By Jesse Jones
Most preppers these days have already built their bugout bag, as these are fairly well known about and what their purpose is. If you are unfamiliar with a bugout bag, go here and familiarize your self with the concepts. Bugout bags are a huge key step when starting out as a beginner prepper. It forces you to sacrifice between necessity and comfort. As a bugout bag is meant for short term survival on the go, it doesn't necessarily house all the items you may need or want in all survival situations.
The difference between your bugout bag and a home survival kit
As you start to build your bugout bag, you will start to think about situations and scenarios for each and every item in your bag. If you can't think of a situation where an item in your bugout bag can serve atleast 2 or more purposes, there is probably an item that you can substitute to better fill the space.
What you will also notice about your bugout bag, is you don't have much space to work with. So what happens if we have a huge list of items we want to increase our preparedness, but don't want the weight or have the room in our bugout bag? This is where your full feature, or home survival kit comes to play. The absolute most important difference you must remember about these two types of kits, is that your bugout bag is made for on the go. Home survival kit's on the other hand are designed to carry items that might weigh to much, are too big, or just aren't practical enough to make it into your bugout bag. A bugout bag is generally kept in your vehicle everywhere you go. A home survival kit is usually kept within your house.
What you will also notice about your bugout bag, is you don't have much space to work with. So what happens if we have a huge list of items we want to increase our preparedness, but don't want the weight or have the room in our bugout bag? This is where your full feature, or home survival kit comes to play. The absolute most important difference you must remember about these two types of kits, is that your bugout bag is made for on the go. Home survival kit's on the other hand are designed to carry items that might weigh to much, are too big, or just aren't practical enough to make it into your bugout bag. A bugout bag is generally kept in your vehicle everywhere you go. A home survival kit is usually kept within your house.
What is in a Home Survival Kit?
Just like your bugout bag, your home survival kit contains the necessary tools, supplies, food, and water that you will need for temporary survival. Although the intentions for a home survival kit are not permanent survival, meaning you won't be able to live out of it forever, the contents held within should provide you with a solid foundation for temporary survival while you make better of the situation you are in.
So what are some of the items you might find in a Home Survival Kit?
So what are some of the items you might find in a Home Survival Kit?
- Food
- Water
- Clothing
- Hygiene products
- Tools (Knife, Saw, Hatchet, File, etc)
- Weapons (Guns & ammo, Knives, Tomahawk, Dart guns, Sling Shots, etc)
- Food Gathering Tools/Supplies (Snare wire, Rat traps, Fishing pole, etc)
- Garden Supplies (Tools, Seeds, Guides, Botany guides, etc)
- Locational Items (Maps, Compass, Signal Mirror, String and Pendulum, Etc)
- Recording/Tracking Implements (Watch, Sand Hour Glass, Note Book, Pens, Pencils, Crayons, etc)
So what is the difference between your bugout bag and your full feature or home survival kit?
Many of these items will probably also be located in your bugout bag, although probably in smaller quantities. Again, The main purpose behind the full feature or home survival kit is having MORE supplies for your to survive off than your bugout bag does. Generally speaking, your bugout bag will be designed to survive only 2-3 weeks max. The home survival kit however is more designed around a time length of 2-3 months.
A home survival kit tends to be much larger and bulkier than a bugout bag. Although it is something you should be able to move and load into a vehicle on your own, getting as many items into your home survival kit will increase your chances of survival.
Much like your bugout bag, your home survival kit will generally be designed around more likely events in your area. As a prepper my self, I find it interesting that most preppers are focusing on a single occurrence. Our theory is a bit different than most, Prepare for it ALL! Now that doesn't mean you will be able to cover every possible situation, but part of your plans for preparing should be making the considerations about more likely scenarios in your region.
As an example, my family personally does not prepare for hurricanes or tornadoes. We have much more likely things that will be happening in our region that we would rather focus on and be prepared for. Oregon (the state I live in) has a long history of being hurricane and tornado free. Could they happen? Of course they could, there’s nothing preventing them from happening. We do however prepare for something like nuclear fallout. Here in Portland Oregon, we live within a close proximity to multiple nuclear facilities ranging from nuclear missile storage, hazardous nuclear storage facilities, and a nuclear power plant. Luckily for us the wind is usually consistent at west to eastward movement, and in most cases nuclear particles will be pushed away from us. However, since this is a real threat, we prepare accordingly.
I am really hoping that I explained the difference between your bugout bag and your full feature or home survival kit well enough. It's important to know the differences, and knowing which one serves what purpose. If you have anything you feel we should add, or if there is something you think we should clarify better, please leave us a comment, we love your feedback!
As always, Thank you for stopping by!
A home survival kit tends to be much larger and bulkier than a bugout bag. Although it is something you should be able to move and load into a vehicle on your own, getting as many items into your home survival kit will increase your chances of survival.
Much like your bugout bag, your home survival kit will generally be designed around more likely events in your area. As a prepper my self, I find it interesting that most preppers are focusing on a single occurrence. Our theory is a bit different than most, Prepare for it ALL! Now that doesn't mean you will be able to cover every possible situation, but part of your plans for preparing should be making the considerations about more likely scenarios in your region.
As an example, my family personally does not prepare for hurricanes or tornadoes. We have much more likely things that will be happening in our region that we would rather focus on and be prepared for. Oregon (the state I live in) has a long history of being hurricane and tornado free. Could they happen? Of course they could, there’s nothing preventing them from happening. We do however prepare for something like nuclear fallout. Here in Portland Oregon, we live within a close proximity to multiple nuclear facilities ranging from nuclear missile storage, hazardous nuclear storage facilities, and a nuclear power plant. Luckily for us the wind is usually consistent at west to eastward movement, and in most cases nuclear particles will be pushed away from us. However, since this is a real threat, we prepare accordingly.
I am really hoping that I explained the difference between your bugout bag and your full feature or home survival kit well enough. It's important to know the differences, and knowing which one serves what purpose. If you have anything you feel we should add, or if there is something you think we should clarify better, please leave us a comment, we love your feedback!
As always, Thank you for stopping by!
About the author
Jesse Jones has been writing for over 8 years for many news outlets and online media sources. He is an avid survivalist and prepper who can be found writing articles on his personal survival blog www.365preppers.com go check him out!
Jesse Jones has been writing for over 8 years for many news outlets and online media sources. He is an avid survivalist and prepper who can be found writing articles on his personal survival blog www.365preppers.com go check him out!
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