The 5 Things You ACTUALLY Need in a First Aid Kit

Hint: This is a terrible first aid kit...

Loads of first aid kits you find in stores are ridiculous, most of them include assorted sizes of bandages, like those little tiny spot Band-Aids that are no help in an emergency and are the only ones left over when you inevitably use up all the useful sizes.

The first question you need to answer is, "What is the purpose of this first aid kit?" At the very least, you should be prepared for serious emergencies like severe bleeding, heart attacks, and broken bones.

If you only have 5 things in your first aid kit, ideally the supplies you include should be helpful for multiple types of emergencies, unlike those ridiculously specific Band-Aids.

Side note: the best kind of Band-Aids (if you were going to include a 6th item) are the Flexible Fabric kind! Remember, don't worry about getting lots of different sizes.

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CPR Breathing Barrier and Gloves

It's important to protect yourself, even if you're about to save someone else's life! That's why CPR breathing barriers (AKA microshields) or pocket masks are crucial to have in every emergency kit.

Of course you need to make sure you're fully trained in CPR and know exactly how to use your PPE (personal protective equipment). It's also important to practice how you'll perform, so you should learn on the materials and tools you'll use out in the real world.

Gloves (when used properly) are excellent at protecting you from infections you might encounter after touching someone or someone's bodily fluids. Put on gloves before you start to do any first aid of any kind! Then be sure to take them off the right way. We can help there!

We train teens and adults in how to do CPR and use breathing barriers to protect themselves; it's even easier to learn because we make the training fun! Check out our full set of offerings on our training page!

4" x 4" Gauze Pads

This woven fabric helps soak up blood and encourage clotting of cuts and wounds. When you're trying to stop life-threatening bleeding it's important to push hard on the wound until the bleeding stops (which could take 5 minutes or more).

Gauze pads come in various sizes and types of packaging, but the 4" squares are usually the best for first aid kits. They're big enough to make a difference with a big cut, but also foldable; you can make smaller gauze pads out of the big gauze pads, or fold them to closely match the shape of a wound.

Roller gauze is a LOOOONG roll of (you guessed it) gauze. It's particularly useful for holding squares of gauze in place while maintaining some pressure on the wound.

Our Red Cross first aid classes include how to use gauze pads to stop life threatening bleeding, and we have plenty of different classes to fit every audience or need, from individuals to whole organizations.

Cloth Tape

Gauze pads + cloth tape = your own bandage of any size!

​There are loads of different types of medical tape, but in our experience the best type is DEFINITELY cloth tape. It sticks better than other kinds of plastic-based tape, and it's great for making your own bandage of any size. Those large bandages they sell in assorted bandage sizes are never exactly the right size anyway...

Scissors or Shears

There are loads of different types of scissors you could use, but you should make sure that whatever scissors you do get have rounded tips. Why?

Scissors can be used to cut clothing off of someone if you need to do CPR and apply an AED, and you don't want to accidentally cut someone with pointy scissors!

They're also helpful if you need to cut roller gauze/cloth tape, or make your own gauze (if you don't have any) out of a clean t-shirt or other piece of cloth.

The things in your first aid kit should be things you'd really miss if you needed them in an emergency, and scissors are one of those things!

Triangular Bandages

Also known as "cravats" among first responders, these giant woven cloth triangles can easily be made into slings, used like rope to help make splints, and are generally the most versatile first aid supply.

Applying direct pressure is crucial with life-threatening bleeding (which you can do by tying a triangular bandage over the wound), but tourniquets are the gold standard of stopping serious bleeding. Fashioning a tourniquet out of triangular bandages is simple, but requires practice.