That's an interesting assessment, but I have to disagree with most of the examples you gave. For example, a shield is used in combat, and combat inevitably produces XP. A fishing rod is mainly used for fishing, which produces XP even if you catch garbage. Flint and steel – how much fire are you trying to set? It might be worth treating it as a disposable item and just bringing two stacks of flint and iron ingots to quickly make replacements.
All the items you mentioned can be enchanted with Unbreaking (level 3 essentially quadruples their durability) and Mending (1 XP repairs 2 base durability, or 8 "virtual" durability with Unbeaking 3).