A standard first aid kit contains bandages, wound care supplies, basic medications, protective gloves, and a few simple tools like scissors and tweezers. The American Red Cross recommends about 25 individual items for a family of four, though the exact contents vary depending on whether the kit is for your home, car, workplace, or outdoor use.
Bandages and Wound Dressings
Bandages make up the bulk of any first aid kit because most everyday injuries involve cuts, scrapes, or bleeding. A well-stocked kit includes several types, each suited to different wounds.
Adhesive bandages are the workhorse. The Red Cross recommends at least 25 in assorted sizes. Standard workplace kits start with 16 and go up to 50 for higher-risk environments. Include butterfly bandages as well, which hold the edges of deeper cuts together while they heal.
Sterile gauze pads cover wounds too large for an adhesive bandage. Keep both 3×3-inch and 4×4-inch pads on hand, at least five of each. These are nonstick, so they won’t pull at a wound when you change them.
Roller gauze wraps around a limb to hold a gauze pad in place or apply light pressure. Two widths are useful: a 2-inch roll for fingers or wrists and a 4-inch roll for arms or legs.
Trauma pads (5×9 inches) are thick, absorbent dressings designed for larger wounds with heavier bleeding. Two is the standard minimum. A triangular bandage, roughly 40x40x56 inches, doubles as an arm sling or a way to secure a splint. Keep at least two.
Adhesive cloth tape holds everything together. The Red Cross suggests one roll of 10 yards by 1 inch. Workplace kits typically carry at least 2.5 yards.
Antiseptics and Topical Treatments
Cleaning a wound before covering it is what prevents infection. Your kit should include antiseptic wipes (at least five packets) for cleaning around a cut, plus antibiotic ointment packets (five, roughly 1 gram each) to apply directly to minor cuts, scrapes, and burns before bandaging.
Hydrocortisone ointment helps with itching from insect bites, poison ivy, or mild allergic skin reactions. Two small packets are enough. For sunburns, a small tube of aloe gel provides relief and can be tucked into any kit without taking much space. Hand sanitizer rounds out the antiseptic supplies, letting you clean your hands before treating a wound when soap and water aren’t available.
Over-the-Counter Medications
A few basic medications cover the most common situations you’ll face. Acetaminophen or ibuprofen handles headaches, fevers, pain from sprains, and general soreness. Aspirin is worth carrying separately: two packets of low-dose (81 mg) aspirin are part of the Red Cross recommendation, since aspirin can be critical during a suspected heart event. Antihistamines treat allergic reactions from bee stings, food, or environmental triggers and can reduce swelling and itching while you figure out next steps.
Tools and Equipment
You don’t need many tools, but the ones you need are hard to improvise. A good pair of scissors (or trauma shears) cuts through tape, gauze, clothing, or a seatbelt. Tweezers remove splinters, ticks, or debris from a wound. An oral thermometer, preferably non-mercury, tells you whether a fever is mild or worth worrying about.
Beyond those three essentials, the Red Cross also recommends an instant cold compress for sprains, strains, and bumps. These single-use packs activate when squeezed and stay cold for about 20 minutes. An emergency blanket, the thin foil type that folds down to the size of a deck of cards, retains body heat during shock or exposure to cold. A breathing barrier with a one-way valve lets you perform CPR without direct mouth-to-mouth contact.
Personal Protective Equipment
At least two pairs of nonlatex gloves belong in every kit. Nitrile is the most common choice because it avoids latex allergy risks while still fitting snugly enough for detailed work. The FDA banned powdered medical gloves in 2016 due to health risks, so any gloves you buy today should be powder-free. If you’re restocking an older kit, check the gloves and replace any powdered pairs.
A First Aid Guide
This is the most overlooked item in a kit and one of the most important. A printed first aid instruction card or booklet walks you through steps for choking, bleeding, burns, and fractures when adrenaline makes it hard to think clearly. Both workplace safety standards and the Red Cross include one as a required component.
Extra Items for a Car Kit
A vehicle kit starts with everything above, then adds a few things specific to roadside situations. A large blanket (not just the foil emergency type) keeps an injured person warm while waiting for help. A flashlight with extra batteries helps you see injuries or signal for help at night. Reflective triangles or flares warn oncoming traffic. If you spend time near water, a life jacket and a way to call for help, such as a VHF radio, are worth keeping in your vehicle as well.
Extra Items for Outdoor and Hiking Kits
Wilderness kits account for the reality that professional medical help could be hours away. Moleskin prevents and treats blisters before they sideline a hike. Electrolyte packets address dehydration from heat or exertion. A syringe (without a needle) lets you pressure-irrigate a dirty wound with clean water, flushing out debris far more effectively than pouring water over it. Cooling burn gel provides pain relief for camp stove or campfire burns when running water isn’t nearby. An elastic bandage wraps a twisted ankle firmly enough to walk out on.
Checking and Replacing Supplies
First aid supplies don’t last forever. Medications like aspirin, antihistamines, and antibiotic ointment all carry printed expiration dates and lose effectiveness over time. Sterile items stay sterile only as long as their packaging remains intact. If a sealed pouch is torn, punctured, or wet, the contents are no longer considered sterile regardless of the printed date. Heat-sealed plastic medical pouches can maintain sterility for up to nine months, but many kits sit in hot cars or humid closets that shorten that window.
A quick check every six months catches expired medications, used-up supplies, and damaged packaging. Replace anything questionable. It’s also the right time to make sure gloves haven’t become brittle and that your cold compress hasn’t already been activated by accident. The cost of restocking is small compared to reaching into your kit during an emergency and finding supplies you can’t use.