Best Bug Out Bag for SHTF [The Definitive Guide]

There is a lot of different bug out bags to choose from and we wanted to make sure to bring you a good representation of all of them.  When you are choosing a bug out bag for your needs there are several factors you are going to want to consider and we will talk about all of them below.

You will also notice all of the bug out bags we recommended don’t skimp on the price tag.  There’s a reason for this.  Any bag that we’ve looked at that’s under $100 just doesn’t make the grade for us.  The worst thing you could do is go for the cheap bag to save money and have it fall apart on you at the moment of truth. 

What Are The Different Types Of Bug Out Bags?

There will be several different bug out bags that you can choose from. It’s going to all depend on what features you are looking for in your bag.  But with that said, there are several different styles, which are all intended for the same purpose – to securely hold all of the food, water, and gear you need to get out of dodge quickly and safely when the time comes.

Backpack Style

These will be your bags that essentially go over both shoulders such as a school backpack your kids might use.  These are the most popular bug out bags because they are comfortable, carry a weighted load quite well, and can be used if you need to set out on foot.

Hiking Style

I’ve seen more and more preppers opt for these hiking-style bags for their bug out bag choice.  They will provide you with superior load support, stability, and if you are planning to bug out on foot to a remote cabin in the woods, this would be the perfect choice for you.

Duffle Bag Style

Duffel bags can easily be picked up with reinforced handles and thrown into a bug out vehicle or car.  Many of us are used to this style, and may prefer these types of bags over any other on our list.

Sling-Back

If you live in an urban environment, these sleek bags make for a great option.  You can move quickly and nimbly with them, and wing them from front to back quickly if needed.

Pre-made Bug Out Bags

And finally, you’ll see that we love the premade bug out bags that have all the essential survival items you need already packed in them.  These bags will be for the people who don’t want to have to mess with finding a bag, then having to find all the correct items to fill it with.  A popular choice among beginning preppers as well.

Features To Look For In A Bug Out Bag

There are several features that you want to look out for when trying to choose the best bug out bag for when SHTF including:

• Comfort/Fit – You will need your bug out bag to fit comfortably over your shoulder, or on your back or else you won’t be able to carry it properly or for any length of time.
• Durability – Durability is a huge feature that we looked for in all of the bags.  A lot of this comes down to the design of the bag including material, zippers, buckles, and stitching.
• Material – The material of the bug out bags will vary, so we wanted to make sure that you understand the differences between polyester, nylon, ballistic nylon, and Cordura. 
• Zippers, Buckles, and Stitching – This is such an important part of choosing a bug out bag that we made it its own separate rating category. If you don’t have good zippers, buckles, and stitching your bag lends itself to falling apart.
• Storage Design (MOLLE system and pockets) – This is one of my favorite parts of a bag.  There will be several of you who weight MOLLE systems as hugely important to choosing your bug out bag. There are others, like me, that are more interested in having pockets. 
• Water Resistance – I know that when I go hiking in the Sierras, I’m always concerned about whether or not it’s going to rain on the trip.  That’s why I’m always carrying a plastic garbage bag, even if my bag has a rain cover on it.  When you’re choosing a bug out bag, you might want to consider the water-resistance of the bag, depending on what part of the country you live in.
• Water Compatibility – One of the most crucial things you’ll carry in your bug out bag is water.  How your bug out bag carries that water might be of importance to you.  We wanted to make sure you understand the water compatibilities for each bag and how they are set up.

Categories and Specifications Explained

Below I’m going to explain the various categories we used when we were comparing different bug out bags.

1. Comfort and Fit

There are 4 main components when looking at the comfort and fit of a bag.  

Hip Straps and Padding

This is probably the most important aspect of all four factors. If you’ve ever gone hiking in the mountains, carrying a heavy pack of 35 pounds on your back all day can get daunting if you don’t have the weight balanced properly.  The trick is to take the weight off of your shoulders and carry it more in your hips and legs. 

Bringing down the center of gravity is helped by those important hip support straps and will make it significantly easier to walk around with the pack.

Sternum Strap

The sternum strap is another way to take the weight off of your back.  This strap goes across your sternum and helps to balance the pack and carry the weight easier. 

I always, always use my sternum strap when I go hiking up in the Sierras. It’s a must for hikers and should be for you as well if you plan on hoofing it to a bug out location.

Strap makeup

Have you ever worn a backpack with thin straps and then put too much weight in the backpack?  Man…..it starts to hurt after a while because those thin straps start digging into your shoulders after awhile.  If you’ve ever notice hiking packs have really wide, padded shoulder straps designed to sustain the weight of the pack over long periods of time. 

Make sure the straps are wide enough and you feel comfortable with them once your bug out bag is loaded to the maximum weight you can handle comfortably.

Airflow

Make sure that the pack you get allows enough airflow in the back of the bug out bag.  If you’re going to be walking long distances, your back might get sweaty, depending on the time of year, so you want to make sure your clothes don’t get wet from sweat.  Most of the better bug out bags will come with this feature so you don’t have to worry about it.

2. Durability

In our tests, we made sure the bags we recommended were durable enough to stand up to heavy loads, throwing them around, dropping them from various heights, and opening and closing zippers a ton of times!

3. Zippers, Buckles, and Stitching

Another very important aspect of your bug out bag will be the zippers, buckles, and stitching.  If a zipper breaks, you’re in trouble.  One of the simplest ways to tell a cheap bag from a high-quality one is if they have branded zippers.  “YKK” is one of the most well-known zipper makers and you can be assured of their quality.  

You might also find a lot of zippers poorly placed on the cheaper bags, so make sure you’re aware of this feature on your bug out bag. Water can get into your bag through poorly designed zippers so if there are flaps covering the zippers, that’s always a plus

I can’t stress enough how important the stitching element of the design is. This is one of the first things to fail in a bug out bag along with the zippers, especially when you start loading it up with supplies. 

The hard part is knowing if the stitching will hold once you get your bug out bag loaded with 30 pounds or so.  That’s why we recommend to never go below $75-$100 when choosing a good bug out bag.

4. Water Resistance

When talking about water resistance, there are some important things to note because water resistance is something different than waterproof or water repellent.  This was an important consideration as we scored the bug out bags on our list.  We can start by understanding the difference between these three terms according to the Oxford Dictionary:

• Water-resistant: able to resist the penetration of water to some degree but not entirely. To add to this, water-resistance is the lowest level of water protection you can have. It will withstand light rain, but don’t expect to dunk it in the creek and expect the contents to stay dry. 

• Water-repellent: not easily penetrated by water, especially as a result of being treated for such a purpose with a surface coating. Typically if something is labeled as water-repellent it probably has been coated with some type of special synthetic coating to seal out the moisture. True water repellency can be rare because of the variable factors involved, so don’t get too hung up on this term.

• Waterproof: impervious to water

Purchasing a bag that is waterproof, just might not exist in this case.  It’s almost impossible to do this unless the bag is enclosed in some sort of plastic bag that you personally administered. This is a great idea if you live in a rainy, wet area or a place where it snows in the winter.

5. Capacity

Capacity comes into play after you’ve decided the time from which you want to build your bug out bag supplies for.  

For example, if I want to prepare a bug out bag to last me 72 hours, after working with the bug out bags on our list, a 30 L to 60L bag is your ideal volume.  

We were able to fit all of the essential bug out gear we wanted inside those bags for that period of time. 

You have to be careful to get any bigger because you don’t want your bug out bag to get too heavy, or else you’ll have a hard time moving it to your vehicle or carrying it on your back in case you have to get out quickly.

6. Material

You’ll notice that you can buy a bug out bag that is made out of nylon, Cordura, or polyester.   But if you’re not familiar with these fabrics, it may make you wonder what the best material is for a bug out bag.  

All woven fabrics are made up of a mixture of yarns and weaving methods. Each of them varies slightly, but the strongest ones are used to make bug out bags.

Nylon – Nylon is essentially a type of plastic made from crude oil. Manufacturers will put the plastic through some sort of chemical process that results in a tough, stretchy fiber that can be used ultimately as fabric.  You can learn more about the nylon-making process here.

There is also another slightly different type of nylon referred to Ballistic Nylon.  The biggest difference between regular nylon and ballistic nylon is simply durability. So unless the bag specifically states ballistic nylon, you should predict it’s made out of regular nylon.  

But the important thing we need to keep in mind here is the benefits of nylon and will it make good material for a bug out bag. 

Here are some of the benefits of nylon:

• Sturdy, flexible, lightweight
• Fire-retardant
• Water-resistant
• Wicks up water easier
• Tends to be less expensive because it’s a synthetic material

Cordura –  Cordura is a synthetic cotton-based blend fabric that was created in 1929 by Dupont. Believe it or not, this fabric was originally used in World War II as tire material.  That gives you an idea of how strong it is. 

Even though it resides in the nylon family, it was adopted by many product manufacturers and the military due to its amazing traits as outlined below:

• Extremely water-resistant
• Flame repellent
• Fabric longevity

Cordura and Ballistic Nylon have been used by the military for many years simply because they are both extremely tough and durable. 

You will also notice that in the description of some of the bug out bags described above, they will have written next to it “D1000” for example. 

The “D” in D1000 refers to fabric denier.  It’s basically a unit of measurement for the weight of the yarn, but don’t get it confused with being an indication of strength. 

The key difference between ballistic nylon and Cordura is that the ballistic nylon is a heavier fabric with superior tensile and tear strength and Cordura tends to be more abrasion-resistant.  

Both are great materials for bug out bags, so don’t worry too much about the difference between the two.

Polyester – Polyester is a term referring to pretty much any fabric that is made with polyester yarns or fabrics. It’s a quick-drying fabric so it’s used a lot for making outdoor clothing. It’s not as strong as nylon, but you will still see it in some of the cheaper bug out bags.

7. Storage Design (Pockets, MOLLE System)

The overall storage design is probably one of the more important factors when choosing a bug out bag.  We made sure to rate these bags based on the overall ability to store gear inside the bag, as well as the ability to add extra pouches for extra fear through a MOLLE system.

Pockets are one of my favorite parts of the bug out bag. Could you imagine how difficult it would be to find stuff in your bug out bag if there were no organization pockets?  

I know how difficult it is to find stuff in my hobo-style purse every day!  Make sure that your bug out bag has adequate pockets for organizational purposes.   You need to be able to access important gear at a moment’s notice.

If you’re not familiar with tactical or military gear, MOLLE is an acronym that stands for Modular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment. MOLLE systems are used for adding accessories to your pack.  

The interlocking straps allow you to add pretty much whatever you want such as an IFAK pouch, a pouch for a walkie-talkie, and hydration pouches.  

Having a MOLLE system on your pack also makes it super simple to access your most important gear quickly instead of having to dig around in your pack.

With that said, there are some people that absolutely have to have MOLLE webbing on their bug out bags for them to even consider choosing it.  A lot of you who may be on that side of the camp, probably also have accessories already purchased with MOLLE webbing so you can attach to whatever bug out bag you choose. 

So naturally, we understood that and made sure that we included a separate MOLLE category just for you.

For those of you who aren’t as familiar with, or don’t feel the absolute need to have a MOLLE system, you can see the bags clearly that don’t have it at all, or if they do, you can see the rating we gave the MOLLE webbing based on coverage and ability to add more gear.

8. Hydration Pockets/Water Compatibility

Hydration pockets are something that is typically noted separately in the manufacturers description, so we wanted to make sure we rated these features accordingly throughout our bug out bag reviews.  

A few of the bags we tested didn’t contain hydration pockets necessarily but rather included a compartment for a water bladder instead.  We considered this just as important when analyzing the bags because water is something you don’t want to be caught without during an SHTF situation. 

Things To Consider When Choosing A Bug Out Bag

There are certain things that you going to want to consider when choosing a bug out bag such as the following:

• How many people are you packing your bag for?
• If there is more than one person in your party, will each one of you have our own bug out bag?
• What are the ages of the people in your party.  If you have seniors in your family, you aren’t going to be able to pack their bags as heavy.  Do you have toddlers in your family and will they need their own bag?  
• How long are you planning to bug out for?  Do you need enough supplies for 24 hours, 48 hours, 72 hours, or possibly even more? 
• Do you live in the city or do you live in the countryside? This might determine what type of bug out bag you consider.
• How do you plan on bugging out?  Will you be walking or will you be using a vehicle?
• Where do you plan on bugging out to?  This might determine what types of survival tools you put into your bug out bag.  
• What part of the country do you live in?  Does it snow where you are?  You might want to make sure you have weather-related survival tools in your pack as well.  
• Do you have pets that you will be bugging out with?  If so, you will need to buy a big enough bag, or a separate bag for your pets.

Notes When Reviewing Bug Out Bags

As we were reviewing these bug out bags, there were a few things we came across that we wanted to point out.  These are things that may help you choose the best bug out bag for your scenario.

Capacity is something that is hugely important when planning to get out of dodge.  When you’re analyzing gear bags, you’ll notice that capacity is always expressed in liters (L) or cubic inches or both.

We noticed that some of these bags we tested didn’t have either listed so in order to calculate the correct capacity we had to do a little math.  

You simply need to take the dimensions (LxWxH) of the bag you are looking at and then plug them onto this dimensions to volume online calculator.   

Once you do that, the calculator will spit out the volume capacity in liters, and it will make it much easier to compare with other bags that you may be considering.

Tips For Choosing A Bug Out Bag

Below are some tips that I personally want to share with you as you are looking for the bug out bag that suits your needs.

• Don’t skimp on price.  You get what you pay for.  This is why we wanted to review some of the nicer bug out bags to give you a true taste for what a real bug out bag should be like.

• If your bug out bag doesn’t come with a rain cover, which most don’t, you can always add a layer of water protection like Aqua Armor or Nikwax. 

• When you first get your bug out bag, immediately load it with the max weight you think you can handle and take it for a few test-runs to see how comfortable the straps are, how the torso strap adjusts, and how the sternum straps feel.  

If anything is digging into your skin, or simply doesn’t feel good, take it back!  You must test these bags and practice with them so that when the real day comes, you know exactly what to expect.

• If you are one of those people who is on a budget, you can save some money if you try and buy a bug out bag on an off-season. For example, if you like a hiking-type back, can you buy it in the winter and save some money?  Or try to buy a bag on Black Friday or when they have sales.