Survival Mom: How to Prepare Your Family for Everyday Disasters and Worst-Case Scenarios

by Lisa Bedford

Overview

Everything You Need to Know to Keep Your Family Safe and Secure—No Matter What

Undaunted by the prospect of TEOTWAWKI (The End of the World as We Know It), Lisa Bedford tackles every what-if and worst-case scenario head-on, offering practical advice on how to prepare your family for whatever might come your way. From a few days without electricity to an unexpected job loss or total chaos after the destruction of a tornado, Survival Mom provides everything you need to become self-reliant and establish plans for your family, including:

• preparing the home for a natural disaster
• alternative sources of energy in a power's-out situation
• everything you need to know about food storage
• personal protection (do I really need to learn how to shoot a gun?)

Deep inside every mom is a Survival Mom whose passion for her family drives her to make the best of the present and prepare for the future. So tap into your Mama Grizzly instincts and channel your worries into action. Whether you're a full-fledged "prepper" or just getting started, with real-life stories and customizable forms and checklists along with Lisa's "you can do it" attitude, Survival Mom replaces paranoia and panic with the peace of knowing YOU have the power to keep your loved ones safe and secure.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062089465
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	03/13/2012
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	371,298
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.84(d)

About the Author

Lisa Bedford, aka The Survival Mom, started her blog when she realized that all the literature on survival and preparedness was written by men, for men. Long a teacher and trainer, she took it upon herself to be the missing voice for the many moms out there. She has been featured in Newsweek and on Glenn Beck, and speaks around the nation about disaster preparedness.

Table of Contents

Quiz: What Kind of Survival Mom Are You? viii

From Suburban Mom to Survival Mom, an Introduction 1

1 Prepare More, Panic Less 6

2 Survival Begins with Water 21

3 Keeping It Clean: The Ins and Outs of Sanitation 35

4 The First Steps of Food Storage 46

5 Increase Your Food Storage Savvy 83

6 Your Home Base 115

7 The Unplugged Home: Learning to Live Without Electricity 142

8 The Essentials for Safety and Security 168

9 Survival Finances 200

10 It Takes a Compound 228

11 Preparedness on the Go: Evacuation Basics 247

12 Survival Mom to Survival Mom 285

Appendix: Survival Mom Extras 289

Heartfelt Thanks 309

Index 312

What People are Saying About This

Lew Rockwell

“Lisa Bedford has given every family an upbeat and useful step-by-step guide to getting through these alarming times. Hurrah for Survival Mom.”

Leon Pantenburg

“Lisa Bedford’s book, like her blog, is full of up-to-date, useful information from reputable sources. Survival Mom is a good read, and has a place in any prepper/survivalist library.”

Ed Corcoran

“Lisa Bedford’s Survival Mom is a much needed resource of practical preparedness and survival knowledge that anybody (even ‘Survival Dads’) will find an indispensable addition to their self-reliance library!”

Matthew Stein

“Lisa Bedford has written an outstanding book! Survival Mom is chock full of valuable tips and perspectives that had never crossed my mind, showing me how valuable the female perspective is when it comes to prepping and survival! This book is a keeper!”

Paul M. Munsen

“Lisa Bedford explains preparedness not just as a long term goal for the future, but as an everyday lifestyle for today. This manual is a great read for anyone concerned about their own well-being and security, and that of their loved ones.”

Roxanne L. Griswold

“This ‘stockpiled guide’ to self-sufficiency emergency preparedness is a wealth of information for both the novice and seasoned ‘survival mom’!”

Don Aslett

“Well-referenced, with fresh insights, Survival Mom is funny and well-written.”

Editorial Reviews

In this impressively comprehensive manual, suburban mom Bedford helps readers learn about, prepare for, and respond to all manner of disasters, such as job loss, catastrophic weather events, and medical emergencies. Bedford’s transformation into a preparedness expert was gradual: at the dawn of Y2K, the married mother of a toddler bought extra toilet paper; later, she stashed blankets and water in her car. She got serious in the wake of America’s economic woes, but online resources were written by and for men, not suburban moms like her. In 2009, she launched the SurvivalMom.com blog and, now, this book. Information is presented in a variety of digestible formats, from “Instant Survival Tip” sidebars to a list of “Lessons from the Great Depression.” But while Bedford offers a valuable roadmap to storing tangibles like food and supplies, she advocates situational awareness and staying healthy and fit. It’s sobering stuff, to be sure, but Bedford’s matter-of-fact yet supportive tone will help keep the willies at bay. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

After you become a mom, your head often swims with ‘what-ifs.’ But you can ease your mind with a little preparation, says Lisa Bedford, blogger and author of Survival Mom : How to Prepare Your Family for Everyday Disasters and Worst-Case Scenarios.

USA Weekend

Lisa Bedford’s Survival Mom is a much needed resource of practical preparedness and survival knowledge that anybody (even ‘Survival Dads’) will find an indispensable addition to their self-reliance library!

Ed Corcoran

Lisa Bedford has given every family an upbeat and useful step-by-step guide to getting through these alarming times. Hurrah for Survival Mom.

Lew Rockwell

This ‘stockpiled guide’ to self-sufficiency emergency preparedness is a wealth of information for both the novice and seasoned ‘survival mom’!

Roxanne L. Griswold

Well-referenced, with fresh insights, Survival Mom is funny and well-written.

Don Aslett

Lisa Bedford’s book, like her blog, is full of up-to-date, useful information from reputable sources. Survival Mom is a good read, and has a place in any prepper/survivalist library.

Leon Pantenburg

Lisa Bedford explains preparedness not just as a long term goal for the future, but as an everyday lifestyle for today. This manual is a great read for anyone concerned about their own well-being and security, and that of their loved ones.

Paul M. Munsen

Lisa Bedford has written an outstanding book! Survival Mom is chock full of valuable tips and perspectives that had never crossed my mind, showing me how valuable the female perspective is when it comes to prepping and survival! This book is a keeper!

Matthew Stein

Given the recent prevalence of floods, tornadoes, and power outages, this book (a companion to Bedford's blog, thesurvivalmom.com) comes at a good time. Bedford, mother of two homeschooled children, lists skills to learn (e.g., tying knots) and items to buy (e.g., extra toiletries). She discusses how to handle emergencies, from purifying water and storing food to making lists of financial records and establishing a safe room. The appendixes contain a wealth of checklists and resources. While readers may be overwhelmed by all the possible disaster scenarios, they would do well to prepare for any type of upset to the daily routine. [See also Bonnie Schneider's Extreme Weather: A Guide to Surviving Flash Floods...and Other Natural Disasters, reviewed on p. 129.—Ed.]

Library Journal