How To Be Prepared For Survival
You will have no fear if you are prepared for survival, I promise. There is something about going to bed at night knowing I have water, food, and a few emergency items I can survive with. Now, this didn’t happen overnight for me, it was a little of this and a little of that collected over many years.
Sometimes we need a little push to be prepared for survival, or a pat on the back for being prepared to survive almost any situation. I sometimes have to sit back and say to myself, Linda all is well, God will take care of your neighborhood, you can’t do it all yourself.
I take a deep breath and say, thank you God for reminding me that I can’t do it all. Mark and I don’t have the room or money to provide for my entire neighborhood, I am prepared to take care of Mark and myself. And maybe a few others.
I do talk with one of my friends who lives a few streets over about what we will each do in case we have a disaster that hits our subdivision. We both talk about how this woman can help us cook after a disaster, this guy can fix anything we need, etc.
I’m asked to speak in several churches and homes so people know I’m prepared. I was asked to write a book, “Prepare Your Family For Survival.” You may have read some preppers caution others, saying, “Keep it a secret if you have food and water.” Trust me, if we have the internet anyone can find us.
Some preppers use a pseudonym name because they are paranoid about people knowing who they are, where they live, or whatever. We have to respect their feelings. But, I’m real and I live in Southern Utah. I have readers that email me and call me. Sometimes, they just need a hand to hold as they learn how to use a pressure cooker. I get it. I really do.
Survival Skills
I grew up with a garden, having a pantry with food, sewing my own clothes, and making bread. We canned food and I taught my girls the same thing. Except, I regret I didn’t teach them to sew, but three have sewing machines. That counts, right? How can you mend if you don’t have a sewing machine?
When I go visit my daughters and their families usually someone has something that needs to be taken in or mended. That’s how we roll, every house has to have a sewing machine. I’m proud to say that three of my grandkids have taken sewing lessons, hooray!
I have a few items to help you think about what you may need to add to your emergency stash. These are the bare minimum, but hey, it’s better than nothing.
How To Be Prepared For Survival:
- Water: one gallon per person per day minimum. I prefer four gallons per person per day, but do what you can, ASAP.
- Food: today I am begging you to get a few extra cans of food, the government will not be there the day after any disaster. I know because I have lived through a few emergencies and we all know this is true. We must be self-reliant.
- Emergency stove: Camp Chef Butane 1 Burner Stove with Camping Case
you can cook just about anything on this little stove. Your gas barbecue uses too much fuel to boil water. Be sure and get extra fuel: GasOne Butane Fuel Canister (4pack) - Flashlight: make sure you have batteries if you have a battery-powered flashlight. I prefer to have a solar one: Goal Zero Flashlight
- Blankets: never give away blankets that can keep you warm if the power goes out.
- Portable toilet: this means storing extra toilet paper, kitty litter, and 10-gallon bags for your portable emergency toilet. Food Storage Moms Emergency Toilet Please remember those “time of the month” items your girls may need.
- Portable washing machine: we all want clean underwear no matter what, right? Food Storage Moms Portable Washer
- Medical Needs: please have a first aid kit and a good medical book like this one: Medical Handbook. If your OTC medications are expired, please pick some up today, not tomorrow. If the pharmacies and stores are closed, they are closed. I can’t emphasize this enough, we must take care of ourselves. If we lose power the stores may close and so will the pharmacies. What you have in your home today is what you will have in one hour if we have a total power outage for days, weeks, or months. Please be prepared for the unexpected.
- Auto Gas: please keep your gas tank at 3/4 full. If you need to flee your area, you don’t want to wait in line at a gas station to find out the tanks do not work due to lack of power.
- Cash: keep small bills like ones and fives for cash. If the power goes out, the banks, the stores, the ATMs, etc. will not work.
- 72-Hour Kits or bug-out bag: these would be awesome. I can give you a list, but basically, it means gathering ALL those items you may need in the next 72 hours.
- Plans: make a plan for evacuation and talk it over with your family. Make a Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C since situations change and family members’ schedules need to be considered.
- Important Documents: don’t forget to gather all of your important documents in an emergency binder so it’s ready to grab and take with you. Here is my FREE Printable download. Please be patient, it takes time to download on your computer. Food Storage Moms Emergency Binder
you can cook just about anything on this little stove. Your gas barbecue uses too much fuel to boil water. Be sure and get extra fuel: 
If your OTC medications are expired, please pick some up today, not tomorrow. If the pharmacies and stores are closed, they are closed. I can’t emphasize this enough, we must take care of ourselves. If we lose power the stores may close and so will the pharmacies. What you have in your home today is what you will have in one hour if we have a total power outage for days, weeks, or months. Please be prepared for the unexpected.Final Word
This is a very short list to remind you to be prepared for the unexpected. May God bless you for doing what you can to be prepared. Please teach your family how to be prepared for survival. May God bless this world, Linda
I so agree with you on sharing the idea of having extra stuff, not being so paranoid about that. I’ve made 2 new local friends because I wasn’t afraid to give my email out when it was apparent we had much in common.
It’s hard to understand why folks won’t get some extras when the news of regional disasters is so well broadcast. This coming weekend has many more areas that will be hit by flooding. Some will need evacuation, others will just need to wait it out, even if basements get water. But, so many areas are already low on supplies at stores. Semi trucks can’t get in…I wish more people read your page. Thanks for all the info you share.
HI Wendy, thank you for your great comment. I just heard Houston is asking some neighborhoods to stay in their homes because of a chemical plant fire. We never know when we must be prepared for what comes our way. I’m so glad to hear you have found some people you have a lot in common with. Be safe, Linda
My great nephew and his family live about 90 miles from that fire. One of them works close by it. Benzene in air is toxic, so people have been told to stay-in-place, to not go outside at all! I don’t think myniece is going to drive to work today. They said they can smell and see smoke even where they live. Pretty unexpected reason to need extras!
Hi Wendy, I heard about the Benzene!!! I hope the families come through this okay. This is so sad, I hope they all have water and food in their homes for who knows how long. Linda
Linda ~ I love your comments about sewing. I know how to sew my own clothes, quilt and make other things using a sewing machine. I have 2 electric sewing machines (one big one and one small travel sized one), a serger AND my favorite of all is a treadle sewing machine! I was given the treadle machine! What a deal! I figure if SHTF, I will still be able to sew! My daughter knows how to sew a little but she does not enjoy sewing like I do. She has a machine gathering dust!! She made me a bed sized quilt when she was in high school and another for a birthday a couple of years ago. She sews well but just does not enjoy doing that. I am looking forward to teaching my grandchildren how to sew. I will start out teaching them about the machine and how to care for it. Then I will start them off with an apron just like my mother taught me! We will then move on to learning how to piece a quilt before going on to making a pair of pajama bottoms and learning how to read a pattern. I certainly hope at least one of my grandchildren enjoys sewing.
For those who do not have sewing machines or like to sew, it is important to learn the basics regardless of enjoyment. We all need to know how to sew on buttons. Mending, if it is a small enough repair is fairly easy to do by hand. Those who do not know these things now, should watch some youtube videos AND have needles and threads in their preps. I have both in so many varieties: for general clothing repair/sewing; tent repairs; leather crafting, etc. I want to be prepared for any sewing event.
Another survival prep that I have is entertainment. Once we are prepared with the basics: food, water, shelter; we should then be prepared for our entertainment (Bible, books, games, crafts). None of our entertainment preps need to be large. I have a couple of decks of cards and a book on card games; a few craft “kits” I made up for making useful things like baskets, cordage. I have tried to keep my “entertainment” preps small enough that they don’t take up much space but I want to be busy once my personal safety and health are taken care of.
Something else that I saw on a website somewhere was to make up barter bags. Of course, I don’t have much room for these as I live in a pretty small apartment but… These bags have a couple of meals worth of food, a couple of bottles of water, some anti-bacterial hand sanitizer, etc. I don’t have any made up myself as food expires and would need to be rotated so often. I collect hand sanitizer when I find some given away at different venues; for example, our local cable company came to our apartment complex the other day and had hand sanitizer and lip balm as give aways. When their “talk” was over and people left, one gal said to take as many as I wanted! Wrong thing to say to me! I cleaned her out. I have these things stored in a bucket and can make up bags when necessary to give away. I think I also told you how I was making up emergency lighting kits in my empty pantry cans as well. These have emergency candles and matches. Nothing fancy but I can put in the hand sanitizer too!.
Hi Leanne, you are so prepared and never stop thinking about preps as in free lip balm and hand sanitizer!! I love that you have so many ways to sew, mend or quilt. Life is good with the skills we learned as a child. Good job! Linda
Both my son and my daughter learned to sew from their mother and I taught them how to using the yucca plant as well.
While youth deer hunting we also practiced repairing a kids pants by mashing down the barn on a small fishhook and using the line from the emergency fishing kit I had in their packs too.
Skills and a little resource go a long ways to making it.
Hi Matt, you are so right, skills and thinking about the resources we have, do in fact go a very long way!! Linda
I do not know if I have told you this before but I store my toilet paper in plastic bags. I roll the paper tightly off the roll, put them into vacuum sealable bags, seal them, then put in a large tote. No bulk. I can’t tell you how much paper I have stored in one tote. oh such a space saver. Then use your paper rolls to plant your seeds in as they are biodegradeable. I appreciate your willingness to help others. I am the self reliant specialist in my church and I am always looking for new ideas to share. Thank you.
Hi Judy, I love your tip on the toilet paper rolls. It would take up so much less space. I love hearing that you are the self-reliant specialist in your church. If I can help you with anything, please let me know. Do you have my book? I would love to send one to you. Linda Please email at foodstoragemoms@yahoo.com with your address.
Yes, you sent me ten last year. Excellent I must say. We passed them all out.
Hi Judy, oh good, now I remember. So glad you could use them. Linda