Making the Best of Basics

Twenty years ago, Making the Best of Basics—Family Preparedness Handbook became the family preparedness bible for a generation. The '90s have brought their own litany of worries—company downsizings, severe hurricanes and winter storms, flooding, government shutdowns—that make in-home storage an attractive proposition again.

The recently updated and expanded Ninth Edition of Making the Best of Basics is designed for the urban family. It offers a manageable and effective plan for accumulating, storing, and utilizing an in-home supply of food and other essentials to support a family in a near-normal manner for one year. Basics includes—recipes for using stored foods,—a section on common storage problems and solutions,—lists of sources for storage items, —charts to help you determine what and how much you need, as well as chapters on storing and using essentials such as water, wheat, fruits and vegetables, and fuel.