If you find yourself having to quickly escape your current environment, you need a bug-out bag. This is common knowledge.

However, there are some very important items that even the most seasoned preppers tend to forget to pack in their bug-out bags – items that could mean the difference between life and death.

Check out this list of critical survival items you may be missing in your own bag.

1. Sillcock Key

You need water to survive. However, it may be difficult to find clean water depending on your bug-out location.

A sillcock key will allow you to easily open water sources when you need them most. It can also help you open tamper-resistant hose bibs to access water on industrial or commercial buildings.

Some multipurpose sillcock keys can even be used to access gas supplies, radiators, and electric control cabinets.

2. Nasopharyngeal Airway Tube

You probably have basic first aid items in your bug-out bag, which is a start. But many of these items aren’t what you need to save a life when a true disaster strikes. Having a nasopharyngeal airway tube can help should you or someone else experience severe ventilatory failure.

It’s not enough to simply have it in your bag – you (and your family members) need to know ahead of time how to insert it to minimize further injury.

3. Chest Seals

Chest seals are useful for severe trauma, specifically severe chest trauma, that often happens in a major disaster. These unique large bandages are useful for treating deep puncture wounds to the chest, neck, or abdomen.

Chest seals do not stop the bleeding, but they close off the wound so that air cannot enter the chest cavity. Additional air makes an already serious problem even more severe.

4. Small Saw

Most preppers pack some sort of knife or multitool for cutting. The problem is, if you plan to bug out in the wilderness, you will wear yourself out quickly using a multitool to cut firewood or remove heavy debris from roadways or paths. A pocket saw or small wire saw will make this job far easier and help you conserve much-needed energy.

5. Burner Phone

There is a big possibility that you will want or need to communicate after you bug out, but you probably don’t want to be tracked. Hence the burner phone. Just make sure to memorize key phone numbers before disaster strikes.

6. Lockpick Kit

You never know when you’re going to need this tiny-but-powerful item. For instance, say that after a disaster you haven't heard from your neighbors and need to get into their locked home. In a more extreme example, if SHTF, the places with supplies you may need (that haven’t been looted) will probably be under lock and key.

7. Activated Charcoal

Having activated charcoal in your bug-out bag may be lifesaving. One of its most important uses is treating poisoning, vomiting, and diarrhea. In addition, it can draw out infections from the skin, so it works well for skin infections, bites, and stings.

8. CAT Tourniquet

If you suffer a traumatic injury to your arm or leg, you need a tourniquet to control the bleeding. The CAT Tourniquet is the field tourniquet of the US Army and only requires one hand to apply.

9. Blood Clotting Powder

Blood clotting powder works by combining with the blood to form an instant seal and clot blood. After a disaster, hospitals may not be accessible, and you will have to take care of yourself and others with you. Medical tools, like blood clotting powder, will prove irreplaceable.

10. Trash Bags

There’s nothing fancy about them, but trash bags are often overlooked in preps. They are very useful in a variety of ways, which is why they are an excellent choice for your bug-out bag. In addition to their regular use, trash bags can be utilized to collect rainwater, carry water from other sources, or help waterproof your supplies.

In liberty,

Grant Miller

Preparedness Advisor, My Patriot Supply