiness strategy. We break down the essential differences between bug out bags, go bags, and get home bags to help you prepare effectively.

• Bug out bags are for extended evacuations (4+ days) when leaving home during major emergencies
• Essential bug out bag items include water, food, first aid, shelter, clothing, and important documents
• Maintain seasonal clothing appropriate to your location and current weather conditions
• Go bags are lighter 72-hour kits designed for rapid evacuation or immediate emergencies
• Keep go bags accessible near exits or in your workplace for quick access
• Get home bags stay in your vehicle to help you reach safety if transportation fails
• Include comfortable walking shoes, maps, and weather-appropriate gear in get home bags
• Determine your gear needs first, then buy an appropriately sized bag
• Regular maintenance checks are essential for all emergency bags
• All bags should include first aid supplies, fire starting kits, and some form of payment

If you need to reach me, email practicalpreppodcast@gmail.com or find me on Twitter @prep_podcast. Thanks for listening, and until next time, be careful out there and take care of one another.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Emergency Bags
• 2:01 Bug Out Bags Explained
• 6:51 Go Bags: Your 72-Hour Solution
• 12:29 Get Home Bags: Reaching Safety
• 17:40 Weight Considerations and Final Tips
• 19:14 Episode Closing and Contact Info

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm warning. Welcome to the Common Sense Practical Prepper Podcast, where prepping doesn't have to be complicated or expensive. Coming to you from a well-defended, off-grid compound high in the mountains, coming to you from his Florida room in Richmond Virginia Neither off-grid nor well-defended, unless you count as chickens and cats, here is your host, keith.

Speaker 2: 0:41

Hey, all this is Keith and welcome back to the Common Sense Practical Prepper Podcast, september 15th 2025. And today we're going to talk about bags. We're going to talk about bug out bags, go bag and a get home bag. So there are three types of bags, very different in a lot of ways. And here is my pro tip regardless of the bag or bags that you have, determine what gear you want to put in the bag and then get a bag to fit that gear, maybe with a little wiggle room.

Speaker 2: 1:22

Don't do what I did the first time I put together my get home bag. I bought the bag and then I felt the need to buy as much gear and stuff to fill said bag. By the end. It was a toss up between is this a get home bag or is this a go bag? I did that when I was hiking. When I started hiking several years ago, I bought a nice backpack and I'm like now I have to fill it up and I ended up being about three pounds overweight three to five pounds of stuff I did not need to take on that particular hike, so I got rid of it and then I have my bag is too big. So, anyway, learn from my mistakes.

Speaker 2: 2:01

All right, let's talk about a bug out bag. All right, a bug out bag is your go-to kit when you have to leave your home. You're leaving your home and you're not sure when you're going to get back, so think four or five days at the minimum. This is the bag that you take when stuff gets serious when you need to evacuate to grandma's house because of a hurricane, wildfire, civil unrest getting a little close to your neighborhood and you need to evacuate. This needs to have a lot of different items. You need to have water or the ability to filtrate and clean water, non-perishable food, a first aid kit that can easily be an IFAC or an individual first aid kit, israeli bandage tourniquet as well as a boo-boo kit. So, regardless of what you have, make sure the IFAC, the tourniquet and Israeli bandages are part of whatever you're going to have as a first aid kit shelter items, tarps, little tent, emergency Mylar blankets, clothing, at least two pairs of socks, and this is like your bag. So if you have multiple members of the family, they're going to need a bag for themselves. Grab two extra pairs of socks.

Speaker 2: 3:18

When your feet get wet, it sucks, especially if you have to hike or move long distances by foot, get you some extra socks. Depending on where you live and depending on the season, you very well may need to change out some of the extra clothes. Do you have a winter jacket? Do you have a beanie? Well, it's now spring, so we don't need the heavy jacket, but we're going to put in a raincoat, maybe a light windbreaker. We're going to get rid of the beanie and put in an extra ball cap to provide shade so we don't get sunburned, that sort of thing. So, depending on where you live, be aware of what season you're in and what season's coming up, and just go ahead and change out that clothing.

Speaker 2: 4:02

Knife, multi-tool, the little foldable saws. There's several different things you can put in your bug out bag and different people have different preferences, but there are several things that have to go in your bag Shelter, food, water, first aid, depending on where you live, what country, what city, what state, what county, some form of self defense. You guys figure out what I mean by that. Here in the United States it's going to be a pew pew, and in other parts of the world it might be a little something less than that. So just be cognizant of your, of your laws in your country, your city, your state, your town, all the little ordinances.

Speaker 2: 4:47

Don't want anybody getting in trouble. But to be honest with you, if the poop hits the fan, I personally the last thing I would worry about is carrying the handgun that has too many rounds in a magazine. Whatever the laws are in New Jersey or New York, I think that would be the last thing on my mind. Law enforcement they're going to be busy taking care of the bad guys and trying to mitigate whatever is causing this disaster. Really not too worried about them, upset about a minor handgun violation. But then again I could be completely wrong.

Speaker 2: 5:20

Passport, important documents have copies of those documents in everybody's bag. So if one bag gets compromised, you have a backup. Make sure every bag has a fire starter kit. So you kind of want to go ahead and everybody gets a bag. You're going to have some crossover in case something breaks, something gets lost, something gets taken, so you're not stuck. If your daughter loses her bag and she was the one that had the fire starting kit, oh no, we can't start a fire now because little Susie's bag was stolen. Mom, dad, cousins, other brother, whatever, they've got a fire starting kit as well.

Speaker 2: 6:00

As far as the bag itself. You could spend $20 or you can spend $300. There are some very expensive bags out there. Now you get what you pay for, so do your homework. Make sure it's a healthy zipper on it. It's got the straps. Maybe it's got the straps tucked into the side. It can become a backpack, but again, this is something that's going to be packed and it's going to be readily available in the hall closet, on a shelf in the garage. And make sure you take them down. Make sure you check them out. Your food expiration, the water bottles let's flip out the water bottles. They've been in there for a few months. Everybody here has a water bottle. Let's put some fresh ones in there. Definitely maintain your bags. Don't just toss it somewhere and be like, oh, when the poop hits the fan, I'm going to go grab this bag out of the closet and I'll be good to go.

Speaker 2: 6:51

Now a go bag. So in my current career, I was on a team a couple years ago. Being on that team, I needed to have a go bag and my go bag basically sat inside the closet, the hall closet closest to the front door. So think of a go bag as a 72 hour bag, a grab and go. When I was on this particular team, I had to have a 72 hour bag ready to go and the ability to get to an airport within about an hour, hour and a half, which I could certainly do On 9-11, when I was a police officer. I'm in Richmond, virginia, and the Pentagon is about two hours away with no traffic. A call came over the radio. Myself and several other officers were told hey, how quickly can you get home and get back here with the go bag? So there was that. So at that time I had not started really any serious prepping or prepping at all. I had to throw one together.

Speaker 2: 7:54

It you know it would probably would've got a D minus if somebody that knew about prepping graded my bag. But anyway, 72 hour bag, go bag. It's much lighter and it's designed for rapid response. Small amount of water and snacks Okay, we're not going for three days, but a couple of water bottles, granola bars, trail mix, whatever. So these are snacks. We're not sitting down and having a four-course meal. All right, we still have the first aid kit. All right, it's going to be in my bag, it's going to be an IFAC and it's going to be a boo-boo kit, a flashlight or a headlamp.

Speaker 2: 8:30

Again, do the routine maintenance on your bags? Did I accidentally leave it on and now the batteries are dead? Is it chargeable by USB-C so let's go ahead and plug it into the charger while I'm going through everything else? Or do I need to change out the batteries? And obviously you're going to have a couple extra set of batteries just in case A phone charger or power bank? Now, if you have the iPhone with the mag chargers the magnet chargers that can clip on the back certainly a good idea. They make solar battery banks. I've got one by Anker A-N-K-E-R. I really like their products. They're the only company when I need cables and battery banks and other sorts of things for my phone. Anchor is my go-to. They always have sales pretty often and their prices are comparable. They're a little more expensive than some of the knockoffs but I'll pay the extra couple bucks knowing that it's an anchor and it's going to do well and they stand by their product.

Speaker 2: 9:29

Your important documents we're going to have those. We're going to have copies of birth certificates, driver's license, insurance policies, living will, medical directive and I've spoken before. I have all of my information on a waterproof thumb drive that I keep on a chain that I keep around my neck. So if I am unable to speak for myself, can't give consent. I'm in the hospital. They can pull that, pop it in a laptop and they can see everything they need to know Major medical operations and all the surgeries to my spine and my back, getting all those vertebrae fused, that sort of thing. They'll be able to see that. Oh, he's allergic to X, y and Z. Oh, we better not give him that because that would have killed him. There's a lot of information on there. Other stuff I threw on there are recent photos or fairly recent photos of family members. In the event we get separated. Someone doesn't have ID and you have to prove that that kid over there belongs to you or that lady is the wife, the girlfriend, the partner, whomever they're part of your family. You need to be reunited and here's the paperwork to prove that we're all in this together.

Speaker 2: 10:41

And again, with the bag, get your gear and then go ahead and get your bag. So, some cash or credit card and I'm not sure why I didn't mention that with the bug out bag. I guess it's kind of a given, but unless you really think about it this is the second podcast in a row that puberty just hit me all of a sudden. Make sure that you have cash we talked about precious metals for bartering that sort of thing if you need that. But make sure you have cash, credit card, debit card, a lightweight poncho, the emergency blanket, the Mylar blankets Go ahead and just throw those in there. They don't weigh anything.

Speaker 2: 11:16

So, again, this is a situation where this bag has become useful. You need to evacuate a building, your office, fire alarm, leave in town quickly, do an approaching storm, you're dealing with a sudden power outage that forces you to leave and to go somewhere else. So, again, keep the bag handy. I know folks that have their go bag, their EDC, their everyday carry bag, with them in the office. They'll have their laptop and whatever they need for that day's work. I also know that that is pretty much their go bag. So, in the event and their keys are in that bag too so in the event we have to evacuate the office you grab that bag and you've got everything you need. If it's a situation where something serious has happened at work, you can't get to your vehicle, you're going to need to sit outside for an extended period of time. Let's say, they're unable to bring food and water to other employees or everybody who's sitting out there. You've got something. Somebody needs basic first aid. You've got it covered.

Speaker 2: 12:23

Now, the other type of bag is the get home bag, which is what I have in my vehicle. Now, a get home bag is all about what you need to get you back to your safe spot or your safe zone. Your safe zone might be home. Your safe zone may be your grandma's house, because she's closer than your home. Could be a friend's house, a cousin's house, a fire department, a precinct for the local law enforcement. So it's whatever it's going to take to get you where you need to go. There is a EMP, traffic is backed up because of a major cluster down the road and nobody's going anywhere for a long time. Your vehicle breaks down in traffic and you've got to go. You're just going to leave the car and you are going to go. You're just going to leave the car and you are going to go Water bottle, snacks, comfortable shoes. Now, if you don't have, if you don't wear comfortable shoes at work, or you don't wear shoes at work that need to get muddy, or you're going to go for a hike, you should probably have a pair of boots or trail shoes that are lightweight compared to boots, to have those in your bag, because that's not going to do you any good when you have your sneakers on and it's raining. When you get out of your car and you have now to trudge home or trudge to your safe zone, and it's five, six, eight, 10 miles away.

Speaker 2: 13:52

A map or a GPS device, paper maps you can get them. Look online and you can actually get paper maps. I believe that would be National Geological Survey. I think, yeah, ngs. Give them a call or go on their website and you can get paper maps. I don't think you can get paper maps at gas stations. Now there is, depending on where you live, I think the company is called ADC. When I was a police officer we called them the 7-Eleven maps. We always got them at 7-Eleven and they're like just big books, all color coded, a lot of really good information in there, but that's kind of heavy and that's kind of bulky. But paper maps. You probably just look up virginiagov, go to the state website of where you live and see what department you can reach out to to get paper maps. Now I live in Virginia, so I don't need a map of Missouri or Idaho, I need a map of Virginia. And then central Virginia. Maybe it says like Richmond and surrounding counties, maybe that map. So, depending on where you work. And then central Virginia. Maybe it says like Richmond and surrounding counties, maybe that map. So, depending on where you work and where you are, just make sure your map is appropriate to your location.

Speaker 2: 15:06

And again, some form of self-defense. Now, if your work prohibits firearms on the property or in the building, then you need to also take that into consideration. If they allow them on the property but not in the building, just make sure you secure that in your vehicle. We got the small first aid kit. Again, it's going to be the same setup as in my go bag and my bug out bag. It's the IFAC and the boo-boo kit, flashlight, glow sticks, fire starting kit just have that. The fire starting kit Just have that. The fire starting kit is very, very small and if you have three bags, just make up three of them. Or if you purchase them, just purchase three and drop them in your bag.

Speaker 2: 15:46

Weather appropriate gear, again, doing the regular maintenance on our bags. Is it hat season? Do I need some thin gloves? Do I need some thicker gloves? Do I need some thicker gloves? Do I live in Minnesota and it's the first week in November and we've already got snow on the ground. You know I ran off into a ditch SHTF situation. I need to leave my vehicle, leave my temporary shelter and go ahead and try to make it to my safe zone. So make sure the clothes in your bag are appropriate for where you live in the season. That it is Same thing with the other bags cash, debit card.

Speaker 2: 16:25

This might be a situation with your get-home bag that you're able to walk two or three miles and then you're able to hail a cab. You now have cell service in this particular location you can get an Uber. You need to have the ability. In this particular location you can get an Uber. You need to have the ability to pay for that. If it's a situation where an Uber is available, I'd rather spend the money for the Uber than walk the next five miles, especially if it's in poor weather, to get back to my safe zone, wherever that might be. So you certainly have the ability to pay for that. So again, all three of your bags fire kit, first aid kit, ifac, some cash flashlight across all three bags. My get home bag I throw a pair of socks in there just to have it, just in case. Who knows what's going to happen. Remember, just do the regular maintenance on the bag, buy your gear and then get the bag to fit your gear.

Speaker 2: 17:16

For a bug out bag, it's when you're going to leave your home for an extended period of time. A go bag is for immediate evacuation or short-term emergencies. And a get home bag is exactly what it is. It's a bag to get you home or to get you to your safe spot. Bug out bag at least 72 hours. Go bags two to three days. Mine's 72 hours.

Speaker 2: 17:39

All right, let's talk about weight. So your bug out bag is going to weigh the most of your three bags. Now I'm not too worried about the weight of my bug out bag if it's going from my house to my vehicle. I would be more worried about the weight and more conscious about the weight if I had to carry it even a short distance. Your go bag a lot lighter, a lot smaller, call it a three-day kit and it's going to go over your back, on your shoulders. So you're going to have it. You're potentially going to have it for a while. So make sure the bag fits and make sure it's not too heavy.

Speaker 2: 18:16

Again, let's assume there's other people in your group. You can always share supplies. Hey, can you carry this? I'll carry that. My bag's a little heavy, and then you have some wiggle room to do it as well for the other folks. So the get home bag probably the smallest of the three, but it is probably fairly close to the size, maybe weight, of the go bag, but probably a little bit less. Test the weight on that and again, you may have that on your person for quite some time, maybe several hours up to a day. All right, folks, I really appreciate everybody tuning in. If you need to reach me practicalpreppodcast at gmailcom or on the Twitter search. Common Sense Practical Prepper or the official handle is prep underscore podcast. All right, folks, thanks again and, as always, be careful out there, take care of one another and until next time.

Speaker 1: 19:14

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