Survival kit in a sardine tin
ThinkGeek has a sweet, 25-piece survival kit inside a sardine tin (better hope the pull-tab doesn't come off -- haven't they ever read Three Men in a Boat?). The virtues of sardine cans ("air-tight, waterproof, crushproof") make them a pretty good medium for long-term survival gear storage, I suppose.
Link (via Red Ferret)
The kit includes one of each of the following items: non-aspirin pain reliever, adhesive bandage, alcohol prep pad, antibiotic ointment, book of matches, compass, chewing gum, sugar, salt, energy nugget, duct tape, fire starter cube, first aid instructions, fish hook & line, note paper, pencil, razor blade, safety pin, reflective signal surface, tea bag, waterproof bag, whistle, and wire clip.
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Oh my lord, Three Men in a Boat and the tin of pineapple! By the time they start beating it with the oar, I'm already helpless with laughter. There truly could be no more cautionary tale for a container of a survival kit. The last thing you need when scrambling for post-apocalypse first aid is to have to locate an oar to beat open the survival kit with.
Can't take it on a plane.
Yehuda
That one is a classic! I must've read the book 10 times and I still laugh my ass off at that part.
The ending is brilliant:
"There was one great dent across the top that had the appearance of a mocking grin, and it drove us furious, so that Harris rushed at the thing, and caught it up, and flung it far into the middle of the river, and as it sank we hurled our curses at it, and we got into the boat and rowed away from the spot, and never paused till we reached Maidenhead."
I can just picture the evil tin grinning at them...
But hey, this is a modern one and should work better. But carry a knife, just in case.
Too bad you can't close it after you've opened it once.
You could drop $12.99+S&H on this, or you can take an Altoids tin and make your own. If you want waterproof, put it in a hardy ziplock bag. Once you crack open the sardine tin, you have to use all the stuff in it and then discard it. An Altoids tin is restockable.
Is non-aspirin pain reliever really going to help you survive ... anything?
And a TEA BAG?! LOL! (I want one)
These were sold at Restoration Hardware last Christmas season...along with the much more important "Emergency Coffee" tin. (BTW...I just searched to make sure of my memory, and both tins are on sale through Restoration Hardware online.)
* Morphine
* Methamphetamine
* A couple o' hits of LSD (takes up hardly any space!)
* Prophylactics
* MDMA (for use with the Prophylactics)
I'd like to compare the "energy nugget" with a couple of tablets of pharmaceutical grade methamphetamine.
Didn't the survival kits in Dr. Strangelove include gold coins and stockings, too?
Jerome K. Jerome :)
"I love work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours. I love to keep it by me. The idea of getting rid of it nearly breaks my heart. "
They neglected to include "tiny magnet to place on needle" as well as "needle and 00 silk".
I'd bet the Reflective Signal Surface is the back of the sardine lid.
Anyone who thinks Sardine Tins are un-crushable has never, ever worked stocking in a supermarket.
My Survival Kit: My Knife
My First Aid Kit: Duct Tape
Seriously, though if I have room I try to carry more the traditional first aid/survival items.
For the case that the pull-tab comes off, there's an emergency can opener in there, silly.
here's something I always wanted to learn
http://www.eskimo.com/~knapper/Gallery.htm
Shoot, a fella could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff!
Um, yeah, ixnay on the unresealable-ay. And, looking at the pics on Thinkgeek's site, they're all things that you can pick up for free at various places, like a packet of Domino's sugar, or extremely cheap. Probably not worth $2 in aggregate, much less $13.
I thought I remembered reading about a DIY survival kit a few years back. Sure enough, it was from a BB link:
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/08/29/howto-make-an-altoid.html
They also sell these at the Container Store.
I used to make my own using a Sucrets tin. Dip matchSTICKS in melted wax to make them waterproof, for example. Ditto what Halloween Jack said about picking up free bits like sugar packets. But that was in my backpacking days.
Now, most of us need completely different items for "survival"...a fish hook is not as useful in most 21st century emergencies as a cell phone, for example. Really, how many of us are ever going to be in need of an emergency wire clip? Those of us who might be, already carry an all-in-one tool anyway.
@14: Aww, you took my clever movie quote. Shucks. (Although without a hundred dollars American and a prophylactic, you'd have to be creative.)
What's really changed for survival now is that you can just about count on a rich supply of industrial garbage to scavenge and make tools from -no matter where you go. Certainly around the whole Pacific Rim's beaches.
Be cautions. This is NOT a "survival kit." This is a "feel like you have a survival kit until you need it and realize that you are screwed kit."
Seriously. Check out this review:
http://www.equipped.org/lifepackit.htm
Note that the review is a few years old, and the whistle appears to have changed a little, but otherwise the same kit.
The tin is sealed. If they forgot to include the matches, you won't know until you need it -- then, it's too late.
You would do much better with this:
http://www.equipped.org/psp/index.htm
It is under $30 from any REI, Sportsman's Warehouse, or Dicks Sporting Goods (and probably many others).
I'd just want to open a tin and find a SIG SAUER P226 in it. I'd be fine.
out of curiousity, has anyone here EVER needed a survival kit?
@21
oh,you mean the URBAN survival kit
Here's a wacky idea:
Put the same stuff in a ziploc bag, except use strike anywhere waterproof matches because the cardboard variety are a joke, especially after you wear off the striker.
Forget the tea bag, forget the salt because if you actually need it to survive you're screwed anyway, include a real knife, and the "energy nugget" looks like a bullion cube which will just make you thirsty.
Yeah, but they don't have a towel in there.
I was given one of these a few years ago as a gift and opened it up just to see what an "energy nugget" was. It was a Tootsie Roll.
non-aspirin pain reliever - replace with aspirin in case of heart attack
chewing gum - wtf?
first aid instructions - see below
fish hook & line - if you need basic first aid instructions, can you catch, gut, and cook a fish?
note paper, pencil - for your memoirs?
tea bag - again, wtf?
whistle - can be replaced with "HELLLLP!"
I second the prophylactics. Can keep stuff waterproof, carry small amounts of water, and most useful if you're "the last man on earth" ;)
One tea bag? One? I guess thats survival, but just barely.
Similar article on wired today;
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/03/top-10-survival.html?cid=107418976#comment-107418976
So it can't be resealed and protected from moisture, dirt, and whatnot after opening? Not that useful then.
You can use a wet tea bag to stop bleeding, so I guess that makes sense (if they explain it in the first aid instructions)
The tea bag is there so that no matter how lost you are, you can boil water, soak the bag in it, and someone will immediately pop and say: "That's not how you make a proper cup of tea!"
(stolen from an old WWII airmen's joke about martinis)
@22
Not so much needed, as found useful on occasion. I keep my Altoids survival kit in the car and I have used the band-aids and the duct tape on the road. I keep a Pak-Lite in there too and that has proven useful many times.
In this case I think 'survival kit' is more of an anachronism. It's more like 'handy thing to pull out and impress people with' when the need arises.
I hardly think being the "last man on Earth" is a good reason to use a condom..
I mean, either: it really doesn't matter what you stick it in
OR: have a go at repopulation you low-expectation-having mother fucker :)
(also, don't drink water out of condoms.. eugh!)
Real survival depends on your actions in the first few hours.
Most people are lost for less then 24 hours.
You'll need:
1. Shelter-- Tarp or Poncho- If you're wet you're dead.
2. Signal-- Quality outdoor whistle (you can't call for help for long/voice does not carry far).
3. Compass-- Know where you've been, where you are going.
4.Energy-- Nut-filled trail mix.
5.Glow sticks-- If it's dry you don't need a fire if it's wet you'll never start one.
6. Knife-- Better to have one and not need it....
Never go into the wilderness without these items.
###
Better for most people would be an 'Urban Survival Kit'. Useful for when you're lost in the city and some jerk has snatched your purse or picked your pocket.
Use an Altoids tin (who's going to steal your mints?) and put in duplicate ID, a list of important phone numbers (you know, the ones that are stored in your cell phone you just lost), $20 or more cab fare, some change for a pay phone, etc. Anything you might find useful when you're alone in the city.
how about a 100mw laser pen? Point it up and be precisely visible for a ten mile radius
I think the energy nugget model is for pac-man.
they should toss the non-aspirin pain killers and just put in aspirin, considering you are about a million times more likely to die of cardiac infarction than die of anything you could use in this tin.
"The kit includes one of each of the following items..."
So they say.
I'm a reasonable man. Get off my case, get off my case.
[sorry, couldn't resist the RH reference]
I've seen them at surplus and camping stores for around $6.00.
These kits are fun, and certainly small enough to keep in a place you might want one, but for real preparation, I cannot recommend highly enough making a kit yourself.
Here's what I've got:
http://wiki.ratwerks.com/BePrepared
Keep in mind that the best emergency kit you can have is the emergency kit you *have*. Having a crappy kit beats not having a great kit any day.
Also, putting candy in it makes checking it twice a year (or so) more fun. And who wouldn't want candy during the zombie apocalypse?