Like many people, I have been watching a lot of NatGeo’s new show, Doomsday Preppers and have quickly come to realize that my education is sadly lacking in food preservation methods and bug-out techniques. I am no Katniss Everdeen!

For those unfamiliar with this ridiculously awesome show, each episode of Doomsday Preppers features several different people (or families) who are prepping for a variety of end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it scenarios such as an economic collapse, volcano eruption, global climate change, etc. The preppers take us through all the details of their plan and then NatGeo’s disaster experts give a critique on how well they would actually cope in such a disaster situation. I was sold on the show after seeing a gourmet cook train the women in her community on self-defense techniques (since history has shown that violence against women increases during disaster situations) and then invite them back to her suburban home where she cooked them all a fancy meal including 8+ month old eggs (to preserve her fresh eggs, she just rubs each one with mineral oil). I feel so unprepared! Thankfully the library has plenty of resources to help with food preservation & production, self-defense, and living off the grid which seem to the top three concerns for most of the Preppers. Here is just a small offering of books available in our libraries’ collections:

Food Production & Preservation:

Self Defense:

Energy Needs:

And handy homesteading books usually cover a bit of everything:

Good luck with your prep!