- Cooking – Foil works great for its intended use as a cooking aid. Whip up some roasted squirrel and wild herbs in a foil pouch for an appetizing emergency meal. You can even reuse the foil multiple times.
- Water Boiling – Practice a little origami with a piece of paper first, to learn how to fold a square pot out of flat material. Once you have the idea, fold the foil into a square or rectangular “pot” to boil water.
- Signal strips – Tear off strips and dangle them on branches and shrubs to make eye-catching, reflective strips. These can mark a path or signal for help.
- Solar Oven – Line the interior of a cardboard box with foil, place a dark colored pot in a clear oven bag and set the bag inside the foil box. Aim the open side of the box at the sun and slow cook your feast.
- Dressing Pouch – Put clean cloth strips in a tightly folded foil packet and bake at a low temperature to create semi-sterile gauze and dressings for wounds. Leave the cloth in the foil until needed.
- Fishing Lures – Use the malleable foil wrapped around a bare fish hook to replicate to shape of small fish or spoon. Secure it tightly and cast it out there, better yet, use it as a slow moving ice fishing lure.
- Container – Fold the foil into envelopes or packets to act as a container for small items, or use it as a protective layer for larger items.
- Mirror – A shiny piece of foil can provide a slightly reflective surface, useable as an improvised signal mirror.
- Repairs – Some sticky like glue or pine sap, combined with a strip of foil, can act as a temporary patch for pierced hydration bladders and cracked water bottles.
- Long Match – Fill a piece of aluminum foil with shredded cedar or juniper bark. Place a coal into the bark fiber, and roll it up like a cigar. Leave one end open and transport your fire to a new spot.
These tips, and many more survival tips, are in MacWelch’s books:
Prepare For Anything
Hunting and Gathering Survival Manual
How To Survive Anything
And if that’s not enough, you can:
Follow Tim on Twitter @timmacwelch
Take one of his survival classes at www.advancedsurvivaltraining.com and check out more of MacWelch’s outdoor skills and survival articles at Outdoor Life Magazine’s survival site, The Survivalist.
