1st Survival Summer Course - Survival Kits

Your destination is key for the type of tools and instruments you put in your survival kit/tin. A kit carried in your body will obviously have to be smaller than one carried in a vehicle. Rule of thumb, always layer your survival kit, keeping the most important items on your body, e.g., map and compass. You need only functional items and a case to hold these same items. Metal tins are preferable to plastic tins because you can boil water and sterilise instruments.

The video embedded shows you how to prepare from scratch your survival kit/tin, to the detail. Bullet points are:

- Suitable to accept varisized components,

- Isolated with masking tape to make it waterproof/water repellent.

- Easy to carry or attach to your body,

- Durable. 

What to load it with? Well, so many different things but complicating it is wasting time, so the basic generals are:

- First aid items,

- Water purification tablets or drops,

- Fire starting equipment, e.g., lighter, matches;

- Signaling items, e.g., signaling mirror;

- Food procurement items, e.g., snare wire;

- Shelter items, e.g., black bin bag.

For the sake of the example, why don't we start with our survival tin today? We can even make a cheap one and check the final cost of it. Let's find a good small one and tape it, then fill it with:

- Safety pins £1.91;

- Snare wire (£3.95 for 5 meters), it's multipurpose, see here many applications you can use it for;

- Unscented tea light candles £1.89 (a 30 pack);

- Surgical blade £0.20 (each);

- Cotton wool buds (burns fast) mixed with Vaseline (contains pure petroleum jelly) £1.99 plus £1.69, respectively;

- Condoms (lol, it's for water storage mate!!!) £2.99 each;

- Reclosable 4x6 inches clear plastic bag (£3.50 each 100);

- Multi emergency survival pocket knife (£1.01)

- Needle and thread (£2.34);

- Black bin bag [for shelter] (£12.19 each 100);

- Black thread (£1.00);

- Chlorine tablets for water purification (£4.72);

- Storm wind and water proof matches (£4.25), but don't forget, these items need to be in a small plastic bag to avoid humidity.

- Hairnet to avoid a full condom to split (£1.50);

- Compass £2.49;

- Magnesium block fire starter (£5.38) quicker than matches, cheaper than Zippo;

As you can see, most of these things you can even find it yourself all over your house or just lost in your shed. The overall price sums to a final value of £53.03 (hope I'm right), and you will have spares enough to make up dozens of survival kits.

OK, that's it for today. All links were active at the date I posted them, but bear in mind prices and availability might change in time. Next week will be covering the "Basic Survival Medicine".

Course based on the book by the United States Army John F. Kennedy Special warfare Center and School. FM21-76 US Army Survival Manual.