Feature Friday: THRIVE Food & a GIVEAWAY!

Happy Friday, Y’all! Today I want to introduce you to a product called THRIVE. It’s a brand of freeze-dried foods put out by Shelf Reliance.

Freeze dried foods are more common than we think. Any fruit you find in your cereal box is likely freeze-dried fruit. And I’m sure there are many other examples out there that I can’t think of at the moment. 🙂 So anyway, this is really not foreign/scary territory.
I was able to try some samples of the THRIVE freeze-dried fruits and vegetables, and let me tell you… they are great! The fruit I just ate straight from the can (still in its freeze-dried state). It’s like eating candy… only healthy!! It’s so sweet and delicious! The vegetables I rehydrated and tested out, and honestly… they pretty much tasted like they were fresh from the garden.
But my absolute favorite part about these foods is the shelf life. They have a 25 year shelf life (when stored in proper storage conditions) which means you can store them away and then not worry about them again for 25 years!! (And once you open them, you have up to a year to use them.) Dehydrated fruits and vegetables do not last as long, so I constantly worry about how long I can keep them on the shelf (since I want them to last as long as possible) without them going bad, etc. You don’t have to worry about that with these. Just mark the date for 25 years out and keep them in a cool place and you’re good to go. Awesome! 🙂
Oh, and one other thing to remember about these foods is that they have not been cooked prior to being freeze-dried, so that adds to their freshness. It also means that if you want them to be cooked… you need to cook them after you rehydrate them. 🙂

Here are some more reasons you may enjoy THRIVE freeze dried foods:

• Freeze dried food retains 97% of its nutritional value
• It tastes GREAT (even kids love it!)
• It is super easy to cook with
• It is nutritious whole food. There is no processing, additives, preservatives, added sugar involved.
• There is a wide variety of food to choose from: fruits, vegetables, grains, meats, beans, entrees, and cooking basics as well.
• It is also great  for people with food allergies

Here are some added benefits of using the Shelf Reliance website:

• They have something called the THRIVE Q. It’s been explained to me like this: Think of it as a NetFlix for food storage. You set up a monthly budget, add different foods you want/need to your “Queue” and each month you receive something from your Queue list based on your budget.
• In addition to the THRIVE Q, there is something called The Q Club, which is like earning credit card reward points, except earning food. 🙂
• There is also an easy to use food calculator that helps you calculate the amount of food you need for your family and it can be customized based on any allergens or special health needs.
• Shipping starts as low as $7 and is capped at $15.99 so you don’t spend a ton on shipping.
• And a fun bonus, each can comes with a recipe on the back so you know at least ONE meal you can make with your product. 😀

So if you are interested in ordering some of these freeze dried foods, check out the Shelf Reliance website and then contact Lesley at Info@ThriveToSurvive.biz to receive a 10-25% off discount! WOOHOO!! (Note: You MUST contact her prior to ordering in order to receive the discount.) Lesley also has a blog at: ThriveToSurvive.biz with some more information there, so check it out as well.

And on that note… she would also like to GIVEAWAY {GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED} two bags of delicious food storage brownie mix!! That means there will be TWO lucky winners! Wahoo!! And did you catch that it’s BROWNIES??! He-LLO! CHOCOLATE??! 😀

To enter the giveaway{GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED}, simply leave a comment on this post stating your favorite dessert. (One comment per person please.)

You can earn an extra entry by sharing this post with your friends and family. Either send an email (be sure to include me in the email: GetReady@FoodStorageAndBeyond.com) or put a post on your blog/website about the giveaway (and send me a link to the post). Once you have done either of the above, simply enter a second comment on this post stating which one you did. (Note: You must post a second, separate comment in order to receive the extra entry, otherwise you will still only be registered to win one time.)

You have until next Thursday night at midnight (CST) to enter {GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED} and the winner will be announced Friday (Dec 10th). (The winner will be chosen by Random.org).

Good Luck and Happy Prepping!

Feature Friday: WISE Food Storage and a Giveaway!

Howdy y’all! Today starts our GIVEAWAY! {GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED.} Woohoo! 😀 But first, let me introduce you to a great little product called WISE Food- Gourmet Food Storage. It’s freeze dried meals that have a 25-year shelf life! (Wowsers!)

A little while back, I had the chance to meet with a great guy named Dan (owner of Red Alert Outfitters) who was in town for the Houston Hurricane Expo. He explained the Wise Food product to me and left me with some samples to try out. And I gotta say, this is definitely something every family should consider having on hand.
I made sure Dan knew that my philosophy on food storage was to be storing everyday foods, which he also agreed with. But later I got to thinking… and I remembered my 10 days or so of the month where I would be eating 30 year old beans and rice for dinner instead of something tasty. And I thought to myself,
“Hm… Perhaps I could store some freeze-dried meals to cover those 10 days of the month!” (and yes, I talk to myself like that. ;)) It was brilliant! A perfect solution for my situation. Freeze-dried meals are also perfect for 72-Hour Kits and I keep several in each of our family’s kits.

The Product

So now that we know what we can do with them, let me tell you a little about the product.
Wise Foods are freeze dried meals (not individual ingredients) that are stored in mylar pouches and have a 25-year shelf life. (Other freeze-dried meal products usually have a lower shelf life). They have breakfast, lunch, and dinner varieties and a nice selection of meals as well.

There are two different styles of the meals: cook out of the pouch, or cook in the pouch. To cook out of the pouch, you simply boil water in a pot, add the contents of the package to the boiling water, then cover and wait. To cook in the pouch, you simply add heated water to the pouch, close the pouch, and wait for the meal to re-hydrate. Walah. Dinner is served. The latter option is a little more expensive because of the extra packaging required, but it’s also the kind I recommend for 72-Hour Kits (due to ease of clean-up, etc). For meals at home, the first option would work great.

My Review

The food is surprisingly good. As I told Dan, it’s not the same as a homemade meal, but then I wouldn’t expect it to be. I could eat it and be very happy in an emergency situation. And I love how much food you get in a single pouch. Our little family of four usually does not finish a whole package (each package has 4 adult servings). Preparation is a snap, and I also love that it has the 25-year shelf life so you can purchase it and not worry about it again for 25 more years. And the price is great as well (especially compared to competitors).
My only beef with these meals is that there is no… well, beef. 🙂 These don’t come with actual meat in them. Instead they have textured protein that is meat flavored. But I assume this is one of the reasons they are able to keep their prices so much lower than the competition, so it’s a little bit of a trade off. Personally, I’m not someone who has to have meat in every meal so it’s not that big of a deal for me. However, if I were purchasing this as my sole source of food storage, I would definitely miss my meat. Of course, you could always store extra canned meat to add to the meals if you wanted. There’s always a work-around. 🙂

Bottom line, I give these a thumbs up. So check out Red Alert Outfitters (RedAlertOutfitters.com) for more information and you can even get a free sample meal as well!

A Few Tips…

• One thing I learned from Dan is that when buying a freeze-dried meal, it’s wise to get them in individual pouches versus a big #10 can (unless you’re planning to cook the whole can in one sitting). This is because each meal consists of a certain balance of pasta/rice to sauce mix. When you buy a #10 can of a meal, some of the sauce mix settles to the bottom, and so when you scoop out an amount for your meal you’re not necessarily getting the right balance of pasta/rice to sauce. Individual pouches have the right balance in every pack.
• When ordering, each of the buckets are based on servings, not packages. So if you order an 84-serving bucket, that will be around 21 pouches. Don’t let that throw you off and catch you by surprise.
• When making the ‘in the pot’ variety, give the mixture a vigorous stir with a whisk after adding the contents to the boiling water. This will help break up the mix so you don’t have any powder clumps in your meal.
• When making the ‘in the pouch’ variety, it helps to insulate the package with a blanket or something after adding the hot water and closing the pouch. This will help retain the heat and cook the meal better.

And now on to the GIVEAWAY!!!

*UPDATE: THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED*

“Grab and Go” Pack Giveaway

Red Alert Outfitters is generously sponsoring a giveaway of their “Grab and Go” pack. It is a 12-serving selection of their new outdoor “cook in the pouch” meals! (Perfect, considering we’ve just finished talking about our 72-hour kits, dontcha think?!) 😀

Giveaway Product Information: Cook in the pouch entrees. 3 days/4 servings per day/ 20 ounce lunch and dinner entrees. Total number of servings for 1 person over 3 days: 12 servings.
A $39 value!!

Eligibility Rules

Eligibility Rules {GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED} for the “Grab and Go Pack” giveaway are as follows:

1. You get one entry by leaving a comment on this post and stating your favorite food storage topic. (To leave a comment, simply click on the ‘conversation bubble’ icon at the top of the post and then scroll down to the comment section.)
2. You may earn a second entry by sharing this giveaway via a post on your blog or an email to your friends that links back to this post. (Simply leave a second comment on this post stating that you have done this along with a link to your blog and/or include us in your email to friends for verification purposes.)
3. You may earn a third entry by grabbing a “Food Storage and Beyond” button and putting it on your blog/website. (Leave another comment on this post stating that you have done this along with a link back to your site for verification purposes.)

The giveaway will close in one week {GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED}… at midnight (Central Standard Time) on Friday, August 13th, 2010. The winner will be selected via Random.org and be posted on Monday, August 16th, 2010. The winner will then have  48 hours to claim his/her prize!

Good Luck and have a Great Weekend! 😀