Reducing weight and bulk on prepackaged self-care, health and hygiene items in the BOB?

Jonnie PekelnyContributor - August 31, 2021

I am kind of in awe of hardcore preppers who can make a go of it with next to nothing in their BOB. I am on the opposite end, which is too bad, because I have foot problems and the weight of the pack exacerbates them. I realize that I need to start looking for a way to shave off ounces and inches from my BOB stash.

One problem for me is that I have a number of self-care items that I feel I need, even in an emergency. The latest example for me is foot cream. I use a very specific type of foot cream nightly on my heels. If I skip a few days my heels start cracking painfully. This makes walking hard. I don’t want that to happen in a bug out situation. But the cream is a b**** to pack. Even the three oz. variety is pretty bulky and not that light-feeling. So, I’m actually wondering how people pack creams and other similar self-care items? Do you take it out of its original bottle and put them in something else? It seems ridiculous to pack multiple tubes and bottles of stuff. I might as well take my medicine cabinet!

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Hi Jonnie! 

I totally hear you on feet/joint issues. I have some myself that run in my family, and while none of us are in a wheelchair, we’ve had to accept that we wouldn’t get far on foot. Several of us plan to bug out on bicycle since that’s a lot less pressure on joints and a lot faster. It’s not fun to admit there’s situations that we realistically can’t survive, but knowing that now is letting us plan around it. 

That aside, I really doubt multiple little bottles would weigh less. A higher packaging to cream ratio would be more weight unless you don’t want to take all the cream in the original container. You could try finding alternative ways to prevent heel cracking that are lighter weight. I use a pumice stone, but idk if that would work for your skin. Different socks or lighter weight treatments might prevent the cracking long enough for you to get to safety even if they’re less effective overall.

You could have heavier self-care items in a bag marked for tossing if you end up on foot. That’s not great because on foot is when you would need foot care most, but you’d split the difference and still have the cream if you were in your car. You could also “make up” for the extra weight by shaving pounds elsewhere and getting ultralight gear. Not cheap, but might keep your kit intact.

This is out there, but you could potentially treat the inside of your socks with the cream so that it would soak into your feet over time once you put them on? That would probably dry out and definitely sounds horrible, but it might be worth trying if you’re getting desperate.   

Best of luck!!

 

LOL. Yeah, I think smearing the cream on my socks would do just about zero good. I have done a pretty lousy job so far in the light-weight department. But I do have a foldable go-cart now. Have yet to try walking with it and all my gear. I’m sure the neighbors will enjoy watching that when I do! Am going through a particularly non-functional time with my feet though, so even walking with a cart long distance is not realistic just now. Hopefully that will get better.

 

Great tips and words of advice Kira. Looking for other alternatives like a pumice stone or even just any old stone that could be located along the trail is a good alternative solution. 

Even though nail clippers are light and small, if you really wanted to shave the weight, biting your nails or sanding them down with a stone is another way to go without.

 

Anything bulky in the Meds departments I often decant into smaller containers or ziplock bags, I,ll take a strip of any tablets I may need, not a box of them. Some folks with defective feet I know affix blister pads to heels, balls of feet and toes BEFORE they go on long walks and keep spares in the pack and the vehicle.

Ventilated footwear, mesh insoles, better footwear, sorbothan insoles, medicated insoles??

 

Yeah, breaking things up might make sense, so I don’t have to take the whole container. But how do you decant creams?

 

I use this a lot when I go camping. You can make one shot tubes of anything you like. From medicines and creams to honey and sugar. I like it for toothpaste, shampoo etc as well.

Waterproof Straw Containers

 

Oh, that’s brilliant. Although not especially environmentally friendly…

 

Jennys method is very good, I use plastic syringes (no needles) or decant into tiny little mouth freshioner tab tins.

 

Do you mean like PEZ containers? (Do they still make those?)

 

No they are just tiny little tins with screw on lids about 25 mm to 30 mm wide and 20mm deep. I often use the little air rifle pellet tins,  the ones that hold about 100 pellets.  Empty Kodak film containers are good as well. Alloy cigar tubes are another.

 

Ultralight backpackers do some pretty creative things to shave weight such as cutting off excess strap fabric, using rocks at your destination instead of tent stakes, using a trash bag instead of the heavier backpack rain cover, using a tarp instead of a tent, using their walking sticks/trekking poles as the poles for their tent, cutting their sleeping pad to the exact size of their body, or cutting off the bottom portion of their toothbrush and having a stubbier lighter version.

One of my favorite techniques that I have learned from them is to calculate the exact amount of toothpaste, or in your case foot cream that you would use on your hike. Then they take a drinking straw and crimp down the end on one side and use a lighter to seal that end, fill the straw with toothpaste or cream, then crimp the other end and use a lighter to seal that end. To save even more weight, they sometimes use  toothpowder instead of toothpaste

Instead of packing that foot cream that only has one purpose, maybe Vaseline could substitute? It has many uses such as treating blisters, being a decent chapstick alternative, or an emergency fire starter. Squeeze this into a straw or a ziploc bag instead of the heavier container it comes in.

 

Jay, I’ve seen some people cut the zipper pulls off of their bags to shave the tiniest of weight. To each his own, but I don’t think that level of reduction does much.

 

Pre-made petroleum jelly packets are great for cracked feet and take up very little space or weight. One packet treats my feet for about four days. I have these stashed all over the place – car, house, office, BOB, etc.

I also have an emery board that is lightweight and can be used in lieu of a pumice stone (though admittedly doesn’t last as long). I love the straw ideas listed in the other comments (never thought of that!) as well as using a needless syringe to “suck up” just the right amount  – I will use that idea!

I don’t wear contacts but I bought  a collection of screw-top contact lens cases that take up almost no space or weight yet hold a surprising amount of creams. Try it out for a week and see how far you  can get – I found out that I can get TWO WEEKS of use out of one my creams from being mindful of using just the right amount from a contact lens case. Another one only lasts three days.  Other tips: Visit the makeup counter of a high-end mall store and ask for samples. Their sample containers are tiny but awesome. Also, ask your dermatologist for samples – these often come in single-use packets that are very easy to pack.

If yours is a prescription cream be sure to ask a pharmacist if moving it to a new container will damage the effectiveness. Some creams, for example, have to be in a lightproof container. Also the pharmacist might be willing to package it for you in smaller containers.

Foot care is critical. I used to get cracked heels all the time, mostly because I ignored my feet. Then one time I got an infection and BOY you don’t want that to happen in an emergency (it hurts and walking – not happening). Part of my preparedness now is taking very good care of my feet on a daily basis; one less thing to deal with if an emergency strikes.

 

Good tip on the contact lens cases for creams. I have a family member that has a drawer full of old cases because they get a set every time they buy some contact lens cleaner. I’ll ask them for a spare one and put some sunscreen and petroleum jelly in them.

 

I identify as do this for travel (to take only what I need and fit in the 1qt bag) but did forgo them for BOB as I’m going for low weight there.   I have purchased small empty containers from Ebay to refill:  .3oz deodorant or chapstick tubes for semisolid materials (melt it in the microwave), small LDPE bottles that are squeeze-able for liquids, lip balm squeeze tubes that have a small insert that are removable to enable filling from another squeeze tube of cream, and even really small pumps for skin care serums.  These aren’t the exact ones I purchased, just showing you they exist.  

 

I would just pack it in multiple smaller containers versus one larger container.  As the smaller containers get used up, they can be thrown away vs carrying around a half-empty container.

 

That is a smart idea to have multiple smaller containers rather than one large one. If they can fit inside of each other like Russian nesting dolls, that would be even better for space storage of empty containers if you didn’t want to just throw them away.

 

My tupperware containers do this and it does make storage of empty containers easier.