Post Apocalyptic Survival Kit… In a Can!

You know I like to be prepared for any situation, at all times, no matter what. I think you should have a post apocalyptic survival kit everywhere you go.

My wife however is a little more skeptical about rolling around with an Ak-47 and a dufflebag full of ammo and MRE’s.

Never-the-less I wanted her to have a kit in her car should she ever be stranded in some disaster and without me so I decided to make her a post apocalyptic survival kit in a can for her car.

I got the inspiration for this from one of my favorite blogs shtfblog, by the incredibly resourceful Jarhead.

For a while now I have been thinking about creating multiple portable survival kits using coffee cans because they:

• Are readily available
• Are perfect for somebody who is not a “serious survivalist”
• Can hold a decent amount of useful survival gear
• Are small and portable
• Can boil water
• Can cook food
• Can be strung up over a fire
• Are inconspicuous
• Are unassuming looking in your vehicle
• Don’t make people think you are nuts
• Are really cheap to put together and are useful for everyone

So i finally got around to putting one together for my wife’s car (and more importantly got her to agree on it) by making her consider the fact she could be driving around with our kid in the car and be absolutely screwed if she couldn’t contact me.

On a side note, getting my wife to watch The Walking Dead on AMC has done wonders for her willingness to understand my tendencies towards survivalism and post apocalyptic survival in general. So now that she finally considers zombies as some sort of a plausible threat to her offspring, she has agreed to allow me to create a post apocalyptic survival kit in a can to be placed in her shitty little Japanese car.

After this green light, I immediately decided on this post apocalyptic survival kit in a can. You might wonder, how much could I realistically fit in a coffee can post apocalyptic survival kit but it turns out to be enough. I haven’t taken pictures yet and I will be sure to add them soon, but I was impressed with how prepared you could actually be in so little space.

My wife carries a .380 Bersa so I didn’t have to worry about trying to slam a firearm and ammo in there but it would absolutely fit which is also reassuring

In this post apocalyptic survival kit I have included

• Coffee Can : It is a great container to hold the items, it can be used to boil water, cook food, melt snow and if you want to get creative, a makeshift shovel as well.
• Swedish Firesteel : Easiest way to reliably get fires lit, and it works even if its soaking wet unlike lighters. There is a trillion uses for fire that I am sure you are aware of and starting a fire without some sort of technology is not easy. I also tossed a lighter in their just for good measure.
• Dryer Lint in a Ziploc : Great tinder for free and the Ziploc has multiple purposes.
• Pen and Paper : To jot reminder notes down, leave messages and to make it easier to start fires.
• Potable Aqua Water Treatment Tablets : My favorite water disinfectant tablets. It’s small and a treats a shit ton of drinking water quickly in case boiling isn’t an option because your dying of thirst. Or in her case because she won’t even drink tap water and shes a bottled water queen, this might give her a little piece of mind.
• Energy Bars : High calorie food to ration until you can find food or figure out what the hell you are going to do.
• Swedish Military Mora Knife : My favorite cheap as dirt survival knife that I trust. I have a bunch of these knives and for a cheap post apocalyptic survival kit these are a perfect choice. They are rugged, cheap, sharp, hold an edge and hold up well under heavy use.
• Pocket Pal Knife Sharpener : I love this God damn thing. It makes correctly sharpening a knife easy for a rookie, they are cheap, they work well and they fit in your pocket. Anywhere I keep a survival knife, I keep a pocket pal.
• Garbage Bags : Ghetto poncho, rain catch for water collection, shelter, you name it; a garbage bag is the best tarp substitute for a post apocalyptic survival kit that fits in a coffee can. I put 3 garbage bags in the kit.
• Paracord: I wrapped the handle of the Mora Knife with paracord which was a few feet of useable cord. Next I included around 20 feet or so of rope because you never know when you are going to need it. I would like to have more rope available but the 25 feet or so in here is sufficient for such a small kit.
• Compass : You might think you are gonna navigate by the stars and the moon or some shit, but I would rather have a compass if possible.
• 72 Hour Candle : Gives you light in a pinch, last long and makes your fire more portable if you have to move.
• Solar Power Crank Radio Flashlight : It’s so many gadgets in such a small product that I had to throw one in the post apocalyptic survival kit. I mean seriously, a flashlight, am/fm weather-band radio, solar and crank powered and to top it all off it charges your electronics with its USB port. Why it is so cheap I will never know and it is one of my favorite survival gadgets of all time. The only issue I have ever had with one is that it melted on a camping trip while I was not using it and I have never been able to figure out what the hell happen to it.
• Cash : $50 in small denominations and coins.
• Basic First Aid : Bandages, tweezers, Q-tips, neosporin and a few “fish antibiotics”. I also put some antidiarrheal medicine because diarrhea will kill you super fast and some Ibuprofen for the massive headache you’ll have when you realize the shit just hit the fan.
• Duct Tape : If you can’t duck it, fuck it. Take some off a roll and re wrap it smaller so it fits. It can help you make shelters or repair random things. I really prefer gorilla tape and I am assuming it would work better but I wasn’t sure if taking it off the roll and re wrapping it would work as well as it does with duct tape.
• Bear Grylls Survival Kit : If you come to this site often, you already know I hate Bear Grylls. This kit however is perfect for the survival can because it fits and it has duplicates of a lot of the gear along with snare wire, fishing line and a basic survival guide.

So in a small basic post apocalyptic survival kit, I covered all of the major bases needed for survival. If you have any ideas for things that could be added or exchanged leave a comment below. I recommend if you do not have a bug out bag, do not want to go all out on post apocalyptic survival gear or are just getting started in your apocalypse survival preparation to set up a kit like this for your piece of mind.

This is perfect for somebody who doesn’t want to go hard core down the rabbit hole of survival… and trust me I know most people don’t have the resources or schizophrenia to justify doing it but everyone should be at least marginally prepared with something like this basic post apocalyptic survival kit.

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