Do I need a bug out bag if I have a second home?
Posted by silv3rio@reddit | preppers | View on Reddit | 33 comments
[removed]
Posted by silv3rio@reddit | preppers | View on Reddit | 33 comments
[removed]
Ryan_e3p@reddit
I can give lots of examples, but without knowing what city you're in, the list of potential hazards or weak points in your plan can include anything and everything.
silv3rio@reddit (OP)
I live near Porto, Portugal. Any feedback is apreciated
whereeissmyymindd@reddit
get east/ inland as soon as possible, maybe as far as Peso da Regua - also I love Porto, gorgeous city!
UncomfortableBike975@reddit
So you can teleport to your 2nd residence? If not, you still need a BOB.
premar16@reddit
The few times I have used a "bug out bag" type thing was when I had to evacuate during a fire. Most times I use my bag for when I have a medical emergency and need to go the ER
DaveyAllenCountry@reddit
A bob is supposed to be in the location you will be, or at least the home location you will be in the vicinity of (IE in your garage but you are at work. You can't carry it into work with you) it will not have eveything you need and stocked safe locations, like you said you have, will be more important. I would leave the bag in the car if I'm traveling back and forth a lot. Basically think of it like if you had to leave eveything behind and run and this bag is all you have.
ResolutionMaterial81@reddit
2 homes & a vacation condo here...plus other vacation spots. Primary rural home is my BOL.
While I have BOBs hanging in the closet, they get zero love nowadays. The real effort in 'portability preps' goes into the 2 rather intensive GBH (Get Back Home) Kits in the 2 primary vehicles. Have off-road heavy duty carts & folding/collapsible dolleys in the vehicles. The gear is bagged for stealth & portability + all is inventoried.
So basically I can transport the items needed for the scenario & distance, and stash the rest for later retrieval.
You might consider similar for your needs.
McRibs2024@reddit
What’s your plan if that 35 min drive is a multi day walk with unusual indirect routes to get there?
Have your bags prepped for that for two to make that trek out of the city. Car may only get you so far until points of egress are clogged, blocked, inaccessible and you’re now on foot.
Probably want decent footwear for that as well.
silv3rio@reddit (OP)
I haven't considered that. I may not even be able to cross the bridges that separate both homes. Thanks mate
Lethalmouse1@reddit
Depending on why you're leaving and how the water you're referring to is, inflatable boats bro. Inflatable boats.
https://a.co/d/fNzTKm8
Backpacks + inflatable boat, good to go.
If it gets that serious, extra advice if you got the coin:
E-scooters. Small trailer prepped to go with boat and scooters. Hook up, roll out. Bridge out, get to water. Inflate boat, attach motor (or row if it's possible). Toss E scooters on boat, get in boat with backpacks. Float on over to the other side. Dismount boat, hope on scooters, making it way further and faster than walking.
Mala_Suerte1@reddit
Good rule for prepping is to have a backup for everything, especially true of plans. Have multiple routes planned and multiple way of getting there. My plans generally have a good, better, best option. Best in your situation is driving, better would be a bike or scooter (ebike or powered scooter would be awesome) and the good plan is walking.
Never assume anything in prepping. Normalcy bias is a bad thing.
Does your wife have a plan and supplies to get to your apartment from her work?
What if you have to leave the apartment before she gets there, do you have a plan?
What if cell phones, landlines and internet are down and you have to leave the apartment, what's the plan to contact her? Do you have a designated meeting area if this happens?
Lethalmouse1@reddit
No one "NEEDS" a bug out bag. It's a thing people like to have for various reasons.
Though to he fair, even the red cross or fema suggest a light level BoB of sorts. Which makes sense like for traveling from a disaster quick evacuation to your other home/family etc.
Honestly, since you care to ask and you have a generally specific frame, I'd lean a simple approach:
35 minute drive. Most common miserable drive in lower levels events is 2-5 hours. You can uncomfortablly do that with nothing, but hey! Let's be more comfy. And that preps us to survive longer uncomfortable :)
I'd say a bag that has 4 hour journey supplies is the goal. Basically 2 water bottles per bag (per person), a one lunch worth of calories snacks. A change of underwear/socks/T-shirt/light pants. Maybe one cheapo hoodie per. Parental bag has a document holder with copies of important documents, addresses, phone numbers, contacts. (Family, friends, doctors, insurance companies). Small first aid kid, some small travel games, $100.
Cash sucks in that it loses value, but $100 im 5 years is what? $75. Well $50-100 is likely enough grease to make any incidental needs in a 35 minute normal drive distance. If you have it like that, and have a family, $100 per bag, puts everyone in a miserable situation with some for separation/bag loss, bag not taken etc. Also (say a family of 4) $400 basically means that you have 5-10 years of motel night money if needed. Basically guaranteed gas money. Etc. Etc.
Maybe a few trinkets, such as a multi-tool, lighter, flashlight. Small can of fix-a-flat. (It works to store in car, but it does tend to last longer in climate control). Fix a flat also means if there was an issue and let's say your car is screwed and there is a disaster evacuation. Let's say your neighbor is headed that way, and even needs a place to crash for a few nights. He's driving, he doesn't have it... flat tire super suck.
Phone charger + battery pack. If you wear glasses, + 1 emergency pair. Or maybe just one pair from your last prescription.
Emergency ponchos.
Whistles.
Pepper spray.
Thats not a big bag. A regular school backpack will cover all that and basically means that any semi-normal misery that you encounter in the 30 mile trip, will be mitigated, plus some aid if you had to rush out and patch things together later (documents etc.)
AlphaDisconnect@reddit
Deaths due to Chernobyl. Let's round that to 30 per 100,000. I know as peppers we like to be ready for anything. Just remember. Radioactive dust is bad. Avoid that. Just head up wind. Up stream. Wash with non radioactive water.
There is a good chance someone will have the honor to kill the reactor on the way out (for many reasons including their own survival).
Prep for water. This can be liter refillable water bottles. I fill mine with a lot of ice and water and put them in a bigish cooler bag. At least 2 per person. I also have a stainless cup because boiling water is good for a lot. Pouring water into the cup keeps your dirty mouth parts out of the water. Now in non disaster you have a cold lunch and if you set yourself up right a hot tea, coffee or lunch. And clean, cold shareable water.
Have a good set of shoes or boots - broken in. Gore tex jacket is great. Survival blanket sucka but will prevent wet. Merino wool socks. If you feel motivated a us military mre.
E bikes are a thing. No clue on how emp might hit those. Put on a grounding strap for good luck.
ArcaneLuxian@reddit
We have a similar situation, but in a very rural, drive-past town. ( As in you never stop there but you drive past it because it is a gas station on the way to your destination.) We aren't normally out there unless it is a family event. Im beginning to think its a good idea to have at least a weeks worth of clothes, water, cleaning supplies and food out there because just in case. Should we have to walk in the worst case scenario the most wed need to bring over was important documents. Thank you for post this its given me some inspiration to start another 72 hour kit (really should be calling it a blackout kit because these situations last longer than 72 hours in the worst cases).
funnysasquatch@reddit
Yes but Bug out bags don't mean you are going to backpack for the rest of your life.
A bug out bag doesn't even have to be a bag.
What it means is having the essentials needed to make sure you safely get from an unsafe location to a safe location.
Your second home, most likely, would become an established safe location.
While preppers tend to think of Doomsday - that's unlikely. It might be for something mundane - people move between homes in retirement. They winter in a warm place. Summer in a cool place.
One house gets clobbered in a severe storm, you relocate after the storm while the house is being rebuilt.
dittybopper_05H@reddit
This.
The point of a Bug Out Bag is to have supplies to get you in relative safety and comfort from Place A which is not safe (or soon won't be safe) to Place B which is safe. And maybe some stuff for while you're in Place B like extra clothing.
That's all it is. You're "bugging out" to a new location. You're not heading off to the woods meet up with the Bielski Brothers.
trailrider290@reddit
Plan to walk to the second house. How long will that take? Plan accordingly and create a bugout bag for that. My location is only a 4 hour walk from my house. So my BOB is fairly light. And almost all of it will be off the roads and thru the woods.
Long_Bit8328@reddit
No.
You need two bug out bags.
One for each home
nakedonmygoat@reddit
In addition to the scenarios already outlined, how about a personal disaster, such as a medical emergency requiring immediate hospitalization? This can happen to anyone, anytime. In the last year of my husband's life, he was in and out of the hospital every few weeks, and it was always brought on by a new emergency.
A hospital go bag would be slightly different from a "hike out on foot" go bag, but there's a lot of overlap. Maybe have the hospital bag, and also a supplemental bag for a more extreme emergency.
Prepare first for extremely likely scenarios, then build from there. And if either of your homes is near the coast, I hope you haven't forgotten what happened in 1755. There may be no recent history of such disasters at either of your locations, but even if you weren't directly affected the stream of refugees inland could cause problems. From what I have read, it's not "if" but "when" a similar disaster strikes again.
Many-Health-1673@reddit
You definitely need a Go Bag at minimum or preferably a B.O.B. for extra food and supplies if you have to walk that 20 miles.
DwarvenRedshirt@reddit
It depends on your area. You say no fires/flooding/storms. But it's happened to other areas that don't have a history of it either. Atlanta was gridlocked with just 2-3 inches of snow for example. Other things to look at are trains passing your area (Ohio had that train derailment of hazardous materials that put up a plume of toxic smoke). Chemical factories or nuclear power plants upwind of you. Levees or dams upstream of you (levee and dam breaches can flood homes miles away from the breach).
Worldly-Ad-7156@reddit
Expand on the possibilities you would need to leave. Large scale fire destroys house, chemical leak making area unsafe, etc. you may need to leave and go a direction you did not plan for. That the reason for the bag, it's a generic way to supply and protect yourself.
localdisastergay@reddit
Even if there’s nothing big happening and most people are unaffected, having a bag with basics like clean clothes, phone chargers and some snacks would make things a lot easier for a personal emergency, like a broken arm, so that you could rush to the hospital and have what you need to be relatively comfortable while you wait for treatment.
EffinBob@reddit
Only you can determine what you need. I would have one in case the second home is already occupied once you get there.
daringnovelist@reddit
In that case your bug out bag would be more like a roadside emergency bag. Enough for if you are delayed getting to your other home. Plus the bag of things like important documents.
PineapplePiazzas@reddit
If stack in traffic and zz go boom on both homes and tha cars. Need bag in car with jetpacks for quick getaway. Extra bugger hide in forest secret top location.
Metalheadmom92@reddit
35 minute by drive is how long on foot? I could imagined you needing to bug out to your second home if things got dangerous in the city (leaving before SHTF) and plan for walking the distance instead of driving it.
As for scenarios, EMP, freak natural events, civil unrest, increase in refugees in the city where it becomes dangerous to stay, increase in criminal activity.
Altruistic_Key_1266@reddit
What’s your plan to get from work to home if the roads are chocked and people are panicking? How do you plan to get from your apartment to your second property if you can’t drive/public transportation?
ryan112ryan@reddit
You should always have a bug out bag as it’s a hedge against the unknown. 2 homes is a huge leg up but as others mentioned there are disasters that could cover that distance.
Also in the event, that rule of law is no longer, you cannot likely positively control both locations at the same time. That likely means which ever you choose will mean the other home is insecure at best, at worst loss completely.
Having a bug out bag is always a good idea in case you have to leave your current location. You should also have a bag specific to getting from one home to another.
dittybopper_05H@reddit
What if there is a large enough disaster area that you need to go somewhere farther than 20 miles away?
Might be unlikely, but a really bad chemical or radiological incident might mean neither is viable, especially if the wind is blowing in the wrong direction.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_exclusion_zone
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_effects_from_the_Fukushima_nuclear_accident#Ground,_water_and_sewage_contamination_outside_of_30_kilometers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster
NewEnglandPrepper3@reddit
I would for sure. What if you have to displace from your second home too.
Rocksteady2R@reddit
If i am shooting from the hip - i'd say your conflating a BoB with an INCH.
Ask yourself the question - how are you getting to that second location? And for this, you assume your car is broken. You need the capacity to get you to your next safe-zone. Drop the titles/expectations of BoB, INCH and GHB's. Just be sure you can be mobile and so.ewhat self sufficient.
joshak3@reddit
Since you're in or near a city, there are probably a lot of chokepoints like bridges and tunnels such that if one of them goes out of service, the remaining chokepoints can't cope with all the diverted demand, so traffic grinds to a standstill, and you may not be able to get to either of your residences. The cause doesn't need to be anything dramatic, just a messy car accident in a tunnel at rush hour, and suddenly you might need to spend the night at a motel.
You might also search past posts for discussions of a get-home bag (GHB) with items to help you get to either location if things go wrong as you're leaving work or running errands.
Lastly, you said you have supplies at each location for at least a week, but that's not very long, so it would be good to supplement your supplies of food, toiletries, and so on at each location. If you don't do that, then the bug-out bag essentially is that supplement because it lets you bring a few extra days' worth of clothing, toiletries, and food wherever you go.