How often should you restock a first-aid kit?
Reviewed
The short answer
every year
Once a year. Sterile dressings carry an expiry date, and antiseptic loses strength once opened.
A kit that has been used gets checked when it goes back on the shelf, not twelve months later.
What runs out quietly
Plasters go first, one at a time, and nobody records the last one. The box still looks full because the bulky items stay put.
Sterile packs lose their guarantee once the seal breaks, even where the dressing inside looks untouched. Adhesive tape dries out and stops holding.
A short list that covers most of it
Plasters in three sizes, sterile compresses, a crepe bandage, adhesive tape, single-use antiseptic wipes, blunt scissors, tweezers and disposable gloves.
A thermometer and a foil blanket round it out. Anything past that belongs to a prescription with its own dates.
Common questions
Where should the kit live?
Somewhere cool and dry, out of reach of children, and known to everyone in the house. A bathroom cabinet is the common choice and the worst one, because heat and steam shorten the life of everything inside.
Does a car need a separate kit?
A small kit in the boot earns its place, and it faces harsher conditions than the one at home. Summer heat in a parked car ages dressings and antiseptic faster.
What about medicines in the kit?
Keeping a painkiller alongside the dressings is reasonable, and it runs to its own date. Checking both on the same day is simply easier to remember.
This reminder, in IAlwaysForget
« restock the first-aid kit every year »
- Understood as
- Recurring reminder
- Comes back
- every year