Daily, we witness widely fluctuating inflation; wars; interpersonal conflicts; national disasters; variances in weather conditions; innumerable forces of immorality, crime, and violence; attacks and pressures on churches, families and individuals; technological advances that make occupations obsolete; and so on. To me anyway this makes the need for preparation abundantly clear. I've always found that one of the greatest blessings of being prepared is that it gives us freedom from fear. The Boy Scouts have it right...Be Prepared! How many times have we watched someone on the news who has been of victim of a disaster? What is the theme? Oh, I'm so glad I was totally prepared for this and my family and I are doing great? NO! It's always "I never thought something like this would happen to me." or "I thought I had more time to get ready for something like this." or "If only I had been more prepared for the unexpected!" If only...how sad are those two words? It's too late to prepare for an emergency when you're right in the middle of it! I'm not saying this because I'm some overachiever prepper who has never faced want or need. No, this book came from a deep-seated need to help others avoid the pitfalls I myself have fallen into. I'm not saying you should go nuts and become fanatical, Gilly Suit wearing doomsday preppers living in an underground bug out shelter in the high mountains. What I am saying though is that there is a place between fanatical and nothing, and that is a good place to live. This book outlines concepts that provide measured and reasonable responses to preparing for impending emergencies or disasters. I want to teach you how to protect yourself and your family from the unexpected. There are a LOT of doomsday and SHTF prepper "experts" out there. There is an entire culture build around it. I'm not one of those people. I created the concept of Realistic Sustainability to be, oh, I don't know...Realistic! My dream is to make every home and family in this country and the world prepared for the unexpected. This is the first book in a series. This one will be a basic primer for the family for whom "preparedness" means buying an extra package of Fig Newtons "just in case" and when a big snow is predicted rushes to the store for bread, batteries and toilet paper. I'll explain the basics of food storage. What it is, what you should (and shouldn't) store, nutrition and how it affects your storage and how to go about doing amassing, using and rotating your storage items. I want your preparations to make life easier, not more stressful, but I want you to actually BE prepared. I want you to know all your options so that you can make an educated decision about your preparations too. Most of what I tell you about is from my own experience. I'll give you my opinions and tell you how I came to them. This doesn't mean I'm right. It' just means it might be something to try. Most of all I want you to avoid the food storage pitfalls some of my friends and acquaintances have fallen into. Trust me, you don't want to try feeding your toddler rice and beans for a week. It won't go well! OK, here's the thing. I'm not young. Or thin. Or in very good physical shape. I'm not a ripped ex-navy seal with a six pack and camo face paint. The only six pack I have are Twinkies, and my only experience in face painting consists of flowers on my cheek at an apple butter festival. I'm not your average "prepper". I AM however, your average disaster victim. This means that nothing I tell you is impossible. You can do everything I suggest. How do I know this? Easy. If I can do it, YOU can do it!