The Bug Out Bag
I don't live in a city, but I do have to commute to my workplace which is in one, and I keep a "Get Home" bag there. It's a little different than a Bug Out bag in philosophy because while the BOB focuses on long term survival in a situation where you can't expect the niceties of regular civilization, the GHB focuses on quick movement by foot to a location where you have supplies or a proper BOB stored. The distance I commute would take 1.5-2 days to travel by walking given terrain, population density, and a focus on avoiding major throughfares, so I plan for that.
All of these fit in the bag I mentioned earlier with a little bit of room to spare. Weather rarely changes drastically from day to day where I live, so if it's cold I'll already be bringing a jacket to work and I can layer with the extra shirt if need be. I can walk out the door without having to throw shit together at the last minute with a backpack weighing under 18 lbs that looks like the average bookbag college students wear around here, with my canteen in a side pocket and get home without people immediately noting me down as "Mug this man for military gear and survival goods".
Also OP, whatever plan you follow, make sure you do test hikes with said bag on. There's no point having the bag if you can't even hump it a third of the distance you'll need to walk. I go on monthly hikes with the pack to make sure I can carry it for long distances and which also help me to go through it and see if anything's expired or needs changing (Smart Water bottles are like 1.50 for the 1.5L so it's pretty cheap to throw out the old ones and put in the new ones).
This…This seems to be an interesting solution, as my bugout plan has always been to get to the family cabin in the mountains, but this would certainly expedite the process, not to mention be fun as hell in the mean time.
Why has nobody here considered lockpicks? I know it's a lot easier to just smash into a place and get the shit but keep in mind that you can use lockpicks on every kind of lock, even tumblers for lockers. It's a quieter, less strenuous way of getting into a place and you can even save the locks and chains from gates or lock the door behind you to make it harder for people to follow. It takes 30 seconds to 2 minutes to open a lock using the rake method but if you practice you can get consistently faster using a lifter of your choice. Not only all of this, but they take virtually no space at all.
Just get an electric lock pick m8
Why the fuck would you ever carry something electric in a SHTF scenario when you could spend 2 weeks of your time reading a book on how to use the actual tools?
Just use ther,ite, m8. Fits in any lock and has more uses. Not a waste to learn lockpicking and carry them but they really can be made with some wire and a hammer extremely easily.
Or just carry both. Or just the wiggly one thing and a tensioner, they work just as fine in cheaper locks. Also, shims.
So what you're suggesting is to carry around thermite, which is a moderately hard to source consumable resource and does the same job as breaking the lock with a pry bar or cutters? Why? Why would you ever use thermite for anything but burning through a shitload of metal? The whole reason you learn lockpicking which we both agree on is so you can carry the basically weightless 3 picks and tension wrench you actually need to open most locks. It conserves a lot of space compared to bolt cutters and even a jar of thermite.
It's literally rust and foil mixed together. Really dude. There's more to it but these are its basic components.
A stick full of termite capable of burning through any chain, most lock shackles and door hinges weights 1/10th of that and takes less space. Plastic cases from sharpies work great, as well as drug bottles/containers. Unless you're going to devote time to search and keeping a stockpile somewhere you won't haul a bulky steel thing around.
A shitload of metal requires a shitload of termite. Though now that i think about it, some coolant spray(or whatever the thing's called) and a hefty hitting tool would work great too. Just freeze the shackle and then smash it with your hammer when it gets brittle. Also works for lock pins and other insides but that can be complicated.
I don't know what about you but where i like most people keep either lever type of locks or disc tumbler ones, with the type you're going to pick being common only among hanging locks that are used for garages and suburb or rural houses and the disc ones are still being more common. For disc locks you could get a pick, ok, or a ram thing that pulls the mechanism out like in these lockpicking videos, but it's a bit bulkier and heavier, while lever ones i'm unsure about at all.
It's for you to decide what to carry but if you know you'll be able to get some use of breaking in you might want something more than a thing that can hopefully open some of the cheaper locks you encounter you might want something to help you in all other situations, especially if it works universally and can effectively aid destructive measuers.
And this is how I know you don't know how to make thermite. It's a lot more complex than rust and foil. Reactions require an oxidizer and a fuel and the impurities matter a shitload. You're trying to make a high temperature mixture not a fucking party trick.
Still not as little as a set of picks, I don't even know what picks weigh because I'd need a scientific scale.
If you knew as much about locks as I did you'd know that it doesn't matter what kind of mechanism it has. If it opens with a physical key, it can be opened with a pick. It's just a matter of construction and manufacturing inconsistencies that makes this possible and barring some space-alien technology this won't change.