Originally Posted By: ironraven
How many people are stocking for, and is this pack just going to be a gear store or is plan B a left foot and a right foot?

Not being familiar with the bottles in question, I can't commend on their robustness. What I would say is buy them sealed and keep them that way. They were pasturized at the factory, breaking seal = messing with that.

Surefires are good if you need a lot of light, but thier battery consumption means you might want a different light for your first choice, but by all means have this around. If you are going to use a Minimag, look at one of the LED conversions. I've found myself liking the Gerber Infinity a lot- size of a shot shell, 20+ hours of light on one AA.

As for food... I wouldn't have touched a 15 year old MRE. Hello, biowar tests. :P

MREs are good because they are ready to go, but super heavy. Dehydrates need prep time and water, but are small and light. I like a mix of the two. A lot of this stuff can be had in the grocery store.

Cans are just heavy.

Packing for myself. I've got a small duffle FAK in my car, and a small PSK in my camp equipment. Both can be carried with the backpack. One thing I realized: having grown up in CA, I'm going about this with an "earthquake" mentality. But, I'm living in the Midwest now and for at least the next 2 years. I'm sure that's an issue.

Yeah, the MREs were a bit on the ripe side. To be fair, however, only one really caused any upset stomach.

I've got about 10 batteries for the Surefire. I was thinking of a LED AA minimag, but I've heard conflicting reports on durability. Also, apparently they don't dim, they just go out. I'm thinking of just using my camping headlight in the bag, and pulling it out as needed for camping. But I'll see if I can find a Gerber. If it's cheap enough, I'll spring for it.