Ultralight water-resistant seal rigid plastic containers?

old (135) film roll canisters?

[…]

Snipping off sections of plastic drinking straws and heat sealing the ends shut is a good way to store spoon sized amounts of whatever..

Some M&Ms in the candy aisle come in a nice, sturdy plastic tube with a flip top that seals pretty securely. I've used one to transport human remains (ashes) around the world to scatter a friend's fiancé in places he never got to visit in his 25 years of life.

If you use them and like them, get several colors so your fire stuff (red) is clearly not your washing / water treatment stuff (blue) or your food (green) or whatever color scheme makes sense to you.

Does it have to be plastic? Not quite as water-tight, but free if you know a cigar smoker are the humidor tubes designed to keep a cigar in a fairly air-tight container to retain its humidity. There was at least one BPL thread on those with names and brands of the lightest ones out there.

Edited to add: You should probably transport cremation ashes in an entirely separate and distinct color / container from your other supplies.

Further edited to add: there are after-market humidor tubes that are heavier gauge stainless steel. The lightest ones are aluminum and come around upper-end cigars from the factory.

I use Tinder Quick tabs stuffed into a Bison Design "spy capsule". I can get 5 tabs in a small capsule. They do make larger ones that look like a mini SCUBA tank.

I keep the firesteel, capsule, AA flashlight, whistle and Swiss Army Classic on a keyring in one pocket and carry a 3.5" folding knife on a pocket clip. I carry a K&M match case with UCU storm matches in another pocket. The K&M has a mini compass as well. These items form the core of my survival strategy and are on my person rather than in my pack. Another trick is to keep a flat survival type water bag in the crown pocket of my Tilley hat. It's all based on the scenario of losing my pack in a stream crossing or the like.

Geocachers often use these: http://www.cache-advance.com/proddetail.asp?prod=Preform

They are the "blank"; that pop bottles are made from. Dont know what they weigh, probably the same as a pop bottle.

Lots of cool ideas in this thread. I like the geocaching preforms a lot, but then again, David's suggestion comes with chocolate… ;^)

Pro-tip from a sea kayaker: tie a string to the first cotton ball you put into any tube.

Just like you tie a line on the first stuff sack you toss into the bow of your kayak so you can later extract the last deepest items that are beyond your reach.

Unless your spork handle reaches the end. And you want Vasoline all over your spork handle

The thing to remember here and with any essential/survival item, is that you are starting a process of assembling gear that your life may depend on. Imagine that you are cold and wet and now your tinder is won't light because you used an inadequate means of storing it. Oops! Nearly every back-country misadventure is a descending spiral of bad assumptions and mistakes. Going too light or too cheap might find you in worse shape.

"Trust in God and keep your powder dry"
— Attirbuted to Oliver Cromwell

There's more choices here:

http://www.survivalresources.com/Products/Misc_Containers.html#LunchBots

Also you can find someone that takes alot of meds. Pill bottles can be free, just make sure you take the label off.

>"someone that takes alot of meds"

Jack reminds me of some cool containers I got for free at a garage sale – little canisters a little smaller than 35mm film canisters, but with a water-tight and quick flip-top better than the M&Ms tubes. They were from diabetic test strips. And he had dozens of them.

Edited to add: a lot of spices come in glass containers, but some come in lightweight plastic with good screw-top closures:

Edited further to add, "Honey, why is the cream of tartar now in an old M&M container labelled "Paul's ashes?!?""

I know that you asked for hard plastic containers and you didnt spec what kinda tinder but I use the ziplock mini pill pouches for my tinderquicks and in sure they would work for a lot of other tinders. You find them at the Walmart pharmacy

Rely on tinder that does not have to be dry such as tinder tabs and PJ cotton balls. I use a small sample container for lab samples made by Nalgene.

At some Walmart drug aisles, they sell products for diabetics. If a diabetic has gone overboard on insulin, they might need a quick sugar boost. There are flavored glucose tablets sold in a rigid plastic tube with a good cap ($1). I use the tubes and caps.

–B.G.–

I was standing in line at at the pharmacy yesterday and found this capsule for $5. 0.4oz/12g, 2" tall overall and 3/4" outside diameter.

I saw the same item in a Dollar Store for $1.

–B.G.–

"I saw the same item in a Dollar Store for $1."

Of course! Another one to look for :)

Dale, I use that particular aluminum container to carry a tiny glass medicine bottle with me. Imagine that. The glass bottle is sealed and needs to remain so. Otherwise, I would just dump the medicine into the aluminum container or a smaller one.

–B.G.–