For Lisa Bedford, getting prepared is about worrying less, not more. The suburban mom of two knows well the panic of facing an uncertain future—and realizing the extent of one’s unpreparedness. Following the 2008 recession, she surfaced from her own fear-fueled, first-time deep-dive into the world of survival and preparedness determined to help others like her: a mom simply “intent on finding common-sense ways to keep her family safe,” she said, whether in the case of a job loss, a natural disaster, or worse.
She started the Survival Mom blog in 2009, drawing upon extensive research—and a helpful background as an elementary school teacher and corporate trainer—to dispense practical advice and cheerful encouragement on topics from food storage smarts, to Depression-era-inspired frugal living tips, to what survival gear to carry in your wallet. A book, “Survival Mom: How to Prepare Your Family for Everyday Disasters and Worst-Case Scenarios,” followed in 2012. Now, she offers weekly blog posts, courses, and an online community membership, Survival Mom Sisterhood. The site gets close to 2 million visitors a year—75 percent of whom are women—and she receives emails from readers across the country and as far away as Cameroon and Australia.
Now living in a small city northeast of the Houston, Texas area, Bedford shared her journey from panic-buying to autopilot-prepping, her proudest-mom moments, and the practical steps anyone can take toward a more prepared home—and the peace it brings.
Lisa Bedford, better known as the Survival Mom, with her go bag at Mercer Botanic Gardens in Humble, Texas. (Sarah Jane Quinette)
American Essence: What drove you to pursue a more prepared and self-reliant lifestyle?
Lisa Bedford: I was raised in a typical middle-class American family in Phoenix, Arizona, with no awareness of anything related to preparedness. In the mid-2000s, my husband had an electrical contracting business that was doing well, we had two young children, and we were thriving. However, the 2008 recession hit Phoenix and the construction industry especially hard. As a mom, I searched for ways to be proactive just in case—just in case his business had to close, just in case we lost our house, just in case our funds were completely depleted. I searched on forums and blogs for how to survive a deep recession and eventually ended up in what I call the world of the doomers.
I spent hours each day reading about survival topics, possible doomsday scenarios, and how much wheat I should buy to last my family for a year. Never mind that my husband and I ate mostly low-carb; the survival gurus told me we needed 1,600 pounds of grains and 240 pounds each of sugar and legumes.
The survival blogs I read were written by and primarily for men. I took in all that information and noticed that it mostly filled me with fear. At one point my husband came home from work to find me still in my pajamas, frozen in front of my computer screen. I’d been reading articles about buying rural property, with homes situated a safe distance from rifle fire.
I knew there had to be a better way to learn about being prepared. After researching for a few months, I started my own blog aimed at women with a similar mindset to my own. I began writing about what I was doing—the beginning steps of food storage, putting together a vehicle emergency kit (important for a homeschooling mom constantly ferrying the kids from one activity or field trip to another), and finding ways to make our home more secure.
Bedford published her book “Survival Mom: How to Prepare Your Family for Everyday Disasters and Worst-Case Scenarios” in 2012. (Sarah Jane Quinette)
AE: What does self-reliance look like in your lifestyle now?
Mrs. Bedford: Over the years, we’ve purchased a variety of freeze-dried food from Thrive Life along with a well-stocked pantry filled with the basics—canned foods, sugar and other staples, Sam’s Club herbs and spices (very large containers), and ingredients for most of our favorite recipes. We’ve found an excellent source of fresh beef, and have stocked up on that as well. We know how to preserve food by canning and dehydrating it.
Our home is in a small city surrounded by forest, and even after a major tree trimming there’s still too much shade for a productive garden, unfortunately, but I do as much container gardening as possible. This also rules out a solar system for our home, but as a backup, we have generators and a large solar-powered battery station.
Hurricanes and floods during our 10 years living in Texas have taught us what we need to have on hand and how to get prepared. Power sources, even small solar panels, are a vital prep for every household, along with different methods for cooking and heating water, such as a solar oven, a fuel-efficient rocket stove, a propane grill, or even a fireplace or open-air fire pit.
AE: Which part are you proudest of?
Mrs. Bedford: Learning and improving skills that my grandmothers and great-grandmothers took for granted—sewing, cooking from scratch, preserving food, beekeeping. Skills and knowledge are overshadowed by the excitement of building an emergency food storage and packing bug-out bags, but those things can be stolen, lost, or ruined by flood or fire. If you can safely start a fire, set up a campsite, use off-grid cooking methods, purify water during a boil notice—those are all things that no one can take away.
It’s also been rewarding to teach these skills to my kids. It’s up to us to purposefully teach the younger generation skills and knowledge that build confidence, are meaningful, and produce results they can take pride in.
Bedford urges families to build their skills and knowledge, such as knowing how to grow, harvest, and cook your own food from scratch. (Sarah Jane Quinette)
AE: How do you stay calm, rather than panicking, while preparing for emergencies and worst-case scenarios?
Mrs. Bedford: Fear has a bad reputation, but it can be extremely useful when it compels us to take action. For example, many women would avoid their routine mammograms if they weren’t somewhat fearful of breast cancer. It’s a balance of staying aware of developing events and remaining calm enough to be ready to react in a sane and productive way. There’s peace in being prepared, and once you begin taking steps, it’s surprising how quickly the worries fade and confidence takes the place of fear. Action is the key.
AE: What goals are you working on now?
Mrs. Bedford: Our family prepping is pretty much on autopilot at this point. We need to improve our ham radio skills and connect with a local ham radio club. I’m also focusing on learning herbalism. I’m a Master Gardener in my county and each day I realize how much more there is to learn! For the most part, though, I work on finding new, effective ways to provide information, training, and support to women and families so they, too, can be that confident “Survival Mom” if the worst happens.
This article was originally published in American Essence magazine.
