How heavy should a go bag be?

Light enough that the person carrying it could walk several miles with it, which for most adults means well under a quarter of body weight. Children carry their own smaller bags. A bag too heavy to move is functionally a shelter supply that happens to be in a rucksack.

Where should the go bag be stored?

By the exit you would actually use, reachable in the dark, and known to every adult in the household. A bag in a loft or a locked garage fails the scenario it exists for. Many households keep a second one in the car for the same reason.

Does everyone need their own bag?

Each person who can carry one should have one, sized to them, so no single person is carrying supplies for the household. Distribute critical items across bags rather than concentrating them, in case the group is separated during an evacuation.

What about important documents?

Keep paper copies of identification, insurance and medical information in a waterproof folder in the go bag, and consider encrypted digital copies as a backup. Originals are usually better left in secure home storage, since the copies are what you need to prove entitlement.

Outlast Blog

Go Bag or Shelter in Place: Which Do You Need?

Updated June 3, 2026 · 6 min read · The Outlast Team

TL;DR. A go bag is what you carry when you must leave in minutes; shelter-in-place supplies are what you keep when you must stay for days. They have different contents, different weight limits and different storage locations. Most households need both, and confusing them leaves you unprepared for either.

Preparedness advice usually presents one kit, which forces an impossible compromise: light enough to carry and deep enough to last. Splitting them resolves the tension and clarifies decisions, because the question stops being what should I own and becomes which scenario am I equipping for.

What goes in a go bag?

Enough for roughly three days, constrained by what each person can carry: water and a filter, calorie-dense food needing no preparation, torch, radio, first aid, medication, phone charger, cash, copies of identification, a change of clothes and sturdy footwear.

Weight is the governing constraint. Every item competes with water, which is the heaviest thing in the bag and the one you cannot improvise. This is why go bags favour filters over volume, and calorie density over variety.

What does shelter-in-place need instead?

Depth rather than portability: substantially more water, a fortnight of familiar food, sanitation supplies for when drainage fails, a way to stay warm without heating, and enough device power for extended use. Nothing needs to be liftable.

Sanitation is the category that separates the two most sharply. A go bag needs wipes; a household sheltering for two weeks without mains water needs refuse bags, a plan for toilet waste and considerably more water for hygiene.

Outlast app showing separate go bag and shelter-in-place checklists stored offline — Two distinct lists, because the constraints and the scenarios are genuinely different.

How do you decide which situation you are in?

Follow official instructions where they exist, since authorities issue evacuation or shelter orders based on information you do not have. Absent instruction, leave if the building is unsafe or the hazard is approaching, and stay if the outside environment is the hazard.

The decision is usually made for you and made fast. This is why the go bag lives by the door rather than being assembled when needed, and why the household plan specifies meeting points in advance rather than during the event.

Keeping both lists straight without a signal? Outlast stores them separately and offline.

What overlaps between the two?

Medication, documents, cash, torches, first aid and phone charging appear in both, which is where households get caught out. Duplicating these is far better than moving them between kits, because the item you moved last month will not be where you expect it.

For genuinely unduplicatable items such as prescription medication, keep them in the shelter supplies with a written note in the go bag saying where they are. A checklist taped inside the bag lid handles the last-minute grab items reliably.

Key takeaways

A go bag covers roughly three days and is limited by what you can carry.
Shelter supplies favour depth and have no weight constraint.
Sanitation planning separates the two more than any other category.
Follow official evacuate or shelter instructions where they are issued.
Duplicate overlapping items rather than moving them between kits.

Frequently asked questions

How heavy should a go bag be?: Light enough that the person carrying it could walk several miles with it, which for most adults means well under a quarter of body weight. Children carry their own smaller bags. A bag too heavy to move is functionally a shelter supply that happens to be in a rucksack.
Where should the go bag be stored?: By the exit you would actually use, reachable in the dark, and known to every adult in the household. A bag in a loft or a locked garage fails the scenario it exists for. Many households keep a second one in the car for the same reason.
Does everyone need their own bag?: Each person who can carry one should have one, sized to them, so no single person is carrying supplies for the household. Distribute critical items across bags rather than concentrating them, in case the group is separated during an evacuation.
What about important documents?: Keep paper copies of identification, insurance and medical information in a waterproof folder in the go bag, and consider encrypted digital copies as a backup. Originals are usually better left in secure home storage, since the copies are what you need to prove entitlement.

The Outlast Team
Household Emergency Preparedness, BigBalli. We follow Ready.gov, FEMA, CDC and Red Cross guidance and keep it usable offline. General preparedness information, not emergency advice for a live incident.