What's in YOUR Storage?

Okay, here's an exercise for you. Right now, tell me 3 meals you could make from your food storage. Ready, set, GO!!!

*crickets chirping*

Is it that hard? If you're like most of us, yes, it's that hard! The "traditional" method of emergency food storage involved storing the following items: Wheat, Beans, Rice, Oats, Powdered Milk, and Sugar. Then you would try to supplement that storage with canned vegetables and basic baking items like baking powder and yeast. At times, I've had thousands of pounds of food storage, but I still couldn't really EAT anything.

That's one more thing I love about THRIVE. I no longer think about storing individual commodities. I think about storing MEALS. With all the foods available through THRIVE, I can have breakfast, lunch, snacks, and even desserts in my storage! I can easily make breakfast burritos or omelettes, spaghetti, beef stroganoff, and all sorts of breads and muffins. I can make blueberry pancakes in the middle of winter, or a peach-berry smoothie in April. I can make tacos, soups, casseroles- just about anything you can think of, you can make with THRIVE. How exciting is that?!

If you're going to spend the time, thought, and money on storing food for your family, make sure you can actually EAT it. This is especially important if you have kids, because believe it or not in an emergency situation, kids WILL choose not to eat instead of eating the same thing over and over. Plus, storing a variety of foods ensures that you will have the nutrition you need to remain healthy. We'll cover the emotional stresses of emergencies another time, but you'll definitely feel more comfortable if you have a variety of foods at your disposal.

FEMA Guide to Emergency Kits

We've all heard by now that we should all have the ability to be completely self-reliant for 72 hours after an emergency. FEMA has established a website to help you know what should be in your kit. The link is here: FEMA's Get a Kit. Let's face it though, some of the conflicting information you find online can be confusing. How much water should I have? How much food? What kind of food? How am I going to carry all of this stuff?
I will cover each of these topics more as the weeks and months go on, but a GREAT place to start is by visiting Shelf Reliance's Emergency Kit Planner. Simply tell the planner how many people are in your family, and it will configure a kit for you- telling you everything you will need. You can even specify if you live in an area more prone to tornado, earthquake, flood or other natural disaster. You can also specify if you want a kit for your car, home or business. It makes everything such a snap!! Of course, you can purchase entire kits that are ready to go, such as our Providence 2-Person Kit, or you can assemble your own. Whichever route you go, it's sure to be MUCH easier with the help of Shelf Reliance. Or, contact me with specific questions. I'm always glad to help!! Below is a picture of the Providence kit.

Welcome!!

Have you ever just wanted the cleaning fairy to show up at your house and clean it for you? I HAVE! (And darn it, she never shows up!) Have you ever wanted to obtain an emergency supply of food and supplies, without spending hours and hours determining what you need for your family and trying to figure out how you're going to pay for it? Well, HERE I AM!! Your Food Storage Fairy!

I served as an Emergency Preparedness Specialist for several years, helping others obtain their emergency food and supply storage. I have spent hundreds of hours organizing a food co-op, packaging grains and other commodities with dry ice into food grade buckets, and helping other people learn to cook with their storage. In the past, it was frustrating to buy food storage products, only to realize they tasted so nasty, you'd never want to do anything with them but store them in your garage unless you had nothing else to eat.

That's why I'm so excited to tell you about THRIVE foods! I have recently become acquainted with their products, and I was instantly impressed! I signed up to become a consultant because I know how difficult it is to find quality products with excellent shelf life that you actually want to eat!

I will use this site to share ideas, quarterly specials, recipes, etc. I'm also excited to share with you some of the experiences I have had with food products and emergency supplies- from camping my way through Canada and Alaska by small plane to Scout trips and convenient family meals. So WELCOME!