Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Emergency Preparedness- What's in my Bug Out Bag and Emergency Preparedness Kit?



Hi everyone! I'm back after almost a year off! My blog posts came to a halt after getting pregnant with baby boy number two and I wasn't feeling so well. Baby boy is here and well, and growing much too quickly for this mama! I've been working on several projects and after a few questions on what I'm putting together for emergency situations, I decided to just blog it out!

We are living in very uncertain times. We don't know what is around the corner with disease outbreaks and terrorists attacks. My husband and I have been wanting to start emergency prepping for about a year now, and with recent events, we decided to take the plunge and get started. I have been doing a lot of reading and realize that this isn't something we are going to be able to do overnight! There are a lot of items to stock up on and it would be very costly to do all at once. I will be sharing resources that I am utilizing, what we are starting to stock, and I will try to update on our prepping as the littles allow.

The first things I have started stocking are our Essential Oil/Medical Kit and our Bug Out Bags (BOB).  We use Young Living essential oils and these are the oils that I have added to my kit:
I have included the links so that you may read a snippet about each oil. I use these oils for many different ailments and may leave certain items out of my first aid kit because I use an oil instead. Green Thickies does a good job of listing each oils purpose. Although, I do have some on my list that are not listed there. Feel free to ask how I use it. Please educate yourself on each oil before using it, especially on children, as essential oils are natural, but very powerful. Learning About EOs is a great unbiased resource. Other resources are Essential Oils Pocket Reference, Gentle Babies, and Essential Survival books, which are all Young Living (YL) based. To store all my oils and some other items, I purchased a small fishing tackle box that works quite well.


The list of items for a medical kit can be extensive and dependent on your first aid skill level. I will share what is going in our kit and share links at the end to what others have in their kits. To get us started until we get our full kit put together, we have purchased the Sportsman Medical Kit. This will also pull double duty in my husband's hunting bag (which is also his BOB). I can not say enough good things about this kit! It comes with a little bit of everything and was a great price for what came in it. I hope to do an unbiased review on it very soon!

Our MEDICAL KIT contains:

Allergies, Bug Bites, Rashes:
  • CJ's BUTTer
  • Coconut Oil
  • Essential Oils (Lavender, Purification, Frankincense)
  • Saline nasal spray (also use for washing/irrigating wounds)
Children's Items
  • Arnica tabs
  • Baltic Amber teething necklace
  • Children's Tylenol or Motrin (We only use as a last resort.)
  • Coconut oil
  • Essential Oils (Lavender, Peace & Calming, Pine, Orange, Cedarwood, Vetiver, Frankincense)
  • Nosefrida nasal aspirator for children
  • Saline nose drops
  • Stickers/Suckers for distraction
Dental
Ear, Nose, Throat & Eyes
  • Essential Oils (Thieves)
  • Extra contact lenses and/or glasses
  • Eye drops
  • Saline for contacts
Fever & Pain
  • Epsom salts
  • Essential Oils (Lemon, Peppermint, Copaiba, PanAway)
  • Heat Packs
  • Ibuprofin or Tylenol (We only use as a last resort.)
  • Thermometers
Sprains & Breaks
Stomach & GI Issues
  • Acidophilus Probiotic
  • Activated Charcoal capsules
  • Anti-Diarrhea medication
  • Essential Oils (DiGize, Peppermint, Lemon)
  • Ginger
  • Oscillococcinum
Supplements
Women/Pregnancy/Nursing
  • Essential Oils
  • Feminine care products (pads and tampons can also be used in first aid situations)
  • Nursing pads
  • Prenatal vitamins
  • Anything else you would personally need/use
Wound Cleaning/Dressing/Burns
Miscellaneous
Prescription Medication
  • Any meds that you normally take
I have based this Medical Kit list off one from Busy B Homemaker and chose which items I would put in my Medical Kit as well as adding items that are important for me to have on hand. I will come back and update as I add items or remember things I may have forgotten to include, so bookmark this post and check back!

 Ideally we will be able to place small amounts of at least most of these items in our BOBs. That is why I really like the Sportsman Medical Kit because it contains many of these items in one small case. I have all my oils in the fishing tackle box and will be able to add some medications and slip that whole box in my BOB.

Other items to add to your BOB:
  • Backpack- A nice quality hiking pack is the first thing you will need. For smaller framed people/women, I suggest the High Sierra 35-55L internal frame pack, depending on how large of a pack you want. I found these to be very comfy and I have a very small frame. My husband has a larger frame and he chose this hunting pack to use as his BOB and hunting pack.
  • Bandanas
  • Binoculars
  • Bungee cords
  • Cash and coins
  • Carabiners
  • Castile Soap
  • Compact Fishing Kit
  • Compass and map of area
  • Cooking Set
  • Copy of important legal documents in waterproof bag
  • Cornstarch (can be used as dry shampoo, burn treatment and for insect bites)
  • Duct tape
  • Emergency whistle
  • E-tool (or trowel)
  • Extra Clothing- especially wool socks
  • Fire starter- we chose this Swedish Fire Steel with Emergency Whistle
  • Firearms, holsters, and ammo
  • Foam pad
  • Food and snacks
  • Glow sticks
  • Handsaw
  • Hat
  • Hatchet
  • Hunting knife
  • LED Flashlight with extra batteries
  • Mirror
  • Multi-tool
  • Pad paper & pen
  • Plastic Bags
  • Pocket radio- preferably solar crank
  • Propane fuel stove
  • Rubber bands
  • Safety pins
  • Sewing kit
  • Signal flares
  • Sleeping bag
  • Spool of rope (100+ feet)
  • Sun block- I highly recommend Badger's
  • Sunglasses
  • Tarp
  • Tent
  • TP
  • Two-way radios
  • Wash cloth and hand towel
  • Water bladder or bottle
  • Water filter supplies
  • Waterproof watch

I got ideas for my BOB based on a post at Ready Nutrition. The items you choose may differ from mine.


Your child can have their own BOB too! Their age, of course, will dictate what goes in the bag and the size of pack they can carry. The Freedom Prepper has prepared a great list by age for children's BOB. My youngest is under two, so all his items will go in my bag with some things. My three year old will have his own bag. I will list below what I have chosen for their bags. For other ideas and ages, please visit The Freedom Prepper.

Age 0-2:
  • Baby wipes
  • Baby Blanket
  • Diapers (if not potty trained). We use cloth and have chosen flour sack towels (or flats) and diaper covers because they can be hand washed and line dried very quickly and easily.
  • Ergo carrier or carrier of choice. If you want a pack/carrier combo, the Osprey Poco Premium is a really great choice. 
  • Clothing, shoes, socks, mittens, hats
  • Coconut oil and diaper rash cream. I love CJ's BUTTer.
  • Food/Snacks depending on age. My babe is currently EBF so no packing these items for us yet!
  • N95 type masks- in appropriate size to help reduce exposure to microorganisms/dust
  • Small toys/teethers
  • Teething relief
Check these items monthly to be sure they are age appropriate as babies grow and develop so quickly at this point.

Age 3-5 can carry a small, lightweight pack. These items should go in their pack:
  • Blanket
  • Emergency Blanket
  • Emergency Whistle
  • Flashlight
  • Identification and family photo. Teach them how to use this information only if they are separated from you.
  • N95 type masks- to help reduce exposure to microorganisms/dust
  • Small first Aid kit (with age appropriate items)
  • Small toys
  • Two-way radio
  • Water bottle w/water
Other BOB items for kids. Add them to your pack if they cannot carry them.
  • 3 Pairs Underwear
  • 3 Pairs Socks
  • Extra Clothing
  • Extra Shoes
  • Gloves & Hat
  • Bar Soap in a plastic bag with washcloth and hand towel.
  • Toothbrush/Toothpaste or Tooth Powder
  • Wet wipes
  • Water Filtration Supplies- make sure they know how to use it.
  • Food/snacks- Survival Gear Guru has great ideas for what to include
  • Glow sticks
  • Headlamp
  • Emergency blanket
Be sure to check out The Freedom Prepper for more.

Other notable reads for emergency preparedness/prepping and BOBs:
I really hope you enjoyed reading this post. I am not an expert on this subject, just a mama who wants to be prepared. Please do your research before using any items listed. I hope to keep updating as we keep prepping so stay tuned! I also hope I didn't leave too much out of this post as I had to rewrite it due to it getting seized in cyberspace! I will update if I realized I left something off! Feel free to let me know what else you would add to your kit/BOB!


Amazon Affiliate:

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Photo credits:
First Aid: photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mag3737/262200284/">mag3737> via http://photopin.com">photopin> http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/">cc>
Rucksack: photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mthurber/5166598155/">Michael Thurber
via http://photopin.com">photopin> http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/">cc>