The 5 most useful survival items under £10

Too many people are tricked by fancy marketing schemes that convince someone to pay several times more than a product is actually worth, but this is nothing new and happens across all industries. A quick search for bushcraft knives returned thousands of results that seemed to have an average price of between £30 and £250, but after a closer look at some of the cheapest and most expensive ones, it turns out they are all made of the exact same material, hardened steel.

When choosing which gear to buy it’s important not to pay more than you need to because many sellers will throw an extra £50 to £100 on top of an items price just because it’s got the name of a well known person on the side, or it was made by one particular company. When starting out it’s hard to make sense of what to buy and what you actually need and the initial start up cost can be off-putting, but for those of you on a budget or looking to get a few small pieces of bushcraft gear to practice with, here are five of the best pieces of gear you can buy for less than £10 each.

Survival bracelet – £5 to £7 each

This compact and useful wristband comes with 10 feet of para-cord, a knife, compass, whistle and flint stick. It allows you to keep your direction and signal for help when lost, but more importantly it can create fire and provide 10 feet of cord for making a shelter. There are only two real disadvantages to this item, with the first being that if you use the cord then the rest turns into a plastic clip you’ll have to keep in your pocket, and the second is that because the knife blade doubles as the flint scraper, its deeply serrated and isn’t good for cutting anything other than cord, though it may do the trick for gutting a fish but it’s not capable of anything more substantial. This piece is supposed to be a back-up item and would normally only be used in emergencies, but because it can do so much and weighs so little the cost makes it more than worth it.

Wire Saws – under £5

A wire saw is just a piece of serrated wire that has a small ring at each end to hold it. They weight next to nothing and can pack down to a size that’ll fit into the average wallet, but they aren’t without their downsides. They are meant to be used as a back-up and shouldn’t be taken as your primary sawing device and are by no means a replacement for an axe or proper saw. They aren’t capable of sawing through anything too thick and cutting down a full-grown tree with one is well out the questions. They do however make an excellent choice as an emergency saw and do a good job of cutting down saplings and anything under 2 inches in diameter, which are exactly the kinds of things you’d be using to create and emergency shelter.

Flint and Fire steel – £7 +

Everyone should have one of these in their gear, and not in the form of some kind of back-up piece like on the survival bracelet. This is by far my personal favorite way of lighting a fire in the wild because of how reliable it is. It doesn’t matter if it gets wets and there’s no oil to dry up like there is within a lighter, and no piece of ignition flint to pop out and make it useless. You can soak a piece of flint in water and after a quick wipe on some cloth its good to go again, but it does take some practice to get the hang of how to use them. The downside is that getting the initial fire going is more of a challenge than a simple strike of a match, but when you learn how to use a flint and fire steel efficiently you’ll never go back.

Space Blankets and Plastic Macs – Under £10 for both

I’ve grouped these two items together because of how low their individual cost is and how well the work together. The name plastic mac seems to only be known in the UK and universally they are recognized as emergency rain coats or something similar. The reason they should be included in a bushcraft kit is not only because they pack down so small and weigh very little, but they are 100% waterproof and can easily double as a shelter. A space blanket may look like a piece of tin foil, but it’s actually made of a special material that reflects heat more efficiently than any other type of material you can readily buy. The blanket can keep you warm if stranded for the night and the plastic mac will keep you dry, and wearing a space blanket under a 100% waterproof coat will ensure a warm, if not sweaty night in the coldest of conditions.

Para-cord – £10 for 50 meters

The standard strength limit for para-cord is usually between 500 and 550 pounds before it actually snaps, but this is for a single line and the average person doesn’t weigh anything close to this amount. Weaker para-cord with a strength of 100 to 200 pounds can be brought for much less but is more than capable of making shelters and for general bushcraft use, just be careful that you know the strength of the stuff your buying before you use it for your intended purpose.