Survival Gear Review: Wal-Mart’s Outdoor First Aid Kit

Seeking out additional affordable items for my survival kit, I splurged on a $15 “Outdoor” First Aid Kit at Wal-Mart. With an advertised 123 items, surely it’d have anything I could possibly need at moment’s notice.

There were even people doing outdoorsy things on the exterior packaging. Perfect!

I threw it in the back of my car, immediately feeling more at ease. If I suddenly needed to bandage myself or someone else, I had all the tools I needed – ESPECIALLY if we were somewhere in the great outdoors. Right?

 

 When Put to the Test…

There we were, camping and collecting firewood. We were having a good time, when suddenly, one of the members of our party nicked himself in the leg with a hatchet. A little freaked, I ran to my tent and grabbed the Outdoor First Aid Kit.

Upon examining the cut, it seemed a little too wide for simple bandages. A few butterfly bandages, sterile pads, gauze, and tape would do the trick. I flung open my new first aid kit, to find there were bandaids, oh yes. Lots and lots of little bandaids, probably about 70. There were also three single-size servings of triple antibiotic ointment to go along with those 70 bandages. But there must be more, I thought, examining every pocket and crevice.

There was a cold compress – two, in fact.

There were sterile examination gloves.

There were crummy plastic tweezers.

There were even butterfly bandages.

But there was no freaking gauze or decent sterile pads… and the tape roll barely had enough tape to wrap around a finger.

Fortunately, someone else in our group had a more adequate set of first aid equipment, and we were able to bandage the wound – no thanks to the Piece-O-Crap First Aid Kit I got at Wal-Mart.

My advice? Look up a comprehensive first aid list online and buy the items yourself at Dollar General. That way, you’ll know what you have, and you’ll know you have what you actually need.

 

The GPG Verdict: Thumbs Down

Note:  Be careful, they now appear to be selling a “250 piece set” with eerily similar packaging.