You can really get left out in the cold if you fail to prepare for a winter storm. What steps do you need to take to make sure you’ve got everything your family needs to stay safe? If you’ve read my other pieces on general survival and the rule of three’s, this should sound a little familiar.
Photo by @joshhild of Unsplash.com
Warmth
The most obvious problem you could run in to when you prepare for a winter storm is staying warm. As long as you don’t lose power, this is a non-issue. Unless you live in an area that doesn’t normally get cold, your heating system will support you through the storm.
What you need to prepare for is if you lose power. If you have natural gas in your home, you’re in luck. Gas stoves and fireplaces can still be used without electricity, although you may need matches or a lighter to get them going. If you do not have gas heat, staying warm will require a little more preparation. It’s always a good idea to have chemical heaters (Hot Hands and similar brands) on hand. They’re easy, convenient, and can last for hours. You should always have plenty of coats and blankets on hand, enough for all members of your family. Speaking of your family, there’s quite a bit more you can do to secure them if you lose power in a winter storm.
The go bag items you have on hand may be the only thing that you can bring with you if you have to head for the hills in a hurry. It pays to think out in advance what you’re going to need. That way, you won’t stumble into situations you’re not prepared for. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.
How To Think About Go Bag Items
When you’re planning your go bag items, you have to think a little differently. You want everything to be as light as possible, including the bag itself. The “go” in a go bag means you’re trying to be mobile and agile.
Survival is also paramount. You’re not trying to assemble your must-have luxuries, you’re trying to stay safe and alive. The best way to make sure you’ve got your bases covered is to remember the Rule of Three’s.
Go Bag Items And The Rule Of 3’s
Air
You can only survive 3 minutes without air. Luckily, Earth is mostly covered in it. Problems arise when something contaminates the air. Many types of disaster might do this. Volcanic ash, tear gas, or even heavy smog can impede your ability to get oxygen in your system.
For this reason, air masks are a must have for your go-bag. You should at least have N-95 masks handy. These are cheap, lightweight, and easy to use. If you’ve got extra space or fear that air quality will be a major factor in your escape, opt for a larger respirator.
Shelter
This one surprises a lot of people, but shelter can be more time sensitive than water or food. You can only survive 3 hours in extreme hot or cold environments. Shelter should include your clothing and something you can camp with.
This depends on your environment. If you’re in an area that experiences extreme heat or extreme cold, you should have a change of clothes that will protect you from this. You should also have a folding poncho. Getting wet can be deadly in a survival situation. It very quickly wicks heat away from your body. Getting a poncho with grommets will mean that with some rope or twine, you can use it as a tent as well.
As for your shelter, your rain poncho and cord should be able to cover you, but what about keeping you warm? Emergency Mylar blankets are cheap, versatile, and very lightweight. You can line your shelter with it, wear it around yourself, and even signal for help with shiny ones. They’re a must-have go bag item.
Water
You can only survive 3 days without water. Because water is so heavy, you can bet that you cant carry enough to sustain you for long. This is where planning comes into play. I’ve already written an article about water purification you can read (HERE), so I’ll spare you the details. More important than having water is being able to clean water you find. For this reason, it’s a good idea to have a water purification straw for the short term, and techniques planned for the long term.
Food
You can make it about 3 weeks without food, depending on the person. While it’s another one that requires renewability, it’s a little easier to carry than water. Emergency rations have a good shelf life, and are easy to carry. You can toss a 72-hour supply of food in as a go bag item that’ll carry you until you reach a safer destination.
Bug Out Items – Tools
There are a few tools you’ll want to add to your list of bug out items in addition to the Rule of Three’s gear.
First off, you’ll want light. If you plan to be traveling at night, or if you will be out after dark, you’ll need to be able to see. Cheap flashlights are lightweight and can be found everywhere, but headlamps are an even better idea. They’re hands-free and also very lightweight.
Additionally, you’ll want a good multitool. They come in a million shapes and sizes but the must-haves are a cutting edge, pliers, and a fire-starter. If you have these bases covered then you’re ready for most everything.
Go Bag Items Wrap-up
Ultimately, what goes in your go bag is up to you. You need to make sure that you understand how to use everything you pack. And you need to make sure that the total weight is manageable for you. Otherwise you’ll be chucking useless items as you go, wasting time and energy when it matters most.
Once you’ve bugged out, water purification is one of your highest priorities. You can’t go very long without water, and it’s too heavy to carry it all with you. Drinking from unfiltered sources can make you sick. This will be even more true depending on what kind of disaster you’re bugging out from. So where does this leave you?
Jonatan Pie – Unsplash.com
Like most essential things to your survival, you need redundancies. You should bring some water with you. You should also have something you can use to quickly filter other water sources. Even though it won’t be clean, it helps to know you’ve got a water source where you’re going. On top of that, you should know how to use things you can find to purify water if all else fails. In this article I want to run through your best lines of defense for staving off dehydration, in the short and long term.
Water Purification by Fire
Boiling water to purify it is the simplest, but not always the easiest method for purifying water. You only need 3 things, the water, something you can boil it in, and something to boil it on. Finding water is a whole ‘nother article. But as a general rule, head downhill and look for moving water over stagnant. Once you’ve got the water, boiling it can be easier said than done.
I recommend you keep a couple things with you for boiling water. First is a pot. Aluminum is a good metal for this because it’s sturdy and safe enough to heat, but it’s also very light. Carrying a tripod to hang it over a fire is unrealistic so you can shoot for putting it on a grate or bars resting between rocks.
The other thing I recommend is a way to start your fire, in fact you should have a few. Fire is imperative for your survival, for more reasons than just boiling water. Having a flint and steel will last you longer than matches, but having a few little lighters is cheap and easy too.
You likely won’t have a thermometer, so just get your water bubbling. Let it sit for at least a minute before transferring it or drinking it. High altitudes effect the temperature water boils too so if you’re up in the hills, give it at least three.
Straws and Bottles
If you’re looking for easy, it doesn’t get much easier than pre-built filters. They’re not the cheapest solution, but I certainly recommend them for the safety net. The straws are nice because you can drink right out of the water source with them if you want. Both the straws and the bottles will give you a very easy way to purify water on the go. Their main downside is that they are finite and will get less effective over time. They’re absolutely perfect to cover the gap if you’re bugging out to a secondary bug out location. This straw from Purewell is a good deal for a very useful tool.
Building a Filter
Easy is the last thing this method is. Building your own water filtration system is involved and high-effort. But having this knowledge can seriously upgrade your bug out spot. The easiest way to construct your own water filter is with three 5-gallon buckets. You can also use the same method with just one bucket and 3 layers inside it.
The top layer of your filter is fine gravel. This will catch larger debris that might be in your water. The next level underneath is sand. This is a little finer and will catch finer debris. Finally your bottom later is charcoal, this will catch anything too fine for the sand or gravel. Once your water drips out the bottom of this, it’s safe to drink. With this method you can load up a bunch of water in the top and let it run through slowly over time, totally hands off! Water purification without babysitting a fire.
Water Purification by Sun Distillation
This is another passive water solution that’s a lot easier than building a filter. Plus, this solution works for getting the salt out of salt water. There are a lot of physical setups for this process. So I’ll just run you through the theory and a couple easy varieties.
The way sun distillation works is by using the heat of the sun to evaporate water and collect it again. Only the pure water gets evaporated, leaving behind salt and contaminants. So once you recollect it you’ve got pure ready-to-go drinking water.
One simple process only requires 2 bottles and something to seal them. (Think disposable plastic or sports drink bottles.) Take your two bottles and fill one halfway with dirty or salty water. Tape the other one on top of it so the mouths are touching and it’s one long container. Then you prop up the bottles so the empty one is higher than the one with water. Leave this in the sun and the water will evaporate up to the top bottle. Once you carefully disconnect them you’ll have some water ready to drink. The downside to this method is that the amount of water you can make at a time really relies on your bottle shapes.
This water distillation setup will help you speed up the process. You’ll need some sort of box or bin that can hold water, a piece of glass or plastic that can fit over top of it, and a trough or funnel to collect water.
Start by setting up your box so one side is taller than the other, either by cutting it or adding to it. Next lay your glass over top of it, so one side is lower than the other. Make sure that there is some gap or other way for water to roll from the glass to the trough. Finally, you’ll install your trough at the low side of the glass. Once you put some water in your box and leave it in the sun, it’ll start purifying. The vapor will collect on the glass and roll down to the trough. Put another container or bottle for the trough to lead water into and you’ve got a bulk, hands-free water purification!
Under normal circumstances, rainwater is perfectly safe to drink, no water purification necessary. But, you do have to take your area and situation into account. Be wary if you’re fleeing a nuclear disaster, or if one has occurred on the continent. If the environment is relatively normal, rainwater can and should be collected!
Simply set up a tarp or poncho by tying corners to nearby trees or buildings. Then, just set something to collect it in under the lowest corner. For added effectiveness, don’t tie the drip corner to anything. Just tie a string or rope to the corner and let it hang down into your collection place. This can even collect water when it’s not raining. Morning dew or high humidity can both collect on tarps. If you have any unsafe drinking water, it’s not a bad idea to store it under the tarp and let the warmth of the sun slowly evaporate it onto your tarp.
The Importance of Water Purification
I hope I’ve given you a solid plan to act on both for stocking your bug out bag and for long term solutions. Water is the next most important thing after air, you can’t get by without it. Your survival relies on your access to drinkable water. If clean water gets scarce don’t get caught unprepared!
This bug out car kit will give you a good list of supplementary supplies. It’s not quite a bug out bag and it’s not quite a get home bag. This list exists to give you a nice shopping list for luxuries that you wouldn’t take on foot. But, they’d be nice if your car can do the carrying for you.
Weight is such an important consideration when we plan. It’s the primary factor of what you can and can’t take with you. There are ton’s of items like tents, or iron cook-wear, that are just too heavy to consider.
I’ve got a good article about what kind of vehicle you should bug out in, and this folds in. If your car has more storage space, then you can take more fun stuff with you!
This will also include some car specific gear. If your car’s coming with when you bug out, then you’ll want some supplies for it. Cars can take a lot to keep them going. You don’t want to be caught empty handed if your car’s having problems.
Empty Gas Can (Never Keep This Full Inside The Car)
Fuses
Siphon/Pump
Transmission Fluid
Coolant
Oil
Wiper Fluid
Fix-A-Flat
Bonus Bug Out Supplies
Bug Out Food (Dried Food/Calorie Bars)
Drinking Water
Camping Tent
Bolt Cutters
Extra Clothes
Second Weather Radio
Extra Cold Weather Supplies
Snow Brush
Snow Shovel
Warm Clothing
Cat Litter (For Traction)
Extra Blankets
Now we’ll jump to the recommendations. I put together my list based on what I would pick. I value quality, but I also value keeping costs low. My picks are a blend of that. I also left some things out of the recommendations. Things like clothes, blankets, and even rations are subjective and covered in other places.
If you’d like to skip the list here and jump right to the shopping, I’ve put together a full wish list on amazon with everything from the list included!
This whole website is about preparing for scary and dangerous situations. Even with that being the case, I try to keep it positive. The bright side of prepping is that you’re prepared. When you know you’re prepared, you can relax. You know that whatever comes, you’ve got a plan. You can keep your cool and you’ll continue your life. With this in mind, there are few situations that will radically change life as we know it. Those situations are pretty unlikely. The chance of a Hollywood style disaster sending the world into chaos is extremely low, everywhere except for Yellowstone.
This is why Yellowstone scares the hell out of me.
Yellowstone: The Numbers
On average, Yellowstone catastrophically erupts about every 690 thousand years. It’s been 630 thousand since the last one. That puts us well within the range of another “big one” at any time. It’s worth noting that we don’t have a ton of data on this, and we can’t predict when eruptions will happen. But these numbers are close enough to keep me worried. I live in the midwest, Yellowstone is in Wyoming. If it’s halfway across the country, why am I concerned?
What Is A Supervolcano?
I’ve seen it very eloquently put: Volcanoes make mountains, supervolcanoes erase them. Most people are familiar with the Mount Saint Helens eruption. It’s the most well known US example of a volcano.
The last time Yellowstone erupted, it was 4000 times bigger than that. Projections put the survival rate in Wyoming at next to 0 if it were to go. While it’s true that the most violent threat of a volcano is it’s debris and lava, the ash is the most far-reaching. The entire western US would likely feel the shaking from the eruption. There isn’t a part of the world that wouldn’t feel the ash.
The Last Supervolcano
The last time a supervolcano erupted it was around 70,000 years ago. This is known as the Toba supervolcano in Sumatra, Indonesia. We weren’t there at the time but evidence from the environment shows devastation. Scientists believe that the eruption caused a “volcanic winter” effect. This effect blocked out the sun for 6 to 8 years. To the wildlife afoot, this must have truly looked like the end of days.
Yellowstone: What Can You Do?
The point of this site is preparation. All this doom and gloom is meaningless worrying unless we can put it to good use. The possibility of a supervolcano eruption should do a few things. For starters, it should bring some humility. There are so many massive things in the world that are out of everyone’s control.
On the other hand, some things are in our control. We can take it into our own hands to be as ready as possible for these massive disasters. By taking our fate into our own hands we can relax. We can rest assured in our knowledge that we’ve done what we can. What exactly can you do?
For starters, if you live within the blast zone of this disaster, you need an exit strategy. For a lot of people living close to Yellowstone, there’s nothing to be done but move. Disasters like this are huge and happen quickly. Within a certain range, destruction is inevitable.
That said, if you’re anywhere within the larger ash zones, you’ll have a chance to flee. If the big one goes, there will be a mass exodus. Many people will successfully get away from the brunt of the disaster. This explosion will shake the world, but life will continue. Being a refugee in a state you’ve never been to is a whole lot better than being part of Pompeii part two.
The Supplies
On top of this plan, you can make sure that you’ve got the supplies to keep going as you escape. You may be stuck in your car, or even on foot with a bag for days or weeks. If you have emergency rations and supplies, you’ll be able to keep trucking along to safety.
Air masks and respirators will be the absolute most important piece of gear you have. The second this event hits, they’ll be impossible to find. The world’s production won’t level out on these for years. If you make sure you’ve got enough masks for you and your family, you’ll be in a much better position.
The prep for this event isn’t much different from the prep for other major disasters. The real piece of knowledge to take away from this is just the possibility that it’ll happen. Most people know that a hurricane or a tornado could throw their world around at any time. The fact that there is a massive supervolcano under America’s most beloved park is shockingly less well known.
I’m going to try not to make this another Covid article. As I write this, information is cloudy. To know what is/was really going on with the virus and its response will take the clarity of hindsight. A pandemic is a serious thing, which is why we have to identify what it looks like.
That said, two things have proven true. The world will eventually be okay, we’ll get back on track. The other is that this virus wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Mortality rates are in question but it’s clear that we aren’t looking at the New Black Plague. The world population is largely unchanged. The lives lost are tragic, but society continues on.
Identifying a Pandemic
So what does constitute a pandemic? It’s actually a pretty loose definition. It’s normally defined as a disease/virus/germ, that effects many people across borders. By this definition, seasonal flu’s every single year are “pandemics”. This likely isn’t the pandemic you’re thinking of or trying to prepare for. If you’re worried and prepping, the pandemic you’re worried about is more intense. You’re thinking death in the streets and uncontrollable spreading. This describes something else. Something that has a much higher chance of coming from somewhere more sinister. This sounds like a bio-weapon.
Some conspiracy theorists think that Covid is a bioweapon. I don’t know if this is true. What I do know is that if it is a bioweapon, it’s not a very good one. When people talk about the risk of bioweapons, this isn’t what they talk about. There are hundreds of truly terrifying diseases locked up in research centers. If you were a terrorist, there are much scarier options to choose from.
Are we at risk of biological terrorism. The information, especially now, is cloudy. Biological weapons are outlawed by the Geneva Convention, but criminals don’t follow laws. The only thing we can do is prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
That said, when do you bug out in the face of an epidemic?
Emergency RespondersIn A Pandemic
I’ll start by identifying some markers and we can look at how they could be flags it’s time to get out of dodge. Let’s start with hospitals. At the start of Covid a big concern was keeping hospitals from hitting capacity. Fortunately, they never did. If they had, this would have been a red flag. If hospitals are pouring out into the streets, this is a sign that society as we know it isn’t handling the pandemic.
How about police? In the face of Covid, police put on masks. They didn’t stop responding, they didn’t abandon their jobs. If police stop responding to calls, or they fall apart all together, that’s a red flag.
Stores and Supplies
Let’s look at supply chains. When there’s any sort of public panic, there will be runs on supplies. Stores will run out of key items. This is a self-fulfilling prophecy in a way. As an item starts to run low, word gets out that it’s getting scarce. As word gets out, people will blast the supply even more. This is what happened to toilet paper and hand sanitizer at the start of Covid. But then something important happened. Stocks leveled back out. You can find these things again in most places. This means we avoided what would have been a red flag.
If the grid broke down due to people abandoning critical infrastructure, this would have been a huge red flag.
When you’re trying to decide whether it’s time to head for the hills, you have to take stock of the situation. Look at everything objectively and make a rational decision.
Before you have to make that decision, you want to be prepared for it. This is why it’s so important to have a bug out plan and a hunker down plan. If you have the space, you need to have emergency supplies. Once you realize you need these things, it can be far too late to get a hold of them.
When you hit the road to bug out, there’s no telling what will be in your way. You may not have your vehicle long, if at all. If you’ve got to hoof it, the most important thing you’ve got is your bug out shoes, maybe even more important than your bag. You won’t make it far in flats or loafers.
The best shoes for bugging out are sturdy but lightweight. You want hiking shoes. They come in a variety of shapes and styles but one thing doesn’t change: they’re made for walking.
Below is a list of the best bug out hiking shoes for men and women that I could find. Whether you prefer the ankle protection of boots or the weight of sneakers, I’ve got you covered.
Best Bug Out Hiking Shoes
Men’s Bug Out Shoes
Women’s Bug Out Shoes
Merrell Men’s Moab 2 Waterproof Hiking Shoe
Merrel is a great brand for anything hiking footwear. It’s the brand that I personally wear when I’m on the trail. My boots were tried by fire on a 100 mile mountain-backpacking trip. They haven’t stopped rocking and rolling since.
The first thing you notice when you get a good pair of hiking shoes is how they feel on your feet compared to sneakers. You’ve got to break them in but after you do they feel like they’re made for walking.
These Merrel’s feature Vibram soles. Vibrams are a staple in footwear. You’ll find them in quality shoes from motorcycle boots to sneakers to those shoes with toes.
The next thing you might notice about these shoes is that they’re waterproof. Unfortunately, they only come up to below the ankle. This means they’ll only only protect you as far as they cover, but that’s what pants are for.
The tongue on these shoes isn’t it’s own flap, it’s all one piece. This means you don’t have to worry about dirt or debris getting into your shoes. If the SHTF, you know there’s going to be debris.
The best part about these shoes might be the price. For under $100 in most sizes and colors, these shoes pack quality! They’re a great value for a great shoe!
Best Bug Out Trail Shoes
Men’s Bug Out Shoes
Women’s Bug Out Shoes
Salomon X Ultra-3Trail Shoe
These shoes look about as far from a hiking boot as you could be. But that couldn’t be more wrong. They might look like sneakers but these hiking shoes will keep you trucking with the best of them.
Salomon makes a quality shoes, these are the proof!
Let’s start with the comfort. When you’re out on the trail, especially if you’re moving fast, comfort matters. If you’ve got an uncomfortable shoe, it’ll get unbearable if you have to push it. These hiking shoes have padding all throughout to conform to your foot. Not only are the shoes designed for your feet, but they’re also designed for the differences in your feet. The men’s and women’s shoes differ in their shape to make sure that they fit as accurately as possible.
The tread on these shoes is specifically designed for rough terrain. The shapes on the bottom of the shoe help catch traction, especially on downhills.
All of this and a durable, hardened toe protector too! These shoes are seriously sturdy! That doesn’t compromise their weight for a second. Weight is a very big part of bugging out. These shoes keep the weight low so you can spend it where it really counts.
If you want a pair of hiking shoes that’s light and agile, without sacrificing durability, these are the shoes for you!
Best Bug Out Hiking Boots
Men’s Bug Out Hiking Boots
Women’s Bug Out Hiking Boots
Timberland White Ledge Ankle Boot
If you’re looking for a more traditional pair of hiking boots, this is likely what you were thinking of. Timberland and a known, trusted brand. This one’s a mid-length boot, only just covering your ankle. This is about as high as I’d recommend for a bug out boot. Any higher and your boot will be get pretty heavy. This length provides the support and ankle protection you want from a boot. But, it still keeps light.
The 100% full grain leather is naturally waterproof. Timberland also uses waterproof seam-sealed construction. This will keep your whole foot warm and dry, nothing’s getting in!
The metal on the boot is rustproof and designed for speed. These will keep you quick to lace and it’ll keep your laces in good shape.
Timberland’s are a high-quality shoe, and you pay for quality. Even with that said, these boots come in under $100. For a good pair of boots, that price is a deal!
A Faraday cage isn’t always a cage like you might imagine. You can buy them pre-made or make them out of just about anything. I’ve made one out of a shoe box and a roll of aluminum foil. To answer what a Faraday cage is, I’ll start with how it works.
Faraday cages work by blocking electromagnetic fields. This includes things like wifi and phone signal, but also EMPs. This EMP blocking effect is the part we’re the most interested in for prepping. In my example from above, the aluminum foil formed a complete seal around the inside of the box. With the aluminum touching completely, it forms a shell. That shell absorbs and redirects these waves and pulses. So why might this be necessary?
Where Do EMPs Come From?
There are a couple things that could cause an EMP you’d need to worry about. The first is the most obvious: EMP weapons. EMPs were first discovered when the US government was testing nuclear weapons. They observed that detonating these nukes high in the air had an EMP effect felt on the ground. These EMPs fry electronics and bring down electrical systems. Everybody knows this now, and if a foreign power wanted to, they could use it.
The risk of another country using these kinds of weapons is high and it’s low. CIA agents and government officials always say that we’re much closer to global war than we know. While this is true, it’s also true that a global war is bad for everyone. Even the country starting it will be worse off for having done it. The world has enough nukes to blow itself up twenty times over, a global war could end life as we know it. For this reason, the risk is also low.
In this war scenario, it’s likely that the bombs would be a lot stronger than EMPs. If nukes start flying, we won’t have to worry about bugging out or prepping either way.
The other EMP risk is scarier because we can’t predict or control it. That’s solar flares. Massive solar flares could crop up at any time and knock down the grid. One happened 150 years ago that would have done this, but the grid wasn’t up yet. These flares aren’t even particularly rare. Our electric life as we know it just hasn’t been around long enough to see one.
What To Put In The Faraday Cage
So you see the risks here. The next question is, what do you put in a Faraday cage? There are lot’s of pre-built professional Faraday cages at a range of prices. You can get one to fit any need. The only limit is your budget. I recommend, at your entry level, getting an emergency crank radio and a flashlight.
Emergency radios are incredibly important. They’re a lifeline. It’s easy to forget how connected you are. If something big happens, you’ll be aware of it in hours, likely minutes. If cell phones, the internet, and TV all go down, you’re cut off. The blackout could be a small cyber attack or it could be the end of the grid as we know it. The first things to come back up, or possible the last to go down, are emergency radio broadcasts. If you’ve got a shielded emergency radio, it’ll keep you hooked in, even when everything is going down.
If I had a lot of disposable income, I’d go even bigger than that. I’d put together a Faraday shed with a full HAM Radio in it. It really is the truth that your budget is your limit. If you’ve got the money for it, you could Faraday harden your bedroom, your entire house!
This is a tangent. The average person, you and me, should look at realistic solutions. The realistic solution is this: get a small Faraday box/bag and put a radio and a flashlight in it. If you’re including these items in your bug out bag, it’ll pay to protect them.
The fact that you’re reading this article means you’re hooked into the grid. The grid refers to the power grid. It’s the massive interconnected system that keeps everyone powered and communicating 24/7. This is a far-reaching, complex system kept running by hundreds of thousands of people. What if it all suddenly stopped? Is this even possible?
Yes, and it’s terrifying.
What Can Cause It?
I’ll start with how this could happen. The flashiest options are also the least likely. One method of taking down power grids would be with EMP attacks. These electromagnetic pulse weapons are just missiles with a heck of a payload. There’s a chance that another world power could use one of these, but it’s not likely. This would be a massive act of war that would lead to the destruction of society as we know it.
Unfortunately, there’s a natural phenomenon that’s unpredictable and just as dangerous. That’s solar flares. There are solar flares all the time, most of the time we don’t notice. About 150 years ago, just such a solar flare hit us. Some scientists believe we’ll see another one within the coming decades. It knocked down telegrams and some operators even reported getting shocked. Since the technology was new and not big, damage was small. If a solar flare of that size happened today, the damage would be trillions of dollars.
Not only would the damage be expensive, it would be disruptive. This is much scarier for the average person. Governments and big companies will get supply chains back on track, but how long will it take. You can bet anything that the gap is going to be chaos.
But even though some scientists believe a solar flare is coming, it’s still not likely. What is likely, are cyber attacks. USA Today states that a cyber attack hits the grid about every 4 days. All it would take is for one of these attacks to be more successful than they are. Power outages already cost us $33 billion a year to fix, and that’s with them being as small as they are.
So if the big one hits, what happens?
What’ll It Look Like If The Grid Goes Down
First off, it’s going to get quiet. Most people aren’t used to the silence that would follow a grid down event like these. Fortunately and unfortunately, it wouldn’t stay quiet for long. Some businesses might have generators but stores would close fast. At this point, the panic would start. You’d see a drastic spike in “survivor crimes”. These are things like looting and self defense around the looting, the things you might see around other disasters, but worse. This makes stores and major streets dangerous places to be.
If the grid was knocked down by a cyber attack, it should be back up soon. This is why preparation is important. If you’ve got even a week up supplies at home, you don’t have to go out and try to get it. You can hunker down with your family and wait for things to get back under control.
Irreparable Damage
If it was an EMP, this may be a different story. EMPs damage circuitry. This damage can’t be reversed from a distance. Electronics would need replacing. The time to get the world back up and running gets a lot longer. There’s a chance that the world may never fully recover from the chaos that follows this. This is the kind of situation that bugging out can help. Once stores are picked clean, looters will turn to residences. Your supplies are only good if you can hold onto them. Getting out of dodge, especially in urban areas, will put space between you and unrest.
We live our lives completely intertwined with the grid. In a way, the fates of the grid and society are intertwined. By preparing for major disruptions, you detach yourself from this reliance. By having plans to follow, you keep yourself from falling into the chaos.
This bug out cooking kit will give you a good baseline to start with. It’s perfect for longer-term bugging out, not necessarily short-term get home bags. There’s a lot of things that you an add to your kit. There are tons of luxury items you can throw in if you’ve got the extra space! But you have to remember to keep weight and the ways to reduce it in mind.
The first way is with materials. Aluminum and titanium are much lighter than iron or steel! The other way to bring weight down is with the number of pieces. If you reduce the number of pieces then you reduce the total weight right off the bat.
Bug Out Cooking Kit List
A Lightweight Wood-Burning Stove (Optional)
A Cooking Pot
A Cup For Each Person
A Bowl For Each Person
A Set Of Silverware For Each Person (This could be a fork and a spoon, or a spork.)
A Can Opener (This might be on your Multi-Tool.)
A Wooden Cooking Spoon (Can be cut short to save space.)
Now let’s jump to the recommendations. Since this is a short list I wanted to give two choices for each piece of gear. Ultimately, this whole thing comes down to a lot of preference. Everyone cooks and eats differently. The only way to know what you really need is to test it yourself! Below you’ll find my recommendations and also a link to a list of all of them put together.
