The following is just a post I made in facebook so it's not edited thoroughly and is a little rough, but it's still good advice! Future articles will be more polished.
I've been having several people ask me lately about my preps and what to get so I figured I'll type out my system here for everyone to see. I believe that you should prep from a perspective of immediate personal needs first then work your way outward to long term survival and sustainability. Keep in mind that everyone’s needs are different so adjust this as necessary. This is just a guide to get you started, it’s not gospel.
First, get your EDC (Every Day Carry) taken care of. This typically consists of having a quality folding knife, flashlight, cellphone, watch, and when possible, gun on you at all times. Due to legal restrictions, work restrictions, etc, having a gun on you isn't always feasible so you may need to address your gun in the next step. On your cellphone, I suggest installing offline maps, survival guides, and any other apps that could help you survive.
Second, put together a GHB (Get Home Bag). This is a small bag or pack that you never leave the house without (you can leave it in the car when at work or out in public though. Just make sure you can get to it quickly). The purpose of the GHB is to enhance your ability to make it home on foot from work or wherever. In this bag you should have basic first aid and medicine, the ability to purify water, a water bottle (I never leave the house without filling it first), hat and gloves, an emergency rain poncho, spare batteries, cell charger and/or battery pack, pens and paper, a pocket compass, a pocket survival guide, a handkerchief or bandana, sunglasses, bug spray, sunscreen, energy bars, a lighter, a fixed blade knife, a quality multitool, paracord, and a spare mag. And when you can’t carry your gun on you, it goes in this bag.
Next, build a BOB (Bug Out Bag). The purpose of the BOB is to carry on your back everything you need to survive for several days with no other resources. I’m believer in “more is better” as I’d rather have a heavy pack and dump stuff that I don’t need for the situation at hand than not have what I need when I need it. In most scenarios you’ll still have the ability to move by vehicle, so as long as you can at least carry your pack to your car, you’re good. That being said, lighter is better, and ounces turn to pounds and pounds turn to pain. It’s up to you to find the balance between what you need and what you can carry. In this bag, you need to start addressing your environment – sleeping bag, hammock and tarp or a small tent, spare clothes – particularly under layers and stuff to keep you warm and dry, and hiking shoes/boots. You need food in this bag as I think it’s a terrible idea to rely on hunting/fishing/foraging for your calories. MRE’s are good but bulky and pricey. I keep a couple of them in my bag but I also have a container of rice and the means of cooking it via mini-propane camping stove and a metal container. I also keep several high calorie energy bars. I would also add a bigger water filter and more purification tablets. Keep in mind that your location has a significant effect on what gear you may need. Since this bag is designed for several days or longer if needed, I think having a Kindle and deck of cards or some other ways to entertain you are good to have. I would also recommend having a solar charger capable of charging everything with you. I have a Goal Zero panel in my pack. I also have a large fixed blade knife (and please, this is very important – it MUST be a high quality knife, not some cheap Chinese crap. You don’t have to spend hundreds on one, but you’ll likely have to spend over $50. Your knife is probably the most important piece of gear you’ll have. Don’t be cheap here). I also keep a larger and brighter flashlight in this pack. You need multiple ways of starting a fire. I would also add some rope and a 100’ pack of paracord. Of course, some more ammo goes in your BOB too. There are a ton of books and articles on building a BOB and I would definitely check some of those out. If at all possible, I would build your own BOB instead of buying a premade one, but a premade pack is still a magnitude better than not having anything.
The last stage of your mobile preps is the INCH (I’m Never Coming Home). This is where the shit has completely hit the fan and you need to bug out and survive long enough to establish a potentially long term camp. This is your EDC, GHB, BOB plus whatever you can fit in your car. I would include a large tent, blankets, lots of food, pots and pans, more clothes, weapons, lighting and power, portable heat, long term food, and anything else you think you’ll need to survive. If you’ve got the means, get an RV trailer (make sure it’s a trailer as you may not be able to take a motorhome to where you need to bug out to and you may need to dump the trailer). Since you aren’t carrying this gear, weight is no longer as important to worry about as with your bags.
Now that you’ve got your bug-out gear taken care of, it’s time to start working on your bug-in set up. One of the reasons I recommend building your bug-out setup first is that you can use that gear at home if needed when bugging in whereas you can’t easily take your bug-in gear with you if you have to bug-out, so even if you haven’t gotten to this stage but you’ve got your BOB and INCH taken care of, you’re already in a much better position than 90% of the population. First, a clarification: bugging in is not the same as sustainability. A bug-in setup is where you have enough to survive with no other resources for a limited time. Sustainability is where you can survive indefinitely because you can replace what you use via your own effort. For your bug-in setup, you need to think in terms of time. Start with a one week goal – get everything you need to survive in your house with no other resources for one week, then expand to a month, 3 months, 6 months, then a year. My goal (which I haven’t met yet) is to have enough supplies for two years as that gives me time to survive while I build up my sustainability (such as getting a good garden going). I also think it’s important to have all your 1 month supplies together first rather having a year’s worth of food and no first aid supplies. Like bugging out, this is all about supplies and gear.
Regarding food, your larder should be spread out over 3 categories – groceries, pre-made food, and ingredients. Groceries are what you already eat on a regular basis. This should be about 25% of your food. Premade food like Mountain House or Wyse are for quick meals and have the added benefit of being ready to grab and run if you do have to bug out. They’re also very easy to prepare. However, lots of them aren’t very good, they’re very expensive, and they’re very limited as there are only a few different meals available. You’ll get sick of eating them in no time which is why Ingredients are the most important food stuffs to stock. Ingredients are things like beans, rice, dehydrated vegetables, canned meat, spices and herbs, sugar, baking soda, and anything needed to actually make meals. This should be at the very least 50% of your larder, more like +75%. You can make an almost infinite number of different meals with Ingredients. Ingredients are also the cheapest way to procure large amounts of food. And don’t forget to stock a collection of cookbooks! Beyond supplies, you’ll need to be able to cook your food, heat your house, dispose of waste and sewage, filter water, defend your property, shortwave communications, etc. I won’t go into all the details here because once you’ve reached this point, you’ll have a pretty good idea of what you’re doing and don’t need my advice.
The last stage is Sustainability and this consists of being able to sustain you and your family indefinitely. This means gardening, farming, and livestock, off grid power, rain harvesting, ammo reloading, security, etc. There are some really good homesteading books that you should check out. Again, I’m not going to into a lot of detail here because at this point you know what you’re doing and are probably the one giving advice.
Lastly, I want to go over weapons briefly as I get asked this a lot. My recommendation is this: first get a quality pistol. The best gun in the world is the one you have on you, not the $3000 tricked out AR in your safe. I strongly recommend 9mm as it’s a highly competent round, inexpensive, lighter and smaller than 40’s and 45’s which means you get more shots for the same weight, lighter recoiling, and by far the most common round available. I also recommend polymer guns like the M&P’s, Glocks, etc as they’re lighter and nearly indestructible. After you get your pistol, I recommend a carbine rifle like an AR or an AK. My ultimate survival gun would be the Tavor X95. It’s fairly expensive though at around $1700. It has very similar internals as an AK but it’s a bullpup which means it’s short, and it shoots the .556 which is BY FAR the most common round. It’s not the most powerful bullet but it will still kill a human and medium sized animal with no problem and it’s much lighter than the 7.62x39 round. After that, I’d get the next three guns in any order – a pump 12gauge, a .308 or other larger caliber rifle that can shoot over 600 yards, and a .22lr rifle.
My goal in writing this was to not create a comprehensive plan and a series of check boxes, but rather to create a general guide to get you started and to hopefully avoid all the mistakes I made when I first started prepping by not having a plan. I hope this helps and please don’t hesitate to ask me any questions!
Great article. I know in my case and probably most others the EDC and GHB get overlooked but they are very important for having an overall solid prepping strategy.
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