We like to be prepared and me and my wife both prepared 72 hr emergency survival kits for our family of 5 and we packed our kits up and took them out into the mountains on a camping trip to test them out. We taste tested our MREs and used the shelters and figured out what worked and what did. WeSurvival, emergency prep, preping, 72 hr kit, bug out bag, camping, family camping, family 72 hr kits, testing 72 hr kits, 72 hour kits, MRE, taste testing MRE, taste testing survival food, survival gear, survival food, emergency preparedness, emergency prep gear, evacuation kits, RV camping, trailer camping, adventure camping, camping with kids really got a full blown test because a crazy lightning and rain storms hits us twice while camping.
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TravelTranscript
00:00Luke here at the Outdoor Boys YouTube channel and today this family of five is going to
00:10test our metal with our 72 hour kits.
00:14Yes, we are going to go out in the woods and survive with nothing but what I have here
00:20in my family of five 72 hour kit.
00:24Wait, I thought we were just going camping.
00:27No this is going to be us versus death, survival of the fittest, we are going to see whether
00:33our kits can keep us alive.
00:36Uh, I don't want to do that.
00:39Becca what are you going to do when zombies attack the house or we have some sort of communist
00:44uprising.
00:45I'm going to take that.
00:48Well fine, we are going to go out in the woods and we are going to test both of our 72 hour
00:53kits and we are going to see whose is better.
01:00You guys ready to go survive?
01:01Yeah!
01:02I brought a fan.
01:03I'm going to kill an eel too.
01:04Alright guys, we got a place where we can pull over and not interfere with traffic.
01:34We got a spring coming out of the rocks where we got some fresh water.
01:37Does it taste good?
01:39Oh it tastes good.
01:42Oh we even got a little spot where I can camp down there.
01:45What do you think babe?
01:46Is this the perfect spot?
01:47Let's do it.
01:48What do you think about this?
01:52Oh it's warm, so warm.
01:55Oh that water is perfect.
01:58So I think we found a decent spot for your 72 hour kit.
02:01I think we did.
02:03Yeah this is why you buy a 16 foot trailer right here folks.
02:08Well apparently Becca's 72 hour kit includes sunscreen and swim trunks for the boys.
02:14So they are getting changed to go swim in the river and while they do that I'm going
02:17to get my real 72 hour kit ready to go.
02:27These two bags are my 72 hour kit.
02:30Everything we need for the entire family, that's a family of five.
02:33This bag contains all of our sleeping and shelter needs, a tent, sleeping bags and mats
02:38for everyone and over here is everything else.
02:41So let me take this out, get set up and I'm going to show you what I put in my 72 hour
02:45kit.
02:46What's the matter buddy?
02:47I need to go poo poo.
02:49Now do you want to use mommy's 72 hour kit or do you want to use daddy's 72 hour kit?
02:55That's cool too.
03:05Both of the bags I'm using for my 72 hour kits are waterproof dry bags because the stuff
03:10I have in here, it's useless if it gets wet.
03:14Alright let me show you what's in the top of my bag first.
03:17I've got this dry box here with a couple of rechargeable headlamps, I have an emergency
03:22response radio that's both solar powered and crank powered.
03:27I also have this satellite phone that works with the Iridium satellite network.
03:31It allows me to call and send text messages anywhere in the globe as long as I can see
03:35the sky.
03:36This is a battery bank that has solar panels as well.
03:42I can charge my phone wirelessly this way and it's got little ports for plugs so I can
03:49charge all my other electronics.
03:50The next thing in my bag is my first aid kit because when you need it, you need it fast.
03:55This one's from a company called Survivewear, it's a Virginia company, a little mom and
03:59pop operation.
04:00This has a lot of things in it and I've supplemented it with a few things of my own as well.
04:06Alright so this is all the things that come with the kit.
04:08You got biodegradable wet wipes, knife, multi-tool, signaling mirror, scissors, a little saw,
04:16other little odds and ends.
04:17But the nice part is that everything is labeled.
04:20And you got a little bit of survival stuff and a lot of first aid stuff.
04:24But I added a few things to my kit.
04:25I added some large gauze and surgical dressings for bigger scrapes and wounds.
04:30I also got burn dressing.
04:31It's something you put on a burn immediately after it happens.
04:34It helps relieve pain and also reduces scarring.
04:37Here's a set of gauze with a chemical called quick clot.
04:41It helps stop bleeding.
04:42So if someone's got a real gusher, you go and use this in addition to other first aid
04:47techniques to try to stop the bleeding quickly.
04:50And then I've got some comfort first aid items.
04:52I've got some DayQuil and NyQuil.
04:54I've got some throat lozenges, some Neosporin, some poison ivy wipes, Bactain pain relief
05:01and itch relief, some Imodium AD, and this all fits inside the first aid pouch.
05:07If anyone in your family has special medical needs, make sure those medications make it
05:10into your 72 hour kits.
05:12This right here is my cooking equipment.
05:15Big thing of isobutane, a little backpacking stove, and I've got a three cup tea kettle.
05:20Next in the bag is our toiletries and right on the top is dust masks.
05:24We got toothbrushes and toothpaste, diaper wipe, feminine hygiene products, trash bags,
05:29tissue paper, a notepad and some pencils, hand towels, razors, wet wipes, and some shampoo
05:37conditioner, eating utensils, and some fire starting stuff.
05:41We have diapers, pull-ups, and toilet paper.
05:44I've got four of these LifeStraws.
05:46They're filters that you just drink through.
05:48This packet contains something called chlorofloc, which is a chemical that both cleans water
05:53and makes it taste better.
05:55Next I've got adhesive body warmers.
05:57These things last 12 hours.
05:58I have five rain ponchos and I have five emergency survival bivvies.
06:03I've got this book.
06:04It's on field medicine or survival medicine.
06:07Well everyone but me is in their swimsuits, so I think I need to stop talking and go get
06:10changed because that river needs to get swam in.
06:13My wife's 72-hour kit may or may not have included sunscreen in my swim trunks.
06:18The river lets us sleep on my cooties, boy.
06:22Tasty.
06:23Woohoo.
06:24There you go, a nice soaking rock.
06:27Yeah, that's good.
06:28Look, I'm doing it faster.
06:29It's a baby toad.
06:30That is the tiniest little toad.
06:31Look at him.
06:32All right, well let's go upstream and explore a little bit.
06:33Whitewater rafting without the raft.
07:00The boys are having a ball.
07:01They just go upstream, plop down in a swift current, and let it drift down and just rinse
07:05and repeat.
07:06You enjoying this, Becca?
07:07I am.
07:08This is pretty perfect, actually.
07:09You want to ride on daddy's shoulders?
07:14Yeah.
07:15Okay.
07:16Oh, baby.
07:17Woohoo.
07:18That's cool.
07:19Oh, there's my other son.
07:20He's drifting away.
07:21This is so much fun, but I better get some dinner ready so that the troops can eat as
07:26soon as the sun gets down.
07:28The remainder of my bag is just food.
07:31To feed my family of five for three days, that's 45 meals.
07:36But just that alone, it's 20 pounds here.
07:40Let me kind of show you three different types of meals that I have in this bag.
07:44The first type of meals I have are these Mountain House Dehydrated Backpacking Meals.
07:49They're very light, they're not that expensive, and they only take about one or two cups of
07:54boiled water to cook.
07:56If you have to carry all your food on your back, hands down, this is the best way to
08:00go.
08:01However, I find that if you eat nothing but these for three days straight, you get super
08:04constipated, which saves on toilet paper.
08:07The next type of meal I have are these MREs, or Meals Ready To Eat.
08:10These are based off what they give the soldiers in the field.
08:13They're more diverse, and they have more calories than the backpacking meals.
08:17The biggest problem is that they're heavy.
08:20They're also expensive, and some of the companies that sell them are a little bit fast and loose
08:25with how they package these.
08:27The real cool part about MREs is you don't need to bring any cooking utensils.
08:32There's a little pouch in here, and you add water to it, and it causes a chemical reaction
08:37that heats up your meal, so you can have a hot meal with nothing more than this pouch.
08:42I think tonight, I am going to try out these MREs.
08:45If you like any of this stuff, I'm going to put links in the description to where I got
08:49this.
08:50I actually bought this from a local company here in Virginia.
08:53The final type of meal I have in my bag are these emergency rations.
08:57They're just like little power bars, and this right here is 3,600 calories.
09:02They're actually really tasty.
09:04I like these better than Clif bars or any of the energy bars they have on the markets,
09:08and the kids will eat them a lot more than they do those other products as well.
09:12They're super compact, and they last forever, so it's no big thing to throw a couple bricks
09:18of these in your bag.
09:19All right, now that I've shown you what's in my kit, I'm going to pull out some of these
09:23MREs, and we're going to see if the heaters work, and we're going to taste them and see
09:26what we think.
09:27Also, Becca's got the kids in the trailer, and here in a few minutes, she's going to
09:31show us what food she brought.
09:33Hey, guys, how does beef ravioli and chicken breast in barbecue sauce sound?
09:39Good.
09:40Uh-oh, it looks like it might be raining, so Becca's busting out her 72-hour kit awning.
09:46It started thundering over there.
09:47We might get some rain, so I'm going to get my shelter up in a hurry.
09:51Five sleeping bags and mats in a tent is massively bulky, but it's not that heavy,
09:56so I decided to make it into a separate bag.
09:58That way, depending on the emergency, I can choose to grab this or not grab it.
10:03I've got a three-man dome tent in my kit.
10:05It's a really tight fit with our family of five, but my kids are still little, so we
10:09can get away with it.
10:10Oh-ho, here it comes.
10:12Here it comes.
10:22It's rain poncho time.
10:32It looks like this is getting serious.
10:35I bet you really regret bringing the RV now, don't you?
10:39All right, I've got to get this poncho off.
10:42It is so flipping hot.
10:44Oh, I smell like dirty dog.
10:59I've got a little problem.
11:01The stakes to the tent weren't in the bag, and so I didn't stake down the tarp, and so
11:07the tarp's letting a lot of rain into the tent.
11:15I got the tarp stake down, but it really wasn't made for this.
11:18It's like wearing a miniskirt in the wintertime.
11:21Just doesn't cover enough.
11:23Well, this poncho is completely unbreathable and stifling hot, but gosh darn it, it's keeping
11:29me bone dry, so I like the poncho.
11:32I've got water leaking through the walls of the tent and pooling down here on my pad.
11:38I'm using my poncho to try to keep my pad dry.
11:41There's a good amount of water pooling on the bottom of this tent already.
11:46This is where having waterproof bags really comes in handy.
11:49I can put it up against the wall of the tent and still keep my stuff dry.
11:53This little rainstorm's really exposing the flaws of my tent.
11:56I might be able to fit my whole family in here in good weather, but when it's bad like
12:02this, we need to cook inside, we need to store our gear inside, you can't touch the walls,
12:07and so this becomes a much smaller space.
12:10I need a better tent, and I need a bigger tent if I'm going to actually use this in
12:15survival situations.
12:16Well, Beck and the kids really wanted to try out the MREs and check them out, so I better
12:21put on my poncho and head on over there.
12:27Don't tell Becka, but I think the awning is absolutely brilliant.
12:30Oh, thank goodness for that.
12:32Oh, hey babe.
12:35Woo, every time I take that poncho off, it smells like dead dog.
12:39You having fun?
12:40Yeah.
12:41All right, guys, let me give you a tour of Becka's 72-hour kit, and you can see it's
12:48got a kitchen, a little bathroom shower, which is where we keep all of the wet clothes, got
12:53a little closet right there, and it's got a set of bunk beds, and we got the top bunk
12:58folded up right now, so I could sit down and use that as a seat.
13:01Got a queen bed, and we have another bunk bed up here that folds down, the boys sleep
13:06in.
13:07This also turns into a kitchen table, and it's got a little TV, which we never use,
13:10and it's got a little fridge.
13:11Do you like a cold Hawaiian sun from my 72-hour kit?
13:15Yeah.
13:16Yeah, you would.
13:17What is that?
13:18Strawberry lilikoi-flavored Hawaiian sun?
13:20Oh, you're a beautiful woman.
13:22You know you want it.
13:23All right, we're going to bust open one of these MREs.
13:30Cheddar potato with artificial bacon bits spread soup mix, and then this is the cardboard
13:35sleeve.
13:38Tear this open, fill it up to this line, tuck our entree in there, and we got a little bit
13:49of smoke coming out, and the heater's pressed up against the entree.
13:52That should warm that up.
13:53Just let that sit for a few minutes.
13:55You guys want to try the applesauce?
13:56This is soldier applesauce.
14:02It tastes like old applesauce mixed with mac and cheese.
14:07These don't taste old.
14:08They're in my 72-hour kit.
14:09We're going to try the coconut peanut butter spread.
14:19I actually like that.
14:21The coconut peanut butter spread's good.
14:23Try that.
14:24Like that?
14:25It's good.
14:26It is good.
14:27It is good.
14:28Yeah, the coconut peanut butter's good.
14:30Let's see.
14:31The meal's pretty hot, but not so hot that it burns my hands, and voila, beef ravioli.
14:39That actually looks pretty good.
14:42I like it.
14:44That's okay.
14:45It's about on par with canned ravioli.
14:47Which is also in my 72-hour kit.
14:49All right, let's crack this one open.
14:52Oh, hello.
14:54Well, this must be the beef brisket.
14:57That's actually pretty good.
15:00The MREs are not dehydrated, which is what makes them heavier, but man, they taste a
15:05lot better than the dehydrated meals.
15:08That's actually pretty good.
15:09Oh my goodness.
15:10What is that?
15:11There's Pop-Tarts in here.
15:12There's a piece of Pop-Tart.
15:13You like that?
15:14Yeah.
15:15Santa Fe style rice and beans.
15:16There's the Santa Fe beans and rice.
15:18So, Bailey, what do you got there?
15:26This is my mess of a 72-hour kit.
15:27I was in a hurry, so I just threw it in a box and I have plenty of room, so it worked.
15:30I have my obligatory first aid kit.
15:31I added some kid's medicine, some adult medicine, some earplugs, hand sanitizer, a muffin mix
15:42hand sanitizer, muffin mix makes good pancakes,
15:48just add water and then you don't need to bring syrup.
15:51Oh yeah, Chef Boyardee, good hot or cold.
15:55Granola bars, fruit snacks.
15:59Nathan's favorite cup of noodles.
16:00Cup of noodles, spaghetti and meatballs.
16:04Shelf stable milk.
16:06This milk doesn't have to be refrigerated.
16:08Oh, look at you.
16:10This is even easier than an MRE.
16:11Mac and cheese for Nathan.
16:16Check it out, this is something I made.
16:17Just two bent pieces of steel from Lowe's,
16:20a piece of wood and it keeps the boys
16:22from rolling out of bed.
16:25Just goes underneath the mattress like so.
16:27You like that?
16:28Yeah.
16:30Just put the rails in upside down
16:31and then when you fold up the beds,
16:33they stay out of the way.
16:34All right, we got Jacob down here.
16:36We got Mommy over here.
16:38Tom and Nate chilling up top.
16:40We gotta get these boys to bed.
16:42Mom brought a bunch of battery-powered fans
16:45and the boys are digging that
16:48because it's hot in here.
16:49You like the fan?
16:51Well, the kids are to bed
16:52and we're gonna sit out here and watch Fireflies
16:55and then maybe a movie on my phone.
16:56That doesn't count as cheating
16:58because I brought the phone and the solar charger.
17:00Rebecca brought the camping chairs.
17:03We're here just a few feet away at the riverside
17:05and we're checking out these tide pools
17:07for all the little creatures at night
17:08and it's really fun.
17:09Oh, it's over here.
17:12There we go.
17:15Look at that.
17:16Nice little crawfish.
17:19That's a fish, see him right there?
17:23Little creek chub.
17:27You guys see him?
17:28Got him.
17:29Oh, he's molting, I can feel it.
17:32Okay.
17:33Is that cool, Becca?
17:35That is so cool.
17:36All right, let's go and watch a movie.
17:39Well, it's getting pretty late
17:40and we've had a good time
17:41but Becca and the kids are asleep in the RV
17:43and I guess I'm gonna go to sleep by myself
17:47over here in the tent.
17:49This tent is so waterlogged.
17:52More water up there.
17:54Better not fall off my mat.
17:57I guess I'll see you guys in the morning.
18:02Well, I was alone in my wet, soggy tent last night
18:05and it started raining buckets again
18:07and I realized that everything I love
18:09was in this 72-hour kit.
18:12So I decided to come over here and join the party.
18:15No regrets.
18:17You guys sleep well?
18:18Yeah.
18:20And my blanket.
18:22Oh, you got your blankie?
18:24Some of you really think ours is better.
18:27I'll admit that there are some benefits
18:29to your 72-hour kit.
18:31And it doesn't have half an inch of water
18:34at the bottom of it.
18:36It rained pretty hard all night long.
18:38I kept waking up and shining the spotlight out the window
18:40to make sure the river hadn't rose and taken out my tent.
18:44But we're good.
18:49Yeah, this half of the pillow is soaking.
18:52The mat is soaking over there.
18:55That's a good puddle of water there.
18:57Yeah, I made the right call last night.
19:00I just should have made it sooner.
19:01We definitely need to get a better tent
19:04for our 72-hour kit.
19:06I am very glad everything was in waterproof bags.
19:09Oh my goodness.
19:11You want me to make breakfast?
19:14Love you, buddy.
19:16Time to make my princess some breakfast in bed.
19:19This one is hash brown potatoes
19:21with bacon, peppers, and onions.
19:23When I bought these MREs,
19:25I bought like twice as many as we need for our 72-hour kit.
19:28I figured they'd be good for camping.
19:30And plus, you always want to test them out
19:32before you throw them in your 72-hour kit.
19:34There's the obligatory cracker.
19:36Grape jelly, table syrup, pork sausage patty.
19:40There's a Cinnabon in here.
19:42It's a Cinnabon Pop-Tart looking thing.
19:45Mom gets first bite,
19:47because she gave birth to you.
19:48You gave them life, Becca.
19:49You don't have to share.
19:56Let's sit on the stoop.
19:58Let's see if the hash brown and sausage is done.
20:00Oh, that's feeling nice and toasty.
20:03Really is heated up to a nice temperature.
20:06I don't know why this one came with a spoon.
20:09It's okay, yeah.
20:10How's it going?
20:11Two sets of crackers and two things of grape jelly.
20:13You guys go and share that.
20:15Me and Becca really like the hash browns and sausage,
20:17but the kids don't.
20:18They did not approve.
20:20If you have a lot of kids,
20:21there's always one of them
20:22that doesn't like what you cooked for them.
20:24So having a variety of foods
20:26can sometimes make things a little bit easier.
20:28So I kind of like having the MREs and some real food
20:31and a little bit of this, a little bit of that.
20:32It helps.
20:34I really had a good time testing out these 72-hour kits
20:36and it opened my eyes to ways we can improve them.
20:40I definitely need to get a better tent
20:42and I definitely think Becca was right
20:44in bringing spare clothes.
20:46I mean, I didn't pack any spare clothes
20:48and that's just completely unrealistic.
20:50Our two 72-hour kits exposed a fundamental difference
20:54in how we approached this.
20:56Becca was more about everyday comforts
21:00and I was more about extreme survival.
21:03And I think both approaches have a lot of value.
21:11Guys, did you have fun?
21:12Yeah!
21:13Yeah.
21:14Well, hopefully you guys had fun too.
21:16If you want to see more videos
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21:36Thanks for watching.
21:38My 72-hour kit has pastries.