BOB/PSK philosophy question

kl101 said:
What is the goal of the BOB/PSK?
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For me, if I'm at work, the goal is to stay warm, dry, and hydrated on my way home. I never intend to bug out, unless I bug out for home. Once I arrive there, then I might plan to leave.

Why, you may reasonably ask? Shelters don't accept animals, and I would no more leave behind a pet than I would my brother or sister. My pets are members of my family. If I bug out, they're coming with me.
  1. If not home, get home.
  2. If possible, bug in, not out.
  3. If I must bug out, I'm taking my pets and heading for my sister's place or my mom's home, whichever I have the best chance of reaching. I would also plan to spend a night or two in my car.
The only thing that might force me to bug out is the Limerick Generating Station, a nuclear power plant, which is just up the road. According to the phone book, we're in the red zone, or, as I call it, the Dead Zone. If there was a problem there, we'd HAVE to leave the area.
 
My BOB is a truck. If I can't drive there with lots of stuff I stay put.

That said, my large survival kit backpack contains fire making gear, shelter in the form of a space blanket and nylon tarp, a good water filter and food for a couple days. There's other stuff too, it weighs in at about 16 lbs. It stays in the back of my truck.

Many emergencies happen when folks get lost. Both my EDC backpack and my large survival kit backpack have gear to stay found and attract attention. See the thread about the guy lost in the lava field. A GPS, a cell phone and a real signal mirror would have helped a bunch. A GPS would have told him exactly where his car was parked and may have had a backtrack feature. With a GPS constellation overhead 24/7 getting lost is really idiotic. Non-mapping GPS receivers are cheap compared to getting lost and having to partially pay for a S&R effort.
 
Thanks for all the input.

I live on the New Hampshire seacoast so a probelm at the Seabrook nuke station might force me to leave home. Also concievably, a weather incident.


But short of that, the first goal is to get home. So my car has stuff to provide sustenance and warmth for a reasonable period. Buuuttttttt, if the car breaks down ( in the shop now for $2300 xmission overhaul.... ouch!!!) or roads are impassable I may need to hoof it. So now I am putting together a carriable BOB that will always be in the car.

I read a lot of lists that include fish hooks, snare stuff etc. For the realistic scenarios and locations for me and acknowledging my skills, I don't think this makes sense to include. I plan to include a couple of MRE's for some food. Let's face it, gfro most of us, if we stay warm and hydrated we could go a good while without food before having significant issues. We might be cranky but we ain't gonna die.

That being said, ANY SUGGESTIONS FOR CALORIE DENSE, LONG SHELF LIFE food products?
 
ANY SUGGESTIONS FOR CALORIE DENSE, LONG SHELF LIFE food products?
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Canned goods. They come complete and don't need to be reconstituted with water. You can eat many without heating. MRE's are good but spendy and the commercially available MRE's are not the same as military versions. Not as much variety and not as many calories. I have a freeze dried beef stew pack in my large survival kit because it carries easier. I'd rather not waste the water rehydrating it.
 
I would consider a selection of food types MREs are not badly priced (free if you know the right people) and are edible cold (if you have no water for the heater), canned goods Stews, chillie, meats, would be good in the car but they are a killer if you have to hike very far (you can loose most of the weight in an MRE by discarding the packing/accessories. Dried food is very edible but you have to have access to water and preferably heat. I have some of each in the jeep. Some powerbars, granola bars jerky, slimjims etc. are good to ease the boredom when on a long hike/waiting for rescue (and all are prepackaged for relatively long storage).
I carry water, and other vehicle fluids so it is not an issue, a bottle of pottable aqua tabs (keep closed until you need them) is cheap insurance (note if you use a drink flavoring containing citric acid let the pureification tabs work for at least 20 minutes before adding the flavoring as it can deactivate the tabs and prevent them from killing the bacteria etc.)
Since you live in snow country it might be a good idea to consider a combined BOB/stuck in a snowdrift kit. Tarp, sleeping bag, long burning candle for heat (or to help start a fire) all would be usefull in either case.
Just some thoughts...
Enjoy!
 
Good foods to include are

Nuts : High in fat and reasonable amounts of protein

Honey: Lasts indefinately and can be used on open wounds to prevent infection, very simple carb that is easily digested.

Dried beef : Good protein content and a reasonable amount of fat.

Myoplex or other bodybuilding meal replacements. Huge amounts of protein considering their dry weight (typically 40+g per sachet) Good shelf life too and lots of added vits.

Barley : High in carbs, requires less heat than rice or pasta to cook, excellent shelf life.

Take some dried soups to add to barley and jerkey stew, jus because you are in a survival situation there is no need to have to eat tarantulas :)

Don't bother with dried fruit. Fruit yields far too few calories for its weight and a lot of the mass is fiber which is undigestible. Stick with honey for a quick energy fix.

Coffee will agravate your thirst, tea will quench it.

Put in a few treats as mentioned before, fruit flavoured boiled sweets are a good choice.

Some debate on this, but for me a wee dram of good grog (rum or scotch) goes into my bag. Its a treat, and a last ditch disinfectant (sacrledge! ) :eek: and it offers something of a normalcy. "Its the end of the day, and the sun is under the yard arm ;)
 
Temper said:
Coffee will agravate your thirst, tea will quench it.
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I have heard this before and I believe it, but tea just doesn't do it for me. :yawn:

Coffee, however, is a flavorful eye-opener that gets my engine going. :D
 
Speaking of coffee, I just orderd a Jetboil and the optional coffee press seems interesting. Do any of you guys have experience using the coffee press with the jetboil. If it works as well as they claim, I'll have to purchase it.

Soup
 
The wife and I have a couple of French presses that we use. Easy enough to use and the coffee seems to taste better than the drip stuff we used to drink.
 
Has anbody tried Mainstay rations and/or know a cheap place to get them? I get the packs of water from Sport Chalet, and think that they are great, but I would like to try some of the bars. Just don't want to pay an arm and a leg for them.
Mike
 
I have not used the Mainstay bars but have eaten the Datrex brand. The taste was ok but I got a bad case of diarrhea. I did this twice several days apart with the same results.I'd try any of this ration type in a good setting bfore relying on them in a emergency. If I were to use them again I'd be sure to carry lots of Immodium.

Bob
 
This interesting thread has gotten me thinking. Most people tailor their gear towards either an urban situation or a wilderness situation. I live and work in a rural, but not utterly remote, setting. How would you prepare a set of gear for this environment?

I have the usual array of camping/packbacking gear, as well as a about a dozen MREs given to me by my sister-in-law's husband (Air Nat'l Guard). I have not prepared a BOB or PSK, but I'm giving it some thought. I envision a more realistic scenario for myself as trying to get from work to home (about 30 miles distance), and trying to ride things out at home.
 
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