"Altoids" first aid kit

Took me forever to finally eat a tin of Altoids (not a big fan of the taste) and now I have the empty tin. Going to use it as a EDC firstaid kit to keep in the backpack that I never leave home without.
So far I have:
Small SAK
roll of adhesive tape
tube of burn cream
(1) 2 pack of Acetaminophen
(1) 2 pack Ibuprofen
4 antiseptic wipes
4 band-aids
2 butterfly band-aids
(2) 1 1/2 X 2 non-stick pads

It all fits snugly in the tin.
Keep in mind this is nothing more than something to EDC not intended for BOB or long term survival.
Anything I missed?

91gdub,
Good start yet you've missed alot. Try looking at Doug Ritter's PSK list of items for a few ideas. I surely would want AT LEAST some firestarting items in there.
Good Luck

Firestarting equipment is something that should be included in a survival kit, yes, but I don't think it should be in a first aid kit.

EDC FAK, not a PSK...
IMO ditch the tube and the roll of tape, make your own smaller roll or even tape some to the inside of the tin, for 2 bandages you won't need that much tape. Use individual packets and you can have antbiotic, burn cream, more bandages.. also add at least a needle for splinters, sewing is good, safty pin would be better as it has more uses.. and for me, a little pad of mole skin is nice to have around.. other people will more then likely have more and better ideas

All of you are right. I misread and was thinking PSK instead of FAK!! sorry

I always have my trusty old zippo in my pocket, and spare bics and matches in the bag. thanks for the tip I'll look at his kit

Great ideas. Will do some modifications.

Found a bunch of stuff at www.minimus.biz that I used to repack mini boo-boo kits recently.


Dave

I agree with JC about fire starting material does not belong in an FAK.
In my larger FAK, I still carry 1 large and 2 medium "Battle Dressings". I know that when those have been used that I will start carrying the next closest civilian (aka: silly-villian) version of the Battle Dressing: old-fashioned OB pads. I have found them a very important item of any large FAK!

Its a good start.
When you say "first aid cream", what are the ingredients?

Drop the tape and the tube o stuff; replace with more pain meds ( tyneol, whatever) and pepto bsmol tablets. Maybe some antihystimes?

I mis-spoke, it's Johnson & Johnson burn cream
active ingredient: Benzocaine (5%) in a non-staining washable base.

Sorry, it's not a tube but a pack of burn cream. Took your advice (thanks by the way) and rolled up about 10 feet or so of adhesive tape and added more bandages, I'm now up to 10 band-aids 2 butterfly bandages and 2 1 1/2 X 2 in non-stick pads and 4 antiseptic swabs. Great tip about needle and safety pins will probably just use a few safety pins. Will try to find packets of antibiotis and add a few.
This looks like an ongoing project for a few days.
Great tips, thanks again.

This kit is only first-aid stuff to be kept in my back pack. I carry lots of other "oh hell" stuff with me also.

Thanks for the tip.

Think about putting in a tube of super glue. You may think that this is crazy, but all "liquid bandage" is medical grade super glue.

Yesterday at work, I used super glue to cover a naging little flap of skin on a finger. When you stick you hand in 400 paper bags over a 10 hour shift every time the edge of the bag hits that flap of skin it just make a bigger sore spot. A small drop of super glue covered the spot. I just had to make sure that i didn't touch anything with the finger until it dried.

The super glue will take a couple of days the wear off so the skin usder it has time to heal.

Super glue will close small wounds. Just be sure to wash out any dirt or foreign materails before closing up the wound.

My wife is on blood thinners so she bleeds very easily if she is cut. I'd use super glue in a heart beat to close a cut for her that has the potential to bleed for a long time.

Plus super glue can be used to repair eye glasses.

I have super glue in my FAK too, I wasn't sure if it would fit in the can with the other stuff so I didn't say anything about it.. if it will fit you could drop several band-aids. Its a good idea.

Immodium, and if you allergies, something that you KNOW works on them without making you sleepy.

Bill:

Quite awhile ago (2003) I posted the contents of the ALTOIDS tin FAK I carry. Here is the contents.

1 2” Offset bandage compress
2 Alcohol Swabs
1 Betadine Swabette
2 Green Soap Towelettes
1 Sting Relief Swab
2 Neosporin Ointment Packets
1 Burn Jel Ointment Packet
2 Band-Aids 1” x 3”
2 Band-Aids ¾” x 3”
2 Band-Aids Juniors
1 Knuckle Band-Aid
1 Finger-Tip Band-Aid
2 Butterfly Closures
1 yard 1” Tape rolled around a paperclip
1 Sewing Needle (inside the paperclip)
1 # 11 Scalpel Blade
4 Motrin 200 mg
4 Benadryl 25 mg
4 Sudafed 30 mg
1 Cosmetic style Tweezers

Yes, all of that fits into the tin a bit tight. I have had this FAK with me EDC for years now. I keep it in my nylon briefcase.

Take care,

Stargazer

Great list, I can see some things that I will add to mine.
You must be a wizard to make it all fit <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />
Lots of good ideas have been posted and I'm working on getting mine up to speed.
Thanks

Bill:

Nope, I am not a wizard, but I spent the night in a Holiday Inn Express once <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> I put the finger bandaids in the lid and very carefully pack the rest. I should perhaps post some pics. I will if I have some free time.

Stargazer

This is my EDC-FAK. It isn't altiods-tin based, but a Coghlan's pack II FAK.

http://www.equipped.org/ubbthreads/showt...;amp;PHPSESSID=

(The FAK-support kit is carried seperately)

I normally avoid hard cases like the Altoids can because I front carry everything in my pockets so hard cases get in the way of my wallet in one pocket and keys in the other makeing it uncomfortable, but after reading this I decided to see what I could fit into one myself. While I was at the store today, checking out, I reached over and grabed a tin of Altoids and decided to pile together the house, camping, car, and hikeing FAK and pick and choose till I filled the tin. When I got home I dumped the Altoids into a ziplock baggie, gathered the FAKs tore them all apart so I could see what all I had to work with (Anyone else feel like they could stock an emergency room office cabinet with supplies out of what they have in their FAKs?) and proceeded to pack the tin and this is what I have in there presently:

15 - 3.5x0.5in water proof medical tape strips
1 - 3x2in synthetic adhesive backed moleskin
2 - cotton applicators (Q-tips)
1 - medium safty pin
6 - 3in latex free band-aids
5 - 1.5in band-aids
4 - butterfly closures
1 - fingertip band-aid
1 - knuckle band-aid
2 - 2x3in non-adherent pads
1 - single use krazy glue tube
1 - ammonia inhalant
1 - 2 pack 325mg each acetaminophin
1 - 2 pack 200mg each ibuprofen
1 - 2 pack electrolyte replenisher tabs
1 - 2 pack 2mg loperamide HCI (Imodium AD)
1 - 2 pack 25mg diphinhyormine HCI (Benadryl)
2 - 1gram packs antibiotic ointment
1 - sting relief pad
1 - povidone iodine prep pad
2 - alcohol prep pads
1 - packet of sugar

There is a bit of space left in the tin but its not 'useful' space for anything that I had in the other FAK.. I was thinking about tripling the medications and adding a few others (notably asprin, all I had was in bottles) by packageing them from the bottles in Glad Press-N-Seal and labeling them with a ultrafine sharpie, but I don't know how well this protects things from water/humidity/elements.. anybody have any experience with this?

P.S. The Altoids are already all gone, I went over to my extended families house for a family dinner after I got it all together and showed it off 'as an exercise just to see what I could fit in the tin' (I'm a... 'closet preparationist'.. my family still thinks its all about camping/hikeing.. they never seem to question the fact that I always seem to have something for whatever is needed when its needed) and promptly took out the baggie of Altoids and offered them around to everyone, by the end of the night they were all gone.

Sounds like one of the jumbo tins- I thought those were dead!

I'd probably pull out the ammonia. I'd rather not risk having everything in my kit contaminated if it breaks due to shifts in the weight.

In my experience, pepto really only works if you been overeatting. As someone who lives with a spring, has many friends on springs/wells, and went to a college that is on it's own well, I've gotten to know the "joys" of the microfauna wars moving from water supply to water supply. Pepto never did diddly in those cases, but Immodium does.

Also, for the bulk, while pepto might work for heart burn and indigestion, if you need a long course because of the runs, Immodium packs smaller, lighter and has a longer shelf life. A two day course of the green stuff is about the same size as four or five matches.

~ 2.5x3.75x1 inch can, it says 'NET WT 1.76 OZ (50G)' from the packageing, is this the jumbo ones?


Its in a flat pad like the prep swabs, I could more then likely run over it with a car and it not do much more then get the outside dirty.

Nope, thats the standard sized one.

I wasn't aware that ammonia came in foiled pad form, I've only seen it in the classical vial form. That will make it a lot smaller, which is part of why I was thinking it was a larger tin. Odds are I'm overestimating volumes on one or two other things.

The Krazy Glue Single-Use Tube is only about a 1/4 inch with another 1/4 in the cap (that I have taken off).. that small helps in size.
I only had the one ammonia pad, there were a few other of the 'classical vials'.. as this type of kit is ment to be carried I thought it a good idea to put it in, along with the sugar for any diabetics that might need it while I'm passing by..
I found a few threads about waterproofing with press and seal on the forums but nothing more then a dunk... after I get moved into my new house sometime early next year I may set up a longer term test with cotton balls pressed and sealed and soaked in dyed water for a week or so to see just how water resistant it makes it.. but it should be good enough to protect the meds...