Essentials for Your Personal Survival Kit

After reading Les Stroud’s book Survive!, I thought I would post Stroud’s list of equipment that should be in your own personal survival kit.  The comments after the gear are my own.

• Bandanna :: I have a shaved head and once or twice a year I go out without a hat and burn the top of my scalp.  A bandanna helps that big time.  They can also help with keeping you cool.  After watching an episode of Survivorman, we were at the cabin for some really hot weather and we found that soaking the bandana in some cold water did a wonderful job of cooling us down.  For that reason we keep a couple with us.   You can purchase them at Dollarama or almost any sports outfitters or online here.
• Compass :: I am a big fan of the Coghlan’s Compass & Thermometer which gives you two tools in one.
• Flashlight (small, LED) :: I prefer a Maglite but we have a couple of hand crank and shaking LED flashlights and they work great.  Another option is a LED powered headlamp.
• 2 orange garbage bags :: Wear them, use them as a signal device, or use them in an emergency to keep warm.
• Lighter :: I keep a Zippo lighter in all of our emergency packs.
• Matches in a waterproof case :: You can get waterproof cases at Wal-Mart for about $2.  What I found is that many wooden matches won’t light from the included striker so what we did is that we tossed in a couple of pieces of the course striking material in with it.
• Magnesium flint striker :: I personally prefer a Magnesium Fire Starter which will start a fire even under wet conditions.  If you are going to use a Magnesium Flint Striker, you also need some charred cloth.
• Metal cup (folding; for boiling water)
• Multi-tool or a Swiss Army knife :: Just make sure it has a small saw blade.  If it doesn’t toss in a Sierra Saw.  While Leatherman’s can get quite expensive, I found that you can get a decent multi-tool at XS Cargo for around $10.  The only thing I don’t like about them is how dull the blades are and that was cured by an evening of sharpening them while watching TV.
• Painkillers :: Make sure you have some both Tylenol and Advil.  Different painkillers for different pains.  Keep them dry, safe, and secure in one of these.
• Parachute cord (25 feet long)
• Protein bar
• Sharp belt knife :: I don’t know if you remember the knife that Rambo used during First Blood but it had a hollow handle that John Rambo used to keep a bunch of survival gear in it.  Now that I think of it, I think he had a machine gun, a RPG, and maybe even a Huey attack helicopter in there.  For a while they were all of the rage and you could get them everywhere (hey, I grew up in Alberta).  Now they are a little harder to find but for under $20 you can still find them and stock them with what you need in them.
• Solar blanket
• Emergency Whistle :: When we bought our Eddie Bauer Essential Hikers Daypack, they had these five-in-one survival aids built around a shrill whistle.
• Ziploc Bag

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