The Get Home Bag

September is National Preparedness Month, which makes this a good time to continue a question we started last month: If something happened while you were away from home, could you get back? Last month we talked about making the plan. This month, let’s talk about a Get Home Bag.

First, an important distinction: A Get Home Bag is not a bug-out bag. The purpose of a Get Home Bag isn’t to sustain you for 72 hours after leaving home—that’s the purpose of a bug-out bag. A Get Home Bag contains what you need to help you get back home, where your food, water, equipment and other resources already are.

Start With Where You Actually Go

Most of us have fairly predictable routines. We go to the grocery store, church, appointments, visit family or friends, perhaps travel into a nearby town or city. Think about those places. How far are they from home? If you couldn’t drive, how long might it take you to get back? A couple of hours? Most of a day? Longer? Those answers should determine what goes into your Get Home Bag.

Build Your Bag

The goal isn’t necessarily to start walking. If your vehicle works and the roads are passable, drive home! Your Get Home Bag is there for the circumstances in which the normal way home is no longer available. Keep in mind that there isn’t one Get Home Bag list that works for everyone. You need to make your own assessment regarding what you might need to get home from the places you routinely go.

Someone who normally travels five miles from home has very different needs from someone who regularly travels 40 or 50 miles. Weather, terrain, physical condition, medications and individual circumstances all matter. And keep the weight in mind. There’s an old military adage: “Ounces equal pounds, and pounds equal pain.” Everything you put in the bag may eventually have to be carried all the way home, so concentrate on what you really need. Depending on your own assessment, some things to consider might include:

• Water and a quality personal water filter
• Basic first-aid supplies and necessary medications
• Flashlight and a way to make fire
• Lightweight emergency food, such as food bars or a freeze-dried meal that only requires hot water
• A compact stove, fuel and metal cup if your food choices require hot water
• Multi-tool
• Compass and maps covering the area between your usual destinations and home
• Small notebook and marker, with important phone numbers and addresses written down in case your phone or the cellular network isn’t available
• Cash in small and larger bills for food, transportation or other needs along the way
• Appropriate outerwear and comfortable walking shoes and socks
• Any other personal necessities your circumstances require

The object isn’t to prepare for every possible contingency. It’s to identify what you would reasonably need to get home and keep the load manageable. That’s really the point of this exercise. Look at the places you routinely go. Think through what it might take to get home from each of them. Then put together the few things that could make that journey safer and more manageable.

Preparedness doesn’t always mean preparing to survive somewhere else. Sometimes it simply means being prepared to get home.