I've been reading 'equipped' off and on for quite a while now. I'm a camper by hobby and was a boy scout as a kid so I always maintained an interest in survival skills. I enjoy this site because of it's realistic perspective on survival/emergency skills. Anyways, Doug suggested I post this here. It's a little after the fact but I'd still appreciate some input. I apologize for the lack of pictures but I am in the process of moving.

Anyways... what is "it"? I made survival kits for my mom and two sisters for this christmas. I tried to include the highest quality stuff I could afford. What I couldn't afford, I made by hand. I also wrote up by hand a 6 page set of instructions (printed on 3 sheets double sided on heavy duty card stock and laminated) for them. Please take into account the context of the document: we live in PA so mostly it's going to deal with winter or urban emergency situations.

I tried to write it in a manner that was logically laid out (such as having food as one of the last items read) and obviously 'borrowed' alot of material either from this site or elsewhere.

Well at this point the kits are done and finished; I'd like more to them but I simply ran out of time and money <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> .. maybe next year I'll give them supplements for the kits to fix what you and I see to be wrong with it!

Anyways with out further rigamarole here's the link to the document I gave (has a full equipment list):

http://garland336.web1000.com/files/Emergency%20Kit%20Instructions.doc

Only differences are I did at the last minute include a box-cutter style knife (it's better than nothing) and did not get a chance to get the church-key style can openers (though the p-38 style ones are still there).

Thanks for taking the time to read all of this and I look forward to your comments.

Well, you are enabling them in the event they need it. Excellent gift. A couple of small things that werent included, but provide good reading; The sacred "Rules of Three"; boiling water for a straight 5 minutes takes the guesswork out of how long to boil; when eating insects, the best thing to do is to roast them on a stone, then grind them up. It makes them more palatable, and dont look like, well, bugs <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />. Also, when eating crickets, grasshoppers, or other spiny legged beasties, pull the legs off. They can get caught in the throat.
One last thing I JUST thought of; at the very least, KEEP YOUR HANDS CLEAN! Especially when handling food. IN a survival situation, the last thing you need is to be sick. An ounce of prevention, and all that.
Overall, I think you did an oustanding job. I am doing something similar with my nephew. Offer to teach them how to start a fire using alternative means. Practice yourself first though. I learned that the hard way <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Hi garland....I looked over your list and it looks good to me. With your permission I would like to print some off for personal use?
Thanks

smitty

Looks pretty good. What are the kits packed in?

Check out CountyComm for inexpensive suplimental items, you don't have to filter out the cheap junk the way you do with folks like Major's or CDT.

Thanks for the praise!

Great information. Some things I definitely took for granted given the people involved w/ the kits. That being we're all pretty familiar with camping so I overlooked the cleanliness aspect. That can be readily fixed with a bottle of hand sanitizer.

Eating bugs has never been a fun proposition. I've seen others tear the legs off but when I've done it I simply chewed them into a paste and swallowed so the legs were never much of a problem for me. Again, an assumption on my part.

Thanks again for taking the time to read it!

Thanks. I was worried they would not be well received but everyone loved them. Surprisingly it's seemed pretty well received on here as well. My hope is obviously that they do not ever have to use them but if they do at least it's there for them.

When reading the title of this post I steeled myself for criticism and surprisingly found praise. Thank you very much!

Good question. Initially the kit was going to be small enough to fit in the coffee can. Quickly I realized it would be inadequate for their purposes so I decided to expand it. I obviously wanted the bag to be durable. I went to a local store called 'ollies' which specializes in low cost items that they purchased from stores going out of business.

I found some very durable american tourister tote bags for 2.99 each! There were only 3 (worked out perfectly), brand new, and built solidly. I'll post pictures whenever I find the transfer cable for my digital camera. My thought was 'well, if they don't like the kits at least they'll get some really nice bags out of it!'

Sure, plagarize all you like. I myself did some extensive 'borrowing' as you can readily see.

Good for you. A couple of years ago I gave out homemade kits based on the NRA kits with a few extra items thrown in. While nobody in my family EDC's theirs, at least they all claim to carry it in their vehicles. Baby steps.... <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />