Everyone should have at least a basic survival kit at home just in case disaster strikes. A survival first aid kit is one of the most important preparations for any sort of disaster or event.
What Is a Survival First Aid Kit?
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Survival First Aid Kit[/caption]
A survival first aid kit is a bit more equipped than just a regular everyday first aid kit that you might pick up from asda containing some plasters and antiseptic cream. A survival first aid kit is meant to help you survive in the aftermath of a major disaster, where injuries sustained could be life threatening. A survival first aid kit is going to be small enough to pick up and move with, but large enough to contain a lot of potentially lifesaving items.
Why Keep a Survival First Aid Kit?
The fact is that you never know when a disaster could happen. To keep yourself and your family safe, there are some preparations that are just plain smart. A survival first aid kit is a necessary item for every home, even if you think you may never use it.
Once you have your "base" kit from home use built you can move on as required and make a BOB kit or EDC, The possibilities are endless and you cant put a price on the safety and wellbeing of you and your family.
What Could Happen?
Many people do not keep survival first aid kits because they think that nothing bad could ever happen to them. The fact is, however, that disasters can happen, and it is better to be safe than sorry. Disasters come in many forms, such as sudden inclement weather disasters, major accidents, and even acts of malice or terrorism. The idea is to hope that such an event never occurs, but to be ready just in case.
[x_alert heading="You never know" type="warning"]I feel its best to carry a kit not need it than to need it and not have one.[/x_alert]
Where Do I Get a Survival First Aid Kit?
There are many websites that sell survival first aid kits and other disaster plan items. These packages vary in how much or how little they contain; some contain just the essentials and others are extremely full and equipped for just about anything. These types of kits are often very expensive.
You can also put together your own survival first aid kit. Not only will you be able to cater the necessary items to fit your needs, but you can save a lot of money.
I have brought a lot of different first aid kits over the years ranging from mid range to expensive and I find breaking them down and mixing the kits to requirement to be the best way of putting the best kit together.
Some of the best starter kits I have found are from a company called adventure medical kits and I have linked a few of the best available kits below.
Basic Must-Have Items
The Red Cross website (http://www.redcross.org/prepare/location/home-family/get-kit/anatomy) has a comprehensive list of what items are necessary for a first aid kit. The items listed are for a family of four, so you might need to make adjustments according to your family size and needs.
Red Cross first aid kit list:
- 2 absorbent compress dressings (5 x 9 inches)
- 25 adhesive bandages (assorted sizes)
- 1 adhesive cloth tape (10 yards x 1 inch)
- 5 antibiotic ointment packets (approximately 1 gram)
- 5 antiseptic wipe packets
- 2 packets of aspirin (81 mg each)
- 1 blanket (space blanket)
- 1 breathing barrier (with one-way valve)
- 1 instant cold compress
- 2 pair of nonlatex gloves (size: large)
- 2 hydrocortisone ointment packets (approximately 1 gram each)
- Scissors
- 1 roller bandage (3 inches wide)
- 1 roller bandage (4 inches wide)
- 5 sterile gauze pads (3 x 3 inches)
- 5 sterile gauze pads (4 x 4 inches)
- Oral thermometer (non-mercury/non-glass)
- 2 triangular bandages
- Tweezers
- First aid instruction booklet
Depending on your family and specific needs, you may want to consider a few more items to add to your kit. Remember that the idea is emergency preparedness, so try to think of everything. For example, if someone in your family has anaphylactic allergies, you will want to consider adding an EpiPen and/or Benadryl to your survival first aid kit.
Some other items to consider including:
- LED flashlight
- Extra batteries
- Burn gel
- Medical grade super glue (cyanoacrylate base)
- Suture kit
- Eye wash kit
- Necessary medications for family members
You will also want to keep information about each of your family members' medical history and a list of medications that each of you take. When rescue services do come, it could help them to have a working knowledge of your history in the event of an injury or emergency. Also keep a list of contacts and emergency phone numbers so you can reach family or friends if you need help or to tell them you are okay.
What am I carrying in my basic kit?
My Survival First Aid Kit is fairly similar to the kit recommended by the red cross but scaled down somewhat to reduce weight and has been specifically setup with my needs in mind. I have a few different kits for different scenarios such as my home kit, my BOB kit and my EDC and vehicle EDC. Each kit varies in its size, weight and contents but I will be detailing the contents of my BOB FAK below.
My BOB FAK contents: - First field dressings x 2
- Combat Application Tourniquet (Control a catastrophic bleed)
- Pack of 50 assorted plasters
- Quikclot clotting sponge
- Sterile gauze pad x 2 (5 x 9 inches)
- Sterile gauze pad (4 x 4 inches)
- Sterile gauze pad (3 x 4 inches)
- Sterile gauze pad x 2 (2 x 2 inches)
- Non adhering dressing (3 x 3 inches)
- Triangular bandage
- Dressing large
- Dressing medium
- Dressing small
- Eye pad
- Non latex gloves x 3 pairs
- Antiseptic wipes x 12
- Safety pins x 6
- After Bite x 2 (Wasps & Bees love me)
- Antibiotic ointment x 2 (Wound care)
- Diphenhydramine x 2 (Antihistamine)
- Moleskin Roll (For blisters)
- Vial of potassium permanganate (Multiple Uses)
- Sensi-wrap roll
- General medical tape
- Tweezer
- Steri Strip x 3
- Paracetamol/aspirin x 6
- Ibuprofen x 6
- Codeine x 4
- Antibiotics course
The whole kit packs done quite a bit and sofar has only had a few uses from minor mishaps but if the worst did happen when I was out and about I at least know I could control the situation until help arrived.
[x_alert heading="Check the dates !" type="warning" close="true"]Be sure to keep track of you dates of any and all perishable items in you first aid kit such as medication. [/x_alert]
I will be looking to do a few follow up posts when I get a chance going over my other kits but I figured I would start with what I think to be the most important first. Is there anything you would add/remove ? Post in the comments.
More knife reviews coming soon ![/caption]
Before we get on to the pack I would like to talk very briefly about the hydration system. I say briefly because this the entire system itself is so good that I would take up too much of this article talking about it and if you want more information on it you can find it in its own 
than being stitched on to the back so they will be a lot more durable than most other packs. There a 3 strips on each strap so you can attach a radio or phone pouch securely (I use them for clip on lights) and as mentioned previously the left strap houses a pocket for the hand pump for the hydration bladder. Now with the mention of the hand pump I will be honest, I don't like where it's positioned. Maybe its just my frame, but it's too high up and I feel it pressed against my chest, which isn't uncomfortable, but I could 'feel' it. This was the only issue I had when first using the pack, however I compressed the bulb down and taped it for a couple of days and it went really soft which made it almost unnoticeable, so if you get the same problem, do as I did and you should be fine. If you still don't like it you can always put the air pump somewhere-else and use the pocket for a utility item instead like a pocket tool, or you can always remove the air pump all together and use it as a regular hydration system. So the pump position is nothing to worry about, but I thought I should mention it as the tape trick really changed the whole thing for me, so I figured it might help some of you out if you ever have the same issue.
spare clothing, a small cooking system and food and medical supplies. There's not a whole lot you should be carrying for most day trips and I think this has enough space while also giving you the molle options on the front. I will be using it when hiking some of the larger mountains in Britain later this year when I wont be carrying a million knives, and I foresee it carrying everything I will require without needing to attach any molle pouches.
First off it's a pressurised system, or you put pressure into it with the little hand pump that attaches via a separate tube. It also uses an internal air pocket which has several advantages over just pressurising the container. As the pocket extends the full length of the reservoir, it means that it supports the water and prevents the pack from sagging. The pump is separate so you don't get fluid back-washing into the hand-pump which keeps it clean and easier to maintain and it also means that you can completely remove the hand pump, and use it more like a traditional hydration system, without compromising the seal of the reservoir in any way. The air and water tubes also come with thread-less, quick-disconnect valves which really help to put this system together in small packs.
The Frontier Max filter I have comes with a 'Red Line' filter but you can also get the 'Green Line' filter which is cheaper. The difference between the two is that the red filter has the capability to remove 99.99% of viruses where as the green does not. Both filters however have a 99.9% cyst removal and 99.9999% bacteria removal rate and will filter 11 gallons for the green and 120 gallons for the red, so they will probably last you quite a while as it will last over 150 refills of the 3ltr reservoir. Basically if you go out once a week they will last you approximately 3 years, and you can always stock up on a few extra.
We recently got our hands on a custom, hand-made knife from a 28 year old gentleman, called Mihai Bostan. He currently resides in Birmingham, but he's originally from Romania where he graduated university with a mechanical and production engineering degree.
myself. I would thin out the handle a little and make the end a bit deeper, but that more for my own hands and really there's nothing wrong with it. The Walnut scales look wonderful with the mosaic pins and the red liners, this really is a good-looking knife. He's finished the blade in satin and its overall length is about right for a nice medium-sized bushcraft knife. It wasn't as sharp as I would like, but it wasn't hard getting it to where it needed to be.
The handle has red liners and as previously mentioned is made with walnut wood and held together with two mosaic pins. The fit and finish of it is superb and you really cant feel where the scales meet the tang even slightly, he's really spent time perfecting his knives and this is just another area where it shows. It is a bit rounder than I prefer in a handle but it looks and feels a lot more traditional like this, which is really nice. The over-all shape fits well in the hand and I haven't once thought it felt off with all of the use I've given it.