Oh the joy of candy tins. First you get the candy, then you get to fill it back up as a covert pocket kit. Whether it's for urban survival (read: waiting at the Doctor's office), learning math, fiddling with electronics or being prepared at a wedding, a candy tin makes the perfect container for the job.
So you can imagine as I was noshing on Ginger Delights, that I was thinking how I was going to reuse the little tin they come in. For months, the tin sat empty and it was only in the last few days that I was moved to fill it.
So here it is, the Ginger Delights Survival Kit. First, the outside:
That's placed next to an Altoids tin, and on top of a 3x5" notebook to get a sense of the size of this guy. It's pretty dang compact. This makes it more pocketable than an Altoids Tin, but also more of a challenge to fill with goodies. It's worth noting that the Delights container seems to have a tighter seal than a typical Altoids Tin. With the Altoids Tin, I usually wrapped something around the outside to keep it securely closed. That doesn't seem necessary with a Delights container.
And here's what's inside:
- (1) 2x6" 2 mil ziplock bag
- (1) Tampon
- (1) P51 can opener
- (1) Mini Bic Lighter
- (1) #22 blade scalpel
- (1) hair rubber band
- (4) small nails
- (2) paper clips
- (2) small hooks
- (2) safety pins
- (1) large needle
- (1) Duct Tape
- (1) 24ft of 100Lb test fishing line
The small CVS pill bag keeps the smaller items from rolling around and makes extracting them from the tin easier.
One has to ask, how useful is this kit? You could measure it against the 10 essentials (this kit scores 2 out 10), the 10 C's (this kit scores 5 out 10, not bad) or the rule of 3's (this kit helps with 1 of the 4 scenarios). You could also grab the kit and head out for a night in the woods, though if you're dressed properly, you really don't need any gear to survive such an adventure.
I think a more appropriate way to gauge these kits is to look at how the items fall on a scale from tried it, know it works to the Internet says so. The more items you have in the been there, done that side, the more likely the kit will be of value. I think the above kit does well in this department: the Bic Lighter, cordage and Duct Tape are all quite proven. The P-51 and scalpel are more specialty items, but still, I've used them in the past to great effect. And items like the hooks and tampon are definitely on the other extreme. Given the ratio of items that are proven, I think this kit serves its purpose well.
This begs one final question: what's the purpose of the kit? While it has a slight bend towards outdoorsy survival, it's definitely not limited to the woods. In fact, you're more likely to need to light birthday candles with the lighter than you are to need to start an emergency fire. In this respect, I think the kit also scores well in the versatility department.
1 I suppose the ideal test would be to I'm not really sure. One way to do so is to rate each item on a continuum from "I've got first hand experience finding this item useful" to "yeah, I read it on the Internet" type of useful." On this scale, the Bic Lighter, duct tape and cordage all live at the "been there, done it" end of the spectrum, while the tampon lives mainly at the Internet lore side of things.
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