Vacuum-bags for you BOB/PSK?

I

Inferno

Joined
Sep 25, 2004
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58
I recently dropped $45 at Wally World for one of those vacuum machines that sucks all the air out of a bag in order to seal food and make it last longer. Of course, the first thing I bagged was clothes and medical supplied fopr my bag! What do you guys think of that? Any opinions on this practice?

Here's a sample of some of the things I've packed so far:
Clothes (good the have a dry set handy, and it cuts down the bulk!)
First-aid supplies (I have everything divvi'ed up so I can use one "kit" at a time; the lac kit has 2 4x4 pads, a 2x2 pad, 3 antiseptic wipes, 2 butterfly closures, a roll of gauze and a packet of antibiotic ointment; the minor lac/abrasion kit has a couple gauze pads and a roll of gauze)
Cheap hobby knife (with spare blades, for minor surgery... maybe it wouldn't rust as fast in the bag?
Toilet paper (good to start fires, wipe butts, and who knows what else, vacuum cuts the size down a lot!)

Things I would use more often, like Band-Aids, go in a small Otter box that can be opened/closed.

The main thing here is that I save space and keep stuff relatively moisture-free. I don't like my bag packed to the top in case I need space to store something that I find along the way...

Opinions?
 
I've done a similar thing with the 2 gallon ziplocks. put your clothes in, set them on the counter, sit on them and zip it up. You don't get as much air out as the machine would. The first time I did this I was much younger and was excited about it because I could fit sooo much more stuff in my pack. I got out of the canoe for the first portage swung my pack aroundand the thing pulled me right over. I had to get my pals to help peel it off me so I could get off the ground. :D
 
The main downside to vacuum sealing versus squeezing as much air as you can out of a ziplock is re-sealing in the field. What if you have to open your first aid kit, then an hour later you get caught in a downpour. With ziplocks, you can re-seal them.
 
Sorry. I didn't catch the small otter box comment. Sound like you are good to go then. That should work out well.
 
Hey Guys..

braingandrews...

That's simple..
Put your vacume sealed stuff in Ziplocks... :)

5000 th post BTW..

ttyle

Eric
O/ST
 
Thanks for the input, all. Anybody here know how long the stuff will generally stay sealed before the bag or seals start to break down? Also, my current bag is a MOLLE backpack from Cheaper Than Dirt that looks like a Camelback Motherlode knockoff or something, and it currently weighs in at 35 pounds... a little more than I expected, but then again, I plan on using it at a static location and only wearing it when I have to relocate... I'm going to try hiking with it my next day off to see just how feasible this is-- so many things look good on paper until you try it!
 
Inferno said:
I recently dropped $45 at Wally World for one of those vacuum machines that sucks all the air out of a bag in order to seal food and make it last longer. Of course, the first thing I bagged was clothes and medical supplied fopr my bag! What do you guys think of that? Any opinions on this practice?
Click to expand...

$45 what a deal. You just can't go wrong with that. Was it on sale?

I would vacum pack everything inside an open ziplock bag. Then when opened, you can reseal it.
 
I got something similar to these at EMS. They are great. I saw a friend of mine using them and they work great. Its a zip lock at one end and a flutter valve at the other end. All you need to do is roll the items in the bag and that forces the air out of the flutter valve. No vacum is needed. Works great and is reusable. Other searches will reveal companies like home depot that also sell similar items. The ones I got from EMS are very well made. I don't know if EMS still sells them.

KR

Space saver bags
 
Hey Guys..

kr1..

Yaa those storage bags work pretty good..

I use them for all of my scent free clothing when hunting.. Take out whats needed and roll it back up..

However they do leak after awhile....

I use mine all the time and have several sizes...
For the most part they work very well...

ttyle

Eric
O/ST
 
I am really Interested to know how long medical supplies will last in these kits and if they will fluff back up. This would really save room in an emergency bag for rescue, But my fear would be that dressings and such would lose their absorbancy due to air spaces being compacted.

My main hesitation has been price of the machine since i have plenty of medical supplies to experiment with. For 45 bucks i may have to get one just to try it out.
 
I got mine at that price, non sale... as for the medical supplies, the main reason we use 4x4's to cover a lac isn't so much to absorb the blood as much as it is to prevent the pt from bleeding put while you wait for the wound to clot. You really don't want something super-absorbant that's pulling blood out of the pt. I also think that the expiration date on the DSD's (dry sterile dressings) applies to the packaging itself, and so long as they are still sealed in & clean, they're good to go.

I also sucked the air outta my cargo shorts and a cotton button-up shirt, got it down to about an inch thick. Great for packing a spare set of clothes! Anybody out there got ideas on what else to pack?
 
I was thinking of combine dressings that do absorb more Sorry I sould have clarified

Soudn like a good purchase, Did you see the post a while back about kits with matches and tinder and such vacume sealed?
 
EMS Rescue: Oh, that's different. I sucked the air outta a couple abd pads but have yet to crack them back open and see how they do. I also made a GSW kit by packing an Asherman's, BZK wipes, and a couple 4x4's together. Maybe you should swipe a sterile scalpal from an OB kit and get some ethelon sutures to make a decent lac kit... hmm, I wonder if that lido lube for nasal intubation could be used to numb up the area prior to suturing? Maybe pack one of those syringes in the kit too...
 
About 2/3 contents of my SAR pack is vacume sealed for dunking reasons. I sealed my entire mini Trauma kit 6lbs to make sure its good and dry when needed. Be carefull not to draw too much pressure as some liquids may seep out over time making a mess.

Saves space and its dry when you need it.

Skam
 
Inferno said:
I also sucked the air outta my cargo shorts and a cotton button-up shirt, got it down to about an inch thick. Great for packing a spare set of clothes! Anybody out there got ideas on what else to pack?
Click to expand...

Food - I have a Seal-A-Meal machine (doesn't vacuum seal, just seals) and I used to seal (precooked): steak, mashed potatoes, fried onions, corn, etc. (all in separate bags) for the first night (refrigeration considerations) on the river while canoeing. When we got to the place we were going to camp for the evening, I get a pot of river water and set it to boiling on the fire and then 'boiled-in-a-bag" my supper. Especially good for those first days when you got to shore, tired, and you didn't feel like screwing around too much. Also, can help cut down on the smell factor (attracting critters).

First Aid supplies, matches, tinder, clothes, topo maps, toilet paper, GPS', cell phones (you can use them right in the sealed bag - just don't vacuum too much :( ) spare cash - anything that's not too big and needs to be kept dry. They're an excellent tool for this kind of thing.

Doc
 
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