I'm sorry and this can sound really stupid but : who is Cody?
Is he some kind of survival-expert? (something like Ray Mears?)

Cody Lundin is a fairly recognized expert in survival.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1586852...5Fencoding=UTF8

He's okay, although I think his fans tend to do a bit of hero worship. What I find most important is what you can take away from his material, but you still have to think for yourself. What works for one doesn't necessarily work for others (different hand sizes, experience, preferences, abilities, etc.). One thing that really bothers me about his preferred kit is that you are dangling a knife with a large and potentially painful block right at chest/heart level around your neck. Sorry, but I've never liked things around my neck to begin with and I certainly am not hanging a couple of pounds of gear under my shirt if it's not flat and completely safe, not to mention comfortable....

Garrett,

Thanks for the true-life stories. Being relatively new to this, I'm still putting together my supplies and techniques and it's helpful to learn from other's experience. Thanks to all of the rest of the survival crew for your help as well!

Right now I'm not worried about make my kits the smallest possible. I'm trying to find the best gear for the prices I can afford. Being new, perhaps I'm focusing too much on redundancy. For example, I've got both a butane lighter and REI stormproof matches in my EDC. Next month, I'll purchase another fire starter (i.e., blast match) and move the matches to my BOB. My water and food stash is growing a few bottles and cans each month.

Although we may want to convince ourselves that we can get every piece of gear and become solely self-sufficent in every emergency, I believe that reality will teach us that we still will have to cooperate with others to survive a disaster. If I share these ideas with friends and family then we should be better equipped by pooling skills and resources.