Thursday, June 1, 2017

Prepare Your Family For Survival: A Book Review

Is your family prepared for a disaster or an emergency? If you aren't sure, don't miss Prepare Your Family for Survival. Here's a book review.

Recently I've been reading about and giving a lot of thought to emergency preparedness. Survival. Planning in case of a natural disaster or man-made emergency.

As a wife and mom, the person in the household who plans daily meals and re-stocks the pantry once or twice a week, how would I feed and otherwise care for my family if I couldn't get out to buy food?

What if the power went out and the blackout lasted for several days or even weeks. How would we cook? Would we have enough water to drink? To use in cooking? To wash with or flush the toilet?

I've asked myself, "Is our family prepared for an emergency situation?"

Is yours?

Meet Author Linda Loosli


As I sought out answers, I came across a helpful book called Prepare Your Family for Survival, written by Linda Loosli, founder of Food Storage Moms. Linda has been schooling herself (and others) for decades and she knows the topic of emergency preparation inside and out.

Linda first became interested in preparedness when she was a teenager and thrust into a situation that included a serious snowstorm, an empty pantry, and several mouths to feed. Due to extenuating circumstances, she and a cousin were put in a position of having to find food for the family. Quite a task at age 16. And, really, at any age!

Linda vowed to herself after the snowstorm disaster that when she grew up and had a family, she would see to it that they were always prepared to face an emergency, that she would always have enough food and other supplies stored, just in case. After she was married, she put her thoughts into action. She began with a garden, advanced to canning food, then eventually began reaching out to neighbors and church friends, teaching classes to help other women learn how to prepare their families, too.

Prepare Your Family For Survival by Linda Loosli, Book Review from ReviewThisReviews
Prepare Your Family For Survival
Click the book cover for a peek inside.


This is Not a Doomsday Book


Often when people think of preparing for survival, the term "doomsday" finds its way into the conversation. Linda doesn't use fear to motivate. Having lived through emergencies, she knows very well what we all should know: power outages and other unexpected scenarios can and do occur with little or no warning, anytime, anywhere. And it's up to each family to prepare. While her practical methods and advice speak mainly to women, the steps to becoming prepared to survive apply to the entire family.

What You'll Learn From The Book


Most of Prepare Your Family For Survival addresses how to prepare to brave an emergency at home, though there also is a very helpful section on "bugging out," deciding when it's best to leave your home and what to take when you do. Linda has done the math for her readers, providing lists, charts, and check-off sheets based on family size. She even includes sections on the special needs that young children and pets present.

I like that the author makes it clear that water is first and foremost when it comes to what individuals need to survive. She also writes about storing food and how to choose which food to store, emergency cooking situations, what to do when the power is out, family first aid and medical preparedness, personal hygiene, and laundry. Her advice is concise and helpful even to the point of recommending particular products that work. And since Linda has tested literally just about every survival product ever invented, she definitely knows what works and what doesn't.

Who Needs This Book


The book addresses the basics of preparedness and survival, but even those with prior experience in the field may learn a thing or two. If you're a beginner and need to finally get started storing survival essentials, this is a perfect book for you.

To me, the introduction of the book is worth its price for the peace of mind that it offers. Understanding that it's important to treat preparedness as part of a lifestyle takes the "scary and overwhelming" out of the topic. And, let's face it, many of us only think about how prepared we really are when the tornado sirens start or the first forecast of just where the next hurricane might make landfall appears on the nightly news.

Despite my well-known affinity for ebooks and my beloved Kindle, I bought this book in the paperback version. There are lots of charts and lists inside and I've been flipping back and forth through the chapters since I got my copy. In this case paper is convenient and besides, charging your tablet might not be a big priority when the power's been out for days.

Make your choice (paper or ebook) at this link. Then please come back and leave a comment to let me and other readers know what you learned from the book that you didn't already know, and how the book helped motivate you to Prepare Your Family For Survival.

~Susan Deppner
Read more of my reviews.




Posted by Susan Deppner

Susan Deppner

About the Author

Susan Deppner is a baby boomer, a cancer survivor, and a Southerner who believes in the Golden Rule. She enjoys writing about food, faith, and fitness; health, home, and holidays; people, places, pets, and patriotism, and more. Follow Susan on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.




Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”


16 comments:

  1. Great review. Sounds like a book we all should read

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    1. I think so, Mary Beth. Whatever it takes to motivate people to plan ahead for emergencies that are bound to happen. Thanks!

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  2. I had not thought about snowstorms/blizzards being as much a severe weather emergency (being snowbound and without power) as tornadoes and hurricanes, Susan. Now that you remind me, that definitely needs to be a consideration of anyone living in northern places where winter storms are prevalent. I'm now remembering several storms just last winter here in the U.S. where storms caused power outages for several days each! Your review of Linda Loosli's survival book sounds perfect what with charts and lists and excellent suggestions to be prepared for any situation. And today is the perfect day to publish your review as June 1 begins the hurricane season!

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    1. Great point about hurricane season, Elf. Thanks for mentioning that! The most serious, wide-spread outages we've had here in the mid-south have been from ice storms with the worst being about 15 years ago. Over time, I think we've forgotten how uncomfortable it was to get along during those outages and, therefore, we've become complacent about maintaining emergency supplies. It's good to learn from others and get ourselves re-motivated to keep those emergency preps up to date. To me, that's definitely a good reason for reading the book. Appreciate your thoughtful comment!

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  3. It sounds like a great book to have on hand Susan! And, one that needs to be read well in advance of actually requiring the information within. I remember one ice storm several years back. We were without power for a few days. I did what any reasonable thinking person would do that was not prepared for the emergency. I went to Mom & Dad's house! Good thing they have always been prepared for whatever happens. And, I wasn't alone. We all piled up in their house like a bed of snakes prepared to strike if anyone opened the door and let in a cold blast. I do think my parent's generation are naturally better prepared for emergencies simply due to the experiences of their own childhood. After all, everything didn't just happen with the flip of a switch for them. Now, we must be taught what we never learned that would have been basic, practical knowledge before we were born.

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    1. Cynthia, another great point about the "older generation" and the wise habits that many of them learned as second nature when they were growing up. Unfortunately, I think there may be many more who have no clue what they could be up against in case of a long-term outage. I'm happy to see more people growing and canning food and becoming more self-sufficient these days, for whatever reason. Great thoughts - thanks!

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  4. It never ever hurts to be prepared. I like this idea and maybe it would even make a great wedding present for the couples that have everything else they ever wanted. I think my son and his bride to be would probably think it was a great idea. After all, all parents want their children to be safe at all times.

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    1. Grammie O, I love the idea of giving the book as a gift, and especially to younger family members. Excellent idea! You're right, it never hurts to be prepared. Thanks so much!

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  5. With the climate change we (in the north) are used to snow/blizzards, then this year we had our first hurricane windstorm - out for 7 days no electricity - I'd be interested to read the bugging out section - one can never be too prepared anymore!

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    1. Wow, Savvy, seven days with no electricity is a very long week! Reading your comment, I have to wonder if those of us in milder climates are less prepared because, in general, we have fewer threats from weather. Something for me to think about... The bugging out section gives excellent advice. There's a helpful discussion about legal papers and making a grab-and-go binder that everyone should read. I think you'd enjoy it.

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  6. Excellent review. I'm not so much into the doomsday thinking...but I clearly remember the blizzard of '78 and we were stranded for so long. Fortunately, we lived on a small farm and had plenty of food stored. But those feelings of "what if..." has stuck with me all these years. This is an excellent review of a book covering an important topic.

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    1. Dawn Rae, thank you for those kind words. It seems that many of us have blizzards, ice storms, floods, or hurricanes in our past that caused shutdowns that we will always remember. No reason to think similar incidents won't happen again. Being prepared for survival is like having insurance. You hope you'll never need it, but when you do need it, you're really glad you payed those premiums. I appreciate your input!

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  7. We truly have to become better prepared, I wouldn't be honest if I said we were - this book sounds like something we'd get a lot from

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    1. The book is a great road map for preparing, Barbara. I know that sometimes I need to be taken by the hand and told what to do (kindly, of course) and this book accomplishes that. I hope you find it useful!

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  8. I think we need some help thinking these issues through during this age we live in. We also need to get better prepared.

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    1. Great summary of the emergency prep situation, Barbara. It really does help to have help thinking things through. Thanks!

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