Renee Russell

Renee is a writer, reader, and avid watcher of disaster flicks. She lives on the west coast with her family where they're all preparing for their own disaster reality show--The Big One--to occur.

image: hand removing first aid kit from glove box

110+ Unusual Items You’ll Want for Your Glove Box or Car

How many of you keep ketchup packets in your vehicle’s glove box or center console? No, I mean ON PURPOSE, not the ones you tossed in there because you didn’t have anywhere else to put them as you went through the drive-through, and then you forgot about them. Turns out that’s one of the unusual items for your glove box that some of you keep. Here’s what else you keep (plus the survival reason for saving ketchup packets!)

image: homemade bread outside on a table made in a coleman camp oven

How To Bake No-Knead Bread In A Coleman Oven

Coleman Camp Ovens don’t require electric or gas power, just a camp stove. They fold flat so they don’t take up near the amount of storage space you’d think they would. And you can bake bread in them. Imagine the smell of a fresh-baked loaf wafting across your campsite! Here’s how to do it.

dry soup mix in wooden bowl next stock pot with wood spoon

A Guide to Using Dry Soup Mixes To Enhance Your Food Storage Options

If you prep, you understand the value of storing foods that offer nutritional value, longevity, and versatility. With an understanding of their limitations, some creativity, and some meal planning, dry soup mixes can add all three to your food storage and meal planning strategies. Plus they’re easy to make in just about any cooking scenario using only shelf-stable foods to customize them. What are some brands of dry soup? There are a lot of brands of dry soup mix out …

A Guide to Using Dry Soup Mixes To Enhance Your Food Storage Options Read More »

blue butterfly resting on rock in zen garden

How to Live a Quiet Life in a Very Loud World

Living a quiet life in a very loud world sounds lovely, doesn’t it? Peaceful, calm, tranquil. I’d love to live there. Instead, I only seem to visit occasionally. Sometimes it’s just me waving at a quiet life as I zoom past. My phone beeps and chirps and rings and vibrates and sometimes talks to me. And with every sound, I hop to attention to see what it is that I can’t live without knowing AT. THAT. MOMENT. That’s me. My …

How to Live a Quiet Life in a Very Loud World Read More »

portable electric cooking appliances: a griddle, a rice cooker, a crockpot, a waffle maker

How Portable Electric Kitchen Appliances Can Be Useful after Disasters

In our typical daily lives, where food inconveniences are barely a blip on the radar, we tend to forget the morale boost that a hot, homecooked meal can provide. But after disasters, a portable electric kitchen appliance could still provide you and your loved ones with just that. Depending on the circumstances, maybe you’ll still be able to live at home and you’ll have power but you must live on the second floor for the weeks or months it could …

How Portable Electric Kitchen Appliances Can Be Useful after Disasters Read More »

image: scoop of protein powder, protein drink, black shaker bottle

Why You Should Add Protein Powder to Your Food Storage

We’re all probably familiar with the ubiquitous smoothie or shake fortified with protein powder. It’s quick. It’s easy. It’s portable. But protein powder’s usefulness extends beyond after-exercise replenishment. For preppers, including protein powder in our food storage preps adds another valuable layer to our protein sources. Let’s take a moment first, though, to talk about protein in general. Have you thought about how important protein is to our health in our everyday lives? Protein exists in every cell in our …

Why You Should Add Protein Powder to Your Food Storage Read More »

image: woman chopping vegetables

Why Cooking from Scratch is a Critical Survival Skill

Remember the Great Toilet Paper Shortage of 2020? Even if you were fortunate to have enough on hand, you probably either knew someone or heard stories of people desperate to find some. Then breadmaking supplies—flour, yeast—vanished, snatched up by prescient consumers who saw the writing on the wall and either already knew how to bake bread from scratch or decided they would learn. But wait, you say. I see the connection with breadmaking, but what does toilet paper have to …

Why Cooking from Scratch is a Critical Survival Skill Read More »

image: boy and gift holding gifts for kids

Gift Guide for Kids – Unique and Useful Ideas for Girls & Boys

Are you trying to entice kids away from their electronic devices? Perhaps you’re looking for something a little different for the special kid? Maybe something that’s a little novel without being something that will end up stuffed in a drawer after a few hours? We’ve got gifts for kids covering music, fitness, art, gardening, survival skills, and more. But maybe not in ways you’d typically expect. Take a look! Keep Kids Moving (Indoors and Out) Let’s start with gifts for …

Gift Guide for Kids – Unique and Useful Ideas for Girls & Boys Read More »

image: zip ties on concrete background

Smart Ways to Use Zip Ties for Survival

Zip ties are handy little tools that can be used in pretty much any situation. In a way, they are kind of like duct tape in that the possible uses are infinite. Their strength and holding power are impressive, even in the smaller sizes. Originally called cable ties, the modern zip tie is made out of plastic. Original cable ties were used to, you guessed it, tie bundles of cables together. Nowadays, they are found in emergency kits, bug out …

Smart Ways to Use Zip Ties for Survival Read More »