Season 13, Ep 14 - Disaster Survival Kits
Target Product
Checks four Disaster Survival Kits – all New Zealand-made and all advertised as being suitable
for 4 people, for 3 days.
·The “PREPARE.CO.NZ” kit was cheapest of the 4, at
$265.
·Next up is the “READY FOR ANYTHING” Home kit, at $298.
·The “PLAN-2-SURVIVE” backpack survival kit cost us
$320.
·While the “SURVIVE IT” kit was the priciest, at
$347.44.
We’ll see how well they follow
what Civil Defence recommends should be in a getaway kit. We’ll compare the
radios and the lighting supplies, and get an expert to assess the
first-aid kits. We’ll also compare the food and water and get our Product
Check Family to taste-test the food.
So how much of what’s on the Civil Defence
checklist were found in our 4 survival kits? For starters, all 4 had torches
and radios with batteries, but as for spare batteries, the SURVIVE IT kit had
none. Civil Defence also recommends getaway kits have “emergency water”, but
two of our four only had water purification tablets. As for toiletries, none of
the 4 supplied soap, and only 2 had tissues for toilet paper.
One of the most
important items in any survival kit is a battery-powered radio, and whilst all four kits supplied one, we found the SURVIVE IT radio had the clearest
reception.
The best lighting was supplied by PREPARE.CO.NZ: a
torch, batteries, spares, candles, matches and glow-sticks; and the worst that supplied
by READY FOR ANYTHING – just one small battery-free torch, and six glow-sticks.
Another
key essential is a good First Aid kit, to patch up any minor injuries you may
sustain during the disaster or the clean-up.
We asked a St John Ambulance
instructor to assess the first aid in all 4 kits, and again the best performer
was PREPARE.CO.NZ.
BEN JORGENSEN, ST JOHN
AMBULANCE: “It
had bandages, it had dressings, it had gloves, it had some saline dressing as
well, and for the types of injuries you might be getting in a natural disaster
that was going to be able to cover most of the scenarios you might come
across.”
The worst was that supplied by PLAN-2-SURVIVE.
BEN JORGENSEN, ST JOHN
AMBULANCE: “It
had very, very few pieces of material in there that would be of any use in a
disaster situation // It didn’t have gloves, it didn’t have bandages… It lacked
a lot of essential gear.”
How do our four kits
compare when it comes to the bare essentials?
Only 2 supplied ready-to-drink water, with the other 2
solely providing water purification tablets. That said, those 2 kits could
provide the most drinking water in total, and READY FOR ANYTHING the least.
As for food, 3 of the 4 kits solely supplied 4 slabs
of these extra-long-life, high-energy rations, whose three key ingredients are:
enriched flour, vegetable fat, and sugar. READY FOR ANYTHING, meanwhile, contained “Back Country” brand hiking-food.
Our Product Check Family, the Drews thought:
·“The Mayday food
had quite a nice flavour. It sort of tasted like an oatmeal shortbread but it
was actually very dry.”
·“The Mayday was my
least favourite because it was really hard and gluggy in my mouth when I ate
it.”
·“The Mainstay
rations initially had the most pleasant flavour and it was a bit more moist
however the aftertaste was just a little bit too sweet for me.”
·“The Mainstay
wasn’t as bad as the other one. but it was really sweet.”
·“The Back Country
Food was a mixed bag really.”
·“The beef wrap, for
example, was very stodgy and I didn’t really like the texture.” “I really like
the muesli and yoghurt. That was quite tasty and had nice bits of apple in it”
·“It was the best
out of a bad bunch but if I was starving I could probably eat it.”
READY-FOR-ANYTHING’s “Back Country” food was easily
the Drews’ preference.
Combining that score, with: Price, Contents,
Radio and First Aid quality, as well as Night-light and Water quantity, and the
“PREPARE.CO.NZ”, 4-person, 72-hour Survival Kit wins tonight’s Product Check.
Become a fan of TV3 on Facebook
,
on Twitter .