was thinking about putting together a small “survival kit” to keep in my backpack. Looking online I saw one that came in a sardine can. It said the can could be used to boil water, cook in, etc…That got me to thinking that a metal container such as this or some tip of cup with lid would make for a great crush-proof, floating container for a survival kit. Does anyone know of or have any ideas of some sort of container that could be used…I would like it to be no bigger than a larger coffee mug or paperback book and all metal if possible.
think I may have just answered my own question…a gi mess kit…any other ideas??
Pretty good idea and readily available.
Poor choice since it is very heavy and large for a survival kit. A deep aluminum pot with a lid is better for survival than a frying pan. Try to boil a lot of water in the GI mess kit. 
It also lacks a tight seal to protect the contents from moisture.
I have my survival kit in a cordura pouch that can move from my pack to the belt. The main thing is holds in my folding saw, since shelter will be my prime concern, then water, then food.
Can you boil 1/2 to 1 quart of water in that container?
I suppose a 6 quart deep aluminum pot with a fitted lid would be much better if you needed to boil water for camp use or to perform a field expedient newborn delivery for sterile towels and so forth. And that would be much lighter than a GI mess kit???
How about a collapsible 2 quart container with an airtight seal made of unobtainium? Any idea where I can purchase one?
Mine is in a GI canteen cup, inside a w/p bag, inside a cordura pouch…
Thats a good idea too, that way you can use the carrier too if you want
There is a company that makes a lid for the gi canteen cup. I can’t remember who it is or if they are still available. I want to say it was an australian company maybe, but there may be others.
How about a klean kanteen? They have wide mouths that take nalgene lids and come in different sizes depending on how much crap you want to stow in one. The 12oz might be a little small, but could also function better as a survival kit due to being able to reach the bottom of it by hand or with a utensil. I have a 40oz and I think it would be too difficult to retrieve items from it if they were packed in there very well. I may have to do this myself. My little altoids tins are too full, too small to find easily in a pack, and too awkward in the pocket.
I have an old GI mess tin, you know the one with the folding handle. I have my survival kit in a vaccum-sealed 1 gallon zip-loc inside it, and the whole thing in a MOLLE pouch that I could put in my trouser cargo pocket (when I was deployed).
That’s what I was thinking if I couldn’t find anything that I thought would be better. Hadn’t really thought about putting it in a molle pouch but that is a good idea.
For a small survival kit I use a Tactical Tailor E&E pouch. I’ve had a difficult time finding a hard case that holds my items in my kit the way I want ( too rigid). If I were to go with some sort of metal cooking pot for my kit I would look at MSR.
Dick’s sells a MSR pot w/lid for about $20; I think its about a quart or so in size. The pot has a folding handle that locks the lid on for storage.
A GI canteen, cup and stove woukd be hard to beat.
Check out County’s web site. I bought a bunch of gear from them and built little survival kits with my son and his Cub Scout Den last year. We used the Altoids type can and a bunch of NOS GI compass/bandage pouch.
http://www.countycomm.com/tin.html
just checked out the Country Comm website, it has alot of neat stuff. I think I will put in an order with them.
Thanks
http://www.bestglide.com/us_integral_survival_unit.html
Very high quality canteen cup stove.
I knew there was a lid out there somewhere. Thanks for posting that. I will have to buy a new cup as well as lid. It’s been missing since the last ftx.
Glad it will help. No more days in the field for me or I would have gone for the lid too!
The canteen/canteen cup/canteen cup stove combo was an awesome bit 'o kit to have on cold mornings when I was still a cav guy.
I have no idea how many canteen cups of C rat and MRE coffee I made with that gear.
Getting hot coffee into a guy is also really nice to be able to do is they are borderline into hypothermia.
The nice thing about the cup and stove was that is was basically transparent to my LBE load-out. It all fit into the canteen carrier nested together and only added a few onces.
I agree that this is a great combo; however, based on what I picked with re: SERE I consider this more ‘snivel gear’ than part of a survival kit. Still, if you can get it and pack it, it’s a very nice combo with many uses.
After looking at some of the things Country Comm has to offer, I decided to place an order. Not a huge one, not a small one…$100 and some change. Anyway the e-check cleared paypal on the 19th…here it is the 1st of February and I have not heard anything or recieved anything from them…They do not have a customer service number just an email saying they will get back to you in 24-48 hours. To put this kind of in perspective, I placed an order with Amazon on the 27th I believe and it arrived today…Hopefully I hear from Country Comm today as I sent them a message yesterday…Can anyone who has ordered from them in the past enlighten me as to if this is common for their delivery time??