Making a med kit

I get quizzed on this on occasion - is it better to buy one or make one? That's not a straight forward answer. The med kit you take on a 7 day hike in the desert will be different than a day hike (or at least it should be).

Well, there the real issue is let the context of the trip determine what you need in the med kit. The availability of medical evacuation is the real determination on how serious your kit needs to be, or if it should just a few things for actual life saving in emergencies versus allowing a few things to make people more comfortable (such as Advil ect).

Personally, I buy a kit that covers the minimum I need and customize it from there to save on cost. The packs often have extra room for extra items such as over the counter and prescription meds, and additional components dependant on your level of medical training. Over the years I have switched from carrying a large med kit to a significantly reduced kit as I learned to improvise as needed and remove redundant items.

You can make your own from scratch, just make sure that the container is waterproof.

Here's a good reference:
http://www.wildmed.com/wma_faid.html

Adventure Medical has a variety of med kits targeted for the outdoor adventuring type. Their Ultra Light kits are surprisingly effective in my experience.