When you think about packing a bug out bag, chances are you have it loaded down with food, fuel, and some sort of sleeping bag and tent. If you can manage to be that prepared at all times, that's great. But if you find yourself in a situation where you can only carry a few things, you should limit yourself to the top 7 most useful survival items.

1) A good knife
One of the most useful items you can carry is a good knife. You may not ever find yourself in an actual survival situation but if you had a knife with you that could work for that in a pinch, that’s one less worry you’ll carry around in your pretty little head.
2) A lighter
My go-to way to start a campfire is just a cheap-ass Bic lighter. It works in most situations and will fit in your pocket quite easily. The mini version is my favorite. I don’t smoke or date girls who smoke so I don’t need a big lighter and because the fuel stays in these things for a LONG time.
3) A flashlight
I’m big on AA flashlights because those batteries are everywhere and having all my stuff with the same type of battery cuts down on how many spares I have to carry in my bug out bag. It also allows you to carry something like this in your pack to make sure you never run out of power. What you carry in your EDC kit should blend in with your emergency and camping gear as much as possible.
4) A pen
In a survival situation, pens can be used to leave notes for rescuers or to write notes to yourself about the locations of water sources or other things you may want to come back to later while you’re stuck out either waiting for rescue or trying to get out. I spend a few extra bucks and get a space pen. They work in almost all conditions and easily fit right inside your pocket along with everything else.
5) A notepad
It doesn’t do much good to have a pen with nothing to write on.
6) A cell phone
A smart phone is REALLY handy to have everyday because you can get all sorts of useful apps to keep your life in order, or in a camping/survival situation, to do things like tell you your grid coordinates, show you where you are on a map, or be used as a compass. They can even store survival books on it for medical or plant references, etc. If you can afford one, I suggest going that route.
Oh, and for those of you who’re whining “What if an EMP hits?” or “I don’t want the government tracking me!” Go pound sand.
If an EMP does actually hit and your cell phone stops working, just pull it out of your pocket and drop it on the ground. Although, if it has a lithium battery like most do, you might be able to use it to start a fire.
As far as the government tracking you – please; you’re not that important. If you were, you’d already know how to circumvent this kind of thing.
7) List of important information
What I’d suggest is that you make a list of the phone numbers of anyone you might have to contact in an emergency if you had to use someone else’s phone, along with any other information you think you might need that you’d usually have to get off your phone or the internet.

While many people may balk at the idea of a cell phone being one of the most useful survival items, consider this: it's the one thing you use most often almost every single day, and it's capabilities are virtually limitless.

If you manage to save a lot of helpful information for survival on your phone before SHTF, it will very quickly become one of the most useful items you could have. Put it in airplane mode with the brightness down and it will last for a week or more.

Make sure to pack that notepad, too. You never know when you have to pass information on to another person, and it will come in very handy when you are sketching out plans.

If you want to read the rest of this handy article, or would like to read more articles like it, check out Gray Wolf Survival.