This question is an interesting one. I like the backpack idea to keep things limited. Iāve always avoided this question because people are never specific about rules. So I will make a different list of 5 items for each possible variation of reasonably made rules.
Rules that arenāt mentioned:
Getting off the island: allowed or no
Making boats
Rescue team
Are you stranded or is it a survival game where you know youāll come back
Is making electricity allowed
So, with said rules we will make:
A list assuming you canāt get off the island unless rescued but they canāt see you easily, electricity is not possible in this scenario.
We will also give a budget to make sure no pop-up mega yachts come up.
Budget can vary but Iāll give 1,000 USD per list of things.
We will also say you used the biggest thing you could find at dicks sporting goods to carry the 5 items. We will say itās this if you really need a reference. This bag is not an item and canāt be used for the challenge other than to carry things to the island.
Now we can finally start.
Before we just name things we need to think of the basic human necessities. The big two are food and water. The food must be cooked if it is anything other than plants/vegetation. Here you may say āWell you donāt need to cook fish silly. Humans eat sushi all the time!ā To that I say, āNo thatās a myth sushi is expensive because it gets treated so you can eat it raw.ā
Getting back on topic you need to know what plants not to eat. We will say you have this knowledge, but starving people can make irrational decisions. The water is fairly straightforward. The typical idea for this challenge is a deserted island in the ocean Iām gonna pick a spot on the map for reference. 5.64082Ā° S, 155.87863Ā° W Starbuck Island.
Average coastline
We can assume the water is mostly clean, but you need a way to separate the salt from the water. I was thinking of using common chemicals, but each one would count as another item, so I looked for more natural ways of removing the salt. This brings us to our first item. A black tarp.
Items used 1
You may be thinking āhow will a tarp help usā. The black tarp has a few cool tricks normal tarps donāt have. The color black is made by reflecting every color of visible light on one spot. The suns energy is naturally more attracted to black because of this and heats it up much faster. After some tests I can remember from 2nd grade wrapping material in this tarp and suspending it we can create a makeshift oven, which can cook food and remove salt from water. The one take-away is a tarp alone might not be enough to fully heat anything so I will also bring a bottle of aloe vera.
Items used 2
The aloe vera is used to focus the light onto one point making it possible to heat the tarp up much more. In addition to the reason, I just stated there is one more reason for choosing aloe vera. Aloe vera can be used to heal cuts and wounds as well as stop some skin irritation. So, if you get hurt traversing the vast mostly empty Starbuck Island, youāll be (somewhat) safe from cuts and wounds.
Tarps can be used for many other purposes too including shelter, hunting, and protection from wild animals.
Tarps however arenāt the best choice for hunting animals, so we need a plan for this. A healthy meal must have 3 of 5 food groups in it. To make things easier we will use the law. Specifically, the law regarding school lunches. We need a certain amount of fruit in the meal. (The easy part is the loopholes schools use) In America tomato products like ketchups count as tomato and tomato counts as fruit so by eating a couple ketchup packets (according to the USA) you had a lot of fruit.
If we want 3-5 food groups in a meal, we need to think because there are only 2 groups on the island the meat/protein and the fruit. The meat can come from fish and a few local species of bird, however where would we find the fruit? There is hardly anything on the island. Letās look at the few plant species on the island: A few flowers, bushes, young palm trees, and bunch grass. AHA! One of the bushes is called the Cordia subcordata bush. Itās a bush that produces lemon-like fruits.
I think 2 food groups should be enough as long as the department of agriculture doesnāt find me.
The last part of getting food is wellā¦ getting the food so a good tool to catch fish and birds alike is a spear. A spear could be used to catch fish in the water and catch sitting birds.
Items used 3
Now we can move onto a fun item.
The human brain needs regular exercise to stay mentally and physically well. I think I would need something to keep my head busy soā¦ I WOULD ALSO BRING A DECK OF CARDS! It fits in the bag, you can play so many games, come up with card tricks, and SO MUCH MORE!
Items used 4
Lastly, I would need a way to let rescuers know Iām in need of rescue so I would grab a good old 2-way radio.
Items used 5
Well, thatās what I would do.
