Mini Survival Kits: Pocket and Small Survival Kits

You should be thinking about preparing mini survival kits to keep in your car, at work or as a back up to a larger survival kit, when you need the essentials for a few days. You can make kits that will fit in your average sized backpack, but it is also possible to find ones that fit inside your pocket, a tin can or a well organized fanny pack. These kits have the distinct advantage of being with you at all times, but the size can hamper the amount of stuff that you can take with you.

Essentials of Mini Survival Kits

Photo courtesy of mikepetrucci

If you're packing a portable survival kit for you and your family, the size of the kit makes it seem that you would be away from a bigger source of food, water and shelter for a day at the most. However, it does not stop you being able to prepare against an apocalyptic event where clean food and edible food will be hard to find almost immediately. Your mini survival kits should include the following essentials:

• Fire starting kit - Fire will be essential whether it is to keep you warm, boil some water to purify it or to cook food. Matches have the potential for getting wet and lighters can stop functioning when the flint grinds down. You should pack a flint and small waterproof fire starter blocks in your mini survival kits and practice how to generate a spark and turn it into a fire before packing it away.


• Water bags and tablets - You need to assume that you will be able to find a source of water somewhere, as packing water takes up too much room. What you should do is find a plastic bag that will hold exactly a quart of water and mark that level on the outside of the bag. You will also need to include some water purification tablets, which typically cleanse one quart per tablet. You can then be sure of having the right dosage every time.

• Food - In an apocalyptic event, you should aim to find canned food, as it will stand up to heat, cold and radiation reasonably well. If you are caught out in the wild, you should think about including some fishing line and a hook to catch your own food. In either case, you should have a multi purpose knife, preferably one that has a retractable or folding blade to save space. This will allow you to open cans, prepare fish and catch animals.


• Medical - While you will not have space for needles or tubes of cream in your pocket survival kits, you should have some Neosporin to clean out wounds and some Advil for pain relief if you seriously injure yourself. Buy these as blister packs so that they pack flatter.


• Cord - Survival experts recommend that you carry some lightweight cord with you as a way of securing or tying down fabric for a shelter. You can also use it to make repairs to your car or bag.

While these items may sound like a lot of gear, the trick to successful mini survival kits is the way that you pack. Everything should fold down as small and as flat as possible, and you may need to experiment with different configurations to make it all fit in.

Packing for a cigar case sized object means that you should not worry about the order that you pack things in as you will probably stop and use several items at the same time.

You do need to make sure that any tablets are either in blister packs or are well wrapped up against moisture and that you practice using all of your items before putting them in the kit so you know how to use them.

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