When disaster strikes, you’re instantly faced with a difficult decision – whether to bug in or bug out. You can put this to the back of your mind, and brace yourself for the worst, but eventually you are going to have to make your mind up, and head out or stay put.

In this post, we’re going to take a look at the top reasons to bug in for UK preppers, and it may be a simple decision, but no amount of Scout badges are going to help properly over the long term when a SHTF situation replaces the new normal.

Bugging in allows you access to a huge array of the essentials, requires a lot less change, and provides the home comforts that you desire, even if they’re not a necessity.

Minimal Disruption

A disaster situation rips apart everything you understand of your day-to-day life. There’s no more 9 to 5, the pubs are shut, Tesco stops getting restocked – so the best thing you can do is stay in your home, where you feel most comfortable and safe, with some sense of normality. 

You’re already facing the prospect of rethinking everything you understand, and you might as well do that in the comfort of your own home. If you’re a prepper just getting started, you won’t have a survival cache or bug out bag in place, meaning if disaster strikes immediately, you aren’t ready to go.

However, your home does feature all of your possessions and you’ll have enough food to keep you going for a little while, while you sit down and work out what your next few moves will be.

All Your Possessions Are There

One of the best reasons to bug in is that the majority of things you’d need for a survival cache are in your home already – meaning there’s little change you need to make. This extends far beyond simply weapons like kitchen knives for protection and food for sustenance.

Your clothes are there, meaning you won’t need to select a handful of things to wear and pack, and you can stay on top of your basic hygiene, which is incredibly difficult and even more important if you bug out and choose to live in the wild.

You will also know where everything is too, but it isn’t just a benefit of home comforts and familiarity – this can be the difference between life and death. If there’s an invader, you know where to go to get a weapon. If you urgently need to treat a medical wound, you know exactly where the first aid kit is.

The Inherent Comfort Provided By Home

They say there’s no place like home – and in a SHTF situation, you’ll learn the true meaning of this phrase.

It is incredibly difficult to adapt to a national disaster scenario like a nuclear attack, but you’re going to have to – so do it where you can engage in level-headed thinking and long-form planning, in your normal schedule, surrounded by the environment you know best.

Your four walls around you provide physical and mental protection, and it’s much preferred to sleep in your own bed and sit on your own sofa in surroundings you’re familiar with when all hell is breaking loose around you. Do you really need more reason to bug in than that?

You can also set up your survival garden right there in your backyard, and have your supply of food storage close to you. Bugging in is especally useful if you already have an established vegetable garden or productive fruit trees. 

The Threat Of Others

When SHTF, you can barely trust anyone – and this unfortunately includes your friends and acquaintances. It’s best to keep them at bay, and there’s no better way to do this than with four solid walls around you.

You can also use your possessions and understanding of your home to your advantage, whether that’s accessing the hot water if it goes down, or something as simple as getting your toolbox and nailing your door shut for added security.

Your strongest inside your own home, and know how to barricade it properly, whereas if you bug out you will face unknown dangers along the way. However, if there are gangs roaming the streets and determined to enter your home for supplies, then they will try their hardest.

Better Defence

Folllowing on from the above point, an Englishman’s home is his castle and he should be prepared to defend it as such. Whether that means boarding up your windows or barricading the doors, a home is a solid place to hunker down and you can think of various ways to protect it, those you love inside as well as your supplies.

Homes with two storeys like semi-detatched properties and terraced houses only have one or two entry and exit points, and you can use the upper windows to talk with people without putting yourself in danger.

Also, if you are shooting a gun or crossbow from a top floor window you have a distinct advantage. If they start to throw things and fire back, simply duck down and close the windows.

There are many defences you can put up around your home to deter people, an excellent reason to bug in to your property if it covers more than one floor. 

Rolls of razor wire and warning signs that you are armed, a dog barking inside, glass on the fences that border your property, strong padlocks and much more can be employed to make people think twice about messing with your property and go elsewhere.

Water & Heating

Fresh running water is essential for survival whether from your taps or from a natural source, and if the grid hasn’t gone down fully then you will still have access to it for drinking, cooking, washing and cleaning. You can also store hundreds of litres of water in your home with large water tanks, whereas if you bug out you can only carry a limited amount.

You can even fill your bath with water using a product known as a WaterBOB to give you 450L of water last you many weeks.

If the heating has gone off and central heating systems aren’t working, then its still the best place to be to stay warm. Be careful with lighting fires in your home though unless you have a proper chimney you can use to get rid of the smoke.

The Elements And Their Risks

One of the most important things for human survival, even in the normal world, is shelter. It protects you from the elements, including being too hot and getting sunburn or heatstroke, or being too cold and falling victim to hypothermia.

Even simple things like rain can cause harm, as humans aren’t meant to have long term exposure to the elements like animals are. There are also other natural things to consider, like animals that may want to attack you.

But when you’re at home, you can put your feet up knowing you’re safe and sound. There’s also a number of diseases out there when you begin to live in unsanitary conditions, all of which can be avoided by staying in your safe and sanitary home.

What’s more, your home probably has solid brick walls, a good tiled roof and double-glazing, and these are excellent for keeping you warm all year round. If a nuclear attack hits and there is the risk of radioactive fallout, then you definitely want to be in your home instead of in the countryside.

Taking Care Of Those Around You

The British prepper demographic mostly consists of men in their 20s, 30s and 40s – if this is you, you may have people to protect.

This can include parents or children, both of whom you may need to keep safe when SHTF – even if they think you’re nuts at this point in time when everything is going good in the world.

This is a lot harder in the great outdoors – the elderly are more likely to be at risk from the elements, while children are more likely to wander off and not appreciate the gravity of your situation. Keep them at home for their, and your, wellbeing.

If someone gets sick or injured, having a warm bed with running water on hand will go a long way to helping them get better, as opposed to a draughty and dirty shelter when you’ve bugged out to the middle of the woods.

Children too can have a sense of wellbeing, safety and normality if staying at home. Sure, a bug out might be fun for them for the first few days, but weeks and months without a place to call home will have a negative toll on them.

The Weight Of Your Essentials

More of a practical reason to bug in than the others, but you have to be very selective when choosing your essentials – and if you overpack, you’ll be a larger, slower target for any threats.

If you’re new to prepping, you may not be as informed as others with what to take in your essentials, but if you bug in at home, you won’t have to worry about this as much as you can stockpile items in your cupboards, outbuildings, attics or cellars.

However, if you do, you have more time and enough security to make your choices wisely.

Summary

There’s a huge number of reasons why you should choose to bug in. Not only do you have the comfort of knowing where everything is, being able to plan effectively and enjoy access to a much larger selection of food, you also massively increase your chances of survival.

There’s less urgency with narrowing down the contents of your essentials, and you have access to a large amount of protective things like tools and weapons which can be used in self-defence. 

In addition to all this, the familiarity of being in your own space helps, and survival experts all agree that staying in your home is basically always the best option, unless your property is being targeted specifically. Stay alive, stay inside.