Ultimate Survival Kit: What would you take?

There is no such thing as the ultimate survival kit.

Where you are, who you are with, your physical condition, and the type of disaster or emergency will all determine the best types of things to have in your kit.


Putting together a decent all around kit is not difficult though.

This is what I put in a medium size water resistant back pack (@45 liter) with room to spare.

Change of clothes.
1 Pair leather work gloves
Wool hat
Largish fixed blade knife
Small folding knife
2 lighters. 1 bic, 1 butane refillable
1 Firesteel
1 Magnesium block
Small medicine bottle with vaseline coated cotton balls
100' 550 para cord
About 200 dollars and some loose change
Compass
75 mile radius map of my area
Can / bottle opener & a couple p-38s
Katadyn water filter/purifier
1 Bottle of Polar Pure
About 20 micropur water purification tablets
Crank LED flashlight
Streamlight Stylus Pro flashlight (Extremely bright for small size)
Pocket radio, AM/FM
Radio Scanner
Handheld dual band Ham radio
20 pack AA batteries
20 pack AAA batteries
Hygiene kit: (where possible all items are small travel size)
-- Soap
-- Toothbrush
-- Toothpaste
-- Hand sanitizer
-- Dental floss
-- Q-tips
-- Hand Wipes (wet ones)
-- 1 roll TP
-- 1 Bottle listerine
Small travel sewing kit, really just a few needles and thread
2 Large garbage bags, black
2 ziplock bags, gallon size
A few zip ties
A few rubber bands
Small notepad
Pencil
Pen
Red Sharpie
About 5 yards of duct tape wrapped around pen
Cheap Poncho -- need to upgrade
1 silver/OD 'survival' blanket
Spool of 12lb test fishing line
I have a few survival type books I can throw in there if I wanted.


Need to add small mess kit.

I don't currently have any food or water in the bag but have stuff in the house to toss in if necessary.

I have a separate medical bag. There's a basic first aid kit in the bag with some other items. The first aid kit could be grabbed and thrown in the main bag if I needed to. They sit right next to each other.

FAK:

Bandages 2x2
Bandages 4x4
Bandaids, various sizes
20 Steri strips 1/4 x 4
Some Q-tips
Antimicrobial wipes
Iodine & alcohol swabs
Hand sanitizer
Tweezers
Medical tape
Scissors
Chap Stick
Roll of Rollaids
Advil
Tylenol
Benadryl
Immodium
2 pair nitrile gloves

Other Items in the medical bag

Blood pressure / heart rate monitor w/ cuff
Stethoscope
Otoscope
3 Rolls gauze
1 Ace bandage
1 roll self adhesive bandage (similar to ace)
"The Pill Book"
16 oz bottle povidone iodine
A few syringes, different gauges & sizes
EMT Shears
Bandage Scissors
Bottle Amoxicillin
Pocket anatomy & systems
Pocket RN Notes

Minor Surgical kit:
Various hemostats
Scalpel and 2 blades
Needle Probe
Scissors
Tweezers
Holder
Dental picks
3 individual suture packs


I also always keep in the truck:
3 man tent
Sleeping bag
Maglite w/ spare batteries
Change of clothes
Jacket
A couple of bottles of water
Minor first aid stuff
Car stuff (jumper cables, jack, fire extinguisher, etc ... )



I'm working from memory so I'm sure I forgot some things. A few were purposely not listed.

reply to post by Primordial


you know i never thought about a radio but i think i would want a crank radio as well. this would be useful...

reply to post by knowonder


I thought about a crank radio but I've read mixed reports on them. It seems that the charging mechanism can easily fail. I've heard the same about the crank flashlights. That's why I also have a battery operated one in there.

For a radio, I bought a cheap sony pocket radio. It was like $14.00 and has an analog tuner so the batteries last for quite a long time. Stay away from ones with electronic tuning and an LCD tuning screen for this reason. I've seen some cheap radios made by Coby. Please, if you see one of these don't buy it. I've had 2 things made by Coby and they were the biggest POS you will ever buy.

reply to post by Primordial


so no go on crank power... thanks for the advice on the analog tuners. one concern i have is the battery power... batteries have inconsistent live expectancy in extreme weather. I would want it on for most of the time to see if i can catch any emergency broadcasts. are there any alternatives? I wonder if there is a stand alone crank battery charger device.

reply to post by knowonder


I don't know if I'd say 'no go' on crank devices, I have just read enough stories of them failing to not trust them too much. Just a personal preference. Most people seem to like the Eton radios. Just do some research and read as many reviews as you can from multiple sites. I've seen some products have favorable reviews on one site and not so favorable ones on others.

Another choice would be rechargeable batteries and a small solar charger. Just have an extra set of batteries to rotate.

I have also seen small crank chargers for cell phones and other small electronics. If you have any electronics knowledge it shouldn't be to hard to modify it to charge the batteries.

reply to post by Primordial


Would you bring a firearm? i just noticed you did not have one listed.

Probably a lot of beer to keep hydrated and several fecal samples. Well i would drink river water and get dysentery then bottle my waste so at a latter date i could use it as a biological weapon. Everything else like food, clothes,tools and medicine i could make out of wood.

reply to post by zaiger


i know your being silly but carrying alcohol wouldn't be a bad idea.... sailors used to use rum to cure the water and make it potable. maybe carrying some whiskey or rum wouldn't be a bad idea

reply to post by knowonder


Being silly? I take it nobody has ever thrown a bottle of dysentery feces at you. It would be a powerfull weapon should SHTF

I have nothing that even resembles a survival kit

so can I just come along with one of you guys? i can easily bring some vodka and pringles?

reply to post by Lady_Tuatha


dont mind but im near DC

reply to post by Lady_Tuatha


You can tag along, I dont mind. Just have to watch my back and I will watch urs.

reply to post by knowonder


Personal protection? ..... yes. What that may be I don't discuss on the internet.

I see some people give out way too much information in a public place. I feel even discussing the fact that we 'prep' may be too much sometimes. Yep, I'm a little paranoid.

[edit on 27-5-2010 by Primordial]

Depends on the size of the 'kit', but ideally:

HOWTO: Be wealthy after the collapse

anyone have any experiance with solar AA and AAA battery chargers?

www.survivalunlimited.com...

reply to post by robbinsj


i suspected they existed but i am hesitant as the solar charger seems awfully small for charging 10 batteries in 7 hours.

i am also interested in anyones experience with this.

Just remember after you run out of ammo the best home defense is an axe, axes never run out of ammunition

reply to post by Asktheanimals


Whats the water filter you would recommend?

Originally posted by SUICIDEHK45
Just remember after you run out of ammo the best home defense is an axe, axes never run out of ammunition

After you run out of ammo? What?

LOL

Ruger 10/22 is $200 at Dicks Sporting goods. 550 round bulk packs of .22 ammo at Walmart are about $20 after tax.

100 bucks will get you 2,700 rounds of ammo.... spend that extra $500 (the cost of a nice bolt action alone) and you will have 13,750 rounds of ammo.

Eventually running out of ammo will be a long, long, long, long time away.

Originally posted by rajaten
reply to post by Asktheanimals

 

Whats the water filter you would recommend?

The best: Katadyn Pocket Water Microfilter

www.amazon.com...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=sporting-goods&qid=1275360296&sr=8-1