Customer Reviews

Food Security for the Faint of Heart: Keeping Your Larder Full in Lean Times

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Unlike a lot of books in this field - this ISN'T a hysterical threatening account of how we are doomed to huddle in caves clutching a last lone can of spam as the zombie hordes overwhelm the world. Its a calm, lighthearted, but well written manual for dealing with the simple fact that, well, crap happens. No matter where you live, at some point you are going to have to deal with either a blizzard, a blackout, or just a night when the roads are too slick to venture forth to the grocery story... and how to prepare for those issues ahead of time. The moment the ice storm starts is a wee bit too late to realize you have nothing in the cupboard - and the author works really hard to explain how to avoid that scenario.

The world is too full of easily hysterical people who panic when the rain falls. Buy this book and avoid the herds of people who only remember AFTER the hurricane is sighted that they must, right now, this minutes, go to the store and buy water.

When even the government is telling folks that they need to be able to manage for a few weeks (or months) in times of crisis - this is a great book to start walking you through the process of preparing. Preparing for what?

Life.

And this book proves it doesn't have to be any more dramatic than that.

Food security is a big issue, and growing bigger and more challenging by the minute--not just for people in the developing world, but for those of us lucky enough to live where food is abundant. If you're wondering where you would find food in an emergency--a natural disaster, an extended power outage, a labor strike--this book is for you. And if you're planning to grow some of your own groceries (who isn't, in these lean times?), you'll find plenty of help in this smart, funny and easy-to-read book.

Wheeler includes information based on personal hands-on experience about dealing with food supplies in sudden emergencies, stockpiling, buying organic, managing a garden (from seedtime to harvest and points in between), and wild foraging (for those hungry souls caught in the lurch without a pantry or a garden). She also offers suggestions for finding and preparing plant medicines, harvesting rainwater, and building a food community in your neighborhood. Very helpful: ten techniques for storing food and "compromise" gardens for people who lack the time, space, money, and energy for large-scale gardening.

While you may be able to find more detailed information elsewhere, Food Security for the Faint of Heart is a great place to begin. It will help you start thinking, planning, and preparing for the day when food may be suddenly scarce and you still have the urge to go on eating.

by Susan Wittig Albert
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

I have read about food storage off and on for years and this is one of the best -- well-written and engaging. The initial suggestions for getting started on a rotating storage system are easy and doable for most people... no giant root cellar construction needed.

Robin Wheeler has thoroughly covered the subject of food security in a funny, lighthearted way. Her writing style and humor are delightful and I got the feeling that I would like to meet her in person.

This is not just a book about storing emergency food, but a book of suggestions on how to take control of your food supply, eat healthier and have some peace of mind...and maybe even have a little fun doing it. She makes you want to try some of her suggestions.

She presents several interesting recipes, written in a happy-go-lucky way that makes you believe you can't fail. I intend to try her Potato-Leek soup...but I might just use scallions instead of Leeks! What the heck.

I recommend this book highly.

Worrying about where one is going to get their next meal is never something one wants to have to deal with. "Food Security for the Faint of Heart: Keeping Your Larder Full in Lean Times" is a book about preparation when crisis hits. In this modern world, everyone takes the existence of the supermarket for granted and has enough food for about a week, two at most. Covering the skills one needs to stay fed when disaster hits such as preservation, foraging, rationing, and more, "Food Security for the Faint of Heart" is something to keep at hand in case the worst occurs.

I did not think that this would be a hardcore survivalist handbook, but neither did I anticipate that it would be a useless hippie rant.

The author tries to use humor to avoid discussing hard facts about maintaining a significant food storage.

Early on in the book the author heads a section "Men will come with guns and take your food." Her answer to this concern is that she wants to start a campaign which preaches "Women will come with food and take you guns." The chapter goes no further in addressing the very real issue of protecting your food storage.

This book also constantly preaches how you should be a vegetarian. By page 40 you will have heard it enough to say out loud, "ok, we get it...shut up."

When discussing the various toxins in foods (considering the terrible fact that you've not gone 100% organic by now) the author points out strawberries. Desperate to point out something evil she says "While the lethal soil fumigant methyl bromide DOESN'T SHOW UP ON THE FRUIT, it depletes the ozone layer."

This is a book about vegetarianism and living the hippie lifestyle masquerading as a volume on food storage. There are virtually no useful tips on food storage.

Believe me, if you are looking to build a food storage and don't believe that every person who wanders onto your property after a disaster is there to discuss peace love and organic hippie love, skip this childish wide eyed book and dig into something that tackles the topic seriously.

I appreciated the friendly, lay-person tone of this work. As a gardening-challenged individual, it was nice to have information laid out in accessible terms with practical starting suggestions and plenty of references for future study. All the tenants put forth are sound, well researched and well intentioned. If you're new to self-sufficiency, emergency preparedness or growing/preserving food, this is an excellent place to start your journey. Experienced preparedness types can still glean plenty of interesting tidbits and will find the references cited worth exploring.

I bought this for my husband. He loved it. I read it and enjoyed it as well. It's a great little book to help anyone who is looking to be a little more in control of their food sources.

This is a book for those who know the truth of what's coming, but would really rather "be in Colorado" as Judi Collins would say. It's kind and gentle and submerges the reader gently into a "panic" bath. It would be great if the naysayers were all wrong; then we could laugh at their silliness. But there's this small voice telling us they're right, and we'd do well to follow this book's advice.

Received this book and have enjoyed reading. The material is very informative. The shipping was fast.