After seeing a thread for ideas to create a $5.00 kit for scouts, I was inspired to see what type of kit it would be possible to make cheaply and quickly. A trip to a Dollar Tree store and a Family Dollar store provided the following items:


ITEM___Price ___Qty/Kit___Cost/Kit___Notes

Family Chef brand pairing knife___1.00___1___1.00___ surprisingly sturdy but not very sharp
Dorcy LED clip light___1.00___1___1.00___bright, handy design, 3 watch batteries
Viva disposable lighter 3 pack___1.00___1___.33___ basic lighter
Favors whistles 8 pack___1.00___1___ .13___pea-less, loud, high pitched
Armour Vienna Sausages___ .50___1___.5___ survival food only in useful metal can
Family Chef mini storage box 8 pack___1.00___2___ .26___small water resistant box
Tool Bench brand 164' line reel___1.00__82'___ .50___ approx. 40# test
30 gallon trash bags 9 pack___1.00___2___.22 ___very thin material but strong
Halloween candy mix___1.00___2 ___.10___non melting candy
Strike on box matches 10 pack___1.00___1box___.10___thin wooden matches
Tape It brand duct tape 10yards___1.00___3yrds___.33___lightweight sticky tape
Liquid Skin 2 pack___1.00___1 tube___ .50___medical grade cyanoacrylate
Freezer Bags quart size 16 pack___1.00___2 bags___ .13___cheap bags
Cotton balls 100 count___1.00___8___.08___cotton balls
toilet paper small roll___n/a___1___ .00___2-ply from home supply
Petroleum jelly lip balm 2 pack___1.00___1 tube___ .50___small squeeze tube


Total (per kit) $5.68

The complete kit fits tightly into a one quart zipper bag and weighs less than one pound. The knife blade is covered with a tape and cardboard sheath and the duct tape and cord are wrapped around cardboard. The cardboard was salvaged from some of the packaging.

Nothing in the kit is of exceptional quality or ruggedness but all of the items are functional and could be used for short term survival; the basics of shelter, fire, food and signaling are covered.

The knife is a simple full tang stainless kitchen knife. It was used to cut all of the card board, cord and tape while packing the kit.

The best find was the liquid skin. It is like a generic brand Dermabond (medical skin glue) and I plan to add it into all of my first aid kits.

I don't have any plans to put this kit to the test but I think for around $6.00 it is a legitimate and serviceable emergency kit for use by people with basic skills and a tight budget. I think the biggest obstacle to creating a budget kit is the inconsistency of items carried at dollar type stores.

Cool! Yes, I browse the Dollar Store for gear. I like honing my skills while I'm just sitting out back, and that can get expensive.

Some Dollar Stores sell Murray's Beeswax (some sort of hair dressing). It's better fuel than Vaseline in my opinion. Also, the container provides a lot more fuel than 2 packs of Vaseline, and more options. You could use one Murray's Beeswax container on cotton for 100 scouts.

thanks for the frugal posting.

I wouldn't use Hair dressing as a substitute for Vaseline as,It is Not as Versatile,ie..Aside from firestarting/acceleration,It will Waterproof just about everything,Funny as it may seem/sound-I wouldn't use hair dressing to releive a case of Monkey Butt,Nor would I put it on my lips,should they be chapped.Vaseline is almost scent-free,whereas hair dressing is likely to have some perfume type additive,I don't want to attract anymore critters than is Necessary-Skeeters,Wasps,Bees,Ants,& Most of All...Bears!Vaseline works real well for chafing-Feet,Knees,Elbows,etc.YMMV

Don't get hung up on a category I placed it in. Murray's Beeswax basically equals Vaseline plus beeswax. For fuel, I have found that Murray's Beeswax lasts longer than Vaseline. I avoid using Vaseline (petrolatum) as lip balm because it doesn't moisturize or hydrate. If you do use it as lip balm, make sure you have enough for the remainder of the trip because you'll have to keep applying it.

Cool video showing use of Murray's Beeswax...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zqJFarFYxU

Nice! Very good first post. Welcome to ETS.

Sometimes it's easy to fetishize the gear- I know I'm often guilty of that. The truth is, this simple kit could save your life, provided you had it on you and you had some basic survival skills. Obviously most of the dollar store stuff will be pretty low end compared to what you'd get a REI but it's better than nothing!



As a dyed-in-the-wool knifenerd I'd obviously prefer to have a better quality knife, but a cheap kitchen knife can perform many survival tasks. For less a $1 more you could also add a cheap razor knife or two.



That's quite a score! I'll have to look for that.



I've noticed that, too. I'd never been in my local dollar store until a month ago. When the grocery store closest to my house closed recently I had to start shopping at one across town. Out of curiousity one day when I didn't feel like fighting traffic and driving across town I stopped at the dollar store and was surprised at all the stuff they had. Now I probably drop in once a week to see what's new.

Great post njs. Thanks! Dollar stores are a treasure trove of good finds.

here's some pretty good videos...
http://www.youtube.com/user/wildernessoutfitters#p/u/145/nAPNtca7RGQ

Excellent post.

The largest return on investment is always on the low end. I explained this to a guy who claimed only the best would do by posing a thought exercise. Imagine you were dropped into a vast wilderness with nothing but street clothes. You don't know where you are. All you know is that you are going to have to get by with what you have. It is going to get cold and dark. You are in desperate straits.

You start looking around and find an old shoebox. Inside you find a half-sharp discount store fishing knife, a cheap butane lighter, a 25' hank of cheap plastic coated clothesline, two trash bags.

You, of course, decide that none of that stuff is good enough so you toss it away and keep looking.

Virtually anything is better than nothing. A simple flake of rock no bigger than a fingernail was a major technical advance for our distant ancestors who previously only had teeth and fingernails. Marks left on fossilized bones show that tiny flakes of stone were often used to butcher large animals.

Don't overlook discount stores. Even if they are not up to your preferred standards the equipment us cheap enough to buy in quantity to assemble give-away kits. Dollar stores are good. But also consider Goodwill and the Salvation army stores. Jumble shops, flea markets, and consignment stores are also good.

I was able to find a mirror for the kit at Dollar Tree. I found a hand held mirror/compact mirror set for $1.00. The compact mirror is a folds with two mirrors in plastic. I split the folding mirror into two pieces and put one in the kit. I also upgraded the two trash bags to a single 55 gal drum liner. With the upgrades I think this kit rivals several commercial offerings I've seen and is much cheaper.

Liquid skin from China, er, the Dollar Tree, is NOTHING like Dermabond.

Crazy Glue is the closest match for Dermabond if you need an OTC substituion in a true emergency.

The skin glue is made in the US and is almost exactly like the skin glue I use almost every day in the OR,

how about Petbond?..it's for our furry friends and i assume it's the same thing.it better be,i carry it in my canoeing kit.the only problem i've found is that it's sealed up so well that trying to get that tiny and somewhat soft and hard to grip bottle open when your bleeding would be a hassle.3M under the Scotch label makes small single use super glue tubes,something like that with a fast open pull tab--use your teeth--would be a good item for a first aid kit.

Here is what I found online:

"Vetbond by 3M (3 mL) is an n-butyl cyanoacrylate adhesive, which will bond tissue together and form a flexible wound barrier in a variety of veterinary procedures, often eliminating the need for sutures and/or bandages. The adhesive is also a haemostatic agent. It contains a blue indicator for good visualization, and is supplied in a handy, squeezable bottle with a narrow tip to dispense small drops."


It says it is a acts as a hemostatic agent (stops bleeding) and that might be the case for very small wounds. But trying to close a bloody wound is not appropriate. Bleeding should be controlled first and the wound clean before closing. Skin glue works great for small wounds, particularity on hands and faces where bandages are hard to use. It also works great when the wound might be exposed to water or dirt.