The Importance of a Survival Kit

Next to planning, having a survival kit is probably one of the most important parts of surviving in just about any situation.

Most survivalists recommend having a few different kits. Keep one kit in your pocket at all times and the others can be placed at home, work, and in your vehicle. Preparing and carrying a survival kit is a crucial part of survival. Even the smallest survival kit, when properly prepared, can prove to be invaluable in a survival situation.

When picking the types of items you will need in your survival kit, knowing your environment is very important. It will dictate what items you should carry, and which items are better off left at home.

The amount of gear in your kit will depend on how you carry the kit. A kit carried in your pocket is going to be a lot smaller than one that is stored in a vehicle. A good pocket survival kit should be about the size of an Altoids tin. In fact, my favorite kit is one that I made with an Altoids tin.

I’ve made kits out of a number of different containers including:

• A metal Band-Aid box
• A Plastic first aid case
• Altoids tins
• Ammunition Boxes
• Old Plastic Hiking  Bottles

Your case should be:

• Waterproof. or Water-repellent (or vacuum sealed in air tight plastic)
• Easy to carry.
• Durable.

The contents of your case will depend on your location, but here is a list of the basics.

• Lighter (In a survival situation you will be very thankful for this one, remember your not trying to be “Mr. Outdoors,” your trying to survive! It’s much easier to light a fire with a lighter than trying  to mess around with a match or some other fire starting technique.)
• Backup Matches – These should be the wooden stick type. I usually break the stick in half to fit more matches in the case, dip them in wax to waterproof, tear off the striker from the box, then wrap everything is plastic wrap.
• Small Locking Pocket Knife
• String & Wire ( I recommend fishing line or another good alternative is to break open a cheap case of floss and pull the whole spool of floss out.)
• Tweezers
• Needle ( can be used with the floss or fishing string to sew)
• Fishing hooks and a few small weights.
• Tinder (shove cotton in to all the loose space in your case, this can be a big help when trying to start a fire.)
• Scalpel Blades
• Finger Nail Clipper
• Flint
• Whistle
• Small Signal Mirror
• Laminated Survival guide