If you’re like me, you’ve been prepping for a long time. Over the years you probably have accumulated tons of gear, survival equipment, long term storage foods, guns and ammo. My problem was that I felt extremely un-organized. As if, I had all this stuff but if the mushroom cloud went up and it was time to get out, I would just be grabbing boxes at random, throwing them in the truck and hoping for the best. I brought this issue up with FreedomHoldVP who was having the same issue and we came up with a way to further hone the bug out bin system.

Go into every room in your house and think to yourself “What do I need to duplicate this when the SHTF?” For example: In the bathroom you bathe, brush your teeth, shave/groom, and relieve yourself. So what I did was created a “Bathroom Bin”. In it I put baby wipes, toilet paper, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, a towel, I added a solar shower to the large bin, feminine hygiene items, a trowel for digging a toilet, an L.E.D. lamp, deodorant, shampoo/conditioner and a candle.

Then I went through the rest of the house and thought about how to replicate the kitchen, bedrooms, living room and the house overall. The plan is to make small bins for each area of the house and place them in a larger bin for ease and speed when it’s time to go.

In the above photo you can see I have cooking utensils, a snow peak backpacking stove (small white box), fuel for the stove, matches, a candle, dishes etc. The things that are not seen are the sponges, dish soap, trash bags, L.E.D. light, dish gloves, and drying towel.

The finished product, for me looked something like this:

Again there are items you can’t see such as an emergency radio, a two burner Colman camping stove, a skillet and there is also a second large bin that has things like my sleeping bags, tent and shelter items, tools, entertainment items and food.

The rules of redundancy always apply. If you need something you should have at least 3 ways to get it. If you need light you should have a flashlight, a lantern, glow sticks, candles, head lamp etc. If you need fire you should have matches, lighters and a ferrocerium (fire steel) rod or flint and steal. By being redundant when something runs out, breaks or gets lost you’re still okay.

Also, the bins are not to replace your B.O.B. the bins are in case you can drive to your B.O.L. but along the way a road may be closed, your area may be quarantined, there may be a car accident or some other obstacle blocking your path. You still need your B.O.B. in case you have to leave on foot.