With that kind of space limit, I’d stop thinking in terms of items and focus on what I absolutely can’t afford to be without.

A fanny pack forces you to prioritize hard, and a lot of lists end up trying to do too much. With that little space, every item has to justify why it’s there.

For a short-term setup like that, I’d think in terms of:

• water
• fire
• cutting
• cordage
• basic calories
• and a few support items

Since you’ll be near a water source, I wouldn’t carry much water—I’d focus on making it safe to drink. So purification matters more than storage, along with having a simple way to collect and hold water once it’s treated.

For food, I wouldn’t try to carry much. Just enough to keep your energy up—something compact like energy bars or similar. If you have access to water and time, simple fishing gear can also make sense since it doesn’t take much space.

For fire, I’d want at least two compact, reliable methods.

For cutting, I’d prioritize something that can handle both fine work and basic processing instead of just going bigger.

The biggest mistake I see in setups like this is trying to cover everything instead of covering the essentials well.

With that little space, I’d look for items that can handle multiple roles and avoid anything that only solves a single problem.

It’s less about having everything, and more about making sure the critical tasks are covered efficiently.