When I recently subscribed to Backwoods Home Magazine, I took advantage of a special they were running at the time and picked out a few of their books. Self-reliance: Recession-proof your pantry was one of them.

Like most of their books, this is a compilation of several previously published articles. It is a slim volume at about 140 pages. I was able to read it cover to cover in about an hour while I was sitting at my doctor’s office.

The material in the book covers everything from what you should have in your pantry, some storage methods, and preservation techniques like home canning and dehydration. It gives a pretty good overview of those topics.

The downside though is detailed information on those subjects is pretty scarce. This book serves more as an introduction to putting together a pantry than it does anything else. The majority of the chapters in this book were written by the always wonderful and informative Jackie Clay. I love her style of writing and always learn something from every article of hers I read. However, by the very nature of the fact that these are reprints of magazine articles, the writers just don’t have the space to go into exact detail on many things. I knew that going in so wasn’t altogether disappointed by the book.

Don’t get me wrong, there is some great information here for both the beginner and the more experienced preppers. But, if you’re expecting a one-stop shop for how to put together a comprehensive food pantry for long-term use, you may wish to look elsewhere.

Honestly, it seems a bit high-priced at about $13. I’d suggest doing as I did and subscribe to the magazine when they’re running a special on the books. Backwoods Home Magazine is truly one of my favorite publications and I don’t think you could go wrong getting it in the mail, that’s for sure.