Welcome to This Prepared Life, a podcast for women where preparedness feels peaceful, practical, and possible. Hosted by Allison Michael, this show is about creating a calmer, more resilient life through everyday preparedness and intentional living. Inside the episodes, you’ll find realistic food storage tips, Allison’s Three Layer Food Storage system, preparedness skills, homemaking rhythms, and encouragement to help you care for yourself and your family with more confidence and less overwhelm. From emergency preparedness and food preservation to homemaking and building a well-stocked pantry, this podcast offers practical guidance to help preparedness feel more natural in your everyday life. Whether you’re filling your first pantry shelf or have been preparing for years, you can expect simple action steps, honest conversations, and a reminder that preparedness does not have to come from fear. Here, we believe in being prepared, not scared — one pantry shelf, skill, and intentional step at a time.
Latest episodes
Showing 20 · updated from the feed
5 Things That Can Ruin Your Food Storage
What if the food you've carefully stored isn't lasting as long as you think it will?
We all have different challenges when it comes to where we store our food.
Aug 11 17 min
What to Buy for Your Pantry This Month: August Stock-Up Guide
What should you stock up on in August?
One of my favorite ways to build a home food supply is by paying attention to grocery store sales cycles. Every month, different f
Aug 4 8 min
Your Preparedness Questions Answered: Food Storage, Consistency & Overwhelm
In this episode, I'm answering your preparedness questions! These are real questions submitted by women in our community about food storage, water storage, meal plan
Jul 28 19 min
5 Food Storage Mistakes Beginners Make (And How to Avoid Them)
Building a home food supply doesn't have to be complicated—but there are a few common mistakes that can make the process more expensive, frustrating, and overwhelmin
Jul 21 9 min
Preparedness on a Budget: 10 Ways to Prepare Without Spending a Fortune
Do you ever feel like preparedness is something you'll get to someday... when you have more money?
You're not alone.
In this episode, I'm sharing 10 prac
Jul 14 15 min
Building a Prepper Pantry That Works with NO Waste
When you hear the words "prepper pantry," what comes to mind?
For many people, it's buckets of rice and beans collecting dust in a basement. But long-term food stor
Jul 7 19 min
Wish List VS To-Do List: A Simpler Way to Plan Your Week
After years of trying to get everything done, I realized something important: overwhelm is not a badge of honor.
In this episode, I'm sharing one simple mindset shi
Jun 30 5 min
How to Build Your Home Grocery Store
What if your food storage pantry functioned like a grocery store?
In this episode, we're talking about layer two of my three-layer food storage system: your home gr
Jun 23 13 min
Why Your Kitchen Pantry Matters Most in an Emergency
When we think about food storage, our minds often jump straight to buckets of long-term food and catastrophic emergencies. But in reality, most of the situations we are l
Jun 16 11 min
Let Go of the Pressure to Do It All
After a long pause from the podcast, I'm sharing some of the lessons I've learned through one of the hardest seasons of my life.
Life can change in ways we nev
Jun 9 7 min
5 Simple Preparedness Tasks You Can Do This Week
Preparedness doesn't have to be complicated, expensive, or take hours of your time.
In this episode, I'm sharing five simple preparedness tasks you can do this
Jun 9 5 min
My Kids Ate My Food Storage: What I Learned
My kids ate my food storage.
Well, not all of it, but after several of my adult children moved back home, our household went from three people to seven almost overnight.
Jun 9 13 min
Over 150 Non Food Preps
I talk a lot about food storage, but nonfood preps are just as important. Here are over 150 nonfood prep items from a recent post on my Instagram titled If You Use It, Pr
Feb 8 2023 14 min
Community is Important - Guest Patrice Lewis of Rural Revolution - Ep27
Today, we are having a conversation with Patrice Lewis of Rural Revolution. Join us as we discuss the importance of community in preparedness and the process of moving a
Oct 5 2022 57 min
Food Preservation Guest Crystal from Whole Fed Homestead - Ep26
Today's episode is a conversation with Crystal from Whole Fed Homestead. Join us as we talk about food preservation, long-term power outages, using a car as a solar
Aug 31 2022 51 min
Budget Prepping & More with Author Millie Copper - Ep25
Today's guest is an episode not to miss. I talked with author, mother, and prepper for over fifteen years, Millie Copper. Millie Copper writes fiction and non-fictio
Jul 6 2022 54 min
Prepared Not Scared - Proverbs 31 Woman - Ep24
Not my typical content; skip it if this isn't for you. Today, we are talking all about being Prepared, not scared, and how it relates to the Proverbs 31 Woman. Join
Apr 27 2022 10 min
Homesteading and Preparedness with Guest Jen Serenity Hill Farmstead - Ep23
Homesteading and preparedness when you don't live on your farm. Today's guest is Jen from Serenity Hill Farmstead. Jen is a mom to four living in Illinois. Join
Apr 13 2022 40 min
Carving a Farm out of the Woods with Guest Rylee - Ep22
Carving a farm out of the woods with passion and energy. Join this discussion with guest Rylee Faust. She is a 20-something homesteader, wife, & mom living in Northern MN
Mar 16 2022 40 min
Bulk Buying with Azure Standard - Ep21
Azure Standard is my go-to resource for bulk buying and stocking my food storage and prepper pantry. In this episode, I walk you through everything from placing an order
Mar 9 2022 13 min
Chart trend
Position in the How To chart (US), last 90 days.
#1#95#189JulAugSepOct
#23
all-time peak
2
days in the top 50 since May 2026
Chart positions
Where This Prepared Life ranks today in each Apple Podcasts chart (US, Oct 18, 2026).
A curated, balanced selection of Apple Podcasts reviews.
I am so happy to see this podcast return! Sensible and well thought out suggestions. A podcast that made me think more deeply about the wisdom and practicality of being prepared.
NightShift4life · Jun 2026
Allisons’ TPL podcast and social media pages are chuck full of attainable, relatable and understandable info on how to be prepared and not scared! So glad I found this community and this information! Small actions and preparedness adds up and Allison really knows how to encourage us to tighten out apron strings!
jgb-fan · Sep 2022
Inspiring, practical and action-based solutions to things we really can’t know in our future. This podcast is a “must” for all women, especially moms, and not just those who already prep. It is very timely! Binge it, connect with others, and most of all, put the common-sense advice into action right NOW!
henny in honolulu · Jun 2022
If I could recommend one podcast for beginner as well as advanced preppers, it would be this one! She brings out the best in her guests by asking thought provoking and informative questions. I always come away learning something new. I feel like I’m sitting at the kitchen table with her, cup of tea in my hand chatting away with a best friend. Seriously she’s that good at putting any anxiety you may have as a beginner and building your knowledge as a seasoned prepper! What are you waiting for? Go listen to this podcast NOW!!♥️♥️♥️
lisahasmail · Feb 2022
I’ve binged this entire podcast from the beginning, with the exception of the most recent episode (at this time it’s the Oct 5, 2022 episode with Patrice). At first I enjoyed the podcast. I didn’t feel like I was getting a ton of new information, but I kept listening anyway, just in case I struck gold (spoiler alert: I didn’t). As I listened to more episodes, the information felt less valuable to me, and half the time the audio quality is quite poor. Then I came across the Prepared Not Scared episode which is essentially 10 minutes of reading from and talking about the Bible, which would’ve been fine if it hadn’t been completely out of left field. I have no issue with other people’s belief systems; what bothers me is the more I listened after that, the more the faith-based aspect of this podcast came forth. Allison talked about how she’s intentionally chosen like-minded people to surround herself with and suddenly I understood why this podcast is so vanilla. I just wish Allison had been more upfront in the beginning that this is where her prepping comes from and that she was going to talk about it because it’s now obvious to me that I am not her target audience, even though I’m a woman who preps. Had I known, I probably wouldn’t have forced myself to keep listening when it got boring and I could’ve come at it with a different perspective rather than being offended when I was jolted into church at the start of the episode. I also VERY much dislike her constant literal gushing about how homesteading and prepping is “our privilege as women” to provide for and protect our families. I’m sorry, but it’s just sickening to hear her talk about it. Men have just as much responsibility to that goal as women and Allison never ONCE mentions that. I really hope this review helps someone else like me, so you don’t waste 20+ hours of your life listening to this podcast. There are many other good homesteading podcasts out there, with better audio quality, consistency, and entertainment.
JessBLethal · Feb 2023
We strive to present a balanced view by showing a diverse range of reviews from Apple Podcasts.
Here you find the Apple Podcasts chart positions of This Prepared Life, its latest episodes to listen to directly, and reviews from listeners. Rankings are updated daily for the United States.
