It’s really easy to make a few of these, stick them in a small medicine bottle or a jewel bag, and keep them in a little firestarting or med-kit. You could still use them for applying the petroleum jelly, but in general the obsession some people have with [trying to make everything multi-purpose]( More parachute cord goodness ) often ends up with ‘tools’ that are actually pretty useless for any purpose.
When backpacking or camping I carry a firestarting kit with firesteel, storm matches, and a plasma lighter all in a small pouch along with some tinder and char cloth, and if carrying a belt knife I’ll usually put a plasma torch or small firesteel with tinder in the sharpening stone pouch on the sheath, or else have this in my chest rig. It’s just faster and less messy to pull out and use an already prepared firestarter rather than having to break open my medkit, dig out the components (disorganizing and potentially dropping or contaminating items within) and combine them together, and frankly if I’m needing to make a fire with a firestarter instead of preparing natural tinder there is probably something approaching an emergency in progress.
In the backcountry I always carry a lightweight tarp or emergency reflective Mylar® shelter; faster than trying to make natural shelter and more reliable than looking for fuel to sustain a fire. The amount of extra weight is minimal and it can serve as both a sunshield, rain/snow shelter, and signalling device (if you pick a bright red, orange, or yellow color).
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