Getting by in the concrete jungle has challenges of its own, but it’s not even close to those hardships real surviving experience entails. Many of us have forgotten even the basic skills necessary for survival and would have slim chances of making it out in the wild. That happened for a reason: the higher the standard of living is, the less relevant basic survival skills become. Not everyone is subject to this trend – there are indigenous tribes who lead a life very different from ours. We could ask them to teach us a thing or two about survival, but there are plenty of books and outdoor experts who can do the same thing. Yet, there is a big difference between trying to stay alive in the wilds with a set of preassembled survival equipment and mustering something from the immediately available materials. The latter is way more challenging than the former, but it comes with bragging rights if you manage to pull it off. We wouldn’t recommend doing it just for the sake of boasting, though, because the stakes are too high. A backpack containing all the survival gear must-haves might be your ticket to a completely different adventure. You could call it a controlled survival trip where you have everything to live through it already packed, but there is still a challenge in putting the survival tools to good use, finding a good spot for a shelter, making fire, that sort of thing. Our outdoor store can help you assemble a kit with all survival essentials that not only spares you a great deal of trouble but also may save your life should an accident occur.

The versatility of a survival kit is yet another reason to have it ready, even if you have no plans of ever leaving the premises of the civilized world to delve into the wilderness. Many of us travel every now and then using all means of transportation. Even though the chances of your plane crashing above a deserted island are confidently approaching zero, they never reach it completely. There are also more down-to-earth scenarios like car accidents or wildfires that might pose another obstacle to your survival. It’s hard to overestimate the importance of having an emergency survival kit always ready. It can save your life, the lives of your nearest and dearest, and the lives of random people in need of help. Imagine how much time you’ll save by having a ready survival kit. The time spent deciding what is necessary, looking for things to take, and trying to fit everything in a backpack could be dedicated to other crucial tasks. Our recommendation is to have a survival kit ready regardless of whether you have plans to try playing Bear Grylls or not. Here are survival gear must-haves you can put in there.

First Aid Kit

It comes as no surprise that emergencies involve certain risks. It would be an overstatement to call a planned trip to the wilderness an emergency, but the risks of getting an injury or a disease don’t go anywhere as you move away from people. A first aid kit won’t help you mend a broken bone, but it can stop the bleeding, treat indigestion (an outdoor activity regular), and at least support a broken bone to relieve pain. That is assuming you’ve taken everything to do so. A basic first aid kit for outdoor trips should include medicine and supplies to treat bleeding injuries, like gauze, band-aids, antiseptic wipes, and antibiotic ointments; means to avert or cure digestive issues, headaches, fever, and allergies; tools to treat bone and ligament injuries, like splints and wraps. This might sound like too much for a trip where “nothing will ever happen to you” but you will be praising yourself for taking it should an injury-causing misfortune take you aback.