10 Great Items to Add to any 72-Hour Emergency Survival Kit

10 Great Items to Add to any 72-Hour Emergency Survival Kit

It’s always great to purchase a prebuilt 72-hour kit knowing it has the items you need for a just-in-case emergency and place it in the back of your car or closet ready to grab at a moment's notice.

I always like to take things one step further as I am the gear junkie that likes having the best of the best knowing that my gear will hold up in any situation that I might put it into.

The first item that I add to my 72-Hour survival kit, is a high-quality fixed-blade knife. There are so many uses for a good knife such as fire starting, making kindling, field dressing game, cleaning fish, self-protection and the list goes on. If you get the right blade, it will hold an edge for a long time.

The second item is a knife sharpener, this makes sense as it goes along with the first item. It will help keep your blade sharp and useful. Its been said many times in my scouting days that there are more accidents caused by dull blades than sharp ones, and I think we can all agree that a sharp knife is more useful than a dull one.

The third item is a two-for-one, I add this to all my first aid kits, first is a roll of 1-inch gauze and I pair that with a roll of 1-inch coflex bandage wrap. This might sound like two strange items to add to a first aid kit but I have found through many years of hunting and cutting myself out in the woods and being active that these two items are more useful than band-aids, a little tangent but I hate band-aids they don’t stay on so I like the gauze and coflex it stays on no matter what.

The fourth item, once again another item I add to my 72-hour survival kit is super glue, perfect for deep cuts and will hold the cut together until you can get stitches, also sometimes perfect for the little cuts that don’t need much. Another benefit is it can help with keeping the gear maintained.

The fifth item, I always add a good butane stove like the Jet Boil, this is great for cooking food, making water drinkable if it needs to be boiled to be purified, and a way to heat your car if you’re stranded in a snowstorm.

The sixth item, a headlamp in addition to the flashlight. I like to have the ability to have a light on my head if I might be hiking. I like to have my hands free when I am walking or working on something in the dark. Plus, it’s always good to have a backup light source. Make sure to check your batteries or have spares.

The seventh item, an emergency bivy bag is a small lightweight waterproof sleeping bag that can reflect your body heat. I’m always looking for small items I know would make my life more comfortable in any situation and this is one, you can’t put a price on sleeping and staying warm and dry.

The eighth item, a bag of cash and important documents.

The ninth item, is freeze-dried food pouches. The prebuilt kits you can buy at Nitro-Pak and or any other preparedness site all come with survival rations, these are high-calorie foods that will keep you alive. I like to have the freeze-dry pouches in addition because I like to enjoy my food as well, this also aligns with having the butane stove.

The tenth item, is a box of ammo as I personally carry a small handgun for self-protection. Let’s be honest in times of trouble the bad guys come crawling out of the cracks and take advantage of the good people. When the time comes and I need my kit to keep me alive that means the other bad guys will also want to harm me to get my stuff and I like knowing I can protect myself and my family. So, I always add extra ammo to my survival kit.

Granted we offer the 72-hour survival kits that fit the lower end of the budget and are not saying these are bad, just get started with a kit, and have a plan, and add to your kit as you can.