Identify what you want to protect against, and the list of what will be needed to treat that will almost write itself.
We made our own. Our first aid kit is actually a tackle box, but you can use just about anything.
A couple traditional First Aid books would be helpful. Some sort of alternative First Aid books would be handy in case of low tech emergency. Look into using baking soda for quick clot preparation. One of the pepper family is recommended also. It may be paprika. A book on medicinal plants would be helpful so if you forget you can look it up.
If you’re stocking pharmaceuticals, make sure you arrange for proper temperature storage stability (typically 68 to 77-degrees F, unless refrigerated) Storage outside that range invalidates the expiration date and shelf life, depending on the particular ingredients involved. Heat adulteration can also cause chemical transmutation in some preparations. This is something many people never consider when constructing such kits.
Start researching at your local Gun Shows. Somebody there always has hard core 1st aid kits. (Usually a couple groups do.)
Check them out and see how you can make one yourself and would it be cheaper.
Anything I carry has to be able to live in my car at temperatures in excess of 140 F. Antibiotics and RX drugs would not work for me. In fact, nothing perishable except two liters of water, a couple of fruit strips and some jerky that get rotated quarterly.
We used to make Boy Scout first aid boxes with tool or tackle boxes. Down load a First Aid guide. You will need a Swiss knife, lighter, sharpie, tourniquet, needle, thread, duct tape, krazy glue ( great for large cuts) bandaids, bandages, Benadryl. Buy packets o f Celox for deep bleeding wounds.
Bkmk
Am former 91B4S, US Army Special Forces Senior Medical NCO, and EMT-D (NYS) with local volunteer Fire Co. FIRST thing you have to do is EDUCATE yourself about what the HoHa you’re capable of doing. If you KNEW what you were doing, you would not need to ask others what should be in your kit. Lack of medical knowledge is ultimately a danger to you, and everyone who may depend on you and your “KIT”, a killer. Take a first rate, first aid course, including CPR. Then put the kit together yourself, ‘cause you’ll KNOW what your capabilities are, and what you need. $650 for a kit is bizarrely expensive. Spend some on a good med course, some on a good bag, and the rest as KNOWLEDGE dictates. I’d tell you what I carried, but what’s the use, as you don’t know how to use it. Get EDUCATED FIRST!!!
personal blowout kit...
Two tourniquets, real ones, NOT those rubber band elastic things
https://www.narescue.com/combat-application-tourniquet-c-a-t
scissors to cut clothing
Quick clot gauze, z fold with the X-Ray thread (2)
OLAES modular bandage
Alcohol swabs
14 ga 3.25” Angiocath https://www.narescue.com/military-products/respirations/ars-for-needle-decompression-3-25-in
Nose hose (Ansopharyngeal airway) with a small pack of lube (surgilube)
medical gloves, the thicker kind
A small amount of 1.5” wide duct tape.
Then go find and take a TCCC class so you know what to do with all that.
After a year or two go take the class again.
After you take the first class you can fill in everything else right down to SPF 50 sunscreen.
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$650 is crazy expensive.
You can build one yourself for half the cost. Just my opinion.
L
Earlier today I just bought some stuff off of Amazon to upgrade my kit. Quick Clot gauze pack and a couple of sponges, 3 Israeli Bandages (pressure wraps), something for sucking chest wounds.
I was looking at tourniquets and watched some youtube videos that warned of fakes on Amazon and ebay. (They BREAK!) I ended up buying a “soft-t” tourniquet from some guy on youtube called “skinny medic”. His price was the same as the manufacturers. There was a video with a Mayo doctor, and he was explaining how the old days of “once you put a tourniquet on plan on losing the limb” are gone. He said one can go several hours with one on. He said they use them during surgeries all the time.
The skinny medic guys has a whole bunch of other individual items as well as various types of kits.
Most of my stuff is just individual stuff I’ve accumulated over the years. Some of it extra pads and stuff from past injuries and hospital visits! I could probably do with a refresher CPR/First Aid class.
Build yourself. Everything else is a rip off of useless junk.
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There are things that you will need that someone else will not. And things that for you will be useless.
One thing I always have in my first aid kit is a burn kit. Whether you are working on your car or tending a camp fire, someone is going to get burned.
Take as many types of first aid classes as you can. This will help you learn what you may need.
Suggestions most appreciated. Particularly liked the Skinney Medic . com site. Will use that and build my own at much savings.
Last multi-day power outage taught me a lot about all the minor cuts, scrapes, etc. that come with doing a lot more physical work than usual (outdoor cooking, firewood, etc.) Access to cleaning supplies & water are most sorely missed.