There are few segments of the prepper population who are more prepared than the Latter-Day Saints. Personal preparedness is part of their core beliefs. Their LDS Preparedness Manual has been around long before events like the Great Recession, National Geographic’s Doomsday Preppers, and the coronavirus pandemic brought waves of people to prepping.
You can download the manual toward the end of this post.
The LDS Preparedness Manual
I’m not a member of the Latter-Day Saints, but I do know of their belief in preparing for difficult times. Members of the church have been advocated preparing for difficult times for man years. To that end, while not an “official” publication of the church itself, members have assembled a book by various authors that is very popular among preppers – the LDS Preparedness Manual.
The manual may be freely reproduced and distributed so long as all of hte copyrights of the original authors are respected, and such reproduction is never done for commercial gains.
The manual is a whopping 509 pages of preparedness advice. I agree completely with one of their opening statements:
This book is WORTHLESS if you put it in your bookshelf with the intention of only reading it after an emergency strikes. It is NOT a survival manual intended to be used after the fact. This is a PREPAREDNESS manual that can only help you if you read it in advance and follow its suggestions to prepare and get ready for an emergency BEFORE IT HAPPENS!
The LDS Preparedness Manual Sections
The book is broken into sections by topic. This is just a sampling of portions under each topic area:
Section 1 – Emergency Preparedness. Why?
- Normalcy Bias
- The Five Principles of Preparedness
- Mental and Spiritual Preparations for Survival
- How Long Until You Starve?
- General Preparedness Survey
- Five Levels of Preparedness
Section 2 – Getting Started
- Food Storage Tools and References
- Grains and Legumes
- Sugar, Milk, Fats, and Oils
- Cooking Essentials
- Processing and Preservation
- Sprouting
- Storage
Section 3 – Every Needful Thing
- 72-Hour Emergency Kit (Get Out of Dodge / But Out Bag)
- Evacuation
- Communication
- Financial
- Medical
- Defense
- Heating, Cooking, Lighting
- Clothing
- Shelter
- Sanitation
- Testing Your Preparedness
- Babies and Small Children
- Pandemics
- Terrorist Attack
Section 4 – Preparedness Outside Your Comfort Zone
- 100 Emergency Items That Will Disappear First
- Fears of a Prepper
- Unprepared: Welcome to the Promised Land
- Thoughts on Disaster Survival
- A Look Back at Katrina
- Lessons from Argentina’s Economic Collapse
Criticism of the Book
I try not to be too harsh a critic of others’ writing, but this preparedness manual does come up short in a few areas. It is very heavy on food preparedness. Also, if you don’t subscribe to LDS beliefs, then you’ll have to deal with the religious overtones throughout the book.
The book is not the be-all and end-all of survival manuals. The fact that it is not written by a single author, but rather a collection of various authors’ pieces, gives the book a disjointed feel. The order of articles do not flow seamlessly. Also, the actual grammar of the book… well, let’s just say it’s riddled with errors.
However – the book is packed with valuable information, and best of all, it’s free! My advice would be to pair this book with another, more well-rounded preparedness book like Dr. Arthur Bradley’s best-selling book Handbook to Practical Disaster Preparedness for the Family. For the beginning to intermediate prepper, the two books combined could put you off to a very good start.
Download the LDS Preparedness Manual
If you go through the Latter Day Saints book website to download the manual, they’ll make you give them your email address. I would encourage you to sign up for our emails, but it’s not a requirement to downloading the book. You can download it for free here:
Download the LDS Preparedness Manual PDF
I hope you find it useful, and prep on!
16 comments
I can’t say I am sold on their take on religion but if more churches had the same awesome emphasis on religion the nation would be a better place.
HOLY COW!! i read it, and there are soo much in there i agree with!! And 1 thing, i did not expect to find in a church produced manual the following quote:
“Remember that a smaller caliber weapon does not have the stopping power of a larger one, so if you have to shoot someone to defend yourself,
keep shooting until you empty the gun”
Wow, dont mess with that church!! they wont just shoot you once!! they will empty the gun!!
Its a very well rounded manual, i need to get some of my friends (the ones that call me “paranoid”) to have a read of it (i dont think i needed much from there, but it was still an interesting read).
And like all the best things, it was free! :) i wonder if work will get annoyed if i go printing out 222 pages though…
I’ve always wondered why the mormons do not include rice as a major staple in these guides. After all, it complements beans very well as a protein combo, is relatively inexpensive, and very easy to store.
Its the way most churches thought, back a couple of generation ago. Still good and sound advice.
it’s certainly a cute PDF, but it’s actually put together by someone with a grudge against the ‘mormons’. Most of the books quoted there (“parables of james talmadge”, for example) are fabricated, using real author’s names … and some of the ‘parables’ and other ‘scripture’ is completely made up … most of it with a slant toward making them seem like the ‘crazy’ kinds of survivalists. the “Preparing for a repeat of Haun’s Mill” is another unfortunate example, using a very real event (in which members of the church – including women and children – were brutally murdered/raped/burned by criminals) to set up this idea that mormons are or should be ‘preparing for war’.
the LDS church DOES publish some food storage/emergency prep pamphlets, available through their website: http://www.providentliving.org … but these *real* publications by the church aren’t as exciting a read (though do provide calculations for how much food is needed, and the website has an online calculator).
While the church doesn’t have anything against guns, it does not actively promote ‘stocking up’ on firearms or ammunition, and is in fact “pro-government”, urging its members to be law-abiding citizens, rather than paranoid, anti-government recluses.
I enjoy your site, and while i myself love firearms (especially my AR!), most of my LDS friends, family and neighbors do not have anything near the “enthusiasm” portrayed in this interesting collection.
I am the author of the LDS Preparedness Manual that is being discussed here.
INFORODEO.
Make no mistake about it, I have a POWERFULL PRO CHURCH stance, have been an active member for 20 years, and currently hold callings in preparedness.
This manual represents 10 years of work, and is a LIVE document that changes from year to year. The version that you downloaded for free or bought from my store at cost, is the general public edition.
If you are LDS or have a deep interest in Preparedness I invite you to visit my site.
http://www.ldsavow.com
While this site is 100% LDS “Mormon” it is also a major hub for all aspects of preparedness and is open to anyone willing to follow the rules we post.
Holy shit. We’re all gonna die!
Chris –
MY APOLOGIES. I’d skimmed over it, and had found it after reading the post here … and initially took it as one of those “hey everyone, look how crazy those mormons are!” things.
It took me awhile to apologize ‘cos i hadn’t had time to read through it … and again, i’m sorry. i’m a big fat jerk.
you should sell it through lulu.com if you aren’t already. i just bought some manuals from here (shtfblog) through them, and they’re printed nicely.
though it will likely make no difference to you (and again, sorry!), i’ve passed the link to your site along to some of my member friends who are sure to enjoy the content.
… i should add, the section with emails from the person in LA during Katrina was fascinating, and brought up several good points to consider.
Fantastic read, especialy the part from page 184 onwards, as its current mini teotwawki.
Essential reading even just for the look into other peoples behaviour, in a “situation.” kinda knew what other none preppers would be like, but it was nice to have it reinforced by another, as sometimes you can think your over reacting in your prep’s towards other people should shtf.
I love your blog. I’m definitely adding it to my bookmarks. That’s also a very handy manual for LDS and non-LDS.
This is like the stuff Glenn Beck promotes on Fox News. I too fear the impending zombie apocalypse. I better start getting this stuff. It seems like a really good idea to prepare for this certain doom.
don’t bring up Katrina. please keep in mind i felt REALLY bad for the old and the young. in any bad sitch the innocents always take it in the neck. i about had an aneurysm at the level of stupid going on…though i did cheer the guy who looted the bunch of fishing poles. and no i am not kidding on both the above counts. what really burned my biscuits was people awarding SOME of the terminally stupid, brand spanking new houses. the one chick with the near comatose baby in her arms whining about “when will the government get here!! we need water”!!! uh huh. meanwhile behind her are office buildings with hot water heaters chock full of good water and likely water coolers with the big honking jugs of good water in storage for said coolers, all within a convenient walk.. GRR!! *banging head against the wall* ok..i’m better. now.
to me NOT prepping is just..gah!! ignorance in action. better to have it an not need it, than to need it an not have it! i have an excruciatingly tight budget. and yet? i am still slowly stockpiling food , tools & whatnot. & training my kids the art of MacGyverism!! y’all take care!! :D
PS: remember duct tape is your friend! so says ” Lady MacGyver: Queen of Duct tape & Goddess of packing!!”
“I create spacial anomalies” ;D
this page seems to have errors with IE8 you might want to fix this
I am a first time visitor to your blog. I was searching for how to get a copy of the LDS survival manual. Thank you for sharing this!
Thanks for the comment, Katherine. I have updated the post so it is now available for download.