I would venture to say that potassium permanganate ended up in survival kits as a fire-starter the same way a battery and steel wool or a magnifying glass did. Some survial manual somewhere thought it would be helpful to mention that if you happened to have some potassium permanganate handy, it could be used to start a fire.

For some reason, suggested possible improvisations tend to transform into reccomendations.

Another example that comes to mind is garbage bags. If you're throwing together a survival kit quick and cheap, go under the kitchen sink and steal a few garbage bags. They cost next to nothing and they are better than nothing.

It totally defeats the purpose to go online and pay shipping for special heavy-duty blaze orange garbage bags!