Vacuum sealing med gear

Tonight I did a small experiment in reducing bulk in my group medical kit by vacuum sealing some of the components.  I had gotten a food saver to package backpacking meals, but figured that some of the bulkier components of my medical kit could be a bit more compact if vac sealed.  This took a fair bit of trial and error since I haven't used the food saver much.

What I discovered is that the best vac is pulled when the bag is significantly oversized compared to the item when it is a soft item such as a 3x3 or elastic bandage.  This obviously adds some mass to the kit, however this particular kit is optimized towards small group adventures instead of fast backcountry trips.

I also found that the vacuum pulled by a food saver is by no means near what is used by commercial manufacturers.  I have a few vac sealed roller gauzes, which show less volume than the supplies that I prepared, however the cost is much higher than normal supplies.  Thus is my small experiment in gear prep.

Pros:

• waterproof
• smaller size for gear
• supplies will not get contaminated/outer packaging can be cleaned
• can turn round gear into flat gear
• can prepackage procedure kits

cons:

• extra mass
• slower access