Both my wife’s and my sides of the family have plenty of medical professionals in them. My mother was a nurse practitioner in the U.S. Army. Most of my aunts, uncles, and cousins work at hospitals. My wife’s side of the family has a similar makeup.
One would think we’d be pretty adept at first aid, but we’re not. My wife is far better at it than I am, but we still find ourselves referring to videos or calling relatives for assistance. In a crap-hits-the-fan scenario, that may no longer be possible so we’ve been trying to get much better at handling our own minor or even major medical situations.
Most experienced preppers will tell you having a great first aid kit is an essential first step. We’ve had a good one, but for the past couple of months I’ve been researching the various ones available before making a purchase. They’re not cheap, so I’ve been very hesitant to buy any old kit I found at Walmart or Amazon.
After much consideration, I’ve finally settled on MyMedic. I chose the mid-level kit for our family of four. As much as I’d like the Big Daddy kit, it runs between $600-$1200 and I just can’t justify that high of an expenditure.
Thankfully, the “MYFAK Large,” which is described in the video above, appears to have just about everything we’ll need. I especially liked that it’s great for both bugging in and bugging out. I watched a few reviews of it and they were mostly very positive. Even the EMT who trashes pretty much every kit on the market (I forgot his name but he dissuaded me from buying one of the Amazon kits I almost grabbed) gave it mostly positive reviews. He recommended replacing the tourniquet and a couple of smaller items but otherwise gave it kudos.
Here’s the MyMedic affiliate link for the MYFAK, which is about half the price of the one I got and should work well for most. We went with the Large because there are four of us. They have a smaller version and a couple of big daddies, but I went with this one as being the most cost-effective for our familial situation.
We ALMOST went with building our own. They have med packs that are super-convenient. We were considering mixing and matching those plus items that we got from elsewhere, but the pre-made kits are so well organized I decided to just supplement with some additional packs.
Here’s an extremely important caveat before buying this or any medkits. You MUST know what you’re doing with everything. Learning basic or even advanced first-aid is a best practice at any point, but now more than ever it’s a must-have skill. If there’s a full-blown societal collapse, hospitals are the last places you’re going to want to go if they’re even still open. A kit is only as good as the person using it, so make sure you and your family know what to do if emergencies arise.
If you have any advice or best practices you’d like to share, please comment below. Questions are always very welcomed, though as I said first-aid is not my greatest skill. I’m learning a bit more every day, so hopefully I’ll be well-versed before it’s too late.
Here's the Survival First Aid Kit I'm Getting