How Duct Tape and Garbage Bags will Save Your Life

Putting things in the basement, your closet or a pantry that will help you live after a major disaster is an excellent idea. Until you have to bug out. Then what do you do? All of your hard work building up a cache of supplies is going to be for naught. You will have to rely on your bug out bag and what you have stashed in it. Two things that should be in every bug out bag are duct tape and kitchen garbage bags. These two things alone could very well save your life.

Many preppers get the idea they have to have a bunch of fancy gadgets and gizmos that are meant to save their life. This various tools and supplies tend to cost a lot of money and are very limited in what they can do. One of the first rules of putting together a bug out bag is to only put in items that serve many purposes. You don’t want a one hit wonder taking up space in your bag. Versatility is key.

Next, you want things that don’t weigh more than a few pounds and they cannot take up a great deal of space. Your pack is going to be your entire life. In order to get as much as possible in the pack without making it weigh more than 40 pounds or so, you need to think smart and only stow away lightweight, compact items.

Do garbage bags and a roll of duct tape fulfill those requirements? Absolutely! They are two of the most important items you could put in your bug out bag, but they rarely get the attention they deserve. Until now. Now, you need to pay attention and realize these two items alone are more important than that fancy GPS gadget or multipurpose tool.

Let’s talk garbage bags first and their many uses.

  • Use as a poncho to keep you dry
  • Use as foot covers to keep your feet dry
  • Keep your matches, extra socks and other important equipment dry if it is raining or you have to cross a stream
  • Use it to collect water from leaves and greenery via transpiration
  • Use it as a ground barrier to sleep on, stuff it with leaves and pine needles to make a nice, comfy mattress
  • Use it to make a quick lean-to shelter
  • Use it to carry water
  • Use it to collect edible plants, nuts and berries
  • Put it over a hole in the ground to make a bowl to collect rainwater
  • Wrap it around wounds to keep them dry
  • Use it as a blanket, stuff it with leaves and put it over you to keep warm
  • Fill it with water and place it in the sun so you will have hot water
  • Wrap the bag(s) around your legs, arms and torso to help stay dry and trap in body heat
  • Use a trash bag as the door for your survival shelter; keeps the bugs out and heat in
  • Use the bag to fashion a stretcher to carry an injured person or little kid

So, those are some of the ways you could use a trash bag in survival. Considering they take up almost no space and weigh nothing, you can easily add 5 or so and barely notice they are there. You could certainly come up with more ways to use the bag if you let your mind think outside of the box.

Now, in many of the above named situations, those garbage bags would be much more useful with the help of some duct tape. Together, the duo can work some serious magic. Duct tape is a little bulkier and a little heavier, but a single roll of the good stuff is worth the space in the bag.

Check out some of the ways you could use duct tape to save your life in a survival situation.

  • A strip of duct tape can be fashioned into a butterfly stitch to close a wound
  • Use the tape to seal up a hole in a tent or tarp
  • Tape branches together to create a sturdy shelter
  • Tape the garbage bags over your shoes, up around your calves is best
  • Use duct tape alone over your shoes to make them waterproof—this uses a lot of tape
  • Use duct tape to create a sling for an injured arm
  • Put a strip of duct tape on a broken water bottle or dish to fix it and make it capable of holding water
  • Duct tape a couple garbage bags together to make a shelter
  • Twist a length of duct tape together to make cordage for fishing, setting traps or hanging a tarp
  • Make a spear for hunting by taping your knife to the end of a stick
  • Duct tape a cotton bandage to your wound, provides a water barrier and keeps the bandage in place
  • Reinforce a trash bag for transporting water; place several strips of tape on the bottom of the bag to make it sturdier for carrying water
  • Use it as a fly strip/bug catcher; hang a few strips over your head in your shelter so you can sleep without bugs bothering you
  • Wrap a sprained ankle or wrist, make a splint for a broken bone
  • If you run across a bad guy and need to restrain them, wrap their hands and feet with duct tape
  • Repair torn clothing, torn sleeves and pants can be taped together

As you can see, the uses for duct tape and garbage bags is endless. When you are in a survival situation, you have to be able to utilize what you have to take care of what needs to get done. You have to be creative. Don’t limit yourself by assuming tape is tape and a garbage bag is simply for holding trash. Pack these items in your bug out bag, the trunk of your car and in your emergency storage today. Never be caught without two of the most valuable survival tools you could ever have.

Robert Dwayne

Robert Dwayne

To say that I am an outdoors enthusiast is probably an understatement. I am hyper passionate about everything outdoors: hiking, survival, hunting. On this website I am sharing my stories and experiences, and I hope you'll find inspiration to take up your own adventures!

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