Nina Kalinina's homepage

Emergency kit Mk3 - survival medkit

Disclaimer: this is an unsponsored article. I am building my kit as I see fit for myself.

Overview

This kit is an upgraded version of my previous kit, after trying out some of its components in different situations.

It was mainly extended thanks to knowledge I received in a first aid course, and can help in more situations than my previous kit. It is noticeably heavier (955g/2.1lb vs 588g/1.3lb), but it’s roughly the same volume. It still isn’t too heavy to carry around at most times - it’s roughly the size and weight of a hardcover book.

Please note that this emergency kit is highly personal and is meant as a measure against threats that I either faced in the past or consider a possibility in the nearest future. If you think I am missing something important, please let me know.

Reasons for upgrading

I went to first-aid courses, learned lots of new skills, and realised that my kit is missing some important stuff. I bought a slightly bigger first-aid kit as a new vessel for the kit.

The original kit is neat and lightweight; it can be a good starting point for your kit. Fun note: it didn’t have scissors in the scissors compartment.

This is most of the kit’s contents. Dressings, gloves, tapes, thermometers, anti-diarrhoea and painkillers. Pretty decent. I wonder if the scissors are missing by mistake?

Repack

I merged my old kit with this new kit, and added some extra nice things. After repacking, the kit is 955g.

It can be opened on a horizontal plane neatly, without things falling out. It has a few “extras” that could fall out in emergency, but it wouldn’t be too much of a problem.

Main compartment and extras

A food bar, a tea candle and a flint striker, a space blanket, an extra dressing and an insect repellent are all “extras”. I have other dressings, other light and fire sources, and another emergency blanket in the kit, so those are doubles. Insect repellent is a bonus againt ticks, and a single food bar isn’t going to make a lot of difference. I am still considering replacing some of those with other useful bits.

The kit comes with some sticky tape; I put my pocket flashlight inside, and fixed it with a pocket toothbrush. The flashlight is better than I could hope for, I tried and tested it multiple times, it’s pretty decent. The toothbrush can double down as a tool for abrasive wound cleaning.

Info & gloves

I kept the vinyl gloves from the kit, and added an extra pair. Somehow I use the gloves fairly often, so I want to have extras. There’s also some waterproof paper for notes, a pencil, and magnifying glass. I keep the personal info and a bit of cash there, too. Basic first aid manual is the one provided by Riot Medicine; I didn’t quite like the manual that comes with the first aid kit, it’s too basic. Finally, there’s a tiny clip-on compass.

Non-waterproof compartment

“Dressings”? I guess I need to replace the stickers showing the names of the compartments. This compartment isn’t water-tight, so the pieces of kit there either aren’t too afraid of humidity, or pre-packed.

Swiss knife rules. I’ve used it plenty of times by now, and it’s been indispensable little helper. Then there’s blades and paperclips - both are multifunctional and quite convenient to have. The biggest piece in this compartment is survival blanket; much bigger and more durable than a regular space blanket, and, most importantly, reuseable. There’s also matches, blister plasters, towerls, sterile saline, tapes, tweezers, and a spare water filter.

That’s not all! The pocket in this compartment also has dressings. Unlike the previous kit, they’re sterile, some of them are low-adherent (to reduce trauma when removed). There’s also a burn gel on a pad. This compartment also holds a few ziplocks, and a collapsible “cup”.

Medication/accessories compartment

Again, it’s more than just the label says. I had to rearrange items so they’d fit, not by their function.

The first part of this compartment has lots of medications, plus AM/FM radio, plasters and thermometers. Some of the meds are specific for me, but most aren’t: painkillers, anti-diarrhoea, antacids, steroids, antiseptic cream, water purification tablets. The radio can be opened to extract two extra batteries for the flashlight.

The second part of this compartment is alcoholic and non-alcoholic wipes (can be used as fire starters), steristrips, and a bunch of paraffin gauze. Paraffin gauze is non-adhesive, can be used as a fire starter (it burns well, but I couldn’t light it up with a flint), or as a source of petroleum jelly (to treat dry skin or lips). Finally, there’s a face mask.

Outside of the kit

I keep a loud whistle and a CPR mask strapped to the kit.