The $100 Bug Out Bag

For readers new to prepping, a bug out bag is a bag designed to keep you surviving for at least three days and up to a week while evacuating or running from a disaster.

Normally a bug-out bag contains three days of food and water as an essential item to be packed. Everything in your kit including your bug-out bag must be well thought out, and be personal to you.

When you’re on a budget, you might think there is no way you can assemble a BOB. Well, that’s not the case. As you’re about to see, you can in fact assemble a bug out bag with only 100 bucks.

You can go on eBay bids for gear (and I have done this), you just have to know now how much an item is worth and judge your bid. However, today we will be looking at what $100 will buy you.

The Rucksack

This is vital. The bag must have a good level of water resistance or be waterproof or your preps will be soaked in bad weather and you may spend hours trying to dry the bag to continue your journey.

Waterproof Backpack ($20.99)

The SEMSTEY waterproof backpack is a 40L+5L bag, which is quite roomy for a prep bag. You get a 5L section at the base of the bag, a front zipped pocket and a main section.

The bag has three buckles on the shoulder straps and one is also a whistle. The bag also has at least two buckled straps on one side.

I chose this bag because it is roomy and is a little more versatile in it’s price range compared to others as the storage is well implemented.This bag will eat into your budget at one-fifth of your budget, but a good bag is a must.

The bag itself is roomy for a lot of preps, like food bars and you have a mesh pocket for a water bottle. The front zipper compartment can hold your waterproof coat.

The main compartment can hold food bars in the elastic pocket with the main compartment itself holding a small medical kit, leaving you room for other preps.

Waterproof Coat ($9.99)

Keeping dry is a must when trying to survive, having a waterproof coat is something you should pack.

The Coleman Poncho has a draw string to allow you to keep the water out and buttons to give you more water protection. This can be stored in the front section of the bag.

Wrecking Bar ($9.95)

A versatile tool that will allow you to open doors, windows and boxes as well as pry apart pallet wood using the nail puller end. The 12 Inch Edward Tools Gooseneck wrecking bar is the one I went with to fit the budget.

The chisel end will allow you to break windows among other survival needs. This will slide in on the outside of the bag using the side straps.

This is a useful tool that can be used for self defense. You can club, block and “stick them with the pointy end.”

This wrecking bar is dropped forged, meaning the process allows the item to gain extra strength, meaning it is less likely to snap when you need it the most, this is rust proof allowing you years of use.

Food Rations (3 bar $5.07)

Your body needs food to survive, obviously, so do give the RX Meal Replacement Bar

a try.

15 grams of protein in one serving sounds small but it can be sufficient enough to get you through some of the day. These bars are designed to replace a whole meal, if you eat two a day you should have enough for three days with one remaining.

These bars will do the job as each of the seven bars will provide you with enough fuel for your body to function. These can be stored in the elastic compartment of the bag.

Water

QuiFit Motivational Water Bottle ($6.99)

The 3800ml or 3.8 litres or 0.836 gallon bottle is enough for one person for a day and that is my favourite part about this bottle, besides being BPA free which is a bonus to your health.

The time marker will help you monitor your intake and the straw and being leakproof are handy additions.

This can be stored in the outside mesh pocket.

RefreshH2GO Personal Water Straw ($3.29)

This filters the water through coconut fibres and will do.so up to 40 gallons or 181 litres.

Dry Bag

Ziploc Quart Food Storage Bags ($9.19 pack of 80)

The grip seal technology allows the user to seal the bag much easier.

This is an essential addition to your bag, this will keep your supplies dry even when crossing bodies of water, so inside the bag and fill with important items.

Medical Kit

Verifygear 216 piece survival kit including first aid kit ($28.04)

It has:

• Paracord Rope
• Flashlight/Torch
• Flick Knife
• Fishing Gear
• 7 in 1 Multiuse Spork/Knife
• Parachord bracelet with compass
• 2 Screwdrivers
• Fire Bellows
• Flint and Striker
• Multifunction Card
• Fire Starting Sticks
• First Aid Kit
• Glow Sticks
• Wire Saw

A first aid kit is essential to your survival, you need to know how to care for yourself and this kit will help with that.

A basic bug-out first aid kit should include:

• Scissors
• Band-aids or plasters (different sizes)
• Tampons and pads or gauze
• tourniquet
• medical needle and thread
• bandages
• wound spray
• Salt
• Steri-strips / wound closure strips (all sizes)
• liquid skin glue
• antiseptic wipes
• antibacterial hand sanitizer
• sterile disposable gloves
• tweezers
• bug bite or sting cream or spray
• antiseptic cream
• painkillers like aspirin for adults or paracetamol for children
• antihistamine cream or tablets
• eye wash / bath
• Styptic Pencil
• skin rash cream
• thermometer
• triangle bandage
• First Aid Manual

Some items can be replaced with other items, like a gauze can be replaced with tampons or pads because they are designed to soak up blood, a tampon can be used for bullet wounds, it will expand and seal the wound, which is meant to be the original application.

This can be stored in the main bag section.

Communications, Direction and Light

AiMoxa Portable Radio and Dynamo charger. ($11.99)

This item will not only provide light but a radio as well, and it will provide a way to charge your electronics via crank dynamo.

A radio is an important piece of a preppers kit as it serves as a means of one way information gathering, like emergency broadcasts by the government or trying to locate a group to join.

Always remember to crank the radio to keep the battery full and store it in a Ziploc when not in use to protect it from being ruined.

Total

• $20.99 (Rucksack)
• $9.99 (poncho)
• $9.95 (wrecking bar)
• $5.07 (Food bars)
• $6.99 (Water bottle)
• $3.29 (purification straw)
• $28.04 (survival kit)
• $9.19 (zip-lock dry bags)
• $11.99 (Radio)

The grand total is $97.51.

Final Thoughts

We can make a bug-out bag for around $100, however, when compared to other budgets, you may find this to be incomplete or a good starter kit, but this is still a nice bug-out rucksack. If you have a larger budget, do check out this other article of my suggestions to build a BOB with $500.

The more you shop around, and monitor product prices, the better the prices will be. Not rushing into buying prepping items but waiting for good offers and checking reviews is a great way to build a stockpile too.

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