Review: Prepper’s Food Storage ~ By Julie Languille

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I’ve been reading a book called Prepper’s Food Storage – 101 Easy Steps To Affordably Stock A Life-Saving Supply Of Food by Julie Languille. The author’s publicist sent me the book and asked for a review. I’m always interested in new books, especially those on Prepping or Survival. They’re usually pretty interesting at the least. This particular book has a lot of merit and I could see myself using it even though I am a seasoned prepper.

Prepper’s Food Storage is organized.  It’s organized very well. What I mean by that is that the author gives an introduction that explains how to use the book, includes well laid-out charts and lists and has given pertinent information right on the same page with each food or item.  That organization appealed to me right off the bat. She has charts to show you how much of each type of meat or vegetable you’ll need for X number of people for a year.  The author also has menu samples and a list of the foods you’ll need for those menus. Information about planning menus and what is needed can be helpful for people who are planning menus or storing food for the first time.

Ms. Languille also includes information about where and how to store your food, equipment and supplies you will need preserve food in several different ways, where to shop for food to store and information about several different ways of food preservation. Her very first and highest priority food is actually water. Smart. The second food is salt. Also smart.

Here is a list of some of what’s in the book from the back cover:

• Charts to calculate food needs
• Best shelf-stable foods
• Storage solutions for big and small spaces
• Instructions for dehydrating and canning
•  Checklists of essential non-food items

Each food is given a priority and a category. For example, canned beans is given a high priority which means you should work on getting some in your food stores. The author lets you know why you should be storing canned beans: they are high protein, convenient, versatile and have a long shelf life.  With the information about canned beans a handy little chart is included that shows you how many 14.5 ounce cans of beans you need per person per year at a 1/2 cup serving per week. You can use the chart to track your own bean storage. Recipes are included at the end of each food listed.

I really like the fact that the author has included “real” foods along with canned and packaged foods. That one fact makes the book something I would use to help me store food. She includes olive oil, butter, coconut oil, beans and grains, seeds, fruits, meats, honey, root vegetables and winter vegetables along with convenience items like canned vegetables, canned meats and cake mixes.

Food isn’t the only thing Ms. Languilles addresses for storage. She includes items like toilet paper, paper products, laundry products, lighting and cooking supplies, personal products, vitamins and health products and first aid supplies. She also addresses what type of equipment is needed for storing food depending on the method you decide to use to prepare and store food.

The author has done the math for you and I have found it to be correct for my family. She has given serving sizes that are normal, not too large, and then shown the reader how much of each food is needed per person, per year. For example: Beef Chunks or Beef Stew Meat has a serving size of 1/4 pound per person per meal. After giving the shelf life for freeze dried or canned Beef Chunks, the cost, where to buy, sample pricing and how to store, the author shows you that you will need 7 pounds per person per year and does the math for you for 2, 4,6,8 and 12 people. She then follows that up with recipes and how to pressure can Beef Chunks.  Each food is given this thorough treatment.

Food storage location isn’t given a whole lot of treatment in this book. The author has about 1 page of information on where to store food, although with each food item, she gives basic storage instructions. The advice she gives is standard; cool,dark,dry. But the one really good piece of storage info is her suggestion to have a long term storage area and a shorter term, Food Rotation Pantry. I know so many people who just buy up food to store and never use any of it. That’s not the right way to be a prepper or to store food, You should use your food and restock.  Languille makes effort to explain this and this theme carries on throughout the book.

Prepper’s Food Storage has a $12.95 price on the book. Amazon Prime offers it for $9.71. Some of the used books at Amazon are even less.  I would spend the money for this particular book. It is put together in a way that is helpful, its small, very easy to take along with you and contains good information for building your food stores.