Lisa Bedford

The Thrive Life Chef Pack — a Survival Mom review

May 5, 2021 May 5, 2021 / 3 Comments

Looking for an easy way to dip your toes into cooking with shelf-stable, freeze-dried ingredients from your food storage pantry? Your search is over! Introducing the ThriveLife Chef Pack: a family-sized meal-in-a-box using both ThriveLife’s awesome selection of products and simple ingredients you already have at home. I remember the first time we ever had freeze-dried food. It was one of those “just-add-hot-water” meals that came in a bag, the kind that astronauts and hikers carry with them on trips …

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image: black beans, black beans in a wooden spoon

How to Use Instant Black Beans

April 17, 2021 April 26, 2021 / 5 Comments

Beans are a great source of fiber, healthy carbohydrates, and plant-based protein. Let me show you how to use Thrive Life’s Instant Black Beans in your food storage pantry and for everyday eats! My favorite comfort food as a kid was my Grandma’s homemade family recipe, ham and bean soup. Salty chunks of ham, warm, flavorful beans, with plenty of cornbread slathered in honey butter on the side. Simple, cheap, and yet so delicious, this is a recipe passed down …

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image: freeze dried food, bowl of freeze dried food, thrive life freeze dried food

8 Tips For Placing Your First Survival Food Order

February 19, 2021 February 19, 2021 / 3 Comments

I’ll never forget my first, official order for survival, or prepper, food. My friend, Chrystalyn, was a pro at this, and she guided me through a bewildering order form with products and container sizes I didn’t recognize. At the time, I was a typical suburban mom who had never heard of prepper food before, much less placed a large order to begin my emergency food storage. A #10 can? What was that? A #2.5 can? Is that what I need …

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26 Ways to Stay Warm Without Electricity

February 16, 2021 February 21, 2021 / 4 Comments

Wear wool socks and a wool cap. Set up a tent in a room that connects with a bathroom and spend time/sleep inside the tent. Sit in your car with the heater on. NOTE: This is a short-term solution and should only be done with your car parked in a well-ventilated garage or in an otherwise open area. If you have a gas range, boil/heat water and then pour it into a hot water bottle. Wear layers of clothes, …

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image: cars driving in snow, winter driving, snow on highway

Make Your Own Winter Survival Food Kit

February 11, 2021 February 11, 2021 / 10 Comments

A couple of years ago, my family spent 2 weeks camping around the beautiful and very cold country of Iceland. (You can read about our adventures in this article.) We had a cozy camper van with a propane stove, a small sink, table, and bunks, and as you might imagine, coming up with plans for hot meals every day became an interesting challenge! There’s something deeply satisfying about a hot drink or hot meal on a cold day, but have …

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Image: woman holding oats, oats falling into bowl, oat groats

Oat Groats & How to Use Them

February 9, 2021 February 10, 2021 / 1 Comment

My family and I love oat groats. When I placed an order for an entire case of oat groats and they arrived at our doorstep, my teenage daughter cheered! They are one of her favorite breakfast foods. As you know, oats have many excellent nutritional qualities. We hear all the time about oat bran’s ability to help lower our cholesterol and oatmeal is one of my favorite foods to store in my own food storage pantry, but what makes oat groats …

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hand holding a baofeng radio, small handheld ham radio

How to get your Ham Radio license

January 4, 2021 January 4, 2021 / 9 Comments

On December 25, 2020, an RV loaded with explosives detonated in downtown Nashville. In seconds, dozens of buildings were damaged, 8 people were injured, and communication lines in several states were disrupted. Survival Mom readers quickly reported the impact of this outage: “I am in the Nashville area and could not reach my adult daughters all weekend because they have AT&T. “ “My friend in Clarksville, TN says their calls still aren’t really going through and neither are texts.” “911 …

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Do You Know How to Clean Up a Biological Mess?

October 19, 2020 February 15, 2021 / 3 Comments

Just before Christmas, my family and I were shopping at a local big-box store. Near the dressing rooms, my daughter spotted a young man totally passed out on the carpeted aisle, with a pile of vomit nearby. Since that’s not a normal thing, we immediately alerted a clerk. Being the Survival Mom, I was curious to see this store’s protocol when dealing with a biological mess like this, so I hovered in the distance to watch. Once the young man …

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Last-Minute Hurricane Prepping

August 24, 2020 August 24, 2020 / 3 Comments

As I sit here on the humid, warm day, awaiting the arrival of Hurricane Laura, still out in the Gulf, still not quite an official hurricane, I’ve been going through all our preps, wondering, “Is there something I’ve missed?” Hurricane prepping isn’t new to me, but I still get the jitters of uncertainty. I guess we all second guess ourselves at times, and really, no matter how well prepared we think we are, it takes just one major crisis of …

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The 16-Second Survival Breath

July 29, 2020 February 10, 2021 / 24 Comments

When I think about it, I still get a queasy feeling in my stomach from a scenario several years ago when I was forced to put into practice survival breathing. It was a sunny day in Baltimore, and I was returning home from a business trip. I had passed through security with flying colors, of course, and was browsing the selection of breakfast sandwiches at a kiosk when I heard the unfamiliar, sudden sound of blaring sirens. In less than …

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