Have What You Need In Your BOL

Okay, you have hour Bug-Out-Location (BOL) secured so that your family has a safe place to evacuate to and live after SHTF. It will be remote away from the madness of the metropolitan areas where "sheeple" will wreak havoc because they’re not prepared. You, however, will be prepared with everything you need to sustain your family in your new home. Or will you? Now is the time to make sure that you’re BOL is fully stocked because, after SHTF, bugging out will be a one-way trip.

Now, depending on where and what sort of BOL you have, your prep may differ from someone else’s. Some folks plan to completely "live off the land" and some plan to homestead, raising livestock and crops. I would say that I believe a good BOL should offer somewhere in-between, supplemented by a stock of supplies that are gathered and stored now. I’m going to focus on the supplies you need to stock your BOL with that won’t readily be available after SHTF but are absolutely necessary to sustain your family.

Having a significant Food Prep is the most important next to having a reliable source of safe drinking water. Your pantry should be filled with staples like salt, sugar, butter and shortening that are in forms and packaging that offer a long shelf-life. These are basic ingredients that you cook with and don’t want to be without. Rice and beans can be bought in bulk and I consider them must-have staples, as well. Along with your canned vegetables, soups and broths, you will also include canned meat and fish. I’ve found some canned ground beef, chicken and even fully-cooked bacon that have shelf-lives of over ten years. You can also find things like dehydrated eggs and banana slices that you can bulk up your pantry with. Remember, however, your average canned goods do have a much shorter expiration date and you’ll need to periodically check them and rotate them out of your pantry. Also add some meals-ready-to-eat (MRE) to your pantry as these usually come with a shelf-life of 25 plus years. Today’s MREs are not only well-balanced to give you the healthy calories that you need but they are also ridiculously tasty and the choices of meals are almost endless. You can get food kits with a variety of lunch and supper entrées and kits with just breakfast entrées.

Unless you have an unlimited source of electricity, you need to make sure that you have reliable sources of light. Even if your BOL is set-up with a generator, solar power or hydro power, you need back-up options so that you’re not left in the dark. Long burning candles and oil lamps are great, reliable options but you can also find solar-powered LED bulbs and lanterns that will be so much more brighter and closer to what your family is used to. A well-lit BOL is a happy BOL. Darkness breeds depression and fear.

Once again, depending on how your BOL is set-up, you will have specific tools ready-to-use when you get there. Let me remind you or encourage you to add some tools that I feel are necessities. Eventually, you will have to trap or hunt to provide meat for your family. Unless, you’re going the raising livestock route and even then, you most likely will supplement with game and fish. A set of snares and different sized of traps are a definite must because they’re really easy to set up and can be left to do their thing. Also, add bait traps, nets and fishing tackle to your food prep tools. This may seem like a no-brainer but now is absolutely the time to stock up on ammo. Just saying!