U.K Bug Out Bag - 1.0

No I am not some nut job who stands in the town on a weekend proclaiming the end is coming... But with a society dependent on energy & open to terrorism, in a world of nuclear, chemical, biological & mother nature the possibility of disaster is high, again i am not saying the end of the world, maybe the end of society as we no it, but it is more likely somthing that will put us in harms way for a few days or a few weeks.

Here In the U.K it appears we are very lacking on this & I have decided for many reasons I would like to have a bag at home, I work close to home so I can get to it if I need it, I will carry it in my boot if i go any where over night & if i go away without my car I will be building a survival kit into a 2 oz tin, the F.U.B.A.R kit (step 9) this may live in the glove box & be put in any over night bag where the full kit can not be taken.

I have not hyper linked as i feel there is enough information for you to go Google the items or Ebay them! Price is what I paid to act as a guide. If you have trouble locating an item or maybe the item is not described well enough to find it contact me & I will find you a link.

So here we go, here is my new friend BOB....

Ps I welcome openly all feed back, the bad the good & the ugly!

Pps this is 1.0 When i have done the bag i will do a short 2.0 to confirm what wen tin, what get left out!

After some thinking I decided A bag with around 30L capacity & multiple pockets would be great, needs to be tough & some what waterproof, I am all so doing this on a budget who wants £500 of kit in a bag sat in a cupboard even if it could save your life!!

So the logical conclusion on the bag front was Ex surplus, I have gone for A DPM NI Day Sack (patrol pack) UK forces issue. The one shown is the one i bought on Ebay it was a badly listed bid up bargain at £20, needed one new quick release buckle cost £2.50 for 2.

Low Down: Cheap, Durable, very water resistant, great storage capacity, Military grade/issue, A little heavy (empty)

NOTE: Look out for copy bags produced by web tex (they say web tex on the grab handle!) - look for grade 1 used bags for a bargain.

Water the first & most important part of any kit 3 days without water & you will be suffering from sever dehydration, shortly after this a few days if your lucky your dead!

Water to go this bottle will save your life, 750 ml capacity, Filters 99%, filter life 200L intention here is to keep 1L of bottled water with the bag, then to fill this bottle as you grab & go, you can drink the rest as your moving!

Seven Oceans Water Rations 500 ml of emergency water per box, 3 boxes, at a push with this & the above water I will last 3 days but hopefully I will get to water supply before then.

Food Still important, even if you can go weeks without it, If you need to keep moving you will need to be eating somthing!

Mountain House freeze dried meals, not decided on flavors! but enough for 3 dinners & 3 breakfasts

Meal replacement bars or other long life snacks somthing that can be broken up & eaten through the day

Seven Oceans Emergency Food Ration 1 box, in case you can not stop or unable to boil water.

For me good shelter is the 2nd most important thing after water, you can have a good fire & plenty of food but with out good shelter & some reasonable sack time non of that is going to matter, if your cold, wet or even too hot due to no shade you could become unwell & sick you will all so become fatigued & very demoralized (if your not all ready since SHTF)

So I will bear a little extra wight & space in my pack, these items are generally lighter & take less space then a tent (unless you spend a fortune on some ultra high tec tent!) & sleeping bag, Note you may need an all season sleeping bag next to your kit just in case you need to opt out in the dead of winter!

• Tent pegs going with smaller ones at 7" - 6-8 pegs
• Para Cord full 7 strand 550 cord pre-cut into suitable lengths for the tarp
• Basha British armed forces issue, Grade 1 Desert pattern (Ebay bargain £12!)
• Poncho Liner US army surplus, found one on Ebay UK for £20 (think it will need a compression sack!)
• Ground sheet/Tarpaulin Approx 6 x 4 feet £3-5 every where!
• Travel Pillow yes an inflatable pillow! the one i have bought is by summit, could be used as a flotation aid if you need to cross a river!

I see a lot of survival bags for 3 or 4 days & they do not include tools or knives, for a bug out bag, after some research, I decided on 3 basic tools:

• Fixed blade Knife
  
• Folding saw
  
• Multi tool
• Light wight work gloves (protect your hands a vital tool!!)

These should give you what you need to hunt, protect, gather, build & repair. With a sound knowledge of how to use them & some bush craft training they will help make everyday tasks easy & help sustain you for longer periods, so for a few ounces of kit i would say a no brainier.

Tools i have decided on:

1. Mora Companion Knife: 4" stainless steel blade with a 3/4 tang, Rubber grip handle (overall length 8.5") supplied with strong plastic sheath, wight about 5 or so ounces with sheath. This was bought from a local bush craft store for £12.83
2. Bahco Laplander Saw: This folding saw got a lot of good reviews, the saw is 9" when folded & weighs 6 ounces, all I can say is look it up on you tube i was impressed, used by Ray Mears, I have found this Item on Ebay for £18.
3. Gerber Suspension Multi-Plier: I do not want to spend a lot of mony so need a budget tool & after much searching looking at cheap & nasty s I found this, It is not the most heavy duty but it looks like it will more then do the job. heaviest bit of gear hear at 9 Ounces

Note to UK Readers: The Mora companion Knife should ONLY be carried when you have a good reason, it should not be worn/carried in public (town, supermarket) when travelling it should be placed at the bottom of your main bag. Basic laws on knives UK

Fire it is what made us who we are today, if we had never harnessed the skill to make fire we would still be in our caves! I think having a reliable way to start a fire, all good & well if you can make a bow drill but doing this when cold or wet and when energy (food) is limited, I will take a fire starter & tinder.

We all so have grown up in the modern era of electric lights so, I find anyway, i do not do so well in the dark & if an event occurs where you can not make camp till after dark you will be able to put up your tarp & start that fire.

There is a redundancy for all these items & can be found in the 2 ounce FUBAR tin as mention at the intro.

Items:

• Swedish Army Firesteel - £11.50 Ebay
• Energizer Pro Advanced 7 LED Headlight - £12 Ebay
• Silverline 3 LED Wind-up Torch - £6 Ebay
• Tinder Quik - x10 Ebay £3.99

I really felt a solid first aid kit was necessary not some little pouch with a plaster and some safety pins in it! I am all so a first aider and re qualify every 2 years. The kit is is contained on its own in one side/rocket pouch of the bag.

As I write this there are a few small Items I might consider either to add or to upgrade, one major item i am considering is a tourniquet, combat issue standard.

First Aid contents:

- St John Ambulance Supplies Universal First Aid Kit (£10.90 Amazon)

• First aid in an emergency booklet x 1
• Pk 10 Assorted washproof plasters x 2
• Eye pad x 1
• Triangular bandage x 1
• HSE medium dressing x 2
• HSE large dressing x 1
• Cleansing wipes x 4
• Nitrile powder-free gloves x 2 pair
• 20ml eye wash phials x 2
• Face shield x 1
• Microporous tape x 1roll
• Burn Blott x 4 sachets

• Burnshield Dressing 10cm x 10cm

- Extras

• Tuff Cut scissors (£1.31 Amazon)
• Military Field Dressing Sterile Trauma Fix Bandage 10 x 19cm NATO - Approved (evaq8emergencysupplies £4.48)
• Low Adherent Dressing Pad 7.5cm x 7.5cm x2 (£1.74 for 5 Ebay)
• Paracetamol 16s (50p Supermarket)

- Considerd

• Wound Seal Powder
• tourniquet C-A-T

Not the most important thing but still has its place, my hygiene & health will be a small amount of kit, I made the rule of thumb it will all have to fit comfortable into a 18 x 20 cm zip lock bag, without cramming it in or the bag splitting. The items may get a transfer into a role up type wash bag!

So here are the items in my little bag:

• Toothpaste
• Folding tooth brush
• Shaver
• Shaving Gel
• Antibacterial hand wipes suitable for face & body
• Antibacterial Gel
• Multivitamins One a day
• Glucose tablets chewy
• Toothpick Individually wrapped x2 (not in photo)
• Soap 15g in case you get the opportunity to have a decent wash! (not in photo)
• Travel Mirror credit card size (not in photo)

There is a second bag containing toilet paper, It will all so contain 4 or 5 individually wrapped antibacterial hand wipes (I don't think that needs an explanation!)

Other Stuff I have thought off, Last things to purchase, this will be weight & room dependent.

Wind up radio

Spork (in fact this in the bag all ready!)

Sewing Kit

Gorilla Tape

SAS pocket survival guide

BCB Crusader Stove + hexi fuel (priority for space)

Tea Kit (water permitting) it is a British thing!

Small Puzzle book

Clean Socks & underwear + one t-shirt minimum

Seasonable Items Hat & mini sun-cream for summer - set of thermals for winter

The F.U.B.A.R KIT, this is when the SHTF big time, this is the redundancy kit!

Chances are if you are opening this up things have gotten pretty bad, the rest of your supplies are exhausted or you have had to ditch your main B.O.B & go ultra light grabbing only this item.

This will be kept in my glove box, or an overnight bag if I am going without my car so it will all ways be too hand! & will have it's own dedicated space in B.O.B.

I have decided to make a mini indestructible dedicated to this as it will be no pocket tin, somthing with a bit more in it, still in a very portable tin at 142mm x 102mm x 40mm with a 300ml capacity.

Coming Soon :)