If you’ve spent any amount of time online researching emergency preparedness, you’ve probably come across the topic of the “72-hour bag”. There are many other names used to describe this survival kit concept – vehicle go-bag, get-home bag, everyday carry, survivor kit – the list goes on.
Whatever you want to call it, the purpose of this system is generally the same: if a disaster happens while you’re away from home, it would be nice to have at least some basic survival gear with you. Otherwise, you’re limited to only supplies and items you can find in the area.
Why do I need a survival kit?
Home is where you keep the majority of your stored food, water, supplies, and family survival gear. This is logical, because for most disasters, your plan will be to shelter-in-place at home. But if a disaster happens while you’re at work, or away on a trip, you won’t have access to any of those items you’ve stored away.
If you found yourself in a crisis situation away from home, would you be ready to shelter in place until the disaster has passed? Or worst-case, would you be prepared to make your way home in a post-disaster environment, potentially on foot?
This may sound like the premise of a disaster movie, but the need for a 72-hour bag isn’t all that hard to imagine. Say you’re traveling for work to a city that is three hundred miles from home – a relatively close distance. If a significant natural disaster such as an earthquake, flood, wildfire, or severe winter storm happens while you’re traveling, your options for getting home would be limited, at least in the short-term.
Roads and infrastructure might be destroyed or inaccessible for days or weeks. Local supply chains could grind to a halt. Most likely, you would be forced to shelter in place where you’re at. If you found yourself in this situation, which items would you wish you had with you to increase your comfort, or even your odds of survival? If you were traveling with your family at the time of the crisis, the need for supplies and gear would be even greater.
In an even more probable example for those in northern latitudes, imagine your vehicle becomes disabled or stuck during a snowstorm, and you have to wait in the vehicle for a day, or several days, before you’re rescued. Having an emergency bag filled with critical supplies could save your life.
You can’t bring all of your survival gear with you every time you leave the house, but for most people, having a backpack for emergency scenarios is doable.
Why 72 Hours?
The “72 hours” in the 72-hour bag is a bit of a buzzword. Most commercially-available 72-hour bags wouldn’t meet the criteria of sustaining an individual for 72-hours.
The civilian 72-hour bag concept likely originated with the military 3-day assault pack. The idea is that with a 3-day assault pack loadout, a soldier or Marine should be able to carry enough supplies and equipment to sustain themselves in the field for a typical 3-day mission. In the civilian world, there is a bit of crossover here. Many disasters and crises are over, or significantly downgraded, within a 3-day window.
The comparison breaks down when you consider the supplies and equipment that are generally included in a ready-made civilian 72-hour kit. Sustaining yourself for 72 hours in an unknown crisis will require calories, cold-weather gear (depending on the environment), shelter, and the ability to produce clean drinking water from questionable sources. The majority of 72-hour bag kits on the market don’t come close to this standard.
What Are Your Options?
Once you’ve decided that you want a 72-hour emergency bag, the next dilemma is whether you should buy an empty backpack and create your own kit, or track down the best 72-hour backpack on the market. The answer will ultimately depend on how far you want to stretch the capability of your kit.
Purchasing a 72-Hour Bag
Not everyone has the time (or interest) to hand-select each item that should go in their emergency bag. This is understandable. For those who prefer to buy a ready-made product, there are tons of available emergency kits on the market. Unfortunately, many of them fall short.
When buying a pre-assembled 72-hour bag, it’s important to look closely at the contents of the bag. It’s easy for a manufacturer to cram a lot of low-quality survival gear into a bag and make it appear like a good value. Sadly, the majority of kits out there are little more than a waste of money. Why pay over a hundred dollars for some glow sticks, whistles, duct tape, a novelty flashlight, and hand warmers packed neatly in an attractive bag?
If you’re serious about crisis readiness, you’ll want to avoid these kinds of kits at all cost. You would be better off buying less, but higher-quality supplies than having a bag full of cheap items that will be next to worthless in an emergency.
The only ready-made 72-hour survival bag that is currently endorsed by Failstate is the Seventy2 Survival System from Uncharted Supply Co. Uncharted Supply Co is an industry leader in developing high-quality crisis readiness products. The Seventy2 contains many of the most essential items we would make sure to have in our own personal 72-hour bags.
Even if you purchase a kit like the Seventy2, you may decide to supplement the kit with additional supplies.
You’ll notice that the Seventy2 has very little in the way of food, aside from a Datrex ration. This is primarily due to the fact that food takes up a lot of space. While the Seventy2 comes with a small first aid kit, it lacks medical supplies needed for serious trauma response. This is another area where a user may want to beef up the items that come with the kit. Additionally, for an extended disaster scenario, the ability to collect, store, and transport several liters of water would be highly valuable. A Nalgene is a good start.
As you can see, even with a pre-assembled kit, you may want to supplement the included contents of your 72-hour bag. If you’re more of a DIY-er, there are plenty of benefits to creating your own bag from scratch. For starters, you can choose a bag that works best for your needs.
Bag Selection
There is almost an unlimited list of potential backpacks to choose from online – everything from streamlined backpacks that could blend into an urban environment to tactical-style packs covered in Molle webbing.
When selecting a pack, consider your environment. Remember that you aren’t planning a backpacking trip in the mountains. Most likely, you will be transporting your 72-hour bag in an urban or suburban environment. Having a discrete bag that doesn’t draw unnecessary attention on a daily basis is ideal.
If you plan to keep your bag stashed away in a vehicle trunk, low-vis looks may not matter as much. Still, consider that you may be carrying your bag into hotels on business or family trips. Having a backpack that screams tactical or survival might get you noticed when you would rather keep a low profile.
In a semi-permissive post-disaster environment, this will be even more true. While you may choose to be charitable during a crisis, you don’t want to broadcast the fact that you have supplies when others don’t. A tactical backpack with Molle and extra pouches hanging off it will be a dead giveaway.
It’s generally good advice to choose a slick (no webbing) backpack in earth tones such as black, gray, olive, or blue. These muted colors blend in, without looking tactical.
When it comes to the size of your bag, consider the amount of gear you want to carry, as well as your personal comfort. This is a bag that you may be carrying for an extended amount of time in a worst-case scenario. Having a bag that is too large or too heavy will also make it cumbersome to bring with you on a regular basis. Keep your bag compact enough that it doesn’t become a burden in your daily life.
Generally, a 25-35 liter bag will be the sweet spot. Depending on how much gear you plan to pack, you may find that the lower end of that range does not provide enough volume. Even 35 liters may start to feel small if you want to pack food supplies such as MREs.
You don’t need to break the bank on a bag, but make sure to choose one that won’t fall apart at the seams. Zippers are another frequent weak point.
Gear Selection
When selecting your own survival gear for a 72-hour bag, consider starting with a close look at the packing list for a high-quality kit, like the Seventy2. From there, expand the bag’s contents depending on your personal assessment and the environment you plan to be in.
Extra food and water storage are a good starting point. During winter, cold weather gear is mandatory. In rainy seasons, you’ll want a poncho, at a minimum. Personal hygiene items, additional water purification supplies, and communications devices are also recommended. A personal first aid kit, along with a trauma kit, are a must. You may even want to include a portable solar charger to keep critical electronic devices topped off.
Parting Thoughts
You can see how the list of survival gear can quickly grow to a point where it might exceed the capacity of even a 35-40 liter bag. For some, this might be acceptable. For others, the tradeoff on everyday portability may be a non-starter. Remember that you are better off having a 72-hour bag that you’ll actually bring with you than an overfilled bag that sits in your closet at home.
If the cost of purchasing a high-quality kit, or making your own, feels prohibitive, start small. Purchase a bag and fill it with a few of the most critical supplies, such as a Nalgene bottle, water filter, emergency mylar blanket, and compact first aid kit. From there, you can expand the items in your bag over time.