Podcast

   Emergencies rarely match the tidy plans we imagine. That’s why practical prepping starts with honest stories and field-tested fixes. The episode opens with a lesson learned the hard way: a flashy pre-made go-bag that exploded into a pile of tiny bandages when a neighbor needed real first aid. From there, we reset expectations: the old three-day advice is obsolete. Today, aim for a minimum of thirty days across home, car, and get-home kits. The goal isn’t to live in the woods with a camp lantern; it’s to navigate shelters, motels, stalled highways, and power outages with calm, capability, and enough redundancy to avoid single points of failure. Think modular, like Legos—home gear, car gear, and office gear should connect and compound.

Start with bags by mission. A shelter-in-place kit is ideal when your home is safe; group it by function: water, calories, meds, sanitation, light, comms, documents, and comfort. A get-home bag lives where you work and prioritizes movement: broken-in shoes, socks, weather layers, water, electrolytes, a headlamp, map and compass, small first aid, tape, snacks, and a compact shelter like a robust reflective blanket. A road kit assumes you’re stuck in a car: heavy-duty water bottles on the backseat floor, not the trunk; food you can eat without a stove; a bright flashlight; chem lights; a warm layer; and a way to signal. The style of your bag matters: wide padded straps, hip belt, and a neutral, non-tactical look to reduce attention. Being a “gray person” is a safety feature—blend in, carry quality, avoid broadcasting value.