Sometimes in life you get a pleasant surprise that makes you smile. Then there are times when you are so surprised that you gasp with joy. This was the case when I got the LDS Preparedness Manual and read it (Did we mention it is FREE).
The Disclaimer
First of all let me start off by saying again that SurvivalCache is free of politics, and religion. There are so many other sites that focus on those subjects that we decided to keep our site focused on Survival and Emergency Preparedness. We are not for or against any political party nor are we for or against any religion and for that reason we choose not to write on those topics.
When we do come across items that contain excellent information for our community, we don’t 
care who wrote it or where it came from. The bottom line for us @ SurvivalCache is “Could this help one of our readers survive or be prepared for an emergency?” The LDS Preparedness Manual is an overwhelming “YES”.
If you don’t feel like going any further in this book review, then just click on the following link and download the LDS Preparedness Manual for FREE (click Here), print it off and keep it somewhere in your house. Yes, you heard it here first, the LDS Preparedness Manual is FREE. Brought to you by the your friendly Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons). No sign up required, no guys in suits showing up at your front door during a football game, nothing, zippy, nada….it is FREE. While this manual is not specifically endorsed by the LDS Church, it is put together and edited by members of the church using information they have gained from their own experiences, other publications and information that is available on the internet, which is probably why they are not charging for it.
Mormons
There are a lot of TV shows out there with guys who know a lot about Survival. Mykel Hawke’s 
show Man, Woman, Wild, then there is Les Stroud’s Survivorman, and of course Bear Grylls’ Man vs. Wild. All of these actors/survivalists on these shows know, that when it comes to Survival and Emergency Preparedness, the Mormons wrote the book….and they are still adding chapters to it. Myself, I am not Mormon. I grew up Catholic but I grew up in Southeast Iowa and I had a lot of friends who were LDS. My family often went across the Mississippi River to Nauvoo, Illinois, which is a sacred place for the Mormon religion, where we saw some of their preparedness first hand when we visited the local stores that sold preparedness type products. I have a lot of respect for their knowledge and dedication to being self reliant. I would almost guarantee that if a natural disaster hit Salt Lake City like Katrina hit New Orleans, the US Government would not even bother to send in FEMA. They would just say, “Dude, that city is full of Mormons, they are not going to need our help….they wrote the book on emergency preparedness.”
Overview
The LDS Preparedness Manual is a monster at 222 pages of information and they cover a lot of 
topics. This is not a Wilderness Survival Guide and I would never keep this in my Bug Out Bag (way too big), this is more of a preparedness bible of sorts and it is geared more towards “Bugging In” and being ready for anything. However, there is a small section on setting up a bug out bag which they called the “Deluxe 96 Hour Kit”. They give you two pages of ideas for your kit and they cover about everything you would need to survive for 96 hours or longer. The rest of this manual provides an excellent overview on food storage, emergency cooking, basic food lists, money, clothing, emergency shelter, water purification, emergency toilets, terrorism, money, quarantining for epidemics, fuel storage, (NBC) Nuclear Biological Chemical attacks, and much much more.
Pros
The first big pro is that this manual is free and it is awesome. At 222 pages, this manual is information overload. That is why I printed it off, put it in a binder and just read small sections at a time. I love the many checklists through out the manual, for example you could just take pages 124 to 127 with you to the grocery store and use it as a guide/checklist for all of the food that you would need to be prepared (except for the MREs listed on those pages as well).
Cons
There are about 10 to 12 pages of religious text in this manual. Did it bother me? No. It might bother some people but the bottom line is that this is free from LDS church members and beggars can’t be choosers.
Download it, Print it, Read it, Store it
Click Here to Download the LDS Preparedness Manual
(Please pass it on to your friends & family that they can get this manual here for free)
Just downloaded and scanned through it. Looks awesome!!! This one will take me some time. Once again…the Cache Rules!!!!
Thanks!
10 "You are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.__11 I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior.__12 I have revealed and saved and proclaimed– I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "that I am God.__
Pretty hard to beat "free"… Good reading.
For some reason I glanced at the title and read, "The LSD preparedness manual". That caused some minor confusion.
Yes, prepare for your first LSD trip!!! That is pretty funny.
I did the same thing.
Haha! That's great! I'm LDS, joined when I was 17 (in PA, not Mormon country; my husband joined in Korea while in the military–go figure!). I remember the jokes even from back then. Since the full name is "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," and is a mouthful, LDS is quicker on the tongue. I read about "Lights Out" by a non-Mormon, and it was enlightening even to me–if the USA were hit by an EMP, it would be interesting to see how we'd all fare. The writer (a well-known reporter) was given a first-hand tour of LDS preparedness and food storage facilities in Utah. It's not as elaborate in the "east" U.S., but the organization is the same. I doubt you'd have messengers on bicycles and by foot checking everyone in a congregation quite as quickly. In Utah, a congregation might only consist of a few blocks. Here, depending on where you live we can live 1/2-hr. from one another (well, we live in the boonies, so we could get a little land to grow stuff).
Gotta love the Mormon's. Always ready to survive just in case they get kicked out of town and have to move to — Salt Lake. Oh wait…already taken.
Kinda like "Sister Wives" .. lame show!
apparently you do not know about our religion. Please, refrain from making wise cracks. I would never make fun or put down your religion or lack of it.
Good for you Molly. At the end of the day…we are all looking to your organization for leadership and using your materials to save others. I for one am grateful for the information as I am just beginning to look at prep as more than setting aside funds for my children. Thank you. My apologies for the appearance that all of us are insensitive. I am sure we are not ungrateful. Thank you.
I am glad I am not the only one watching southernprepper1!
Big Fans!!
Page 32 talks about vitamins and to have a Daily multi and a C. The only one on the market made from true organic fruits and vegetables is one i found on this site a few months ago. http://www.rawsourceorganics.com
If I need to bug out quick and take a month or two of shelf stable foods with me until I get get to a growing season and plant some fruits and vegetables I am going to have a 2 or 3 month supply of vitamins to keep me generally healthy until my crops produce. I hadn't ever really thought about it until I read it here in one of your check lists a few months back. Good insight. Write more about this if possible
Thanks for sharing Kevin!
You could also try some survival tabs. Basically, you eat 12 a day that provide you with all the vitamins and minerals you need and 240 Calories. They supplement any food that you can find (ie ramen noodles), or can be eaten alone. You can read about them here: http://www.sohlius.com/ or buy them on ebay.
It's also pretty important to be sure you have a good storage of vitamin D tabs. Especially in winter, they can be a lifesaver–Sites like Dr. Mercola claim it helps protect you against flu, and most of us don't get enough sunlight in winter. Do your own research, though.
The 'Mormon Pantry' has always been a good idea. When I found out they keep a year's supply of food on hand I began to wonder why. Looking at their history, there were many times when they had to "bug out" RIGHT NOW! That level of preparation served them well so we started imitating it. I have downloaded the manual. Haven't read it yet but it should be good. Thank you for posting it.
to bad they had to leave everything behind and werent allowed to take it with them-
This isn't a product of the LDS Church. It's written by a person who happens to be a member of the church, but the second page clearly states that this is not a publication that's officially sanctioned by the church. Just to be clear.
We tried to make it clear in the above article by saying – "While this manual is not specifically endorsed by the LDS Church, it is put together and edited by members of the church using information they have gained from their own experiences, other publications and information that is available on the internet"
It is clear. Guest just has an amazing grasp of the obvious and has to let everyone know about it.
Thanks for the tip, I've got it loaded on my Kindle.
Great idea to put it on the eReader! Thanks.
How did you get it on your Kindle. Did you buy and download??
Thanks
AZ BOB
Are you from Fort Madison?
Now that is funny. Very close, but I am not from FM.
I was born there and lived there for 40yrs.
Thanks for the link. I downloaded it and skimmed a few pages. It looks good, and one can't beat the price 🙂
There are some minor pros and cons with going for a full year's stored supply of food. The main cons are simply the price, storage space, and awkwardness of trying to move it *all* if you feel you have to. On the pro side, if you have a year's supply of food tucked away then that will last you through an entire planting cycle, so that hopefully by the time the next harvest comes in things will be better. With less than a year's supply tucked away things could get dicey if you have to wait for an entire planting cycle for a decent resupply.
The LDS Church now tells Mormons to start buying extra food and building up slowly. Yes I'm Mormon. Unfortunately I don't have a year supply yet. I need to repent. Especially with food going up more, and all world currencies on the verge of collasping. (There all backed by Federal Reserve "Notes." WealthCycles has some free videos about it.) Plus John M. Browning inventor of the Colt 1911 was Mormon. Another gift. Of course they are not free.
The reading is GREAT. A good find. * about vitamins – pill or caplets are very easy to store and take, but your body does not absorb what is need in them. How many of us actually eat the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables every day. I drink a shake every day and depending on my intake a vary the mixture of the ingredients. This may be a good topic to go into more. I store about a months worth of food but the first two weeks is what we eat every day and the remaining is basic survival. So supplements are needed. Some of my ingredients are ALL-ONE (original formula) and Greens+ (Wild Berry).
Breaking up caplets & pills will help. Liquids are better, but don't seem to be as potent.
So I study nutrition for a living and you have a legitimate point when it comes to getting all your needs. There may be times where you'll only be getting your calories from one type of food and that can have serious repercussions. You can do pretty well for yourself with grain stores, dried/canned fruits and vegetables (though you may lose some of the nutritional/antioxidant content. Beans, Nuts, and to some extent even grains provide protein as long as you balance the amino acid contents, and Meat of course. Dairy is trickier but powdered milk in cans depending on the brand can provide a lot your needs. I would save the vitamin pills for a time of desperation where you only had one food source.
Great post and link. Every waterfall begins with one raindrop….Just like when one person begins to prepare for any event, it too will grow. So make your list, check it twice and stock it wide and deep!
Thank you for this info it looks great and will help alot since I’m a new prepper and trying to plan for 4 people.
I live in Salt Lake City, and yes FEMA would probably step aside for the LDS church. When the earthquake hit Haiti the LDS church had emergency supplies and food in the air before any other agency in the world. They have the canneries and food production facilities all over the place. I grew up here and it has always been the case to have 1 years worth of supplies saved up, plus they have a rotation program in print that I am still trying to get a hold of.
Having Canned at the "Bishops Storehouse" I can only say more power to them, I think more people should do so.
most of the church canneries were closed 9 years ago- there are very few left
Now only the church cans in the canneries. Probably liability issues got to be too much, like most things these days. ( We used to go do canning a couple of times a year, so miss it.) You can go to a storehouse and buy already canned items, though, at cheaper prices than food storage companies, since they are sold at cost. Nothing fancy, though. It's good to get a bit of that long-term stuff (and have the knowledge and experience and tools to use it, such as a grain grinder), as well as frozen and canned and dried items. I'm a gardener and seed saver; it's very easy to store a lot of seeds in freezer bags inside of jars in a spare refrigerator. And learn how to save your own seed–it's FREE too, just be sure you aren't crossing varieties. Lots of info on the internet on this.
If you cant tell already I’m a history buff , anything I can get my hands on to read lol . From what I’ve read , the Mormons had a pretty organized system of re supply points for their settlers coming west in wagons . Apparently they have been doing this sort of thing for a loooooong time . Good for them !
not for the handcart people there were no provisions until they came to rescue them
The handcart people left late in the season when they weren't really supposed to. That's why they had to be rescued. Resupply points are harder to maintain in the winter.
As a Mormon, I appreciate the kind words posted here (no insults about religion), and I’m happy that people of any faith can benefit from the preparedness manual. Good work on the website and newsletters Joel. Thanks for what u do.
I agree! I was just called to be our Ward's Emergency Preparedness Specialist. I LOVE this site. There is much work to do to get our people ready! I feel great responsibility on my shoulders right now!
Great article. I just downloaded it to my computer (to print when I want to burn through that many pages and ink) and my Kindle. Fantastic stuff!
Greetings. My name is Christopher, and I am the author of the LDS Preparedness Manual. I just wanted to take a moment and say THANK YOU for sharing my work with all of your members. I really do hope it helps your members to become a little bit better prepared. The book is offered everyone free of charge as a PDF, I also offer it in printed form sold AT-COST from my printer, and in a week or so it should finally be on Amazon in KINDLE format as well I welcome comments about the book and it is ALWAYS under revision! Another major new release will be out this year with significant new material on communications as the next subject to be covered.!
Thank you Christopher. It is very refreshing to see that there truly are people out there that are not out to extract every penny they can out of people, but instead care about people enough to supply them with vital information such as this.
I’m not suggesting anything but ……….. As far as I know , the Mormon community stockpiles everything ……..except weapons ,….could be wrong but I dont think they do .
Ha! I'm Mormon…and I stockpile firearms (and ammo). It's not a Church teaching, but most of us do.
StorminMormon is right, at least the Idaho and Utah Mormons have more weapons than you could count. These aren't stockpiled by the Church, but rather by individual members. They range from grand dads shotgun, to AK's, deer rifles etc. Remember hunting is huge in these states, particularly in Idaho. So is disdain for intrusive big government, and a self reliant attitude. There is no connection to militias or white supremicist you hear about in northern Idaho. Most Mormons I know are good neighbors who take care of themselves, obey the law, and expect the rest of the country to do the same.
I could definitely hang out with some LDS folks sounds like. prepared AND they won't bogart the liquor!
Hahaha, good point
Like the others said, it depends on the individual Mormon. And like I said in another comment, John M. Browning invented the Colt 1911, I think the 50BMG and other weapons. And he was a 3rd generation Mormon. 3rd generation gunsmith too. Some of us see the need for weapons.
Oh most of us stock pile weapons! Or at least have them for Hunting, and self defense.
I laughed so hard when I read this! For most of us Mormons, guns are just part of our culture and most homes have at least one and usually around 10 or so. At least around the west.
less than 25% of the LDS members even have a 3 month supply of food- you assume wrong – its very frustrating that we are commanded and taught to do it and 3/4 of the members wont-
Yeah. In the east it's different (PA), but I see the wisdom in it, as long as you keep them safely from kids, etc. If nothing else you could eat wild rabbit stew? The Church does not plan on ever "protecting" its storehouses with violence. Read the book by (non-Mormon) Ten Koaple (I'm sure I got his name spelling wrong!), "Lights Out." However, with all that's going on in politics nowadays, the right to bear arms is something we need to preserve.
Hmmm, tried both of those links and got error messages. Googled it, got a download, and got an error message when I tried to open it. "File is damaged and cannot be repaired". Any suggestions?
thanks, these links don't work. sorry.
I agree Ronin. I don't know how to download this preparedness document from the LDS Church.
if the links do not work just put your cursor over the link right click and save as. it will just save the pdf file.
The LDS church does not encourage its members to stockpile weapons or ammo, just to stay out of debt and have adequate food storage: BUT many of the people I know (other Mormons) live by the creed "Buy it cheap and Stack it deep" 🙂
I love the LDS List, however, isn't the rule of thumb to only store what you actually eat? I'm confused.
Yes, store what you eat, but follow their guidelines on the quantities needed for proper nutrition. If you don't like one form of carbohydrate, replace it with another. When choosing vegetables, make sure you know which vitamins they contain. I turned my nose up at dehydrated peppers until I realized that they're a good source of something (I forget what). I'm not a fan of bananas, but they're about the only easy source of potassium and worth adding to my stock. If you're not sure why a particular food is on the list, do a quick online search of nutrients. You want to make sure that you have what will be needed for a balanced diet along with what you actually like to eat.
Also, make sure you have a variety of flavors. You might be a fan of Italian, but if you're spending weeks or months eating nothing but spaghetti, lasagna, and rigatoni you'll reach saturation point and never want to see another tomato product. If that's all you've stocked, you're stuck.
They also stress comfort foods and desserts. It might sound silly to stock up on chocolate pudding, lollipops, and Jell-O, but they'll be great morale-boosters when the SHTF.
You might want to double the fat. Russ Silver had a 7 year supply of food (like obedient ancient Israelites) and lost his job. He had to live off of his food storage for an extended time and became sick from it. Plus it was highly industralized, along with being low-fat Fat and Cholesterol are Good for You by Uffe Ravnskov, M.D. Ph.D, Mr. Silver sells a DVD called Making Food Storage a Life Style HeritageLectures.com.
After downloading this great document it got me doing some research on the Mormons. This may sound ridiculous but the advice that their leaders have been giving them over the past few decades (and maybe more) has been amazingly insightful and accurate to preparing for world events as far as I can tell. I'm not saying that they are fortune tellers or anything, they are probably just highly informed and organized but most everything that I have seen so far has checked out and I wished I would have been hearing this a few years ago. For example their leaders were counseling them to get out of debt at least for four years before 2008 rolled around. (and not specifically stated but i got the hint they were saying don't go in debt for real estate) They have been counseling to have a years worth of food storage for a decade… maybe more. Not just in case of a total economic/social collapse but for individuals cases as well, like if you lost your job or were injured for an extended period of time you could subsidize off your food storage until you could get back on your feet (instead of leaching off the damn government) I'm not quite signing up with them yet but my extended bug out plan may be to get to salt lake city cause these guys seem a lot better equipped and organized than the government house of cards we are supposed to rely on.
Check this out. I just read this the other day where in 1998 the LDS people were instructed to avoid debt and get their houses in order. http://www.lds.org/general-conference/1998/10/to-…
"We are carrying a message of self-reliance throughout the Church. Self-reliance cannot obtain when there is serious debt hanging over a household. One has neither independence nor freedom from bondage when he is obligated to others."
We have been counseled to have a year supply of food for very long. It is mainly because of prophesy in the Doctrine & Covenants that their will be total famine for one year. Nothing will grow. We are supposed to be independent of all creatures beneath heaven. Debt- maybe for a modest car, house, education. Still need to get rid of it fast.
dont go to SLC! world wide MAYBE 25% of all church members have any kind of preparations- and its really frustrating!
I'm very impressed. Most important aspect of this manual is how to get "there" from "here" in a year if you have nothing. Of course water is the big factor – point of observation is that about 20 #10 cans of dry goods (beans, macaroni, nonfat dry milk, rice, oats, dry potatoes, etc. require about 85 gallons of water so obviously water storage or a water source should be a consideration.
Thanks. Finally got this printed off. The information is very helpful. Intelligent, concise, and logical. Reading through it now, and making our plans to start the storage system up.
thanks for a review that isn't skewed 🙂 Might I suggest linking you in-text link for the word Mormon to http://www.mormon.org rather than the unreliable wikipedia? Thanks! As for Free…things are free because the church publishes them with the tithes of members…so thank a member 😉
just looked at the information…this isn't an official LDS publication…so it ISN"T paid for with tithing…just the kindness of someone else…wanted to correct my misinformation 🙂
Its interesting you mention a disaster hitting salt lake. Several years ago a tornado went through downtown salt lake. I remember the Today show talking with the Red Cross about estimated damages just 4 days afterwards and the person said they have no idea because everyone had started cleaning up so quickly that it was impossible to know what the true damage level had been.
wanted to download and all I get was a blank page
I would also try looking on the : lds.org site . Try there. I hope this may aid you.
It's not an official LDS publication. The site you want to go to is http://www.ldsavow.com
just downloaded it looks cool cant wait to look through it .
Being religious will likely help you when the stuff hits the fan…don't knock it…lol..there's another book now that, in my humble opinion, is even better…It's called AVOW (A Voice Of Warning)….it's over 500 pages and it's also free 🙂
I outright BOUGHT THE BOOK- it was cheaper than paying to print it off or print from home-
good book, I cant recommend it enough –
but don't think you will just go to the home of ANY or all LDS to find food and storage items- less than 25% of all LDS homes have any kind of food storage or preparedness- they just wont listed and do- its sad!
I look at this as additional information if only a sentence is something I have not seen before it was worth reading it.
I have scanned numerous documents for tidbits many documents a hundred years old that can be found on the net in PDF format.
once and a while you get that, " I could have had a V8" epiphany and or verification of information found elsewhere.
Sorry I cannot give credit to the person who posted it but they pointed out and rightly so, there is a lot of misinformation / disinformation so due diligence and fact checking are just part of the process.
My parents did a lot of canning cooking smoking gardening hunting fishing etc. but remembering all of it since I did not keep up with all that in my quest to make a living I had to reacquaint myself and some things I forgot parts of the process.
I have done a lot of my own electrical work but I do not do it enough to tackle some off the top of my head, like 3 way switches there are a number of ways and variations so I keep pictorial diagrams to help/ remind me.
and there are things like making sausage types and cooking where you miss one ingredient and it is not the same or fails there are so many facts and techniques few of us could remember them all.
that is why years ago I bought some books and sought out old knowledge to compare it to present day processes.
It has been a 30 year quest a lot was just a refresher some was new found and I had to experiment and insure myself it was valid or possible with limited resources.
in my research I have found that almost nothing comes from within 30 miles of where we live if it does your lucky.
in a terrible situation just what resources do we have and how can we exploit them and those we don't what do we need to stock up and store and about how much, and then does that leave us with some to trade or do we have just enough to exist.
Time is our common enemy for storage use and expiration or entropy of our equipment stock or dry goods.
and then there is our own frailties age catches up to all of us and then what are our options and there is where looking for passive income or trade stock that does not require being 30 and healthy, or you or your spouse dies and your left to manage on your own.
If people do not face this and plan for it they doom themselves or their families to fate I do not like fate it is a cruel and uncaring master preparedness is a complete circle any opening can lead to hardship and we will have enough of those without creating them for ourselves IMHO.
I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I'm happy you find our knowledge of temporal survival a good thing to emulate. In the name of Jesus Christ, I invite you to learn more about His Church and WHY we REALLY heed the counsel of our sustained leaders to store food, water, fuel, supplies for at least a year. Trust me, it's not because we're worried about being "run out of town" as some put it. So, locate a meetinghouse near you, and come on in. I promise no one's going to try to convert you but I do promise smiles, warm welcomes, and a feeling as if you have come home. God bless the author's of this blog and their loved ones. God bless all who visit here in a spirit of brotherhood to prepare for the dark days that are soon to be upon us. The clock is ticking down. We're going to need LOVE to see us through. We're going to need to check our egos at the door and hit our knees, pray, and trust in God to do battle for us because HE is the ultimate warrior and HE is in control of everything! Thank you for spotlighting the LDS Preparedness Manual friends. We need more people like you in the world.
AMEN, Bradda's! Us Mormons are also deep believers in the Constitution, and especially the 2nd Amendment …
Wow. Kudos to LDS for their insight and preparedness skills. I've experienced several destructive earthquakes and have been preparing ever since. Having water, food, and survival tools makes me feel "somewhat" prepared in the event of a massive earthquake. I plan on printing this File and place in my "binder". Thank you LDS.
Christopher, I've tried downloading the file about four times. First couple of times I thought I was doing something wrong. Then I realized the link itself was somehow damaged. So I'm writing in hopes that I can buy a copy of this information. I've always kept extra food in the house for 4 to 6 months of no trips to the store survival. Since I'm a new LDS member I'd like to really get serious about preparedness. I need help though. Thank You ahead of time.