A Small EDC I've Planned For My Wife

[Mustachio]

Hey guys, I've just put the finishing touches on a little EDC pack for my wife, it actually turned out great and I'm really pleased with it (no doubt you'll all point out my glaring ommissions, but thought I'd share to see if I can make any improvements. This pack isn't to keep her alive in the wilderness for three days or anything, just to prepare her for every day emergencies, or just to make life a little easier for her. She works in an office environment so tried to cater to that a bit.

I started out getting a little pouch from eBay, it's fairly small, the first photo is the pouch next to a paperback book to give you some perspective.

Pack 1.jpg (57.51 KiB) Viewed 4371 times

The next picture is side one to show the thickness. It's fairly wide once packed, but it only weight about 1kg. She carries a fairly big shoudler bag to work (that honestly has more crap than anything else) so will be no bother to carry. You can see a whistle, flash-light and paracord braclet attached to the back and zips for ease of access.

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This is all the contents of the pouch.

From top left moving right ... Paracord braclet, whistle with a compass, thermometer and magnifying glass on it, aluminium torch, small first aid kit with a tenner strapped to to it, rehydration/dihoreha power x2, small sewing kit x2, ladies products x2, space blanket, Draper multitool (which has a blade under 3 inches so it's legal to carry), sanitiser pen, chewing gum, lighter and bandana (to be used as a sling, face mask etc etc).

Pack3.jpg (54.68 KiB) Viewed 4371 times

And this is the contents of the little first aid kit. A tenner. Heh. Elastic band, cotton wool pads x2, super glue, cotton buds x3, tin, cold and flu tablets x4, nurofen x4, packet of safety pins and small paper clips, large paper clip, antibacterial wipes x2, surgical blades x2, Lightning McQueen plasters x4 (in case my little boy gets a cut), blue plasters x2.

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All in all it cost me £16 to put together (£26 if you include the tenner that I put in for her to be able to get home/hospital/wherever in an emergency) and the most expensive thing was actually the pouch at £3.99.

I actually started planning it a couple of weeks ago, and am kicking myself I didn't get it finished sooner. 2 days ago my wife was crossing the road when some effing idiot driving like a moron clipped her. "Luckily" he only hit her with the wing mirror, which came clean off (and then he just buggered off), and she hurt her arm. Her arm wasn't broken but it was very sore and she didn't have a sling or anything (she's a qualified first aider) to secure her arm till she got to the hospital and had I been a little quicker she'd have had a sling (bandana), safety pins and pain killers.

But it's done now .... let me know where I can make improvements, but please be gentle .... I'm still very new to this.

Cheers

[preppingsu]

Looks good - all things for that little emergency. Like you said its not designed for her to survive in the wilderness for days.

I can't see anything glaring obvious that's missing but someone else might.

[Quercus-robur]

I can't think of anything that it lacks. It's a nice little kit and for just £16 is pretty good going. Is your wife a prepper too? How receptive is she to the idea of carrying this with her?

Qr

[Mustachio]

I can't think of anything that it lacks. It's a nice little kit and for just £16 is pretty good going. Is your wife a prepper too? How receptive is she to the idea of carrying this with her?

Qr

She's not a prepper but she's very open to the idea of being resourceful and trying to think ahead.

She's also a worrier, so anything that helps eleviate that worry is a good thing

[Yorkshire Andy]

wonder about dumping the mylar blanket for a sol survival bag or blanket...

Used one (mylar) to try to keep a family member warm after a RTC while waiting for an ambulance and they are next to useless even in a light breeze and in higher winds the cheap un woven ones just shred

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3X4JBBxwOU

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/amk-heatsheet-emergency-bivvy/

http://survivalcache.com/sol-emergency-bivvy-review/

http://www.surviveoutdoorslonger.com/sp ... lanket.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLnOtkN041A


yes they probably cost as much as the kit in total but im a firm believer when it comes to keeping alive sometimes it can be money well spent

[Ferricks]

I think it looks really well thought out - and I'll be acquiring some paper clips for mine! One thing I have in mine (same office based / younger child circumstances as your wife) is a wee tiny packet of nuts + dried fruit (not salted), just calorie dense enough to get me and the wee one along if we get stuck somewhere but not adding significant bulk or weight in the bag.

[Arzosah]

Thats great!

I agree with Ferricks about a little snack - I've got a "gone in 60 seconds" bag, in case of a house fire, and I have a packet of dried apricots in that - slow release energy.

The other thing is to put that tenner in a little plastic bag - if there's a downpour, or its dropped in a puddle during a rainstorm, you still want to be able to use the tenner!

[Mustachio]

Thats great!

I agree with Ferricks about a little snack - I've got a "gone in 60 seconds" bag, in case of a house fire, and I have a packet of dried apricots in that - slow release energy.

The other thing is to put that tenner in a little plastic bag - if there's a downpour, or its dropped in a puddle during a rainstorm, you still want to be able to use the tenner!

Thank you both for the tip ... really good idea. My son likes apricots too

[Thorn]

Nicely done, it's small and easy to carry - I like it!

Especially when it comes to reading what some people think they'll need in the sense of preparedness, I was reading someone's guide to prepping the other day on another post elsewhere and they where saying that this was there shopping list for disaster preparedness.

40 TINS of Vienna sausage.
7 BIG boxes of oat meal (Big, 2 pounds 10 oz.)
27 TINS of spaghetti and meat balls.
74 Noodles and vegetables (like Cup O Noodles)
25 TINS of tuna.
80 Ramen Noodle Soup (no cup and no vegetables)
60 Bags of macaroni, 7 oz.
13 cans of Progresso Soup.

I was left shaking my head, this is someone preparing for the Advertised Blackouts in the US.

There shopping list leave's quite a bit to be desired, clearly they imagine you can still cook Raw pasta or Macaroni on the electric-hob during a blackout. (Lets hope they're cooking with Gas!)

Then there is the weight factor, in an emergancy, they're going to be carrying there survival gear or bug out bag which will contain something akin to the following.

Sleeping Bag
Clothes
Sanitary Products
Survial Blankets
Plastic Poncho
Cooking Utensils
Knife & Assorted other.

So once they've prepared there bag, they imagine that once something like a world wide blackout happens they have the illusion they can just put on the back-pack and then carry the additional 100 TINS of produce! (seriously bro!) oh no wait maybe the Car will work with a fried starter motor after an X-Class 6.9 solar CME..

Packet of Biscuits, MRE's and maybe some packets of dried meat's I can imagine, but 100 TIN's of produce in addition to that... No Way!!

Maybe they'll feel better after they squirt super-glue in one of the re-sealable bags, puffing on it, whilst reading there holy bible which will no doubt be in there back-pack somewhere!

Some people are just plain NUTS!

[ForgeCorvus]

I'd add some small change because most vending machines won't take notes (or none of the ones I've seen anyway)
I like 20P's as they're small but high value, I normally EDC a fivers worth

I recently had to use a phonebox, they now insist on a minimum payment of 60p ..... I'll admit that you get a 30 minute phonecall for that but it was still an unpleasant surprise. Due to where I'd been I was travelling EDC-lite and had to buy a (stupidly overpriced) cup of tea due to lack of change (next time, stuff Security Checks. I'll roll with my standard loadout )

Is that pouch a 'one-off' or does the vendor have more?
Ifso, link please