I'm not the expert by any stretch but thought it would be interesting to play out the thread premise by comparing top 3 wilderness survival kit versus top 3 city kit.

I'm going to assume that in the city scenario I'm stranded across town at night in a massive power outage, and need to walk home. In the wilderness scenario, I'm lost in the woods. Reflective of the difference in priorities, here's the top 3 things I could/should reasonably have in my purse or backpack:


purse: flashlight, cash, pepper spray.

backpack: water, firestarter (matches-lighter), "space" blanket (I actually always have in my pack an Adventure Medical Heatsheets Emergency Bivvy)


I'm going to regard house keys as a given, like shoes.