Letters

October 12, 2014
“This morning I was praying for guidance about preparedness, and your site was the answer. Literally. The name came to my head so clearly. I put down my study & brainstorming and came downstairs to see what the name meant. I googled it and found your blog. I almost wanted to cry. Thank you for what you are doing and for what the Lord will continue to be able to do through you in the lives of families here in Ohio. We are starting a preparedness group in our ward/community next week that focuses on spiritual, mental&emotional, and temporal preparedness. The resources you have provided are such a blessing. Praise the Lord! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Grace be with you in your efforts!”

October 6, 2013
“Hello.. First let me say…. I love your blog…and have been gleaning lots of great information and ideas… thank you.
I would like to share something I do regarding storing grain items…..I found that often times when I purchase flour, or rice, beans, etc… that after a time.. they seem to breed pantry moths and / or weevils… Well someone told me in order to alleviate that problem… simply freeze the flour or pasta or whatever it is that might spawn a flurry of those pests.. freeze for a minimum of 14 days, but preferably a month…. After this period in the freezer, store these items in clean plastic buckets, or bags, or however I would normally store things …and voila.. no varmints.. I started to do this a few years ago.. and now am totally moth / beetle free in my meager storage area..t pays to invest in mouse traps, and spider traps as well…
Love your site … God’s blessings, Carolyn( a 70 year old Christ loving hillbilly woman )

September 25, 2013
I’ve just found this list. Thank you for it:) I’ve been really stressed lately about food storage as I don’t have a lot of money to spend on food storage. Also, I’m in the UK so haven’t heard of some of the foods that are mentioned. I went to bed really stressed last night & then found this. I feel it’s an answer to a prayer – my favourite scripture by the way:) I’m not going to start storing breakfast items, such as cereal, then milk & sugar – & my favourite breakfast item – Pop Tarts:) It’s true that breakfast can be eaten for other meals, even tea:) (Dinner) Thank you for this:( Julie

September 22, 2013
Last year I had to take over the budgeting, planning, and overall everything for my aging parents. I found your site when I was searching for a method accumulating necessary supplies and food for back up as we are prone to ice storms and power outages. Your blog has been the back bone of our system. Making food substitutions due to dietary needs and allergies is easy and the forms that you provide make inventory and preparedness easy. Although we are not of the same faith, I share in your desire and accountability to take care of oneself and then be able to care for others as need be. We are now including aunts and uncles and friends in our discussions. Thanks for providing these resources for everyone and making a better today AND tomorrow possible. Winfred

September 8, 2013
I am so glad I stumbled across your website. I cannot thank you enough for posting all this great information on your website. My husband and I have been married for over 25 years now and I have never fully started saving our year supply. Sure, I have tried, but I have never finished. We either move or end up using everything I have set aside and then I never start again. I have lots to do and your website has reminded me that this does not have to be overwhelming and that I just need to start. Thanks again for all you do. I really appreciate your hard work. You have inspired me!!! Sondra

August 30, 2013
I am so grateful for all the amazing website you have created. Thank you for sharing your knowledge, menus and organization ideas. I have been trying to wrap my brain around how to get my family better prepared, so I am very grateful to have stumbled across your website. Jennifer

August 25, 2013
This is an awesome emergency preparedness site. I was just called as a Relief Society Emergency Preparedness specialist and I have a feeling I’m going to be spending a lot of time on here. Thanks for all the work you’ve done to provide this information. My RS Pres has asked me to share a little tip and goal each week in RS and so I’m hitting up the Provident Living site and yours a lot!

April 17, 2013
By far the best preparedness site I have found! I love how you break it down for us. Thank you for all your hard work!

March 22, 2013
I really appreciate all the effort you have put into this blog. I am currently working with a small RS group in a small Spanish Branch and I can’t even begin to tell you how valuable your blog is to me. I look into your monthly goal and translate it into spanish to help direct the sisters and myself with our food storage. Thank you!!!! Elena

March 1, 2013
Thanks so much for you blog. I look at it daily just to make sure I don’t miss anything. With the possible upcoming furlough of gov’t employees, I am grateful I have followed you and will be prepared if my pay is temporarily cut. I have built up my storage to almost 6 months. Thanks again!

January 20, 2013
“I just want to, again, let you know how much you and your website have helped me and my family. This past Thursday we had a fast, but significant snowstorm here in southwest Virginia. Our schools closed early in anticipation of this weather event. As I drove passed the grocery stores I noticed how full the parking lots were and began a mental list of things I might need to do or buy before the storm hit. I thought of the many things I have read on your site and realized I needed nothing in the areas of food and supplies. I also realized I did not have anything pressing to do at the house. I had plenty of food and water, charged flashlights, alternative heat, and alternative ways to cook if needed. All I really needed was to have all my family members safely home. I pulled into my driveway as several neighbors were leaving for the store. At that moment, the snow began to fall. What did I do while others were at the store? I made myself a cup of hot chocolate, bundled up and took the dog outside to sit on our front porch to watch the snow fall quietly. It was a very peaceful experience watching the breath of God fall from the sky creating perfection around my beautiful Appalachian mountain home. I could not help but compare it to what God has done for us. My dog and I sat outside for about half an hour and then went inside and snuggled up to a movie as my family returned home, one by one, safe and sound. I am not LDS, but as a believer feel we share many of the same important beliefs. As always, I thank you for your guidance. I do enjoy the facebook “reminders.” Keep up the great work.”

January 15, 2013
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! I have been teaching off and on, and doing food storage and emergency preparedness for 30 yrs and found your site today. How thrilled I am to find your site exactly as I would do it if I had done it myself. I am teaching a last minute class on food storage tomorrow, and am thrilled to present your site as a great resource for the women in our relief society meeting. You give wonderful instruction on getting started and revisiting this most important aspect of LDS families. I am so excited to revisit my needs here as well, and with your help the task will be easy. You have made “simple the work”. Thank you again. You have sparked the flame for one of my goals in 2013. Love it. With much gratitude from Medford, OR

January 4, 2013
“Thank you for what you are teaching. Our children range in ages from 30 – 4. I lived in the Bay Area for 30+ years. Living in California’s earthquake ridden area I always had food storage, emergency back packs for my family as well as emergency school kits for my school age children. When I moved here to Sparks Nevada, 15 years ago, I got rid of all reminders of living an an earthquake area. What a foolish thing to do! I do still keep some food storage but that’s about it. This year I want to rebuild my emergency kits, and my food storage. Thanks to your website I feel I have found someone who can help me. Thank you. This month we are starting with your January food storage goals and getting containers for our 72 hour kits. My husband & I are both excited to be getting prepared for emergencies, with your help, we will be prepared by the end of this year. We are planning to give each of our Kids & Grandkids fully stocked emergency kits for Christmas next year. Again, we thank the Lord for guiding me to your web site. We wish you and your family a healthy & happy 2013!” Sparks Nevada

December 19, 2012
“I just wanted to write to you and thank you for your blog. I was raised LDS and early teens my family fell away slowly. I am now married and have a daughter and I have asked my husband (he is a non member and was raised Presbyterian) to please attend church with me because I want to be active again, I have just had an un-easy feeling and ever since attending and learning more I have so much more peace.. I have been slowly, as our budget allows us, trying to build up our food storage.. I am still in the 3-month stage so I am at the very beginning but I spend as much time as I can trying to research how to go about it in the most effective way, and where to find the best priced bulk for when I get to start my long-term storage. I just came across your blog tonight and it is such a blessing.. I have previously made lists of where to start, what I will need, approx. costs of each step and my end goal. I have also realized rotating is important so I am now searching for good books to teach how to incorporate your food storage into daily use so that you keep it fresh and when you do need to sustain life on it, you will already know what to do with it, being a young wife and mother I am still learning my way around the kitchen so throwing basic ingredients at me and telling me to whip something up.. well it intimidates me a bit ;). I am not really sure why I have written you my story.. I just am very happy to have found your blog and so inspired to keep slowly building to my end goal! I also know that I will be referencing to your blog alot now 🙂 I wish you and your family the best and thank you SO incredibly much for taking your own time to build this blog.”

November 25, 2012
Thanks so much for this. I too just found your blog. I just started emergency preparedness 1 week before Hurricane Sandy and it has been overwhelming and frustrating since. Your blog is wonderful and now gave me a step by step instructions. Thank you so much.

October 24, 2012
I ran acrossed your site a couple of weeks ago and love it. I was raised in utah and brought up in a family where food storage was very much a part of our lives. It is a part of my natural nature to store, however I think somewhere along the way I got stuck on food and forgot the other important parts such as first aid and emergency. I had started thinking about this and researching and thus ran across your site. Your excel spreadsheet is now on my computer and the weekly and monthly plans are so helpful even for someone that has been involved in it for years..I was so excited I have passed your web site on to several others and have been told they have passed it on. Thanks for an incredible site we can all benefit from. Justine

October 16, 2012
“First let me say I find your blog very helpful. Thank you! Secondly… I live in Raleigh NC. Most people don’t think of our area as being prone to disasters. I’m 35 years old and I’ve been through too many hurricanes to count, several tornado devastations, and many mean winter storms. After Hurrican Fran we had no power for 12 days, the roads were hazardous, and we were under a curfew. Luckily I was just a college student and could rely on friends’ local families. A winter storm a few years later (that was supposed to be a light “dusting”) turned out to be 23″ (a record) and had roads closed for 5 days. Another winter storm a few years later had people here in Raleigh stuck on the roads for up to 10 hours. There are several more that I could mention but you know how the stories go. After that snow storm I realized this could happen to us in any weather, at any time, with little to no warning. I’ve been teaching my children about being prepared, and trying to teach my stubborn husband as well. He’s finally agreed to my “crazy stockpiles” as he calls them. He grew up in Cleveland where the city is prepared for winter weather, doesn’t get hurricanes, tornadoes, or earthquakes so he doesn’t quite get it. I think the first major storm we get that puts us in a bind, he’ll be thanking me.”

September 23, 2012
I have just spent several hours looking over your website. I was looking for a practical way to gather food for storage and found your information to be very helpful. Our ice storm was not typical to our climate, but the first thing my husband did was rush to the store and buy us a kerosene heater. They were sold out in a matter of hours.
We were lucky that we had a gas stove and could cook on the top burners. We had no electricity for a week and were cautioned not to travel. I was glad that I did not have an empty pantry!Some people had to cook out in the cold on bbq pits. We enjoyed the company we had over for meals, playing board games and keeping warm! During the 2 evacuations, I learned to keep my important papers handy. It took me an hour to pull all of them out of the filing cabinets. Now I have everything in a metal type of briefcase. I have insurance policies, copies of passports, birth certificates, etc. Things I may use during the evac. I also keep my yearly papers in a plastic file tote, and not in my file cabinet that way I can grab it and go knowing I have all of my paperwork for the year right there. I keep a file folder for each month, and as I pay my bills, etc. I just put them in the folder. At the end of the month, I just put it in the file tote. I also keep one with all of the previous years IRS info all together in it. Because I had everything together, I was able to immediately start filing insurance as soon as I knew that I had damage to my house- even before I actually was able to get back home- and the sooner you contact your insurance, the sooner you get an adjuster. After the first hurricane, my husband bought a generator that runs our whole house by propane, but that does not mean that you can run it all of the time! We were without electricity for 3 weeks with Rita. It wasn’t that hard to pull meals from our pantry, but better planning would have made better meals! It was odd seeing our local grocery stores with empty food shelves! I remember that the Little Debbies were going faster than they could put them on the shelf. Luckily all we really had to buy was milk and ice, and Little Debbies!LOL During one evacuation, my brother was smart and filled up all of the empty gas cans that he had, and it sure came in handy! It was scary seeing all of the people that ran out of gas during the evac and had no where to get gas. That is one of the first things that we do when a storm gets into the Gulf- keep gas full in the car, and fill up all of our empty gas cans. Of course, you have to be careful traveling with gas cans full of gas, but if you have no where to buy it, it becomes an necessity.You have to be careful because of the gas is flamable, but you also just might get robbed. It is good to travel in a caravan with friends or family for safety. Gas stations on the evac route ran out of gas. Another thing, if you wait until the last minute to leave, you don’t get to choose any road you want, you are directed where to go. It is important to know which roads will be closed and where your traffic will be directed to. It is just horrible getting caught in that mess. Try to leave before it is mandatory! I will be using a variation of your food list for the car if I ever have to evac again!” Thanks, Marsha

September 3, 2012 – South Carolina
Just wanted to tell you how thankful i am for your website i have been following you for a few months and i guess you could say i am now addicted to your site. i am also a very busy mom and grandmother and i am a baptist not a mormon. i receive your e-mails and that truly is my few minutes of ME TIME each day. so again THANK YOU VERY MUCH for all that you do. unfortunately i am unable to participate in the Utah case sales, i live in SC about 50 miles from Myrtle Beach, SC. hope you have a great week Thanks, C.B.

August 3, 2012
“I am a mother of 5 children. My Husband and I live in Mount Shasta, Ca. Two years ago we had a very heavy wet snow storm. It knocked down trees, power poles, and lines in the area. We were without power for 1 week. We live in the outer area of town. So we reley on our well for our water. We thought we would be ok, but no power, no water! We have a wood burning stove, so I did get very creative and did some cooking on the stove for our main meals. We did not have enough water or a generator. While the food in the freezer kept ok as it was in the garage, we had to put some of our milk outside. We did find out that the dogs really like milk! While this only lasted a week, it was a real wake up call for us. We really learned what we needed to survive a disaster. And we really enjoyed the quiet family time with our children!”

July 8, 2012 – Ohio
We recently endured high winds and some storms. As a result we experienced power outages (some up to 10 days). A couple things we learned were 1. Have cash on hand. Some places were not accepting credit/debit cards and ATMs were out of power so we were not able to get cash. 2. Have a generator and air conditioning window unit. We recently had a baby and the temperatures were exceptionally high. We are in the 100’s and that’s HOT for Ohio. Needless to say, we were HOT! Even if we had a generator it wouldn’t work with central air. Same would probably go if it was winter. Have some kind of plug in heat system. 3. Lots and LOTs of water. Not just for drinking but bathing. 4. A cooler to store what you can salvage from freezer/refrigerator and if you can find ice! E.C.

July 3, 2012
“My family is one of thousands who were without power here in Virginia this past week due to storms. I had myself, my husband, adult daughter, her husband and newborn (literally!) baby, and our other adult son, along with our 2 dogs here. Thanks to you and your website, I was FAIRLY prepared to deal with this issue. I had enough food and water to keep us all hydrated and fed, using our gas grill (with a backup tank of fuel available). Fortunately for us, our power was restored after 48 hours. I have always been a fan of the LDS Preparedness program, although I am not a member of the LDS church. I learned from friends who are LDS members. I mainly relied on storing some food and water in my early years of homemaking, which helped us survive many hurricanes, typhoons, and a couple of employment losses. But it was not until I came across your site that it all began to come together and allowed me to organize and prioritize a plan. I was having trouble convincing my husband of the importance of being prepared until this past weekend. When we were building our house, I wanted to have it wired for a generator. He did not agree. Come Saturday morning he was kicking himself and actually said that he should have listened to me! Now, once this current power crisis is over in our area, he is going to arrange for an electrician to come and wire us up. He has already ordered a generator for any future emergencies. AND, he has expressed interest in your website to see what I have been talking about:) I have several disaster stories I could share having lived on Guam for 3 years. If you are interested in hearing them, feel free to contact me. Once you live on Guam, a person’s perspective changes dramatically! My husband was rarely there, as he was in the Navy and constantly on missions off island. So he never could quite understand what I was talking about when it came to preparing for the worst. Thank you for your website. I look forward to reading your book.”

July 3, 2012 
My husband is retired Air Force and I have a testimony that having some Food Storage is a blessing! I always had at least two to four paydays worth of Food Storage. There were times that the Military messed up his pay(gee imagine that) and after bills were paid there was next to nothing left. Knowing I could get by with only buying Milk and some produce was a great comfort. Or there were times when he was deployed that I did not want to take 4 kids under 6 years old to the Commissary by myself so we use some of the food storage then built it back up when he got back. When it was coming up on time to move we just didn’t go shopping for awhile and used that money for moving expenses or fun time. What was left food-wise blessed neighbors who were moving to the base we were leaving. Thank you for all you do. T.J.

July 2, 2012
“I just thought that I would share our experience from this weekend. I hope that you don’t mind. We just went though two full days of no power in 100+ degree weather. Over 500,000 customers were without power (Pepco power). Over a million in the DC,Virginia, and Maryland areas. Thankfully, we were prepared except for having ice. That was a tough commodity to come by this weekend. Also, most gas stations ran out of gas due to high volume needed for generators and other stations being shut down without power. The ward did an awesome job checking on each other. The building was open for quite sometime on Saturday for some AC respite for members. I went up and watched a movie (Prince of Egypt) and it was quite a refreshing experience. Then, went home to 88 degree weather inside our main level of our townhouse. The upstairs was hotter and the basement was cooler. So, we lived in the basement. One thing that we did not have enough of was battery operated fans. We fortunately were able to purchase some on Saturday and that made the basement quite comfortable. Sunday at church was nice and cool as well. We finally got power restored at 8 pm last night. It was difficult to get our cats to drink enough water though. I had not focused on how to keep them cool in my emergency preparedness. I will be working on that in the next month. Lessons learned? If a storm of this magnitude is predicted, go get ice immediately. Also, make sure you have enough batteries. And, fill up your car with gasoline. I had to go into work twice yesterday and the added 80 miles would of been tough if I had not gotten gas early Saturday morning. Thanks to you, we had enough food and snacks! You touch so many lives, Valerie!”

June 28, 2012
“My husband was laid off *right* when we got pregnant with our fourth child. Rather than freak out like so many other folks, we had a game plan in minutes. Go to our bare bones budget, sell the car and get a less expensive (and bigger!) one, and of course, live off our food storage. I’d been bulking up our food storage the several months before, thank goodness. I had a very strong urge (I credit God with this one) to do all that – a few big Costco runs, even more canning than usual, stockpile toiletries when on sale, and so on. Because of my pantry and household, we were totally fine. The kids were fed, healthy, and happy. My husband was able to focus on finding a good job without the air of desperation at the interview since all our ducks were in a row at home. Now we’re happily and gainfully employed, but I can continue to bless others. For Christmas, I pulled together several boxes of food for in-need families in a mom’s group I’m part of. When a friend recently had surgery, I sent her husband home with a box of meals and snacks I quickly threw together that day even with her children adding to the atmosphere that day, and their dietary restrictions in mind. No way could I have pulled something together as quickly without all the ingredients on hand. Our pantry has been, and continues to be, a wonderful blessing for our family.”

April 27, 2012 – Las Vegas, Nevada
Hello Valerie. Guess where I was today? AT THE CANNERY!!! The people were SUPER helpful. Sister Walnum was very nice. There was even a lady (sister?) who stayed behind after doing some of her own canning to help me with mine. WOW! She gave me the tips on using the extra cans shelf (cans that were canned already but were not needed by the person canning). Saved me some time on the canning. What a great exp! I asked if I could give out the number to some other non member friends of mine and they all insist it has always been open to non members. I have passed the number on so we shall see. Although, my other “friends” look normal having no tattoos (at least not visible ones). I just wanted to say thank you again for your help in getting me to this point. I had a blast and it is such a relief to have started putting this together for my family. I can’t thank you enough. Just so you know I passed on your blog spot info through a forum I use for other people looking to be prepared. I do hope they all visit your site. you have such great and helpful info you share. SO thanks again. BIG HUG! L.F.

April 16, 2012
I used to store food and other items on a weekly basis. In 2004, 3 hurricanes intersected the county I live in at the worst possible time in my life. When I returned home the roof was completely off the house, the ceiling had fallen inside the house and everything was ruined. Me and my daughter, who was 4 at the time, were homeless. Unfortunately, I let that and other situations in my life at that time cause me to stop trying. I recently got myself in gear and started doing little things again but it can be so overwhelming. It sometimes seems like no progress is being made. Anyway, I’ve been reading your blog and have used the checklists and it’s helped me a great deal. I’m moving forward slowly, but at a steady pace. Thank you so much for the time you take to do this, it DOES help and is very much appreciated.

March 16, 2012
I love you blog and have been following it. I have a three month supply and am starting to work on my year supply. In fact by Monday I will have a years supply of refried beans that will cost me .18 cents a can by combining a sale and coupons. I placed an order for 70 cans which combined with what I have now will finish off the years supply. I thought you might like to know your blog is linked on the site [Boston’s NPR News Station]. I don’t know if you already knew this but it was neat to click on a link and find it led to my favorite food storage blog. I am a member of the Church and will be sending my son off on his mission near the end of the year. Thanks for all the work you do to help us get our food storage in order. Teri J

March 12, 2012
Hi, No need to reply I just wanted to tell you that I truly appreciate all the information you share with us. I have started a group with my mom and sisters towards getting prepared and we call our group the “Gomer Girls” I got that name from the story in the front of the LDS preparedness Manuel (red book) and so we are the children learning from our parents mistakes lol. Any way I just wanted to give you a shout out! with a great big thank you for your effort it is helping me and family and I am grateful. Thank you! Eva S.

February 18, 2012 – North Carolina
“I am from North Carolina. I have been reading your blog for about 1 year now. You have inspired me to start my food storage. Thank you for providing an easy, organised, “doable” method for food storage. It has really helped me not to be overwhelmed! Thank you so very much!”

December 12, 2011 – Portland, Oregon
“I ran across your website as I’m just beginning to put together disaster preparedness kits for myself and my household. Your detailed information is marvelous, and especially as I start to figure out what long-term food storage is right for me, I’m very happy to have it accessible. But what I mostly want to thank you for is your openness to people outside your faith. I’m not a Christian, and all too often I feel left out or worse pressured when the topic comes up. Your eagerness to help everybody, whether or not they agree with you, shouldn’t be as rare as it is. Reading your site renews my faith in people — that people can really live up to their faith, rather than simply preaching it (and gives me hope that I can do the same with my faith). Seeing someone hewing closer to the big picture of Christian love than all the little details of dogma makes me very happy.”

August 24, 2011 – Virginia
“Thank you SO much for this list and all the info on your site! We had old, outdated 72 hour kits that we got rid of (along with our water supply) when we moved 2 months ago. I live in VA and we had an earthquake today (very unusual) and a hurricane bearing down on us this weekend. After the earthquake, I thought about our lack of preparation. Then I watched the weather report and knew Heavenly Father had given me a warning to be prepared. I researched a few sites, and came across your blog. I just got back from Walmart with all the supplies we needed and I used your lists almost exclusively. I love that everyone will be getting the calories they need and I love how it’s organized. My husband will be scanning/copying documents and backing up to our external hard drive by Saturday. I’ll be getting the last few supplies and making our own “grab and go” list. Thank you for your hard work and for sharing. I’ll keep coming back to work on getting all those “extras” that we don’t have yet. But with just what I have, I feel prepared and very blessed!”

August 3, 2011 – Washington DC
“I just came across your blog today, and I wanted to let you know I think you do a great job. I’m a married father of two in the DC area, and a relatively new blogger. I’m not a member of LDS, but I have been impressed by the self-reliance resources the church has available. Thanks for the great work. I’ll definitely be reading again.”

July 31, 2011 – Riverside, CA
“I have loved getting your updates and food storage info. They are inspiring. I have been doing tons of food storage and emergency preparedness prepping the last year and a half. I can officially say, our house is stuffed! Every nook and cranny is full, there is no room in the inn. We still have food to rotate and a water filter to build. I even made my own solar oven. We also put some animals on our food storage list like chickens and rabbits. We now have both and just had our first baby bunnies. For now the rabbits are pets, but at lest we know how to care for them and mate them (it’s not a easy as you would think). We keep the chickens at my husband’s parents house, and it’s a lot of fun to take care of them. I NEVER thought I’d like the small farm idea, but now…I’d go for it in a heart beat. I hope all is well with your family! I sure do wish I could go to Macey’s case lot sale!”

July 20, 2011 – Hamilton, New Zealand
“I just came across your blog…..I’m from new zealand and I am LDS – I was just looking at food storage and 72 hour kits ideas and your blog is amazing! You have so many wonderful tips i’ve been looking through your stuff for most of the day getting wonderful ideas! thankyou so much!”

July 14, 2011 – Houston, Texas
“I just wanted to say thank you for your inspiring blog. I’ve been watching it for a while…and although I’m not extremely far in my food storage, it has kept me trying and wanting. I appreciate the thoughts for “getting started.”

June 23, 2011 – Lexington, Kentucky
“I stumbled across your blog while doing some research about home preparedness on the web.  I just returned from a military deployment with the Air Force in Iraq where I served alongside several airman from Hill Air Force base, Utah. We talked about many LDS related subjects (I am not LDS. I am a life long believer though) and of course the subject of home disaster preparedness stores came up. After learning the details of just how prepared my friends were, I felt somewhat foolish about how I had been approaching the subject in my own life. I had always assumed there would be time to run to Walmart or Sam’s and just buy everything I need once I determined that it was necessary due to disaster, economic meltdown, etc. Of course this approach is flawed on many levels. Now that I’m home I’m diligently going about preparing my home storage. Your site is a blessing! I love your 4-step approach. My wife Carol and I are a little overwhelmed with the food storage piece of the puzzle. After looking over your methodology, I can see how we can get this done, and actively manage the storage as well. Thank you for sharing this wealth of knowledge on your blog. I count you as a blessing.”

May 26, 2011 – Red Rock, Texas
“I’ve learned so much from your blog and want to thank you and also ask a few questions you may be willing to help me with.  I’m a non-Mormon Christian and preparing food and other supplies for my disabled husband and myself as well as possibly two or more adult children should disaster strike.  I’m only purchasing what we actually use (although learning to appreciate new things and learning new skills such as bread baking, sprouting, gardening, etc.)  I’m purchasing items at the regular grocery store and drugstore utilizing coupons and also shopping at the LDS Storehouse. Thank you.”

May 18, 2011 – Utah
“My Relief Society Night went great. I had prepared a little jeopardy game with questions and answers about long term storage. One of the categories was The New Church Program on Home Storage. Then I showed the sisters your DVD. It was just the capstone we needed. Before the DVD I asked how many sisters really new what the new program consisted of. Out of about 70 people, only a handful could raise their hand. Your DVD explained it so well. I had so many positive comments, I just can’t thank you enough. I know you were an answer to a prayer.  Thank you for helping me do this Relief Society presentation.”

May 13, 2011 – West Virginia
“Thank-you for the web site and such great information. I live in WV and we have floods and snow for the most part. This year a lot of high winds and down cells (Grow up to be tornados).  I am not a LDS, but I do like the idea of preparedness for Christians. I have been away from Church for a few months, with plans to get back into it soon.  Thank-you again for the information. I think that God gave you a true gift to share. So many things about being prepared are by men. They are great but what a woman thinks in an emengency and what a man thinks can be so different.”

May 4, 2011 – Utah
“Thanks so much for your great website. I have been very interested in food storage and emergency preparedness since my husband and I bought our house last year. I have used your blog so much and I have about a 3-6 month supply built up which I’m really proud of! I’ve been working on 72 hour kits, work kits etc. Thanks.”

March 25, 2011 – New Jersey
“I love your blog and have followed it for a while.  It’s helped me with my food storage a lot.  You are so prepared and I love it!”