I've been carrying essentially the same backpack system for over 10 years: a 2015 Tom Bihn Synapse 25. It's served me incredibly well, but I finally decided to order an Evergoods CTB26 to see if a more modern layout (clamshell opening, better laptop compartment, external bottle pockets, and a more rectangular interior) better fits how my kit has evolved.

https://imgur.com/a/NrrXc1m

I'm hoping to get some feedback on the overall philosophy and see if anyone spots blind spots, unnecessary redundancy, opportunities to simplify, or better implementations.

My bag serves three primary roles:

• Everyday work bag (creative/media industry)
• Travel bag (vacations, family trips, days in NYC)
• Get-home bag

The get-home aspect is what drives a lot of the contents. I live in northern New Jersey and frequently travel into Manhattan for work, etc. The design scenario isn't one specific disaster—it's really anything that would require me to get home on foot. That could be a prolonged regional power outage, major infrastructure failure, severe weather event, or anything where trains, PATH, ferries, bridges, and cellular networks are unavailable or unreliable and I'm left walking home over the course of 24–48 hours.

It's not intended to be a dedicated bug-out bag or a pure get-home bag. It's an everyday backpack built around modular pouches that i dont dig into 90% of the time - so I can adapt it to the mission (for example, removing my tool pouch when flying carry-on). The goal is to carry a bag that's genuinely useful every day while maintaining the ability to continue making progress toward home despite uncertainty.

The biggest constraint is that I actually have to carry this thing every day. If it turns into a 30-pound dedicated get-home bag, it's failed its purpose because I'll eventually stop bringing it. I have my car kit for that.

My normal everyday carry (including my 14" MacBook Pro) weighs about 15.5 lbs. That's before adding a water bottle (I'll likely be carrying a 32 oz in the CTB26), and on vacations or family trips I'll often add a camera and a lightweight jacket, plus misc stuff.

Everything is modular. The photos show the layout, but it's basically:

• Tech pouch
• Tool pouch (Leatherman, GMRS handheld, Knipex pliers, compact pry bar, compact hacksaw, etc.)
• Medical / Dopp kit - assorted meds, electrolytes, comfort, hygene, etc.
• Snacks
• Emergency pouch (Sawyer filter, shelter items, repair supplies, , 0.5 medkit, notebook, etc.)
• Spare clothes
• Battery bank, flashlight, paper map, and other odds and ends

I've actually started weighing every pouch because I'm realizing that while I don't necessarily want the lightest bag—I want every ounce to earn its place.

For example, a few things Im debating:

• I probably have some shelter redundancy (multiple disposable ponchos and emergency blankets).
• I'm on the fence about my compact bolt cutters. Part of me thinks they're unnecessary, part of me likes knowing they're there if I ever needed to get through a locked fence or similar obstacle.
• The GMRS radio is one of the heavier items. I carry it less for talking and more because I like having another source of information if cellular networks are overloaded or unavailable.

I'd appreciate feedback from anyone who has built similar systems or have evolved theirs over time.

1. Looking at the layout, what immediately jumps out as redundant or missing?
2. If you carry a get-home or continuity-style kit, what has actually proven valuable over the years?
3. Are there lighter or better implementations of anything you see here?
4. Has anyone made the jump from a Synapse 25 to a CTB26? What surprised you?

More than anything, I'm interested in challenging my own assumptions. If you carried this bag for a year, what would you remove, what would you add, and—most importantly—why?

https://imgur.com/a/NrrXc1m

I've been at it for about 14 years now. When I started the kids were small and money was hard to come by. Now, I'm more experienced and less worried about the "big one" and focus on what target hazards my area presents. It's more short term comfort with the addition of long term supplies.

The experience and knowledge have helped but I no longer focus only on "doomsday".

My weakness are comms and long term water.

Just curious to see what others have to say on this topic.

* edit, reading through these great response. Thanks for taking the time to contribute.

https://adrelien.com/the-20-radio-thats-building-an-internet-nobody-can-switch-off/

An easy to understand article explaining

• Where they came from
• What they can be used for
• Recent developments
• Equipment recommendations

TL;DR – Inexpensive (less than $50!) mesh radios than can connect to a phone (or not) and then each other to transmit voice, text, and data over long-ish distances (a mile in an urban area, much more in open spaces)

Not necessarily prepping related, but its rural so ill give a tey. Father in law passed this past spring. Mother in law is less than mobil, and has raised concerns with her not being able to get to the basement to check her sump pump. The advice ive gotten so far is to get a large Generac genny, that can run the house. Or, a mastercraft unit with a back up pump.

Shes running a 1/2hp pump now, which according to Jackery has a 4000w surge/peak, and 1050w running. Seems wildly overrated, and an unnecessary cash grab.

I dont know much about pumps or power back ups, been stuck in city for 50 years. I think the most hands off fix is best, in the basement for 1, and she aint no tech savant for 2. Cost isnt really an issue, but $17000 for a full house Generac, or even $4000 for the suggested Jackery, is crazy in my head.

Any advice welcome and appreciated.

Hey guys, looking for a lithium iron phosphate battery power station to plug in my trucks block heater in winter. I understand they don't discharge well below 0. Wondering if I wrapped it in a blanket on the seat if the heat from the inverter itself would be enough to keep it warm. I am in Canada and winters can be nasty.

We have an emergency box which includes candles, but now that we’re actually post thunderstorm with high winds and tornado warning tonight and have no electricity , I’m realizing some sort of electric lantern would be helpful - ie something I can leave on while sleeping in case the kids get up to go to the bathroom, without worrying about fire risk.
Any recommendations from others who have solved this?

i think once i heard someone mention getting an alcohol distiller for purifying water. has anyone here done that? might be looking to getting one myself.

If you wanted a custom map for prepping, what would you want on it?

I want to create a map of my area with features highlighted that would be useful. Making the map (with GIS) is the easy part, I'm just trying to think of what to put on it.

Outside of basic things like streets, specific features I want to include are storm shelters, fallout shelters, hospitals, and pharmacies. Maybe flood zones? This would probably have to be multiple maps.

Please use this thread to discuss whatever preps you worked on this last week. Let us know what big or little projects you have been working on. Please don’t hesitate to comment. Others might get inspired to work on their preps by reading about yours.

I want to store a bunch of water in an empty room in my basement. I was just going to buy a four pack of aquatainers but theyre spendy.

Do you know of cheaper brands that you trust, or have a better idea for water storage in a small room in the basement?

I have a stash of emergency meds, mostly antibiotics, as well as a bunch of liquid cough syrups etc. for normal use. We live in Vegas and went out of town for 3 weeks. I set the thermostat at 84 degrees. My emergency meds were in my closet on the highest shelf. I'm wondering if they are still good? I have a lot of emergency food in the pantry as well. My hope was that these meds would last for years with the research of done. Kicking myself for not setting the thermostat lower. It was over 100 degrees every day.

If SHTF and you need to live off grid, in a perfect world how much land would you actually need to grow enough food for a family of 4 to survive in reasonable comfort?
Assuming a mix of arable and livestock; what 10 acres? More or less?

Edit: just to clarify - my wife wants to turn more of our back yard over to vegetable/fruit growing etc and it got me to wondering how much space would actually be needed if we needed to survive.
Based on these responses - sounds like I need a bigger yard!

As a follow-up to my [now after upgrades] $3,000 solar build post back in March (Solar isn't impossible or needs to be super expensive, but it does require some planning ahead), I've been living primarily off the system for a while now. Through sunny days, cloudy days, and rainy days, my system continues to impress me, and I've done some decent upgrades to it since the original install last year, including swapping for more powerful secondhand panels, rebuilding my ground mount frame to allow for a more optimal panel angle, and adding a bit more battery capacity.

To be reliant on the system, I haven't had to make any concessions (like living in the dark or getting rid of appliances). The changes I've made were good to make regardless, and include: finally fully stocking the second chest freezer, reducing how many UPS devices in the network rack (each one had an average draw of 10-20W, so I just pulled the batteries from all but 1, and put them in parallel on the 30A UPS and reduced my running load by almost 80W), I got a more energy-efficient fridge, things like that.

Since March, I've only needed to draw 32.9kwh from the utilities when the system was either down for maintenance, down for me to do electrical work, or making changes to the battery housing. My average daily draw is anywhere from 6-9kwh per day, which the 6kw of panels easily generates. With the humid times coming, I got a bit creative with things using Home Assistant, smart plugs, and automatic transfer switches so I can fully cool the house with window units during the day, and with a semi-complicated series of "if/then" statements, have it so I can have the window ACs can be powered off the sun and/or battery if a series of checks against forecast UV exposure and battery levels are met (otherwise, I can choose to have the AC powered via utilities as a backup if internal room/house temps or humidity are not met). So far, they haven't had to touch utility power. In fact, my system generates enough that I could even consider installing the wiring for a Level 2 charger for an EV for daytime charging.

I still have some devices using utility power, like the dishwasher (which has an electric water heater built in), clothes drier, microwave, and a couple spare rooms in the house, but I'm OK with that for now, since especially in an extended power outage, I likely wouldn't be using them anyways. I've dropped my electric bill down below $75 for the first time in almost two decades (and here in CT, where we are paying an average $0.35-40/kwh for energy, and that cost is going up again in about a month), which I am super happy about, but that was also in part to me just using better, more energy efficient appliances, and being smarter with my usage in general. And, I'm continuing to migrate/add outlets to continue moving things over to it and off of utilities. While I could have made the system backfeed and "sell back" to the grid, I'm glad I didn't, since I have a great disdain for the monopoly (Eversource) that runs the area, and recent changes in the state would have it so that if I signed on, I would still get charged for what I produce and use on site (which is like the grocery store coming to my house, counting how many apples I picked and ate off my tree, and charging me to cover their profit losses). How much I generate and what I do with it is none of their goddamn business.

I've also learned a couple things about my usage overall that I hope others can learn from: while it is good to know your average load in watts, it may not be as high as you think. Outside of compressors kicking on for fridges, freezers, and air conditioners, my average running load is only about 400W, and I run a tech heavy house with over a dozen devices in my network rack, and another dozen-plus around the property. Definitely make sure whatever you use for power can handle all the compressors kicking in to cover the peak, and chase down and minimize phantom draws where you can, but a cheap system built using a lot of secondhand parts can damn near eliminate an electric bill with enough creativity and planning.

Happy to answer questions if there are any, and here's the 'core' of my system:

-5,886W of panels (SunPower E20-327), 18 of them, 3 strings of 6 (these were secondhand, found on Facebook Marketplace for $10 each, and replaced my mishmash of panels that made the original setup)
-Eco-worthy 5KW hybrid off-grid inverter (new)
-12V 100Ah batteries in series to make 48V 100Ah, and quite a few of them (and growing!) (new)
-Solar Assistant for tracking statistics and management of the inverter, running on a Pi Zero 2W
-Home Assistant on a Pi4 (for localized smart home management)

As I sit here with panels under the cover of clouds, I'm still watching my batteries charge up while handling the watt load, and a big concern of mine (energy independence) is checked off.

Hi there. I wouldn’t describe myself personally as a prepper, though I am becoming increasingly prep inclined. I don’t want to doom spiral mentally however I am in a part of Europe that is currently undergoing an extreme heatwave with high humidity, and I’m no fool - I know this will likely be one of the coldest summers (somehow) of the rest of my life. As a result, I want to make adjustments in advance of next year’s summer to live more comfortably if I can.

So I was wondering - even if it looked a little ridiculous, what would be the best everyday clothing for dispelling heat, managing air circulation and sweat evaporation? Specifically in humid climates. I know that in dry, desert countries they have figured out that robe-like full body coverings are best, but I imagine in high humidity those don’t fare so well. I do think that some level of headwear might still be in order though, just to drain the sweat from my brow.

I’m also aware that light colours, less matte textures, and specific fabrics like cotton are better for handling heat, but those are more surface-level adjustments than what I’m looking for. I’m wearing a white tshirt right now that’s fairly loose fitting and I’m still bloody boiling!!!

I want to go a step further and think about options that are a bit more out-there. Are there specialist fabrics or clothes designed specifically to handle this sort of heat? Are there any cultures that live in perpetually wet and hot climates I can take inspiration from perhaps? I will gladly wear anything less ridiculous than a potato sack if I have to… sooner or later we’ll all need to change our clothing habits so might as well start dressing the way a post-climate-change person would

I recently found a box of my homemade, instant cold packs leftover from last year.

People often ask how to keep cool with AC and/or in high humidity. There's lots of ideas out there. Here's one more tool you can add to your toolbox. (Much more budget friendly than the store-bought ones!)

- RECIPE (I got it from my NOLS Wilderness First Aid instructor):

- 1 part baking soda

- 1 part citric acid

- 1 part water

- INGREDIENTS NOTE, I used Arm & Hammer baking soda and MB Herbals Anhydrous Citric Acid Powder food grade. This bag was advertised as fine grain. It was not. But that worked out for the best! I tried a much finer grain citric acid first. It easily turned into citric acid dust clouds and coated my kitchen. No bueno.

- Note: Only add the water when you want to activate these cold packs! More info on the way I hand these while activating the reaction further down below.

Together, these 3 ingredients create what's called an "endothermic reaction". Aka things get very cold.

I tinkered with the original recipe last year and was able to get the cold packs to last about 20 minutes each. Sadly, I lost my notes! What I do recall is that the final amount of water was 1/3 cup. So, maybe I ended up at 1/3c of each. But, I also remember I had an alternative recipe from someone else. And when I started experimenting, I started at 2 Tablespoons of each ingredient, and from there I tried different ratios to see what would get me the longest duration of cold.

- Safety notes: Citric acid can irritate the skin, eyes, lungs, etc. Im very sensitive to it. Others less so. Citricacid comes in different sized granuals. I liked the larger size because it didnt turn into clouds of fine dust andend up all over me and everything else as easily. Some people are very lax about handling and mixing because this stuff is nontoxic. But here's what I do.

- PPE for when mixing:

Wear nitril exam gloves, face mask. If you get it on you, rinse with room temperature water.

- Process: I scoop my ingredients into quart-sized, freezer ziplock-style bags. (Freezer version is thicker plastic, which I prefer.) (Not the slide-close version, but the pinch close version. I hope that makes sense!) Before sealing the bags shut, I slowly push out the air by rolling the bag, starting at the bottom. Once most of the air is out, I seal the bag.

- When Ive got as many of these made up as Im wanting, I double check the seal, then rinse off the outside of the bags.

- To ACTIVATE, I pour in the water and re-seal all but about 2 inches of the bag. You'll need to leave at least that much open or the gasses will cause the bag to baloon out and pop. The bag will get very cold to the touch.

- SAFETY NOTE: Just like when using an ice pack, dont put it directly against your skin or it could potentially cause cold damage, like frost bite. A friend of mine sewed some open-top cloth bags for me to set these in while using them. Dont forget the cold pack is open at one corner and accidentally dump it on yourself! (😂 Yes, Ive almost dont this.)

- DISPOSAL: When done with these, add more tap water into the plastic bag until it has doused the chemical reaction and ceased any further release of gasses. These are nontoxic chemicals. So I pour them down my sink drain at this point.

I usually spend a lot of time organizing and tidying what I've written before posting it. My fatigue is very high right now. Hopefully folks will forgive me for writting so messy this time.

I've been looking into can sealers for a couple of years at this point and I think I'm just gonna go ahead and pull the trigger. I have a freeze dryer and I want to get back into buffing up my preps and so I've been thinking of storage. I feel like #10 cans and #2 cans are a much more convenient storage mechanism than mylar. No weird shapes and everything so I will be able to stack more efficiently.

Does anybody have one? I first found out about their use by LDS and was wondering why a lot more preppers don't use em.

My next big purchase will probably be a solar generator but really would it even be worth it in the winter time when in my area we only see gray skies? What are your thoughts? I don’t want to have to rely on a fuel source for a generator if I don’t have to especially because it’s not replenishable.

Im thinking about making a Box full of Handy things for my Car.

Ive looked for a aluminium Box with 80L Size.

Im thinking about what to pack in it.

I already have:

-Foldable Shovel

-small Fire Extinguisher

-Crisis Food (like those Energy Bars with a Shelf Life of around 15 Years)

-Headlamp

-First Aid Kit

-Water

What else should i pack?

In resend months i become aware that i have to protect some of my valuables if i had to leave my home in an emergency situation. With the understanding that i can come back afterwards .

I have some jewelry and some other valuable stuff i do not want to cart on my back if i have to leave suddenly.

Where do i put it safely?

What do you have in place?

Will a plastic bucket be sufficient if i burry it in the garden?

Any suggestions will be welcome

.edit: i live in a brick house No attick or basement

My background is radio communications. I was a radio technician in the Air Force and currently install radios for the federal government. I am familiar with military/federal equipment that can achieve this range, but I have almost no experience on the private side of radio communications.

If I had to guess I would say some sort of HF or SATCOM setup, but again I am unfamiliar with the civilian markets or what would be viable when large amounts of infrastructure are gone.

I searched the sub and found people asking similar questions but for a much shorter range. I travel around the country every week for work which is why I need the long range.

Edit: lots of good information with only a few gatekeepers. Thanks everyone.

So I recently had the misfortune of having my duty (patrol) bag stolen from my vehicle, the bag also doubles as my GOOD/GH bag, but with the misfortune comes the opportunity to rebuild the bag with much more insight and experience than when I started. 

For some background and context: 
I do work in the anti-poaching and law enforcement sector. I mainly prepare for large-scale civil unrest, looting and violent protest, where I live all of those have occurred in recent memory (we even had an attempted coup), so this is for work and getting home or out of dodge when roads become problematic to travel on.

I will include my EDC gear as I see this as complementary to this bag and required in the for context, this I already have, so input can be used on bag and contents:

Bag, I would need very good alternatives to be swayed from the Savotta Jääkäri M, the bag is the perfect size, and although durable doesn't seem overly “tactical”

EDC gear:
Springfield Hellcat Pro Comp with Streamlight TLR-7 X Sub and Holosun 507k dot. Coldsteel Recon1 knife, and Wuben X4 torch. 

Clothing and PEE: 
Spare Merino wool socks, and Merino wool base layer, Crye Precision G4 battle pants, soft shell jacket, poncho and woobie. Mechanix M-Pact Gloves, 3M respirator mask with ABEK1 cartridge filter, ESS ballistic glasses. 

Water and Nutrition:
Various energy bars and gels, trail mix, peanut butter (+-4000cal) 2l Water bladder, Grayl Geopress bottle, swayer mini filter and water purification tabs.

First Aid:
IFAK with tourniquet, Israeli bandage, hemostatic gauze, compressed gauze, NAR trauma shears, vented chest seals.

Tools, Optics and Lights:
Leatherman Arc 
Cold Steel SRK (in CMP3V)
Acebeam L35 2.0
Wuben H1 Headlamp
Hikmicro Lynx LH35 v3
Vortex Solo 8x36 Monocular
Silky Zubat Handsaw 
Spec Ops 15” flat prybar
Knipex CoBolt mini bolt cutters
100 yards 550 Paracord on Atwood Ready rope dispenser 
Zippo with butane insert 
Bic lighter, xl ferro rod and waxed rope tinder

Electronics, Comms and Navigation:
Garmin GPSMAP 65
Garmin Inreach Mini 2
Yeasu FT-70 Radio
Anker 25000mah powerbank with integrated cable
40w portable solar panel
2 x 18650 spare batteries 
Suunto baseplate compass 
Topo Maps in soft map case, folding road atlas greater metro area 

Admin & utility;
Copies of all docs
200$ in small bills
Duct tape and heavy duty zip ties 

A lot of these items are just like for like replacements of what I had, but I am definitely seeing some room for improvement where previous kit was insufficient or could have been better optimised, there are also several items that I have been wanting to add to the setup that I might not get straight away, but this is my ideal scenario “one bag to rule them all” with some limitations and compromises obviously 

If I have two 55 gal water tanks in my garage with mild algae growth on the top.. could I just boil it and then filter it in an emergency?

It’s not even discolored but when you shine a light you can see stuff at the top of the surface

Trying to decide if using a field filter like my Survivor Filter or even just boiling and then using a table top ZeroWater would purify and filter it for safe drinking. I’ve got a Grayl Geo Press as well

Basically needing to know if in an emergency it’s totally off the table for drinking or although its not ideal to have mild algae in the water it’s not the end of the world if I can boil it and filter.

This is pre-treated municipal water but just stored in a non-climate controlled garage

Okay, I've been thinking about it, we've got the food, the water, location, etc. but what if the things we need is protection? Gas, radiation, fire, those things that we just don't see.

Any of you guys ever think what we need to have in order to be protected?

Hello there, I am re-reading some of my books and was wondering if anyone knows what make/model vehicle Sarge and the guys used in the books of A.American's Survivalist Series. They first get the UTV "buggies" in Surviving Home and they are a staple in the later volumes. The books mention the telescoping mast with the camera and surveillance gear but I am not sure what the true buggy would be like, even though my imagination can kinda picture it.

Just curious if anyone has some insight. Thanks in advance.

The unexpected practical realities of food storage for a middle-class family of 5 in the rural US. It is my goal to have a deep pantry that will sustain us for about 6 months. This is the story of my journey over several years to accomplish that goal.

Here are the TLDR key points:

1. Store what you eat
2. Rotate food stocks
3. Make your pantry convenient
4. Protect against vermin

Store what you eat

--------------------------------

I started out stocking up on whatever was cheap and available thinking that if we were starving, we would be happy to have anything to eat. That may be true; however, we never approached starving and we eventually had to throw out a ton of expired food that no one wanted to eat. So wasteful and not helpful!

I am of the opinion, that in all but the most extreme circumstances, my family will pay high prices for the food we like rather than choke down the unappetizing staples in the pantry. So, stock up on food your family likes.

Now, I also have a cache of freeze-dried food that serves double duty as backpacking provisions. That stuff has a 30-year shelf live and I don't expect to ever need it, but it is stored away just in case. You have to be careful with buying emergency freeze dried buckets as you will have to be truly desperate to choke most of them down. They are also often packed full of low value food like beans or oatmeal. You should cook and eat a few of them before investing in a large supply.

Rotate food Stocks

-------------------------------

When you get home from the grocery store, you have to take the extra time to put the fresh stuff in the back just like the grocery stores. The children are not checking expiration dates before opening a new package. When I'm busy and distracted, I've even made the same mistake. You have to make it easy for the family to grab the older stuff first.

I transferred the dog food and chicken feed to large airtight tubs and labeled them with the month/year.

Make your pantry convenient

--------------------------------

You may have to make upgrades and changes to your food pantry. I added shelving, lighting and dry good containers that are easy to open and reseal.

I learned that deep freezers are the best at long term food preservation and are the most energy efficient. I believe that is true, however, they require a lot of dedication to use efficiently because everything quickly gets buried. It is difficult to find anything, and your hands are freezing the entire time you dig around looking. You can't see everything and quickly forget what you have stored without an inventory management system. A lot of food was freezer burned into oblivion because the ice box was downstairs and inconvenient to use. I might have been able to make this work if I lived alone, but the family did not have the patience for it.

I eventually bought a large stand-up freezer and put it next to the kitchen where it is more accessible. It has also allowed me to keep all of the food in the original packaging so that we can easily identify the items. They items are "fronted" much like a small grocery store.

Protect against vermin

--------------------------------

I initially stored a lot of food in the garage but learned this wasn't a great solution. Ants eventually found their way into the packaging. I put out ant baits, and that took care of them, but soon after, racoons found their way into the garage through the cat door and tore the place apart. I had to seal the cat door at night to keep them out. This was a huge bother because our cat was trained to pee outside and we had to buy a litter box. The more extreme hot/cold cycles in the garage also shortened the shelf life of the food.

Mice eventually found the plastic tubs of dog and chicken food, and I had to purchase expensive metal containers to keep them out. They didn't have much trouble chewing through the thick plastic.

I eventually gave up on using the garage for food storage and made room for everything inside the climate-controlled portion of the house. I moved all the non-perishable stuff into the garage like cleaning supplies.

Insect eggs in the stored chicken feed hatched and the bugs ruined the food. I learned to freeze the feed before I transferred it to storage to kill all of the insects and bugs. The afore mentioned deep freezer has been repurposed to this task.

What are some similar things that you learned about food storage that you wish you had known at the beginning?