ESEE pouch kits (Whats in yours?)

Maybe look at shelter, fire/water and food as ideas? With that in mind id say cordage, fire starter, lighter, maybe iodine tabs, ER blanket and more. @5col may have a small kit with all that in it to save some money.

 

If it was my kit, I would cut a Hammaro Tinder Card to fit in the lid, and throw in a Spark-Lite. That takes care of easy all-weather fire starting. I would also put in some cordage; either Type 1A parachute cord or #12 braided bank line. A signal mirror and a whistle would also probably fit. Also a pocket fresnel lens and a DMT knife sharpener (the credit card sized ones). Maybe a Leatherman Squirt.

You know what I would really like to find? Some very heavy duty aluminum foil. Like what they make the foil baking pans out of, but flat.

Maybe after dinner I'll go out to the shop and see what I can cram into one of these tins/pouches. In the meantime, here's a pic showing the contents of ESEE's Mini Survival Kit. Those are still on sale on our site for just $25.99.

 

So I fiddled around with this a little. There are a lot of different ways you can go, and you can fit a lot of useful gear into this little pouch. However, it's hard to fit much in the way of shelter or trauma first aid, so I don't know if you would consider this a true survival kit. The pouch is the VIP here.

Here's what I slapped together.

Outside the pouch, attached to the elastic band are an ESEE RAT Match and a 5col Rescue Whistle.


Immediately inside the pouch is the signal mirror with a short lanyard, so you can quickly bring this into play.


Also inside the pouch are a fresnel lens and a DMT Fine Grit diamond sharpener. The fresnel lens is a tertiary fire starter, included because it takes up no space and might save you some strikes on your Spark Lite or RAT Match. The DMT sharpener is a no brainer.


In the tin are:
-25 ft. Type 1A Parachute Cord. This takes up more space in the tin than anything else. Less cordage or thinner cordage might serve you better.
-Small, Medium, and Large Ranger Bands. These will hold stuff together, silence rattling gear, or can be used as tinder.
-P-38 can opener, in case you find some ALPO on the trail.
-Leatherman Squirt multi-tool. This gives you pliers, wire cutter, file, screwdrivers, scissors, and a secondary knife. The one shown here was pulled from an Air Force survival kit, but we have new ones available for sale in the shop.
-Spark-Lite fire starter. This little guy throws sparks. I really like these. They're super lightweight, self-contained, and can be used one-handed. And made in the USA.
-Hammaro Lighting Paper. I cut this to fit in the bottom of the tin. You simply tear a piece off, hit it with a spark, and away it goes.
-Sailmaker's Sewing needles from Wm. Smith & Son. These are just helpful little guys to have, and they take up no space.


This kit ended up a little long on fire-starting. That's the sort of thing that usually takes up no space, so it's easy to include in a kit like this. A few years ago we did a contest on the Bushcraft site to see if people could make a complete shelter kit fit in an Altoids tin. It was an interesting challenge. The answer is that you can fit an utterly minimalist shelter in there if you really believe in yourself, but it's not ideal. Anyway, this is a fun thing to fiddle with on Sunday afternoon.