Bare Minimums Emergency Kit

I define an emergency kit as something very small and portable that I might keep in my pocket or attached to my belt at all times. It contains the absolute minimum for sustaining life in a worse case scenario. Everything in my kit will provide either food, shelter, warmth, or medical care. May be sufficient to get me through a few days to a week or more.

I am going to assume that the kind of emergency I face will be one in which there probably won't be anyone around to help. I may be isolated and alone in an area with probably no way of walking out. It may be several days to a week or more before help comes.

This is a kit I carry with me wherever I go. I keep it in my car most of the time. It is in a compact camera case I picked up at the thrift store for fifty cents. It can be carried on my shoulder or attached to my belt

Step 1 Bare Minimums Contents

* two compressed aluminum foil squares( maybe a yard each) - can be folded to make a cup for water, for heating soup, tea or broth. Can be used as a reflection device to signal for help. Can be used to make a hat or sun visor, all sorts of uses....

* I have a folding magnifying glass that folds flat to 1/2 inch. It can be used for starting a fire, for seeing well enough to get splinters out, etc.

* I have a flint and striker with tinder. What do you do when your four matches are used up? Ever tried lighting a fire in the rain? This thing works for 1,000 strikes.

*I have a heavy darning needle as an awl. Use for punching holes so you can tie things down, etc. Can be used for digging grubs out of bark, etc. Can also be used with fishing line to "sew" things together. It is wrapped with a yard of duct tape. Can be used for bandages or holding things together.

*compact emergency blanket - reflective foil. One side reflects sun other side absorbs heat. Can be used either to wrap up in or as a lean-to shelter.

*heat packets - open and massage to generate chemical heat in pouch. Put in pocket or under clothes for warmth.

* emergency food - bulgur (cracked wheat) good source of protein, can be soaked and eaten cold or heated like grits. Add foraged greens for more nutrients if available. There are other useful food choices, but this is filling and satisfying and for its weight is highly nutritious.

*water purification tablets

* first aid - foil packed tylenol & foil packs of antibiotic ointment

*good strong knife - used as a tool for making tinder sticks, cutting small branches for shelter or burning, weapon, and whatever else needed.

* fishing kit

Comments

[angelye50]

I have same bag and is perfect , but I use like first aid kit and everything fit in there ...

[B2BSurvivor]

Very nice! Only additions I would recommend would be 550 cord as mentioned by others. Also, perhaps a folded up plastic bag for use as a water container. It's hard to purify water without something to put it in.The tin foil won't give you adequate volumes of water.

[KwartzKitten]

This is really well put together, thanks for sharing it with us! I've been looking for something like this, to be honest.

[3leftturns]

I like the repurposing of the lead container for hooks. I've thought about hook management but always came up dry...

[gmantennis]

Glad to see you have fishing line doubling as thread/rope. Might not hurt to have some 550 cord in there as well. If you're looking for a good place to put it, maybe wrap it around the strap on the camera case, solomon-bar style?

[djzadjza]

great idea about the 550 cord, intead of a solomon bar you could do a small sinnet becasue it is faster to undo but harder to re-tie
stormdrane has a great instructable on how to tie the cobra stitch (same as solomon bar)

[mooner77]

oh yeah and flour and salt

[mooner77]

i say you could add stuff like q tipps, neosporin spray, a pocket plant field guide and bandages.

[galen066]

Pretty good for a mini-EDC kit.

[lemonie]

There's some good thinking behind this, and you've got a practical container for it.

L