Survival Kits

I like like using these all the time and not just for survival situation, but for all types of things. I keep them close. Just in case and never in one basket.

My gear list:

solar still set:
â–¡ tubing six feet
â–¡ stainless steel or collapsible plastic cup
â–¡ plastic sheet 6x6 feet
â–¡ find a large pebble
hygiene kit:
â–¡ tooth brush
â–¡ tooth paste (baking soda)
â–¡ floss
â–¡ comb
â–¡ soap
â–¡ wash cloth
â–¡ handkerchief (for nose)
water purification kit:
â–¡ purify tablets
â–¡ pocket water filter
â–¡ coffee filters or gauze pads
â–¡ deflatable gallon jugs
â–¡ or water bottles
â–¡ eye dropper
Identification:
â–¡ identification card
â–¡ social security card
â–¡ cash
books and maps:
â–¡ wilderness/urban survival field guide
–some maps
bags:
â–¡ water proof hiking backpack
â–¡ light weight hemp bag
â–¡ shoulder bag
â–¡ 4 large black plastic garbage bags
â–¡ 3 small bags for random things.
clothes:
â–¡ mesh insect screen hat to screen away insects from face
â–¡ rip resistant rainproof outerwear
â–¡ wool flannel shirt
â–¡ working gloves
â–¡ sleeping gloves
â–¡ water resistant camo poncho to go over everything
â–¡ underwear 2 pairs
â–¡ long wool pants cargo style
â–¡ buckskin shirt or pants (optional)
â–¡ sweat pants
â–¡ wool hat
â–¡ organic t-shirt
â–¡ light weight button up t-shirt
â–¡ think wool zipper or button up long sleeve shirt
â–¡ light weight button up wool-long sleeved shirt
â–¡ a light weight zipping hoody
â–¡ a pair of wool socks
â–¡ 2 extra pairs of cotton socks
â–¡ plastic bags to wear over my socks in my shoes during wet and raining times
â–¡ moccasins
â–¡ tire sandles (idea from Thomas J. Elpel)
â–¡ water proof boots (depends on time of year and place)
-black work shoes (optional): (if you know what I mean) they can come in handy to get you employed during a survival situation or a job loss)
sew kit/repair kit
â–¡ thread
â–¡ needles
â–¡ piece of leather
–rip resistant cloth and bag patches
–extra buttons
fish catching kit:
â–¡ monofilament fishing line
â–¡ hooks
â–¡ weights
snake bite/bee sting kit:
â–¡ three suction cups
â–¡ lymph constrictor
â–¡ surgical scalpel
â–¡ antiseptic
â–¡ instruction
tool kit:
â–¡ wire
â–¡ hammer
â–¡ pliers
â–¡ adjustable wrench
â–¡ extra heavy nylon cord (fifty feet)
â–¡ screw drivers (flat and p 2)
â–¡ machete
â–¡ shovel
â–¡ crowbar
â–¡ Carborundum knife sharpener
â–¡ light rope for mostly bow-drill tool (length???)
â–¡ hand axe
â–¡ hand saw
â–¡ aluminum shovel
â–¡ cultivator
â–¡ Swiss army knife
â–¡ 6 inch buck knife
â–¡ 4 inch folding knife
miscellaneous:
â–¡ this list
â–¡ maps
â–¡ musical instrument
â–¡ monocular
â–¡ paper and pen
â–¡ a little tent (depends)
â–¡ light weight thin cutting surface
â–¡ A wool blanket
â–¡ whistle
â–¡ walle-hawk
â–¡ compass
â–¡ aluminum foil
â–¡ steel wool and a little electrical wire
â–¡ small head phone radio to pick up radio signals and alerts (or universal cell phone thingy)
â–¡ light weight mortar and pastel set
â–¡ robber hose for siphoning
â–¡ head lamp with extra batteries rechargeable
â–¡ two belts (one for hauling and one for on me)
â–¡ battery charger
â–¡ finger long and light weight flashlight
â–¡ 0 degree sleeping bag (depends on season)
â–¡ light weight sleeping bag (depends on season)
â–¡ camo tarp 14x18 or 16x20
fire making kit:
â–¡ bic light
â–¡ water proof matches
â–¡ small water tight container for matches
â–¡ flint magnesium
â–¡ tinder
â–¡ handdrill set
â–¡ 3 long burning candles
food survival kit/rations:
â–¡ trail mix
â–¡ rice
â–¡ flour
â–¡ dry beans, lentils,
â–¡ salt
â–¡ red pepper
â–¡ vegetable oil
â–¡ dried cane syrup
â–¡ dried fruit
â–¡ dried peppermint
â–¡ dried wintergreen
â–¡ peanut butter
â–¡ multiple vitamins
â–¡ granola
â–¡ mesh kit for cooking
â–¡ can opener wood spoon
â–¡ dried nuts
medicine bag/first aid kit:
â–¡ band aids
â–¡ antiseptic clothes
â–¡ willow cambium
â–¡ lip gloss
â–¡ gauze pads
â–¡ wound rapping tape
â–¡ tweezers

I will need help carrying all that. Help of strong bones and body. I think I can carry it alone.

Also, having around some extra gear and piece of mind for helping someone out may make things easier once they can get back on their feet and give a hand. Caution: [a message to the reader] in survival situations stay away from “weirdos,” you know what they look like, you don’t have to ask any body. Turn invisible, disappear, and see what your up against, maybe even turn-the-tables if they turn on you. 8)

I’ll help carry it!

Interesting thread chaps.

I always worked along the lines of advice from a Norwegian marine instructor I worked with years ago who said:

‘Survive in your pockets, fight in your webbing, live in your bergen’

Not sure how that translates into US or civvy parlance but ‘webbing’ would be belt kit and a ‘bergen’ is just a word for a rucksack.

I also stick to the maxim that the only useful survival kit is the one you have in your pocket.

Great forum, looking forward to reading much more.

the only useful survival kit is the one you have in your pocket

I like that, Mountainboy.

One of my favorite passages of “primitive fiction” from Jean Auel’s The Valley of Horses (the sequel to The Clan of the Cave Bear) involves these two brothers whose boat gets capsized, and they lose everything but what they wore. They had only tool/weapon–a flint blade that one of them wore on his belt.

But that catastrophe barely put a dent in their journey. They crawled out of the river and started making everything they needed with the materials they found around them. Instead of the leather packs they had carried before, they made woven bags, mounted on reed frames. They didn’t have any flint to knap to make new spear tips, but they found some wood to make new spears from and hardened the tips in the fire.

That level of knowing how to start from scratch with only the materials at hand represents my ideal in rewilding–that knowledge that civilization has robbed us of.

I have 2 survival kits, my “bug out bag (BOB)”, and my every day carry (EDC). My bug out bag is basically a backpacker’s kit I keep packed in my closet at all times. This serves 2 purposes. First, If i ever have to run, I just grab it and go. Second, I can go camping at a moment’s notice.

My EDC has everything I need, and I really wish I could cut some things out of it. Some types of gear substiture for knowledge, knowledge I should cultivate so I can ditch the gear.

I love my EDC though. There’s not a thing in there I haven’t made use of in my everyday life. It all fits into a modified hip pack that I jokingly call my utility belt.

The main things it’s got:

multi-tool. I also have a swiss army knife in my pocket
Lighters
Tiny LED flashlight I only ever use indoors.
Rain poncho. Serves as a tent in a pinch.
one of those heat reflecting space blankets.
50’ of 550 lb test parachute cord.
Pen and paper.
some trail food bars.
First aid kit
Sewing kit
First aid tape
Some snare wire
some spice packets
Fish hooks
A metal tin that makes a decent cup, bowl, fire pan or shovel.
Some soap and a razor
Exacto blades and strait razors.
Water purification tablets
And a few other things I’ll remember are in there when I need them.

I keep wanting to add a water bottle to this, but I need the whole thing to be light enough and small enough that it doesn’t interfere with doing parkour, and I’ve yet to figure out how to do that with a water bottle. I also wouldn’t mind keeping a hatchet on me all the time, but that would get me in too much trouble around here. The police hassle me enough as it is.

I also keep a copy of the SAS survival guide in my breifcase, as well as a change of clothes and the water I wish I could carry on my belt.