I can’t help feeling that Florence Nightingale would have been only too happy to have my out-of-date dressings.  Even in this day and age I think that in the event of an emergency they would be better than nothing.  Sterile or not, they would still be cleaner than any other fabric I might find lying around to press into use.  Sadly it is not cost effective to replace individual items in a kit, so every so often I find myself having to buy entirely new kit.  This means finding a sensible use for the old kit.  So, what to do?

Well a few kits, minus anything sharp – safety pins are always useful anyway - have simply been given to small people to play with.  I’m glad to report that many a happy hour has been whiled away mummifying teddy bears.  I’d like to think the best use would be to use them for training purposes, older children really love learning how to tie slings etc.  However, as with odd socks – there are only so many sock puppets you can make! - at the end of the day you may still find yourself with a lot of kit that may come in handy for other stuff.

It drives me mad when recipes, usually for preserving or brewing, call for clean muslin to strain stuff through.  I’ve never had clean muslin, or indeed dirty  muslin, I’m not even sure where to get it from.  But I’m no longer bothered because, as I discovered when making my elderflower champagne, a large if expired triangular calico bandage does the job just as well.

Yesterday I had another light-bulb moment as I pulled a rather sad looking blanket off the top of the compost heap.  The blanket itself is beginning to decompose and probably not doing the most effective job of keeping heat in.  It is also a bit slimy and unpleasant to handle.  I have seen, believe it or not, advertisements for ‘compost duvets.’  Like most people who like getting their compost (and much more besides) for nothing I wasn’t ever likely to fork out for one of these shiny quilts.  What could I use to keep my heap warm as the cold weather approaches?  Well as I mused on what to do with all my first aid stuff, I realised  I seem to have more foil rescue blankets than I’m ever really likely to use.  So here is the heap looking very cosy and super space-age shiny to boot. 

 Do you have any other suggestions for reusing my First Aid kit?