I’m thinking a lot about first aid kits recently. There are tons of catch-all lists out there that didn’t quite fit our specific needs (or I felt were overkill), so I thought about it for a while and made my own.

First aid kits should be situationally dependent. For example, I don’t need a tourniquet in my daily use backpack, but I do in the woodshop. Size matters, too. I have a lot more room in my car or workshop than my backpack.

This is a list of what is in my family’s first aid kits, not necessarily what should be in yours. Feel free to take inspiration, but I encourage you to think about your specific needs.

Car first aid kit

First, this is not everything I keep in our car for safety or emergencies. This is just the first aid portion. For more of what I keep in the car, check out this post: https://cagrimmett.com/2023/10/05/what-non-standard-items-do-you-always-travel-with/

I got this First Aid Only 298-piece kit as the base. It covers all the essentials, and I like that it also has tweezers, scissors, and an emergency blanket.

Here is what I added to the kit:

• Children’s ibuprofen (chewable tablets) – For Charlie
• Small waterproof bandaids
  • Primarily for Charlie. They are small and have jellyfish on them. Great for small scratches and scrapes.
• Butterfly wound closure strips
• Triple antibiotic ointment tube
• Pain relieving cleansing spray
• Superglue
  • Wound seal in a pinch, also can be used if something important like a pair of glasses breaks.
• Tegaderm
  • This is thin clear sterile dressing that keeps out water, dirt and germs yet lets skin breathe. Often used by tattoo artists and surfers. h/t Christie Wright
  • The main reason I carry this is Charlie and his frequently skinned knees. It is helpful to quickly clean them, put on one of these, and get back to playing. Especially helpful at the beach.
• BleedStop/quick clot powder (large and small)
  • Small is for smaller cuts, large is for bigger wounds. Goes hand-in-hand with the next item, the tourniquet. When are you most likely to get into or witness an accident that causes severe blood loss? In the car!
• Tourniquet
• Allergy pills
  • Amanda is allergic to cats, so I keep this in case we end up somewhere with cats. Also useful for seasonal allergies if we are out and about all day.
• Pepto-Bismol chewable tablets
  • What does it say on the label? Nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea. Terrible on a roadtrip. The tablets are a lot easier to store than the liquid.
• Instant coffee
  • Few things make a road trip more unpleasant than a caffeine headache. I learned this on a week-long cross-country trip, when in the middle of the plains I had no prospect of caffeine for most of the day.
  • Instant coffee can be mixed in room temp water in a pinch.
• Electrolyte powder
  • I prefer LMNT. This is essential in hot weather, and helps a lot with hangovers and general dehydration, too.
• CPR Mask
• Tampons
  • These are backups for my wife. She usually has some in her bag, but they take up so little space and make a big difference when they are needed, so I put a couple in the car, too.
  • They can also stop bad nosebleeds.
• Hair tie
  • My wife has long hair and hair ties break at the most inconvenient times. I keep a backup in my backpack for her.
• Cortisone cream
• Sting & bite relief stick
  • Similar to the cortisone cream, getting lots of mosquito bites makes for a long, grumpy ride home. These help.
• German Tissues
  • I ordered these Tempo tissues from Germany on the recommendation of Cool Tools a couple years ago, and they are high quality, thick tissues. I keep a pack in the car.

Workshop first aid kit

One thing to note about this kit: My workshop is about 100ft from the house, so this tends to have either convenience items to help me bandage and keep working, or life-saving emergency items. No middle ground. For anything in the middle, I’ll just walk across the yard and go into the house. For example, no burn-related stuff in here. If I burn myself, I’m going in the house.

• I keep this all in a red metal container with a white cross on it. Easy to find.
• Workshop Wound Care book
  • Short field manual
• Triple antibiotic ointment tube
• Tourniquet
• BleedStop/Quick clot powder, small and large
  • My thought with this and the tourniquet is that the workshop is where I’m disproportionately likely to get a major wound. Being able to quickly stop the bleeding is a must. Two people influenced me here: Emmet van Driesche and Christie Wright.
• Bandaids – two different sizes
• Roll gauze + tape
• Butterfly wound closure strips
• Tegaderm
  • This is thin clear sterile dressing that keeps out water, dirt and germs yet lets skin breathe. Often used by tattoo artists and surfers. h/t Christie Wright
  • The main reason I carry this is Charlie and his frequently skinned knees. It is helpful to quickly clean them, put on one of these, and get back to playing. Especially helpful at the beach.
• Tweezers + scissors
• Superglue
  • Primarily for sealing small cuts quickly
• Ibuprofen
• Rubber gloves
• Alcohol prep wipes
• Hand sanitizer
• Two plastic bags
  • From the Workshop Wound care book: If I cut a finger off, I need to stick it in a plastic bag, then stick that sealed bag into another with ice.
• Electrolyte powder
  • Probably don’t need these since I’m at home, but nice to have and doesn’t take up much space
• Stain remover wipes
  • Not first aid, but good to keep on-hand. My thinking was that if I get blood or stain on a piece of clothing I care about, I have one to use right away. I had a box of 50, to I grabbed a couple.

Backpack first aid kit

This is a very small kit designed to live in my backpack. Its primary purpose is comfort and minimizing disruption, rather than preparing for an emergency situation. Why? Because when I have my backpack with me I’m usually traveling, at the office, or just out and about.

• The bag is from Duluth Trading. I got three different sizes of these for Christmas at least 7 years ago. The small one is a perfect size for this. I’m surprised at how much I can fit in there. It fits in any pocket of my backpack and pretty much lives in there.
  • I tried a small hard shell kit, but the fabric case lets me shove more stuff in there.
• Ibuprofen
  • Honestly, this is what I use out of this the most.
• Pepto-Bismol chewable tablets
  • What does it say on the label? Nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea. Terrible on a roadtrip. The tablets are a lot easier to store than the liquid. These came in clutch recently for me on a redeye flight to Spain.
• Instant coffee
  • Few things make a road trip more unpleasant than a caffeine headache. I learned this on a week-long cross-country trip, when in the middle of the plains I had no prospect of caffeine for most of the day.
  • Instant coffee can be mixed in room temp water in a pinch.
• Alcohol prep wipes
• Bandaids
  • Some regular
  • Some small waterproof ones, primarily for Charlie. They are small and have jellyfish on them. Great for small scratches and scrapes.
• Triple antibiotic ointment (small packet instead of a tube for space)
• Quick clot powder (small)
• Tegaderm
  • This is thin clear sterile dressing that keeps out water, dirt and germs yet lets skin breathe. Often used by tattoo artists and surfers. h/t Christie Wright
  • The main reason I carry this is Charlie and his frequently skinned knees. It is helpful to quickly clean them, put on one of these, and get back to playing. Especially helpful at the beach.
• Gauze (small individual packet)
• Tampons x 2
  • These are backups for my wife. She usually has some in her bag, but they take up so little space and make a big difference when they are needed, so I put a couple in my bag, too.
  • They can also stop bad nosebleeds.
• Hair tie
  • My wife has long hair and hair ties break at the most inconvenient times. I keep a backup in here for her.
• Superglue
  • Wound seal in a pinch, also can be used if something important like a pair of glasses breaks.

What’s next?

Some things I already have on my radar:

• Getting a LifeStraw to keep in the car kit.
• I think what’s missing from my setup is a small hiking and paddling first aid kit in a dry bag. I’d hate to get a bad cut a couple miles up the trail or river. I’ll turn to that next before summer.
• At some point soon I’ll add some naloxone to the car and backpack kits. I hope to not have to use it, but I’ll try to save someone’s life if I can. Small size with a high potential impact.

I’m always looking for feedback on this stuff and ideas for things to add. Email me or leave a comment!