Customer Reviews

Preparedness Principles: The Complete Personal Preparedness Resource Guide for Any Emergency Situation

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Now, I'm not one to promote the "panic principle", trying to scare people with visions of potential disasters to frighten them into stocking their cellars with ten or twenty years'-worth of food, etc. Thankfully, this book is not about "panic", but simply about "preparedness". Preparedness for what? Do we really need to ask in this day and age? Let me sum it up with two words: Hurricane Katrina. Yes, many of us do not live anywhere near a hurricane zone. I live in a dessert (I mean, a desert--don't I wish I could live "in a dessert"!). Droughts, fires, and yes, even floods are the natural threats most faced by my state. Each state in the Union has its own challenges to cope with. And natural disasters may not actually be the "threats" most of us need to worry about. Loss of employment and health setbacks surely make having at least a few months' worth of supplies--both food and money--quite simply the "sensible" thing to do.

Preparedness Principles is designed to help us understand how to implement a sensible plan of approach to the unpredictable nature of life.

To be honest, the biggest mistake I made with this book was to sit down and attempt to read it straight through all at once. I found myself overwhelmed and discouraged in less time than I could say, "The monsoons just knocked the power out again!" ("Monsoons" are what we call our Arizona summer thunderstorms.) Unless you are already deeply involved with food storage, this is a book best read and incorporated in small bites. Don't try to read it like a novel. Use it as a resource, which is exactly what it is!

Some of the suggestions will be beyond your immediate means to implement. That's okay. One of my favorite quotes in the book is: "Preparedness is not an all-or-nothing thing. Something is much better than nothing, even if the something is just a little bit of something." In other words, if assembling a year's supply of food is overwhelming, then start with something smaller. Two weeks worth of food. A month's worth. Three months' worth.

One of my favorite sections of this book was the suggestion of building "mini-pantries" spread throughout your house, rather than throwing in the towel with the exclamation, "But I don't have any room to store anything!" As Salsbury points out, a few fruit bottles stashed in the linen closet, a few cans of food under the bed, will eventually add up.

Another chapter that intrigued me had to do with indoor mini-gardens. Now, I can kill just about any plant you can throw at me, but I remember one summer when my green-thumbed dad grew the most delicious baby carrots in our backyard. I've often thought longingly of those carrots, but I'm not an outdoor gardener. Too many weeds, too many bugs. It never occurred to me that I might actually be able to grow small carrots right inside my house--weed and bug free! That's an idea I might actually try, just to taste those baby carrots again! (Salsbury describes many more vegetables you can grow inside your house, but carrots will definitely be my first choice!)

Salsbury covers much, much more than mini-pantries and mini-gardens, of course. She has sections on provident living, dealing with disasters, emergency evacuations, and many helpful appendices. In this unpredictable day and age, this is a book that should be on everyone's shelf. It is a book that should be studied before the "unexpected" happens. But do so in small bites.

This book was published in 2006 and is very comprehensive in it's scope of topics. It goes into detail in a lot of practical and important areas that are only briefly mentioned in other rererences I've seen. The author has obviously had a lot of experience in this area and does a great job of sharing it in this book.

THis is a great resource. It covers so many things so well in such an easy to read way. Its great to have on hand to refer to.

Buy it. Buy three. This book will guide you and the ones you love through the simple steps of being ready for that unemployment, injury, illness, snowstorm, hurricane, tornado or other disruption. It truly is a must have. Thank you Mrs. Salsbury.

Great book on food storage, emergency food prep, storage ideas. Author has a very likable style of writing. Very happy I purchased this book.

A must-have preparedness book is "Preparedness Principles," by Barbara Salsbury. There is so much one can glean from this book, and it would be a great addition to your preparedness library. It covers ideas on food storage, emergency preparedness, and disaster preparedness. Barbara has been through it all, and has been teaching and writing about it for years. With food storage she helps you figure out how and where to store it. I love the chapter "The Pantry System: Finding a Place for Everything."

She emphasizes the uniqueness of each family and that there is not one way of doing food storage. I enjoyed her excellent chapter on vegetable gardening. It helped me understand which vegetables are fast and slow growers, and how to interplant several vegetables. She teaches you how to start from seed and be successful.

Another chapter is called "Staying Warm Without a Furnace." After all of the storms and power outages we've seen across the nation, this chapter is very enlightening. Here she will teach you the difference between blankets, comforters, and quilts and which ones are effective in keeping you warm. She also shares how to move everyone into a small room in the house if need be(including pets) to keep warm. Emergency kits (72-hour) are also covered, but she tells you the pros and cons of what to store them in. Love that! I highly recommend this book.

The world is scary right now, but this book gives a lot of comfort on ways any person at any stage can be prepared for a variety of situations.

This is the ultimate reference guide to preparing your home, your family and your resources for whatever may come. Barbara Salsbury has lived through a number of emergencies and brings her expertise and years of teaching preparedness principles to the fore. She takes an in-depth look at and provides a detailed explanation of all her topics, from building a pantry for food storage to a discussion of what foods store well, the importance of storing water to advice on how to stay warm.

This book has three sections on preparedness at home and a forth section on evacuation. Learn how to sprout seeds, grow an indoor vegetable garden, squirrel away your stores in unlikely places, preserve documents, deal with utilities, stay warm and cook with a variety of fuels. This book has 355 pages of information that can help you make the best choices for making the best preparedness plan for your family.

If you're looking for an expansive view of options on how to get along in the world of uncertainty, this is your source.

Nancy Overton is the author of, "A Checklist/ Making a Family Plan For Emergencies".

This looks like a great book - it will take some time to read and digest it but it will be very helpful for preparing a 72 hour kit and for food storage. There are many examples and real-life stories included.

This is an extremely helpful book. The author obviously has first hand knowledge and experience. I'd refer all emergency preparedness people to this work.