No Shit Survival Kit

FINALLY after a couple of months of scrounging around and two kits later I have the items to make a NO SHIT SURVIVAL KIT... Yeah I made that up.  This concept is based around the idea that you should create a small kit with bare essentials that could really save your life, or at least make things more comfortable should you be in a tight spot. All of this should fit into a small package that wouldn't take up much room in any kind of bag. Your suppose to pack it for maybe a fishing or camping trip, maybe just in case of emergencies, and hope you never need it.

Contents. The S.A.S survival app which you can find for an Iphone, is pretty cool, even the free version. Gives you a simple check list of stuff to build one of these kits yourself. the Contents are:

• Matches - fire
• Flint - fire
• Candle - light
• Needles and thread - repairing clothes
• Fish hooks and line - catching food
• compass - navigation
• Snare wire - catching food
• Flexible Saw - shelter building
• Water Sterilizing Tablets - water collection
• Condom- No! for water collection you perv
• Cotton Wool - fire tender
• Whistle - alerting rescue
• Pocket Knife
• Pencil & Waterproof Paper
• Safety pins - clothes repair
• Waterproof tape - clothes repair

I managed to get just about all of this and more by buying to over the counter kits, and the Sterilization
tablets separately. Most of these things can be found for very cheap individually at various sporting goods stores, REI, and even Target believe it or not.

One of the two kits I bough is the Gerber Bear Grylls Ultimate survival kit. It goes for $52 on the Bear Grylls website, Iv'e seen it online at Walmart.com for $30. Fry's electronics strangely enough is the only place I found it in store for $40 but I got them to match the Walmart price which was awesome.

"Take that Fry's, EAT TEN BUCKS!...I use to work there. I'm very bitter." Anyway, Sadly this kit didn't have all of the stuff on the list, but it did come with some very cool extras. One being the Gerber Clutch miniature multi-tool. a small flashlight, and a signaling mirror which I definitely kept in there.

 But there's still some stuff missing, so I supplemented it with the Lifeline Ultralight Survival Kit which I bought at REI for $15 "$45 total so far If anyone's keeping track" this kit contained a compass, and the water proof tape that was missing. This also had a few medical extras that went into my First Aid kit, but I would like to note that this kit came with more snare wire than the Bear Grylls kit so I kept that one instead.

Now that's almost everything. I filled out the few remaining bits by picking up these items: Candle, Water Sterilization Tablets, and a condom. Which i had some extras so i just put one in. The only thing Iv'e left out was the pencil and water proof paper.  So far if your keeping track I'm up to about $57. The pocket knife is an old Boy scout knife my father gave to me I love that thing. I also added a Rain Poncho that I had lying around in random camping gear.

What did i put all this in you ask. A Condor Sidekick Pouch $15. I went with this option cause personally I have two packs with MOLLE webbing. So I like the fact that I could just attach my kit to either bag, without it actually taking up any space INSIDE the bag. Also the elastic straps inside keep some of the tools organized and ready in case I want to get at them without actually digging through the kit which is packed pretty tight inside a waterproof plastic bag. Kinda like playing Tetris to get it all in there. But zipped up it takes up very little space, if I had to carry it in another bag. I could also stick it to a tac vest or plate carrier. 

The coolest part about this is that there were plenty of leftovers which I used to start making another kit for my EDC "every day carry" bag. I keep the real kit on my BOBag. all of this for a total of about $72, small price to pay for saving your life.