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Survival Pack
Your Go Bag
It’s good to be able to walk out that door whenever the urge or necessity takes you. Having a grab and go bag packed and ready with everything you might need (and not more), that you can grab and run saves you having to dash around searching for things. These bags are also known as a grab-bag or a bug out bag.
Grab Bag Ideas
The trick is to think of everything yet keep it light. Single objects that have more than one use make a lot of sense. Outdoor lovers through the centuries have learnt from the roots up how to craft their survival tools out of natural materials and the technology of survival equipment has evolved quickly with the input of the military, outdoor activity enthusiasts and manufacturers. Though basic necessities remain the same, there are always new innovations to be explored.
The bag
Your load bearing bag needs to be extremely well built, look for military specification, if you are far from home and your bag falls apart you will end up having to leave most of what’s in it behind!
Look at the stitching if you can before purchase to see if it has good strong looking thread and multiple seams, especially where it matters most, for example, in the areas that will take the most strain such as where the shoulder straps meet the top and bottom of the bag itself. You might prefer several smaller bags as opposed to one big bag which can give a little insurance against an equipment failure.
The size of the bag will depend on how much you intend to carry in it, this will depend on whether you will be grabbing and running on your own or with a group or family. If you’re in a group or family you will be able to spread the load according to the strength and stamina of each individual, loading up the strongest with the heavier items.
Multiple storage compartments make organising and finding your kit easier, again the amount of compartments on your bag will depend on your personal requirements, the size of your group and the nature of your situation.
Your bag could do with being a colour that will blend well with the colours of your local, natural surroundings in case you need to keep hidden on your exodus. Look for strong materials, hemp being the strongest of the natural fibres though it’s hard to find serious bags made from this material. Most of the readily available bags are made from Cordura.
Seriosly considering a bag that has a hydration system built into it, will save on extra water carrying kit and spreads the load across the back.
Look for a bag that has plenty of things to strap stuff to on the surface, the military use MOLLE, which you can strap and hang most things from.
What to pack into your grab-bag
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Water purifying kit: Something to boil and carry water in plus a purifier pen as back up
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Fire starter
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Trusty blade: Check out the Survival Info Knife Store for reviews & best price guarantee.
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Knife sharpener: Find state-of-the-art knife sharpeners here.
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First-aid kit: Covered in more depth in our free eBook; 'Grab-bag'
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First-aid guide: Check out our own 'First-aid & Wild Plant Medicine' exclusive to Survival Info, printable eBook.
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Cordage: Para-cord or hemp cord
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Shelter: Lightweight, waterproof cover or tent
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Lighting: Torch, Find the best torches here in our Torches & Lighting section.
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Navigation equipment: Compass, map, note pad and writing utensil. Survival accessories.
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Multi-tool: Find Gerber, Leatherman & SOG multitools here.
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Survival Food Provisions
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Wild food guide: Check out our own exclusive guide to foraging nutritous wild food and campfire cooking, a printable eBook, 'Wild & Edible'
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Emergency blanket: These lightweight, foil-like sheets fold away minutely and are also good as emergency water collecting still.
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Optical equipment: Coming soon to the Survival info shop.
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Communications: Walkie –talkies
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Portable power: Coming soon to the Survival info shop.
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Miscellanious kitchen utensils
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Light weight portable solar cooker
Special equipment considerations for experienced mountain climbers
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Helmet
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Rock hammer + holster
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Climbing harness
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Pitons: Metal anchoring pegs
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Karabiners: Metal loops with a sprung or screwed gate
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Chocks and nuts: Metal wedge threaded on a wire
Equipment considerations for climbing Ice and snow
As above plus;
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Crampons Ice
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Axe
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Tubular ice screw
1. Water purifying kit
Water is life.
The first is a pan for boiling and removing harmful elements by sterilisation.This will make sure that you have covered one of the first rules of ‘wilderness’ survival, which is to find / establish a drinkable water source / supply. This is critical to survival and you will need to be absolutely sure that the water you’re drinking is safe. Many of the water sources today are contaminated and could be fatal if ingested; even trusted water sources can get contaminated in a disaster situation and shouldn’t be drunk without some treatment first.
However, in the event that you cannot start a fire or heat the water up by any other means such as solar, this pan will not help you, so to partner this item is the water purifier ‘pen’, a new (for the public anyway) method of cleaning small amounts of water as and when you need it, the pen uses a UV (ultra violet) light to sterilize the water that passes through it.
Carrying Water - You will also need something to carry your clean water in.
Bottles and carry pouches designed to fit them in are made out of silver, plastic, stainless steel and aluminium. In our opinion stainless steel metal is superior to aluminium or plastic; both of which can possibly leach harmful elements into the water. Keep water containers marked so there is no chance anyone will drink any untreated water. Also, though the plastic ones are marginally lighter to carry, a metal container one will double up as a useful vessel that can keep things hot and be used on the fire
If you are fortunate enough to obtain a silver canister to carry water, you will have the benefit of the anti -bacterial properties of the silver reacting on the water inside. In bygone years silver jewelry was placed in water to preserve its purity.
The recent hydration system innovations are soft pouches. They can be worn as waist and hip bags and back or front packs - some are actually integrated into the back pack design or made to slot into one, they are easy to carry, spreading the weight across the body and they are fitted with drinking attachments so that you can easily access the water on the move.
2. Fire starter
Fire brings warmth, cooks food and lifts spirits.So the first and primary piece of kit that we should consider is a spark, something to start a fire with.
There are ways to light a fire using just natural materials, that along with your physical input, create heat from friction, or if you are fortunate enough to find flint stones, they could be crashed together to create a spark. Many of us do not have much practice with these methods, and we could spend hours of valuable survival time trying to create a fire this way. That is why we recommend that somewhere in your grab-bag is something that creates either a flame or a spark.
If you are going to get a storm proof lighter remember it will need refilling with lighter gas on a regular basis and you will need to carry a can of gas with you to keep it functioning, at least for a while. Matches will also run out and they may also get damp and become useless.
Fire pistons are a traditional spark creating technology, magnesium sticks are a good bit of fire starting equipment and will create a spark when a knife edge is drawn along it. Both these items are small and relatively light, and will not take up much room in your grab bag.
It is a very good idea to prepare a little tinder to have as part of your fire starter, for those situations where it is very hard to find anything dry and fine enough to light with something as fragile and instantaneous as a spark. We will be discussing ways to make tinder and all other aspects fire making and fire types in Chapter 7 of this course-Fire.
3. Trusty blade ~ Survival knife
A knife will act as an all-purpose tool, helping you achieve a number of bush craft tasks that would be much more difficult without one.
There are many knives on the market to choose from, that have been designed with integrity when it comes to both functionality and materials. For your survival knife you need to be looking for some specific qualities.
Look for a full tang knife, (one where the metal goes right to the butt end of the handle) the steel used is critical, you need a steel that will do several things, it needs to be able to get a sharp edge on without huge amounts of effort and the need of power tools, it also needs to be hard enough to hold the edge under strong use and last but not least it needs to be flexible enough to withstand prying without snapping, this is asking a lot of a piece of metal.
You will usually pay a little more for knives made from these steels but it is well worth the extra investment and you know you have a tool you can depend on.
Your survival knife is going to be a multi-purpose hard use tool, you want a knife that is just long enough to be able to chop effectively with knife, it also needs to be able to do finer work such as cutting meat or sharpening a spear point or peg.
The handle needs to be made of a tough and easy to grip material, even when wet and comfortable to use for long periods.
The sheath that the knife comes in wants to be above all strong, there are many different types of materials used in manufacturing the sheath and the better manufacturers provide a high quality sheath, some come with a sharpening stone that fits into a pouch on the sheath, keeping these two items close at all times.
Keep this tool sharp and nearby, you will find you use this more than anything else and be glad you made the right choice.
Check out our 'Survival Knife Reviews' for more information on the best survival knives on the market, all available in our 'SI store'
Looking after your knife
Most survival knives are made from stainless steels but will still rust if left in the wrong conditions so keep the metal from rusting by coating it lightly in oil and keep the edge protected by making sure you don’t leave it out of its sheath when not in use and never chopping toward a material that could chip the edge.
Knife Sharpener
If your knives, axes, saws etc are getting used you will need something to bring the edge back to them and a portable knife sharpening kit is required. There is quite a choice but look for something that will take little space and get the job done, the DMT (diamond stones) are a good bet, they are set onto super tough plastic and don’t break when dropped.
A secondary niftier knife can be useful for light work such as food preparation, particularly, fruit, herbs, fiddly roots and other small plants.
5. First-aid/ 6. kit & guide
This is an important area to consider. A first aid kit with ready to use medicines and sterile materials is an important addition to your grab –bag. Some injuries, such as bone breaks, need to be handled correctly, with extreme caution, so we also recommend that if you are not adept at first-aid, you carry a first-aid response action guide in your grab bag. Choose one carefully and familiarise yourself with the lay out to make referring to it fast and easy. Natural medicines are more abundant in the wild than you may think… members of the plant families and many trees can provide us with antiseptics, natural antibiotics, pain relief and cures. In The survival Info Online course, we look at Standard First-aid responses to many injuries and learn how to recognise and use wild plants as a quick response to dealing with a wound or sickness. As with all medicine, pharmaceutical and natural, it’s good to thoroughly research it before putting your trust into it.
In the event of any injuries where the skin is broken, clean the wound immediately. Having a bottle of something antiseptic and antibacterial for this is sensible, if you don’t have this, a warm solution of saturated salt will do the job, after cleaning the wound, cover it with sterile swabs held in place with surgical tape or bandage- all of which are very useful components of a first aid kit, otherwise you may have to resort to tearing your clothing into strips.
7. Cordage
Cordage and string can be made from the natural fibres of some plants and also the barks of some trees. This is another useful camp craft that is good to practice and we learn various methods in our on-line course, Chapter XI - Camp craft.
To attain a decent length of cord requires more know-how and takes quite some time. So the next very useful addition to the grab bag is... a length of strong durable cord.
For those who prefer to use only natural materials, a good quality hemp cord is the ideal choice, hemp as a material is incredibly durable, it is also naturally resistant to mould which prevents it from rotting. About 25- 30 metres is a sensible amount of cord to carry. Otherwise Paracord is the best choice, this cord is a military invention for paratroopers and able to withstand a lot of weight (tensile strength of up to 550 lbs). It is constructed by seven different nylon threads woven together inside an outer shell of a further hollow woven thread (1/8 inch in diameter).
The Ranger Band
This is a great way to make sure you always have a useful length of paracord on your person.
8. Shelter
On those cold clear nights a sleeping bag is a man/woman’s best friend. Even in hot climates, night temperatures can drop drastically. A good lightweight sleeping bag may take up the most space in your grab bag, but you will never regret having bought it with you.
There are some excellent sleeping bags on the market; many of them come with a compression sack which keeps the size down, making them more handle-able.
There are also some interesting two-in-one designs comprising two sleeping bags that can be fitted and fixed one inside the other for extreme cold temperatures.
Another design feature not often found in some of the higher quality sleeping bags is the ability to fix two together to make a double-size sleeping arrangement, this is good for couples and also keeping your sleeping baby or young children next to so that they can benefit from your body warmth.
Modern self-inflating sleeping or rolling mats provide added comfort and insulation and also compress down well into stuff sacks. These are very comfortable though a little expensive but do a great job.
A good night’s sleep will give strength and lift spirits. It’s very useful to carry a lightweight, waterproof cover that is large enough to be used as a simple, flat-spread roof shelter, or folded down the centre and fixed in place to make a triangular tent shape. Alternatively the military make a very good poncho that can be used as a shelter and also worn on the move to keep you dry.
When it comes to constructing your coverage, it is useful if it already has riveted holes to thread cord through, but if it hasn’t, find small stones, place in the corners, or wherever you need to attach some cord, fold a little of the tarp around the stone and tie it in, securing it firmly.
If there is a few of you all carrying your individual shelters, you can obviously create a more spacious under cover camp to keep you and your kit dry as you go about camp activities, devising a way in advance, to temporarily join your tarps together, so that they overlap and retain their waterproofness, may be a good preparation.
The next step up from waterproof sheeting would be to carry a tent. This will add to the weight of your grab bag, but in cooler regions where carrying may seem less effort than in hotter regions, it may make up for itself with the comfort and protection it gives you from the weather and will save you much time that would be spent constructing temporary shelters along your way.
9. Lighting
Some form of light will give you much more scope and time for activity after nightfall. On moonless and overcast nights you will be plunged into darkness as soon as you move too far away from your fire. A torch / flashlight is a small but very useful & important addition to your grab bag.Most strong light giving torches require batteries, so if you are going to have a torch that requires batteries you will need to think about recharging them on the move, there are portable solar arrays with battery chargers available for the job that don’t add much weight to the grab bag and you will be able to take advantage of other battery driven devices that you have decided to bring with you.
Torches that use LED bulbs are superior in light output and longevity Kinetic torches are a good option, not requiring any other energy supply other than you. They are often dimmer than LED, and obviously offer a short duration of light between wind-up or shake. Halogen bulbs are another option but drain a lot of power and have a short life span and LED is far superior and offers an enormous life span which saves money in the long run.
There are a lot of high quality, tough and durable torches available today, often small, bright and economic with a good choice from key chain light to heavy duty tactical torches designed for the Special Forces. Consider a light that can be worn on your head or clipped to your clothes or pack this will leave your hands free and allow much more freedom at night.
Candles are a good back up and you can get some that don’t blow out in the wind, but these too are finite resource.
For those of you who are not scared off by the word radiation, there is a selection of glowing items that use tritium that glow in the dark for around 10 years or more and can be attached to critical bits of kit making them easy to find in the dark.
10. Navigation equipment
A compass is the next suggestion we put forward to be included in your grab bag It’s when you use both a compass and a map, the compass is really good, so pack as good a map of the surrounding areas that you can find & brush up on your orientation skills to give yourself the best chance of finding your way. A notebook and pencil/pen is also advisable to take note of sun or moon positions if available and other terrain features that will help you get your bearings. Never underestimate the power of the pen, useful in many situations you can now buy tactical pens that are built from titanium and high grade aluminum that can be used to smash glass etc.
GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) is great as long as you can recharge your batteries and the satellites are all functioning, not to mention afford the kit, though they are now becoming more affordable to the general public and are a useful bit of equipment to have to help you find your way to safety.
If you do intend to have a GPS unit then you might want to investigate portable solar arrays with battery rechargers, these are becoming more portable and cheaper to buy as the technology improves.
Orienteering and route=planning is covered in Chapter II of this online course - Orienteering & Route planning.
11. Multi-tool
The name speaks for itself. You can buy them in a variety of sizes, with different selections of ‘tools; usually consisting of a case that opens to become the handles of a pair of robust pliers plus an assortment of blades for specific uses. Besides a normal blade edge, they will often have a serrated saw blade which is great for gathering branches for bush craft projects, a rope cutting blade, a file, screwdriver & bits, sometimes spikes / awls, scissors, tweezers and lots more - explore the many multi tools available to find the one that suits your personal requirements.
We would recommend a multitool from a top quality manufacturer like Leatherman or SOG to be sure you get a tool that can be depended on to do its duty. These tools see a lot of use and are put under a lot of pressure but the best models are built to stand this and continue to give many years of perfect use. Your main knife should be able to deal with most tasks but when you wish you had been able to bring the toolkit along, that’s when your multitool comes into its own, most things you will need in a single small item, and tough enough to deal with real jobs in the real world environment. Stay clear of the cheaper models from dubious manufacturers, the materials used in these do not stand up to real time use and should be avoided. Look at the steel used for the blades, this should be a high quality knife steel, Leatherman use 154CM and you can get a couple of their models in a titanium shell cutting down on weight and beefing up on strength.
The tool should stay functional and tight for many years of use if looked after, just keep clean and lightly oil where the parts touch, keep the blades sharp and keep it near or in your grab bag.
12. Survival food & 13. Wild food guide
To be a good for survival, the food needs to be highly nutritious, containing as many vitamins, minerals, protein, fibre, fats with a high energy/calorie value, ideally a long storage life and if it can be eaten without preparation this is a benefit.
It is only worth making/ buying and packing serious tried and tested survival food and important to use and replace it when it is out of date, otherwise it will just be a waste of money and grab bag space.
Pack some salt and use sparingly, especially in a water crisis… A little salt goes along way.
Aside of your packed provisions, you will be dependant on food from the wild.
Knowledge of edible wild plants will be of considerable benefit to you on an excursion in the wilderness. Some regions and climates will provide you with abundant food, with different options available in different seasons. Even those less abundant regions usually offer some form of nutrition, it’s knowing where to look, what to look for and how to prepare it.
In our survival wild food cookery ebook 'Wild & Edible' we cover some of the most common edible wild foods in the northern hemisphere, with identification illustrations, nutrient content, where and when it grows and how to prepare it (with lots of recipes) and preserve your foraged goods whilst on the move.
If it can’t be found in the wild it can’t be found in this book.
Wild & Edible by C.J.C Lewis
14. Emergency blanket/s
These items take up very little space but can provide life saving warmth to someone, made from a thin reflective foil they fold down to virtually nothing and have properties that will retain all available heat.
15. Communications
Some walkie- talkies will help you all stay in contact with one another and you will be able to scan the channels for information on the local situation. Radios require batteries and you will again need to think about portable solar battery recharging kits. Look for units that have a decent range and that you can use regular rechargeable batteries in and of course something well built and straightforward to use. Go for units that work on the regular citizen bands not the private channels, these are free to use and will be best for picking up useful information.
15. Optical equipment
Some binoculars or a monocular can be a great asset and gives you the ability to plan routes, find possible obstacles and land marks, check ahead for hostilities or potential dangers and find one another if any of the group gets lost, to mention but a few of their many uses in a survival situation.
Look for something that isn’t too high magnification they become hard to use without a tripod or the optics rested on something.
16. Communications
Some items require power to work like walkie talkies, GPS devices, torches and radios to name a few. If you intend to carry these items and want them to work for more than a day or two then you need to think how you will recharge your batteries on the move.
There are some portable solar panel kits and battery recharging units available on the market now that use some of the more recent technology like flexible panels that roll up making them perfect for a grab bag.
Rechargable batteries can be recharged many times and with this kit you will have power on the go for all your electrical equipment for a good time into the future.
17. Portable power
Consider a portable solar charger for your mobile devices. Pocket size innovations on the market now, mean that you can stay in touch.
18. Miscellanious Kitchen Utensils
19. Light weight portable solar cooker
