Best Premade Bug Out Bag For Sale
When disaster strikes, Plan A is to shelter in place, where you have access to the tools and supplies found in your home or workplace. However, the truth is that in many disaster situations, you are going to have to move to stay one step ahead of imminent danger. For this reason, preparing a bug out bag that has everything you need to stay safe on the go, including food, water, and medical supplies, is one of the most important steps you can take to prepare for a catastrophe. Lucky for you, there are quick and easy ways to get yourself covered! Check out the essentials of a bug out bag and reviews of the best premade bug out bags for sale today!
Why have a physical bag ready to go rather than simply a bug out bag checklist of supplies that you’ll need to carry? Finding food, water, and other emergency supplies can be extraordinarily difficult in the aftermath of an emergency, when you are competing with everyone else in your town or city for limited resources and dealing with confusion and chaos. Even if you can find the supplies you need, that is valuable time spent searching for food and water that could be better used to help you get as far away from danger as possible. In the event that you have just a few minutes’ worth of warning ahead of an impending disaster, having an emergency bag ready to go can be the difference in your survival.
What should you pack in your bug out bag?
Unfortunately, there is no single “best” checklist that describes what needs to go in your bug out bag – every situation will be different and you will need to weigh the pros and cons of specific items against the space and weight they add to your pack. Importantly, you need to consider how many days you expect your bug out bag to get you through before you need to hunt for food or find additional supplies.
The essentials of a bug out bag can be boiled down to food, water, and shelter. A good rule of thumb to use for prioritization is that you can survive three days without water and three weeks without food – as a result, your bug out bag should include as much packaged drinking water as weight and space will allow, even at the cost of bringing less food. A dependable water filter or water treatment tablets are also essential, since you will never be able to carry more than a few days’ worth of water. When it comes to carrying food, dehydrated meals are often the best option since they take up less space and weight.
Shelter is more nuanced and requires you to use a few basic tools to survive. Your bug out bag should include at a minimum a knife, fire starter or lighter, an emergency blanket for extra warmth, and a rain poncho. A lightweight backpacking stove, fuel, and a headlamp are all good additions to your bag, although they are not essential and can add significant weight. In addition, it is always a smart idea to pack a basic medical kit in your bug out bag since minor injuries can turn deadly if untreated in a survival situation.
Best Premade Bug Out Bags
Sustain Supply Co. Premium Family Emergency Survival Kit
This premade bug out bag from Sustain Supply Co. is designed to support a family of four for up to three days, although it includes several items that are certain to help you survive even after the kit’s included food and water supplies are exhausted.
The pack comes loaded with 48 125-mL packets of Datrex drinking water for a total of six liters – not much for four people, especially in the summertime, but enough to survive. More important, the pack includes a Sawyer Squeeze water filter with two 32-oz reservoirs that will allow you to filter water long after the Datrex packets are gone. In terms of food, the bug out bag contains eight three-serving dehydrated Mountain House meals. As was true for water, this requires tight rationing among four people but will not leave you starved. The kit also comes with sporks and collapsible bowls to make eating easier.
One of the best things included in this kit is the portable stove, which was designed by Sustain Supply Co. to burn twigs and other combustible forest litter so that you don’t need to worry about carrying fuel with you. This stove comes with two pots (although only one is necessary) and can be used for boiling water and cooking game if you are able to hunt. The kit also comes with four fire starters and a Ferrocerium rod to make it easy to get a fire going under your stove.
Another thing that set this bug out bag apart from other premade bags was its focus on lighting. The kit includes two large LED lanterns as well as two flashlights and four fluorescent Snaplights. Although you could save weight be reducing the amount of lighting you are carrying in this pack, having these lights means you will be able to travel more easily at night and thoroughly light up your shelter area when you stop moving. Note that the flashlights run on batteries, so you may want to add extra batteries to the pack.
The pack itself is quite tall and heavy, so plan on switching it off frequently among the members of your party. However, the canvas is sturdy and the shoulder straps well-padded. Although it does have some extra room to add medications and other individual needs, the pack comes close to stuffed.
Wise Company Wise Food 5-Day Survival Backpack
This inexpensive bug out bag from Wise Company contains plenty of supplies for a single person for several days, but don’t expect the same focus on premium items that other premade emergency kits – like the one from Sustain Supply Co. – offer.
The pack comes with 32 servings of dehydrated food, divided into six bulk packages. Note that the food bags are not resealable, and meals like the dehydrated cereal and whey powder are meant to be mixed, so you will likely want to add several Ziploc bags to the backpack in order to ration the food adequately over five days. One of the major shortcomings of this backpack is that it only includes 21 oz of drinking water – less than one liter – so you will certainly want to add additional water to the pack ahead of an emergency. More important, there are no water filter or water treatment tablets included in the backpack, so you will have to resort to boiling water in order to have enough water for five days.
The stove itself uses fuel tablets that are included with the emergency kit, but which are nearly impossible to replace from any still-operational stores once you run out of the included tablets. Note also that the kit includes waterproof matches, but no robust lighter or fire starter for lighting those fuel tablets. Altogether, this means that the life of the kit is severely limited to the five days of supplies it includes.
Where Wise Company performed well was in the small accessories that they included and in the pack itself. The bag includes a mylar emergency blanket that you can use to keep in body heat, as well as a plastic rain poncho that can save you from becoming soaked and cold. Furthermore, the N95 dust mask is a nice addition for those who live in cities where building collapse can produce a dangerous amount of dust and smoke. The kit also includes a basic medical kit, although it is largely limited to Band-Aids and ointments rather than serious medical supplies.
The pack itself comes only about one-third filled with supplies, which means that there is plenty of room to customize this bug out bag and fill in many of the components that are missing. All around good option for those looking for a budget friendly bag that you can add your own items.
Emergency Zone 840-2 Urban Survival Bug Out Bag
This two-person bug out bag from Emergency Zone is designed as a “starter” bag for those looking to begin work on a more substantial emergency kit or for those who need a small bug out bag for work or their vehicle.
The bag is rated for two people for up to 72 hours but provides relatively tight food and water rations. Rather than using dehydrated meals from Mountain House or another backpacking brand, this kit includes two US Coast Guard-issue SOS Survival Food packets. These provide 1,200 calories per day, but unfortunately have little taste appeal – they are essentially white powder rather than dehydrated “real food.” Note that the food packets are low in sodium, which can reduce thirst but can also leave you hyponatremic in hot summer conditions when you are sweating heavily. The kit is also low on water, providing 12 125-mL water packets for a total of only 1.5-liters of water. Although the pack includes several water purification tablets, this still leaves you with only the bare minimum amount of water for three days and no way to treat water beyond that time frame.
Whereas other premade bug out bags opted to include a portable stove, Emergency Zone focused instead on personal hygiene. The kit devotes a surprising amount of weight to toiletries, even including a roll of toilet paper. The inclusion of a razor and shaving cream, two toothbrushes, and a bar of soap is somewhat unnecessary given that the kit is designed only to last three days – and to be used in a survival situation. However, the first aid kit is more substantial than that found in other bug out bags since it includes a set of trauma shears, a CPR mask, and numerous swabs for disinfecting wounds.
Two very welcome additions to this bug out bag are the emergency tube tent and the radio-flashlight. The tube tent is essentially a thin mylar sheet with cord to turn it into a ground tent, but having this with you can save hours of work building a temporary shelter and, along with the two ponchos, can keep you from becoming wet and cold in the rain. The combination radio-flashlight, which most bug out bags do not include, is an excellent multi-purpose tool for both providing a much-needed light and for allowing you to get news about what is going on in the outside world as a disaster unfolds.
The Earthquake Bag Complete Earthquake Bag
This two-person, three-day survival kit is relatively minimal and, like the bug out bag from Emergency Zone, better prepared to get you through a short emergency than to transform you into a backcountry survivalist overnight.
The food rations in this kit are split into two 3,600-calorie food bars, the advantage to which is that you do not need to add water to rehydrate them and they are simple to ration without adding Ziploc bags to your kit. The kit includes a total of 24 125-mL water packets for a total of three liters of water, although it also comes with 20 water purification tablets and two water reservoirs so that you can purify more water. Like in the Emergency Zone kit, there is no stove for boiling water or cooking food.
One of the best accessories in this kit is the flashlight, which serves double-duty not only as a radio but also as a portable battery charger. The flashlight is powered by a hand crank that charges the battery, and a USB port allows you to use the crank to charge small electronics like a headlamp or a cellphone. Meanwhile, the radio functions allow you to keep apprised of what is happening in the aftermath of a disaster like an earthquake.
The first aid kit includes basics for treating minor injuries, but does not have the supplies you need to treat more severe medical issues. However, a major advantage to this kit, especially for earthquakes, is the inclusion of a dust mask and eye protection – these can be extremely helpful when building collapse has led to a dangerous amount of dust and other particulate matter in the air.
The bag itself is relatively compact and small enough to place in a vehicle. Plus, the front pockets of the backpack are empty so there is space to add additional small items like personal medications or a water filter.
Premade Bug Out Bags Are Quick and Easy!
Keeping a bug out bag in your home, car, or at work is essential to making quick decisions when catastrophe strikes and staying ahead of danger. While assembling your own emergency bag from scratch can allow you full control over the rations and gear that it contains, opting for a premade bug out bag can save you time and money – and ensure that your bag will be ready and stocked when you need it.
The Premium Family Emergency Supply Kit from Sustain Supply Co. is, in our view, the best premade bug out bag on the market today because of its plentiful supply of dehydrated Mountain House meals and Datrex drinking water packets.
Whereas other premade bags leave you in the lurch after three days, this bag also includes essential survival gear like a Sawyer Squeeze water bottle, a wood-burning stove, and flashlights that will last long after your rations are exhausted. The only downside is that the bag comes so filled that it can be hard to add additional supplies like medications and clothes, so you may need to pack a small secondary bag to go with it. Otherwise, this premade bug out bag will go a long way towards getting you safely away from danger at a moment’s notice.
