Here’s my homemade first-aid gear list. It’s a little on the heavy side because I use 1/2oz. ointment tubes instead of disposable packets. I do that for convenience, so I don’t have to replenish it after every trip I take.

Item Weight
1/2 oz. tube, CVS zinc oxide cream 0.5 oz.
1/2 oz. tube, Walgreens triple antibiotic ointment 0.6 oz.
1/2 oz. tube, Cortaid, 1% hydrocortisone anti-itch cream 0.6 oz.
16 benedryl tablets in easy dose pill pouch 0.1 oz.
20 ibuprofen tablets in easy dose pill pouch 0.4 oz.
6 immodium tablets in easy dose pill pouch  0.1 oz
1 sheet moleskin 2  0.2 oz.
plastic syringe for flushing wounds  0.6 oz
assorted gauze bandages, butterflies, bandaids, loose  0.3 oz.
small role surgical tape  1.2 oz.
 Total, including ziploc sandwich bag  4.6 oz.

I highly recommend that you purchase the NOLS Wilderness Medicine. NOLS believes that the most effective emergency treatment for a serious open wound is to flush it with sterilized (treated) water using a plastic syringe. I had the opportunity to test this last winter with a moderately severe hand wound and I’m now a believer.

Easy dose pill pouches are very small zip lock bags that you can find at large pharmacies. They’re great for keeping your pills dry and clean and weigh virtually nothing.

Zinc oxide is a backpacker essential and is used to cure monkey butt. That’s a technical term for diaper rash.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Related posts:

  1. Zinc Oxide: A First Aid Kit Essential
  2. Hydropel: Move Over Moleskin
  3. Backpacking Gear Repair Kit
  4. Bodyglide: Skin Chafing Prevention
  5. First Need Deluxe Portable Water Purifier - General Ecology