Nighthiker,

You are right about the Dollar Store material being inexpensive, available, and some of decent quailty. Over the past 6 months I have produced 90 Personal Survival Kits for training Youth Groups, about 1/2 of the items were from Dollar Stores (e.g. LED lights, waterproof containers, zip-lock bags, fire-starter packets, duct tape, pencils, signal mirrors, needles/pins .....)

Mike