I'm looking at building or buying 5 IFAK and I wanted to see what you guys had to say about buying or building them myself. I'm not looking for a combat type kit or anything like that. These are mostly going to be placed on my family's hiking kits now that we are going on more off the trail type of hikes in areas that has a lot of jagged rock and everything there is trying to bit,sting or stick in you I thought it would be good that everyone in the family have a IFAK on hand at all times.

Not so much worried about knowing how to use the items wife is a 16 year RN ER and ICU experience. Me I've gone through combat medic training and after working a reservation for 4 years have done my fair share of knife wounds stabbings , cuttings and vehicle accidents.

I ask because most things I have looked up you can get a lot of the basic first aid items with a pouch at not to bad of a price but know I can build it cheaper it's just finding a good pouch to use. All of our packs have Mollie or some type of system that allows you to attach pouches I think only two people don't have any type of attachment. Thanks for the advice.

If you're just looking for the pouch to fill with your own stuff, this may be what you seek:

http://www.tacticaltailor.com/medicpouch.aspx

Don't have one myself, but I do have 4 of their mag pouches and a dump pouch.  They're well made.  Google will show a host of others with the contents that are cheaper than this pouch alone though.

I have a vanquest fat pack on my ruck and it's awesome.

Build it. What's in the the kit and the kit itself are rather personal preference, ask 3 people you will get 4 different answers. See below

I use the following:
CAT
OLAES
Combat Gauze
HALO (Vent or No Vent, doesn't matter)
NPA
Trauma Shears
Gloves
HSGI Bleeder Kit (except the CAT and Gloves).

If a kit has those items it, I would just buy the kit. But not many (if any)  kits out there with those items so I make my own. Base your kit on what you know and use. Blind buying can be wasting money.

That being said I did just buy a CLEER Medical PTAK. I wanted a slim kit to go on my simple range belt. It is pre-packed with good stuff, but not what's listed above. So there you go 1 person 2 different answers.

Mostly looking at the built kits as it seems a lot of them come with nice pouches! One place I looked it was only $20 more for the full med kit and pouch the the pouch alone. I know we are going to tweak them to fit us matter what.

Also anyone know of a good place to buy items for the med kits? Every place I have looked wants you to buy 10+ of each item.

Shears - $5
Nitrile gloves $1,
Oleas modular bandage from TacMed Solutions - $7
TK-4 tourniquet - $10

If you want more stuff you can add some clotting agent or extra compressed gauze.

Toss all that shiz in an HSGI med pouch. The most expensive part is the HSGI pouch... Toss it in a zip lock if you wanna be a cheap skate.

TacMed Solutions or Chinook Medical.

You can find basic stuff at CVS or Walgreens...

Here too

I couldn't build an EPIK(ar500armor calls it that instead of IFAK) for cheaper than the $79 they sell it for.

Keep the SWATt option and buy an additional SOFTTW to go with it.

So it's not just me then? I mean I can make one for less then $79 if I use a cheap pouch! I guess to me the pouch is what I feel is the key part not to big not to small made so that it will last not fall apart after a year of use. Most kits I have seen are more gun shot kits that they sell not really first aid kits. Some of the items would be good in the gun shoot kits but most of it would be taken out I feel. Kind of like this kit again just pouch alone  is  $55


Link

I prefer to build my own, therefore I can customize it to my needs.  For me it's not just about the cost, it's about customizing it.

I've used small, medium and larger pouches depending on what it'll be used for.

Pouch only

For a basic trauma kit I like to stock them with CAT or SOFTT TQs, Olaes dressing, compressed gauze, Quikclot, Chest seal, gloves, shears and tape.  Then add to it from there if you want.

YMMV

How has that pouch held up? Just worried about the $12 price. I know there is a LA company that  makes a lot of bags and gear cheap but they fall apart with little use.

Any good pouches? Are the cheap ones any good!

I admit I don't put this particular pouch through harsh daily treatment.  I've used it on my pack during many hikes etc...however in that time it's held up much better than I thought for an inexpensive pouch.  One thing I would say is I wish the snaps (on the attachment points on the outside) were a bit tighter when snapped.

I will continue to use this pouch.

I have a condor as shown in the link. It hasn't seen much use, but it seems  plenty sturdy.

Do you need an external pouch?  Adventure medical make some decent economical kits, but they are designed to be light and the instruments are not pro grade.

I built my own level one kit using USNERdocs  guidelines:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P60_sELRkqw

he now sells these and other kits personally but they seem practical and thought out. I always add a buttload of ibuprofen and a make sure I have an ACE to wrap a ankle with to help get me through a sprain.

I have this one http://www.rescue-essentials.com/rip-away-emt-pouch/ Which seems to be just a bigger version of the one linked above.  Its pretty damn good.  For a light duty kit it should last a very long time.



Just this morning FB put this on my feed:

https://mymedic.us/collections/general-kits/products/myfak-firstaidkit?variant=18324320451

 



Same (looks updated) bag, and looks to be a decent selection of items at first glance.

OP, you said you don't need a kit for combat wounds, just regular boo boos while hiking.  Making your own is definitely the best way to go.  Go to the dollar store,get band aids, triple antibiotic ointment, and whatever sundries you would like.  Maybe supplement with somethings from CVs/Walgreens that thedollarstore may not have.  Put it in a ziplock freezer bag, then find whatever surplus molle pouch that is cheap, and you're good to go.  You said you need five kits, so this is definitely the cheapest route.  If you really feel the need, you can add an Israeli Bandage or the like.  Maybe a TQ.  Whenever I have gone camping, bandaids and neosporin and tape cover most of my needs.

I like to buy first aid supplies from Rescue Essentials (no financial interest) because they have bulk packs that are perfect for what you are describing.  You can get ten packs of single use triple anti biotic ointment, simple analgesics, antiitch creams etc.

Exactly what I did to start my FAK.




- (1) Sandwich Zip bag
- (2) Pair Nitrile Gloves
- (1) Waterproof tape
- (1) Fabric tape
- (1) Cling Tape
- (1) EMT Shears
- (1) Rubber Band
- (5) Finger tip bandages
- (5) Knuckle bandages
- (10) standard band aids
- (5) large band aids
- (5) 2x2 steril gauze
- (5) 4x4 steril gauze
- (4) non stick 8x3 gauze


These were created for the low price of about $12 each or $25 for two. Could have been a tad cheaper going with other brands here or there.  

These can be stretched to create more kits as well, as I literally bought the a normal box of each item and put half in each kit, so you could put 2 or 3 instead of 5 gauze pads and probably still be fine and get 3 more kits out of each box.

I got both the condor sidekick and the emt pouch.
The emt pouch is thin and flimsy, the molle straps are sewn in.
The sidekick is much thicker and tougher, the molle straps are removable (in case you say want to use molle sticks or other attachment.)

I will be getting more sidekick bags for my other BoBs.