First aid bag
First aid bag

Be Prepared with the 8 Best First-Aid Kits for 2021

If you’re a “live-life-to-the-fullest” sort of fella, cuts, scrapes, and the occasional finger amputation are inevitable. That’s why you can never have too many first-aid kits. We would argue for keeping one in your home, car, bug-out bag, and outdoor gear closet (to grab before hiking and camping trips). That might sound crazy; we call it being prepared. At the very least, you should have one comprehensive DIY emergency kit for the most common mishaps (bug bites, splinters, kitchen knife cuts) at home and a portable, specialized kit for more active outdoor pursuits. Thankfully, we’ve done the legwork for you to find the best first aid kits to shop in 2021.

Sawyer Products Venom Extractor and Suction Pump Kit

Best First-Aid Kit for Bites and Stings

Even the best insect repellent can only protect you so much. Play outside long enough, and you’re bound to get bit or stung. Most first-aid kits include only basic insect and snake bite tools. As the name implies, Sawyer Products’ Venom Extractor and Suction Pump Kit is specifically designed to tackle bites and stings in the field. The kit contains a razor and prep pads for clearing the skin around your wound and a high-powered suction pump that can suck the poison or venom right out. It can reduce the severity of everything from a mosquito bite to a rattlesnake strike to a scorpion sting to a hornet attack — no need to orally suck out venom or cut an X into the skin. (In fact, don’t try either of those things, even if you left your Extractor Pump Kit at home as they can make things worse.)

Explore the rest of the 8 Best First Aid Kits, written by Steven John and Mike Richard.

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Media Mentions

It all starts with Sawyer Squeeze + Cnoc VectoX 2L, the best and most reliable filter-bladder combo and the core of my backpacking water storage and filtration system.

Jaeger Shaw
Owner & Managing Editor

Media Mentions

Our top water filter for thru hiking, the Sawyer Squeeze, is 15% off.

Naomi Hudetz
Chief Operating Officer & Online Editor

Media Mentions

People with alpha-gal syndrome show allergic symptoms such as rash, nausea and vomiting after eating such meat.

Stephanie Soucheray
Reporter