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5/30/14

Every Day Carry Bag Dump Contest: M.C.'s Jacket of Holding


I had a laptop bag that I carried around for several years, and wore it out. I found I ended up leaving the ratty old bag at the office unless I needed to bring the laptop home. It's more of an extended GHB and repair items at this point.

I found that I DO carry my rain jacket everywhere I go. So, my defacto 'bag' is a bunch of pockets crammed full of stuff. The jacket augments my on-person EDC pocket carry. http://www.teotwawki-blog.com/2012/04/pocket-survival-kit-entry-11.html specifically, which has been tweaked over time of course.

For the winters in the past, I switch to my Columbia Ski Jacket. This winter I tried a 'packable' down jacket for a liner with the rain coat as the liner. Worked well for Chicago. Works well in the woods.

The coat needs to go into town & into the woods. I've done a couple of over-nighters in the woods with just the coat and a water bottle. I may end up in Chicago at short notice. I have 2 toddlers, so there is a bit of consideration for them.



I dumped the pockets out and found some missing items to my dismay! My Head Lamp is missing, but I know where it is. I used to to retrieve a blacksmith's forge out of an old barn and left it in my dad's truck! Going to buy a new one if I can find one I like. I am also missing my spray tube of sunscreen bug spray, which was a victim of the Velcro close pockets vs a proper zipper. It's been found on the floor of my vehicle, but not yet replaced in the upper right outside pocket. I am also missing my vacuum sealed 'diaper emergency kit' because the little one has outgrown what I had so I need to make a new one.

My stainless water bottle and Nexus 7 are usually hand-held so I don't consider them part of the 'bag' - an advantage of a bag over coat pockets.

Enough of context, on to content! Start top left, work across and down, then on to the other side of the coat.

YakTrax -- getting culled for the summer

Top right outside pocket
AA NiMH 'Precharged' rechargable batteries
AA USB Cell Phone Charger with batteries in 'milk storage pouch' - The breast milk bags are very nice ziplock bags. A cell phone fits in them quite nicely. Just ignore the label on them. I've got one sitting on a shelf that's held water for over a year at this point.
Pocket Ref 4th Edition in custom leather wrap - Other people have listed this, must be a useful enough item? Google is quicker, when the cell phone is powered and has signal.

Top right inside pocket
Velcro close Elastic Bandage - sprains are a common injury and this helps being able to walk out
Athletic Tape, cored, crushed, and closed with #12 electrical wire - Sprains and repairs in a more pocket-able form factor then duct tape
Alcohol Hand Sanitizer

Hand pockets
Women's Fingerless driving mittens - yeah, I know. But I can't find mens and these fit my computer programmer hands.
Cloudz airline blanket worn as scarf - One of the most used items I've added - from it's intended use of stopping me from shivering in the woods to carrying out a load of groceries from Aldi's to cleaning up toddler puke in the back of the car going down the road.

Outside lower right pocket
Ziplock bag with medicinal Herbal teas, tea, & hot cereal - A bit of grub and some assorted herbal teas to address nausea (ginger peach tea) coughing, colds, slow mornings and covering up the taste of boiling water from a creek downstream from a hog-farm (I am convinced tea was 'invented' for drinking boiled-purified water).
Vacuum sealed home made hardtack - almost awful stuff, but it seems to survive a lot longer than any of the granola bars and tins of kippered snacks that I shove in this pocket.
Beef Jerky Stick - because the kids & wife won't eat the hardtack - only reason I seem to have this in my pocket at all is when I buy one for myself, I buy two and one gets shoved into this pocket.

Inside lower right pocket
beanie hat - reversible camo/green. I try not to wear camo in town. Needs to be replaced with a proper wool one eventually.
red 'biohazard' trash bag - More of a gag item, but useful in it's own right
clear trash bag
hothands - cold nights in the woods are survivable with these and they keep the kiddos happy
disposable rain poncho - for whomever's with me

Upper left inside pocket - the only zippered pocket
All in one Altoids Survival Kit wrapped in instructions - this kit specifically because it is the best I've ever seen and wish I had came up with it http://www.teotwawki-blog.com/2012/04/pocket-survival-kit-entry-20.html
Small Swiss Army knife
Magnesium Fire striker - cheap harbor-freight one. I am thinking about waxing these as they seem to want to corrode if damp
Advil - wife burns through these
Tylenol - another POS display grab that I refill
Benadryl -
Wound First aid Super Glue - I used to have a tube of crazy glue, but I saw this and it's smaller so I got it. I like super glue in it's own separate plastic container. I don't want the contents of this pocket glued together!
Neosporin with pain relief
Hair Band - handy things, keeps stuff bundled together. Plus wife is always asking if I have one.
Ricola Herbal Cough drops
Vaseline - I like this tiny little container. I prefer bag balm, but can't find the tiny containers of it.
Lighter - bic mini
Quick Clot

Upper left outside pocket
Folding binoculars - I like bird watching and it's a great toy for the toddlers
Leather Wrapped Travel Journal - I re-made this to include molskein pads instead of what it came with.
Zebra pen wrapped with duct tape - A nice metal bodied pen that is short enough to fit in the pocket well. Gorilla tape is the best!

Lower left inside pocket
Toilet Paper, cored, crushed, vacuum sealed - I keep giving these away, the ladies LOVE them.
9x12 .7mil plastic drop cloth - spent a few nights in the woods under these. Also good for ball games and the like
Medicinal Plants pocket Ref - I just like having a hard copy of what's in my head and on my phone
Edible Plants Pocket Ref- I just like having a hard copy of what's in my head and on my phone
SOL 1-2 person emergency Blanket - My toddler loves this too. Makes a night in the woods bearable, for sure.
Waterproof pouch first aid kit, bandaids, guaze, tegaderm, etc. - wet first aid items are less then useless. Left enough room I can also shove phone in there for crossing a river (imagine using something for what it's sold for!).

Lower left outside pocket
Packable Backpack - because the kids won't carry their own stuff for more then 10 feet, also the jacket will JUST fit inside so I can not have to wear the jacket.
25' Paracord
10' Nylon Webbing - paracord shoulder straps suck.

Most of the stuff listed is multi-use but I am not writing a novel about all the uses for each item.

From Alex:
Points for thinking outside the 'bag' - though not sure if this qualifies as an EDC bag for purposes of the contest. I'll noodle over it. It's really more of a survival smock.

This is a lot of stuff to carry in a jacket - heck, it's more than most folks carry in a bag. If it works for you, groovy.

A few things to think about:

Lots of room to lighten up, in my opinion. For example: all of the books. Yes, if EMP hits, a PDF on your phone won't be useful...but you not being able to access a bird guide or the pocket ref would be the least of your worries.

Redundant shelter items - I'm counting 2x trash bags, poncho, plastic sheeting, an airline blanket, space blanket, the jacket itself. If there's a chance you'll need to overnight in the woods, bring along a pack. If you're in the city, there's an abundance of shelter to hunker down in.

You may want to consolidate the snivel kit items.

The QuikClot should be stored with the elastic bandage and readily accessible if your intent is to use it as a compression bandage for the QC.

I wouldn't count on having anything hand carried in any kind of an emergency.


Some adds - a backup knife, some spare batteries, cash, etc. Since wilderness survival seems to be a goal of the kit, purification tabs, compass, sail needle, etc.

Tribe, what do you say?