Budget Survival Items.

Tinder. The best tinder is lightweight, packs small but can be fluffed up easily, takes a light well and burns for a decent time. I present to you....
 (Not my photo, mine comes out looking nicer than that. Then I pack it in ziplock bags)
Dryer lint! It's all of the above and also completely free, providing you use a clothes dryer and not hang things up on the washing line all the time. 

Okay seems like I'm plugging Coles, but all of these items will be available at similar prices at your favourite supermarket.
Next up we have.....

Multi-purpose. Up again is the multi purpose, because... well what's better than something cheap that can do one job? Something cheap that does heaps of jobs. I don't have enough time to write all uses for petroleum jelly, but google it (and I'm not talking about PAW tension release). I use it for burns, scrapes and minor cuts and when I've got dry lips. Can be used for chaffing, firelighting, various lubrication tasks, and about a million google links relating to it as a 'beauty product'. So put a tub in your bag and a tub in your cupboard... or 6
200g petroleum Jelly for $3.07

I love this thread mate, great stuff.

Also seeing as you mentioned zip lock bags, the biggest size zip lock bag you can find, that's a good cheap prep too, also a roll of garbage bags.

Great thread austemplar, thanks for posting it up.

I'm a little late to the party (is 2 years late too late?!)
but wanted to give this thread a bump given my current tight financial situation.
i like the maximus bottle tip - not just for the drink but for the bottle - they are unusually robust for a throw-away bottle. and the aluminium foil tip is great too.
anyone got any more?

Bunnings has / had these 
they where .99c a pack not sure what they are now 
how handy depends on individual I suppose
me I need them all the time to stay clean

$5 for 5 days of food
- 3 packets of 750g Rolled oats and 1 tin of Coles/cheapo condensed milk = 4.7 days @ 8700kj. Good protein/fat/calcium levels, no cooking required. Will eventually need salt, vit & minerals.

$8 for 5 days of water
20L of coles/aldi water in 10L containers

$0 for free water
Recycled well washed softdrink bottles with tap water kept in the dark.

My understanding is quick cook oats are easier to digest and if cooking they are quicker so conserve energy. Just need a bit of vit c and good to go with that condensed milk.

Condensed milk is basically somewhat dehydrated milk, that is it has 60% of the water removed and sugar. So yes, if you combine it with water, you'll have a sweet bland breakfast cereal with milk.  If you had other ingredients like tinned fruit, it would be quite tasty. 

I came up with the combination with the requirements of;
'cheap as possible' - $1-1.20/day is insanely cheap! Add in some vitamins and other items and it will be even better.  The amount of nutrients that a person requires varies depending on quite a few factors, though 8700kj/day is a good start. 
'doesn't need cooking' - they are steamed [cooked] and rolled flat. This is important as grains [all] have enzymes that hinder digestion and will tend to bloat you out and give you gas also.  This precooking also allows them to absorb moisture fairly quickly and transforms them into being more palatable.  The problem with rice and pasta is that they need to be cooked so that you an absorb their nutrients properly, they are both still great to store if you have an ability to cook them of course.



This is all important as we might be in a situation where the smell of cooking might bring people to your door.   We also might not have run out of gas, have no electricity etc and be unable to cook.  Tinned foods are another option here [and I have lots of them also] though they're also much more expensive relatively.  Though it all depends, you might for instance use them all of the time, which would make more sense to store extra.



Of course looking at the costing you can see costs that are 11 times that per 1000kj of rolled oats and those prices are for the cheapest items or on special. 

'Stores well'
Storage times for rolled oats seem to be well over 10 years, though that info is anecdotal as much of this seems to be.  I find that recommended storage times are more about being 90-100% of the quality/colour/taste for best by dates, not how long you can safely eat them [probably forever].  I suppose you would be better using oxygen absorbers though I did have some rolled oats my wife is going through that is 4 years old, never stored properly and is still just like new. 

A couple of multi vitamin tablet would be a good combination to give you your micro-nutrients.  

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Fractus - that might be true and it certainly turns into a slurry when soaked/cooked.  I'm not sure on the storage time for them and my thoughts on that the more together that they are, the longer they will last, though I don't know one way or another.  Nor do I yet know the method in which they're made, I would presume very similar to rolled oats and are chopped up in addition. 

Austemp - You might have a point on the new Aldi ones, are you referring to them?  The Coles ones are more durable and they changed the packaging at Aldi a while back, to a thinner design I believe.  I have the older Aldi ones stacked 4 high and they do bow out a bit, though none have broken.  I might sacrifice one [coles] and see how high I can drop it from before it breaks ha ha just for you bro.   I've also had 3 rolling around in the back of my wifes care for 18 months ha.