You should keep a survival kit small enough that you don’t mind having it with you everywhere you go. It should easily fit into a pocket or everyday carry bag. Don’t expect it to have everything you need for survival — the idea with this kit is portability, so you don’t mind taking it with you everywhere you go. That way you always have at least a little something that will help.
Watch the Survival Quicktip and Extended Edition videos:
At a minimum, your survival kit should contain the following items:
- sparker
- waterproof strike-anywhere matches. (Note: the matches linked here are not waterproof. I waterproofed them by painting them with clear nail polish).
- cotton tinder to take the spark
- liquid-filled compass
- sterile surgical steel blade
- mini signal mirror
- pencil and paper (e.g. taking notes about the terrain or calculating river crossing distances)
- flat magnifier
- 15 feet (4 meters) paracord (get the mil-spec 550 stuff — it really does matter!) Note: This is a link to a 1000′ spool of paracord. It’s the best value I can find, and if you’re like me, you’ll use every inch of it. It is tremendously useful, and an absolutely essential part of your preps, so buy 1000 feet of it!
- whistle This is an outstanding whistle. It’s flat-ish, very loud, and has a trill that helps the sound carry very long distances.
- razor blade. This is the razor I wish I had in my kit
- mini hacksaw. You can just cut off a piece of hacksaw blade to fit your kit
- snare wire
- nylon
- needle
- fish hooks and sinkers
- safety pins
- 6-inch strip of duct tape
- jungle-training cards (optional)
- Tooblite Mini — this helps you mark the case in the dark, and provides light for finding or examining the contents of your kit.
At a minimum, you should have the means to make a fire and signal for help, but all of the items in the kit I’ve recommended can easily be carried with you wherever you go.
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This is by FAR the best series on survival I have ever seen. Thank you so much for taking the time to put this all together. I learned alot and now know I have many holes in my system. I can’t say enough good about this series. Many good ideas. Loads of useful knowledge. Tons of great advice. Anybody would be foolish not to take advantage of this. Looks like I’m off to the store this weekend. Thanks again for your time and wisdom. Paul.