Basic Prepping

The Thrive Life Chef Pack — a Survival Mom review

May 5, 2021 / 4 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 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, cans of freeze dried food, thrive life cans

Which Food Storage App is Best?

April 11, 2021 / 5 Comments

I ask you, is there a more satisfying feeling for a prepper mom than adding items to your emergency supplies? Every time you check something off your list and squirrel it away, you feel more confident that you’re preparing your family for the unknown. The problem is a stockpile needs organization and maintenance or it becomes more frustrating than helpful. So I decided to test out some of the food storage apps to see if any of them could help …

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10 Reasons Why You Should Be Canning Your Own Meat

March 19, 2021 / 66 Comments

Once you learn how to can, or bottle, fresh meats, you’ll be so glad you started preserving meat this way. I was intimidated by this for so many years in spite of having all the equipment here at home (pressure canner, jars, rings, etc.) and hearing my friends rave about easy dinner prep by opening a jar of meat already cooked and ready to go. The truth is, though, canning meat has so many advantages that it’s worth getting past …

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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 / 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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image: people walking in blizzard

26 Ways to Stay Warm Without Electricity

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 / 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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Oat Groats & How to Use Them

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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image: man in hazmat suit

Do You Know How to Clean Up a Biological Mess?

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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Survival Shopping at Costco: A Quick and Easy Guide

June 12, 2020 / 5 Comments

Several years ago I bought the James Wesley Rawles book, How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It, and to this day there’s one statement he makes in the book that has stuck with me: “Waiting until the eleventh hour to stock up on canned and bulk food is not recommended, but if your circumstances necessitate it, then consider it a calculated risk. Don’t hesitate once you see the first warning signs. You have only one …

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