Reviewing books, magazines and websites, you'll find many recipes for the "perfect" survival kit. Realistically, there is no "perfect" survival kit. The best one is the one that you have with you when you need it and has what you need. How can you build a kit that is perfect for all situations without carrying a large backpack? You can't. You may need to add some items such as allergy medicines, spare eyeglasses and such that are specific to your needs.

Before you even start building a kit, you need to realize that the most important tool for survival is your brain. Many have survived life threatening situations without a survival kit, but they've used their brain to get them out of the situation, adapt to it or were in some way resourceful enough to figure out a solution.

That being said, it's one thing to have a kit but not know how to use it. If you're faced with a threatening situation and you don't know how to use a necessary piece of equipment, it's useless to you. Practice using the items in your kit before you ever need to.

• Learn how to build a fire from materials you've gathered. Try using flint and steel or magnesium. Once you've mastered that, try it in the rain.
• Try out your survival blanket. If you're into winter sports such as cross country skiing, snow shoeing or snowmobiling, you could end up cold and wet and this bag, which reflects your body heat back to you, could save your life.

Reading books like the SAS Survival Guide can be a good start. There is a series of these books that cover driving, the city and wilderness survival. There is a lot of information in these books. Not all of it is useful now, or maybe ever, but you might be able to adapt it to other situations. They say knowledge is power.

The first step in building a survival kit, or "bugout bag" as some refer to it, is assessing the risks you might face. You can make multiple kits. It makes sense to have a vehicle survival kit that is larger and suited to the situations that might come up. Perhaps you will be stuck, stranded in cold weather, blow a tire, need a boost, etc. All of these things can be anticipated and planned for.

Second, you must determine which tools might help you in that situation. You don't want to spend a lot of money unless it's necessary. Many items can be found in your house.

Third, once you've decided on what tools are required, you should make sure that there aren't too many to carry conveniently. Your survival kit won't do you any good if it's so large that it's a pain to carry it. If it's that big, you can really trim it down.

It's hard to decide what to put in the kit. I find that reviews and suggestions of others can be quite useful in leading me to solutions.

First-aid Kits

A first aid kit, along with the skill to use it, is an important part of any survival kit.

It's not just about saving your life. What about the lives of others? First aid skills are very important to have. Do you know CPR? CPR for kids? How about dealing with life threatening bleeding?

When I was five, I ran through a glass door. The glass shattered and punctured my right arm. It sliced open the main artery and return vein in my arm. It wasn't pretty. I had blood shooting a foot out of my arm. There was blood everywhere. I was lucky I lived. My mom applied direct pressure to help stem the bleeding but that wasn't enough. I was bleeding to death. Fortunately, someone with St. John Ambulance training was walking by just after this happened. He assessed the situation and said I needed to go to the hospital immediately.

I arrived at the hospital as the ambulance was leaving to pick me up. Had I waited for the ambulance, I'd probably be dead. I was lucky. Do yourself and those around you a favour and learn basic first aid skills.

There are some excellent resources on the web that discuss what to put in your first-aid kit.

Knives and Multi-tools

It's highly likely that you'll need a knife or something like a Leatherman type tool in a survival situation. If you're making a shelter or whittling wood for a stake, a knife is a necessity. Leatherman tools are nice because they have an assortment of accessories such as a saw, serrated blades, screwdrivers, pliers, etc. I have the original Leatherman Super Tool in the photo as well as the Micra with the scissors. The Micra is handy because it can be carried on your keychain.

Other multi-tools are made by Victorinox (Swiss Army), Gerber, SOG and others. There is always the classic Swiss Army knife too.

You can find good, inexpensive knives at Canadian Tire. The one shown is worth about $15 but is made of good quality steel and will do the job. If you're into spending much more, companies like Cold Steel have a good selection of high quality knives.