How To Build Your Own Altoids Tin Survival Kit

As the photo suggests, be sure to pack a Brasilian 50 reais note in your tin. You never know when you'll be stranded in the middle of the Amazon Basin.

I agree that shelter is probably the most important necessity in survival.

That's why I never leave home without my Hilton HHonors® card.

People that waste time building a shelter over their heads are more likely to die, just like those that think the first thing you should do when stranded is hunt for food.

The greatest threat to surviving the night is hypothermia from laying on the ground. You are better off paying attention to making an insulated bed than some form of makeshift roof.

I remember that from Boy Scouts (as well as why you never pitch a tent at the bottom of a hill :-) ).

As long as I have a phone and a pocket full of money, I'm good to go.....

I was lost, once, hundreds of miles away from the nearest village. But I kept walking and eventually I found my way back to my stateroom.

I don't see why they suggest a signaling mirror when the inside of the box is bare aluminum which can be shined.

Altoid boxes are steel, not aluminum.

Maybe so, but it still "can be shined".

However, a signal mirror is already shined, saving a step. Also, signal mirrors tent to have a peep sight in the center, allowing the user to more easily aim their signal flashes. Very useful if you're doing more than just random 'I'm here' flashes, such as the traditional SOS signal (three short/fast flashes, three long/slow flashes, three short/fast flashes, pause, repeat).

Putting a peep sight in the middle of the Altoids lid kind of defeats the waterproofing, if applied. Also, using an Altoids tin with a peep sight as a signal mirror would require emptying the tin and you don't want to scatter your survival supplies if you can help it at all.

Of course the odds of anyone actually getting lost in the wilderness is astronomical, let alone where a mirror would be a useful necessity.

More people win a multimillion dollar lottery each year than get lost in the wilderness.

Maybe it would be more useful to put in a phone number of a trusted financial advisor in your Altoids box.

Or take your Altoids and its contents with you, and if lost, just wait for help while you enjoy them one by one, in the end they will find you with a curiously fresh smile !

Or rescue yourself, walk back to where you bought them.

Have you ever been out in the wilderness? The reason that more people win a multi-million dollar lottery than get lost in the wilderness is because most people don't venture out INTO the wilderness, while EVERYONE (at least, everyone who does not understand Statistics and Probability) buys lottery tickets for the big jackpots.

Most of the people who go out to 'rough it' are heading to a well-manicured, well-maintained 'campground' with clearly marked trails and friendly staff to help with every need and desire.

In the wilderness, the trails are not marked, the paths are treacherous, and there are plenty of less-than-friendly predators who will help themselves to your meat if you become injured, or if they simply don't consider you strong enough to fight them off. (There's a reason Steven Colbert keeps 'bears' on the top of his 'things to be afraid of' list.)

If you're going to stay within 'civilization,' then you don't need this type of survival kit. But if you're heading out to spend some time with Mother Nature on her terms, you'd better come prepared, because that mother is a stone cold witch if you do not show proper respect for her.

My point was that this small EDC kit (Every Day Carry) is really nothing more than academically interesting for the vast percentage of the population.

If you really are going out into the wilderness it would be prudent to carry things that really work for your survival in the case something goes wrong.

To me that would be water, a well charged communications system (i.e., cell phone), and most importantly, letting others know where you are going and when you will be back - Those things are at the top of my list. There are other things that you might consider based on where you are going, but the Altoids Tin Survival kit is not even close to the "Swiss Army knife" of survival tools.

Distilling it down, if you are caught/trapped out in the wilderness with only this tin kit you really made a strategic mistake when you stepped off of civilization's beaten path in the first place.

This "tin" is a survival kit for Gen X.

More people win a multimillion dollar lottery each year than get lost in the wilderness.

Sounds possible in theory, but I'd wait to see some numbers before agreeing.

I love living in a place that occasionally catches video of a mountain lion literally "downtown." Cities and towns in Utah are surrounded by wilderness, some of it formally designated, the rest with negligible population density. So local news provides a pretty thorough update of people being lost. It happens far more frequently than the occasional national headlines let on. Search & rescue get called out at least weekly in most areas.

What's a "trusted financial advisor?"