A first-aid kit is one of six items listed by all 24 national guides we compiled, along with personal medication. In a large emergency, ambulances and doctors go first to the most serious cases. Cuts, burns, fevers and upset stomachs are yours to handle, sometimes for days.
The household kit
Across the guides, the same contents come up again and again:
| Group | What to include |
|---|---|
| Wound care | Plasters in several sizes, sterile dressings, bandages, disinfectant |
| Tools | Scissors, tweezers, disposable gloves, a thermometer |
| Medicines | Painkillers, fever remedies, diarrhoea remedies |
| Rehydration | Electrolyte sachets |
A ready-made case is the easiest way to get the basics in one box. Our pick follows DIN 13157, a German standard that fixes what a first-aid case contains. Add the medicines and electrolytes yourself: standard cases usually cover dressings and tools, not medicines.
Electrolytes are easy to overlook. Diarrhoea, vomiting and fever dehydrate people quickly, especially young children and older people, and in an emergency the clean water to make up the loss may be limited. A few sachets take up almost no room. Keep the remedies you already know work for your family, rather than buying unfamiliar ones for the box.
Personal medication
All 24 guides list personal medication separately from the first-aid kit. Germany asks for at least 10 days of your regular medicines; Sweden for a month of prescriptions. Keep copies of the prescriptions with them, and a list of what everyone takes and at what dose.
Eight guides also list spare glasses and hearing-aid batteries, and any other aids you rely on. If someone in your household depends on medicine that needs a fridge, ask your pharmacist how long it keeps without one.
Hygiene: keeping infection out
When water is kept for drinking, hand washing gets harder. Fifteen guides list hand sanitiser and disinfectant. Nine list respiratory masks, for smoke, dust and infection.
Home kit vs grab bag
You need two kits if you have a grab bag:
- At home, a full household kit in a box you can find quickly, plus the household's medicines.
- In the grab bag, a small kit: plasters, a few dressings, gloves, painkillers, and several days of each person's medication. Add a foil survival blanket each: eight guides list them, and they fold to wallet size.
Our grab bag checklist covers the rest of the bag.
Adapt it to your household
- Babies and young children: child doses of fever and pain medicine, a suitable thermometer, nappy cream.
- Older people: enough of every regular medicine, spare glasses, hearing-aid batteries.
- Allergies: antihistamines, and spare adrenaline pens if prescribed.
- Chronic conditions: ask your doctor how to keep a reserve, and what to do if you run short.
Iodine tablets are different
Finland, Belgium, Denmark and Austria list iodine tablets, but only to take when the authorities tell you to. They are not a general first-aid item, and taking them without instruction does no good. Follow your country's advice.
Keep it in date
Sterile dressings and medicines carry expiry dates. Check them twice a year, when you check the rest of your kit:
- Replace anything past its date, used or opened.
- Restock what you took out for everyday use. Kits empty slowly, one plaster at a time.
- Check that scissors and the thermometer work, and that the thermometer has a battery.
- Update the medication list and the copies of prescriptions.
Store the kit somewhere cool and dry, out of reach of children but known to every adult. A bathroom gets steamy; a hallway cupboard is often better.
Know how to use it
A kit is more useful if someone in the household knows basic first aid. A short course from a recognised first-aid organisation covers bleeding, burns and resuscitation, and is worth more than any extra item in the box.
Our checklist includes the first-aid kit, medication and hygiene items for your household.