With the right knowledge, it’s possible to go out into the wild with nothing more than the clothes on your back and survive.  The question is, why would you want to?  With nothing more than a pocket knife, it can make most chores so much easier that you’d be an idiot not to carry one at all times unless you have a very good reason not to.  Me personally, I usually have between two and three folding knives on me at all times.  I can’t tell you how many times, after forgetting to put my knives in my pockets, I find myself reaching for one to cut or trim something.

  In any survival kit, knives are the one of the most important things you can possibly add.  It’s one of the few things that you can’t find in nature (metal that is. You could always knapp a knife if you had no choice), and with one, it makes almost every other thing that needs to be done in a survival situation a great deal easier.  Anything you can do to make life easier means that much easier to survive, if for no other reason than because you use less energy and get the job done quicker.

  Next item up for thought is 550 parachute cord.  Doesn’t take up much space in a survival kit, but it has so many uses that I’m not going to even bother to count.  Some of the highlights is for using it for snare material, bowstrings, making a sling, tying meat/food/equipment up out of the reach of animals, tying shelters parts together, or even being a primary part of the shelter structure, etc.

  If you can pack it, plastic sheeting and surgical tubing should be the next thing on the list.  The plastic sheeting can be uses numerous ways for collecting water, and it can make a shelter waterproof in record time.  The tubing can be used for making a sling, for reaching inaccessible water sources, and worst case scenario, for construction of your shelter.  You can even use it as a breathing tube in an emergency.

  Beyond this stuff, you can make or fake whatever else you need.  Granted, I’m going to talk about other stuff that will make life simpler, like a first aid kit, but for the most part, if you have those four items, you’re going to be much further ahead of the game than if you didn’t have them.  So start building your kit, and add these items to it, because you’ll thank yourself later if you take the time now.