Bugging In Vs. Bugging Out

Whether you plan on bugging out or bugging in, is a different thought process and depends on what plan seems to work for you. The reason I am addressing this is that I recognize that not everyone will have the option of securing a bug out location. Bugging in or out depends on where you are currently located.

For our situation, we had a bug out location available for us from the beginning. So we have planned on two levels the entire time.

We currently live in a high density, sprawling suburban setting. Our first big goal was to establish and secure our current home in case of an emergency. That has included water storage, food supplies, non electric back up for living, all our medical preps and defense.
Depending on the situation, we could survive on what we have here at home for some time.

It may be lean depending on the time of year, but we are also prepared to ramp up to full on gardening. Our biggest issue for a continued long term bugging in would be to secure something for protein (i.e. chickens) to grow when we have used our stored pressured canned meat. That is one of the reasons I continue to pressure can meat monthly. But, that will change as soon as we move, for then we are able to start having animals.
We are currently updating our get home bags, which we normally carry in our vehicles at all times.

One of the things we don't plan on is to just leave and go “into the woods”. That so wouldn't work in our area. We would have to travel many, many miles to be secure. Plus, because of the density of the surrounding population I consider that to be throwing ourselves into a life threatening situation. We have a destination if we need to evacuate.

If there was an extreme emergency, we are prepared to leave most everything behind and grab our pets and our larger bug out bags (which DH is is rebuilding currently) at a moments notice. Items & bags are prioritized based on how much time we think we will have. If we were to bug out, the priority will be moving what we specialize in providing for our team.
What is interesting for me is even before we prepared and even though our children do not prepare...we (they) have always had a plan on what to do when and where. I believe that plan started with 9-11 and the D.C. sniper situation, since we live close to D.C.

Our location that we consider our bug out location is fully functionally to maintain ongoing food production, water etc. Almost everyone on our team has specific knowledge that we bring to the table. Though I don't talk about this often, DH has our back covered when it comes to items for defense.

The next step; as you know we are currently looking at property further away from the city. I look forward to the day when we are able to establish ourselves in a more self sufficient environment. Then a new journey will begin.

Here is a fantastic article on the very same subject, with a lot more details. On the Survivalist Blog, 

What are your plans that work for you and our family?