THRIVE - Not like Your Mother's Food Storage!

Keeping it Fresh!

For decades Latter-day Saints have been directed to 'lay up in store' enough food and necessities to sustain our families for an extended period of time. So many decades in fact, that most of us have been raised with the principle. And yet, only a small percentage of us are sufficiently prepared.

We recognize that the counsel to be temporally prepared is inspired, and when we are not fully compliant we feel a little uneasy about it. After all, "If ye are prepared ye shall not fear" the scriptures tell us. But the questions remain:
1. What do we store? Where do I start?
2. How much of it do we store?
3. How do we use what we store? What do I do with it?
and sometimes the biggest and most important question of all -
4. How can we possibly afford it? 

Introducing 'THRIVE Freeze Dried Food' that not only addresses each of these questions, but does so with the freshness of strawberries, bananas, pineapple, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach and many many other fruits and vegetables that otherwise would be missing from food storage plans of the past. For many, the term "food storage" conjurs up images of boring food with little variety: canned tuna, macaroni, wheat, rice and dried beans. Hey, not to get personal, but do you really eat most of that food on a daily basis? Not that there is anything wrong with tuna, macaroni, wheat, rice and bean - they're in my food storage too, but really - how long would your family be happy with them alone? At THRIVE, they don't use the term 'food storage' to avoid the old stigma that is often associated with it. After all, this is NOT your mother's food storage.

Hopefully, we already have a good supply of canned goods. 
 

Commercially Canned, or Home Bottled:

It is generally understood that canned fruit and vegetables retain about 40% of the original food value of their 'best fresh day', but did you know that the fresh fruit is not always the best option? So much depends on where it comes from, how long it has been traveling, and under what conditions? And of course, how long has it been sitting in the store / on your counter / in your fridge. Canning damages heat sensitive nutrients like Vitamin C, but so does extended shelf life.
By law, food is processed within a relatively short window from harvest to canning / freezing. Canned fruits and vegetables often use high amounts of sugar or salt in the canning process, and undergo high heat over an extended period of time. Recommended shelf life is 2 years. YIKES! We all have home bottled fruit much older than that. ... I'm not going to tell you how old some of mine is.
Commercially canned fruit has a recommended shelf life of up to two years. YIKES again!

Frozen: 
Frozen foods are an excellent way to preserve foods and some argue that frozen is preferable to fresh. That is actually true for some fruits. The reason being is that fruits are flash frozen immediately after picking whereas most fresh fruits spend weeks between harvest and the market. Nutrients are lost each day after a fruit is picked. Frozen fruit retains more nutrient value than canned, but looses more during extended storage. A big down side is that the texture of frozen fruit is affected and usually inferior to fresh. Recommended shelf life of frozen fruit? 8-10 months. YIKES again.

The biggest draw back of depending on the freezer is ones dependance on electricity. Make no mistake - a full freezer is NOT food storage. It is convenient to be sure. But it is only that. It is a convenient way to store food so that one can take advantage of seasonal items, good bargains etc. It is NOT food storage.

Dehydrated - Commercial or Home dried:
Dehydrated food undergoes initial damage to vitamin C due to the slow 'cooking' nature of dehydrating, but has many other benefits. Its weakness - surprisingly - is 'shelf life'. Dehydrated foods have a optimal shelf life shorter than one might expect. Stretching beyond that yeilds a poorer product. Time / heat / and water are required for reconstitution.

Each method of preserving food has its advantages and disadvantages, and should all be used for a well rounded long-term food storage. None of the above can be expected to retain much food value past two years.

 

Lets face it. The weakest area of all food storage programs is fruits & vegetables, especially vegetables.  Unlike Popeye, we are not a canned vegetable kind of people. We don't like them. So how DO you include vegetables into your food storage? And just as important, how do you make them more a part of your family's daily life? Enter Freeze Dried Fruits & Vegetables.


What is FREEZE DRIED? Freeze-drying is a process that allows food to be shelf stable while retaining the maximum amount of nutrients. Freeze dried foods retain their original color, form, size, taste and texture. The result? A product that is not only superior to ALL other methods of preseving, but one that is usually superior to fresh produce purchased in your average grocery store as it retains nearly 100% of the original nutrient value. Whether eaten every day or saved for the future, THRIVE Freeze Dried products will taste great, stay fresh, and contribute to overall health. Can it get any better than that? Oh yes, the BIG Deal - Wait for it ...... THRIVE Freeze Dried food has a shelf life of 25 - 30 YEARS!
You read right, 25-30 YEARS!

And I haven't even told you the best part yet. There is every reason to use THRIVE foods every day. Did you know that the average home throws at least 25% of their groceries in the garbage? Think for a minute about what you recently threw in the garbage from your fridge? For many, it is far more than 25% of fresh produce!

Question: With THRIVE Freeze Dried Foods, what part of that can of Freeze Dried Spinach will go slimy before you use it so that it needs to be thrown in the garbage? Answer: ZERO.

Question: What portion of that can of Freeze Dried Strawberries do you suppose will go moldy before you use it so that you have to throw it out?

Answer: ZERO. 

Those days of wasting your grocery money by throwing food out are over! 100% ZERO Waste. Now you have to admit - that is a first.

 

HOME STORE

 

So how do you start your own 'Home-Store' with food that will be as good next year as it is today? Food that will be as good 3 years from now as it is today? Food that will be as good 25 years from now as it is today? How do you include THRIVE Freeze Dried Fruits & Vegetables into your family's long term food storage? and also into your daily menu planning? 

 

4+ Convenient ways to get THRIVE Freeze Dried Food. 

 

1) You may purchase most of them from a few specialty retail stores who carry them. In Canada THRIVE dairy and meat products are not available in retail stores. Neither are the convenient sized pantry cans.

 

2) You may purchase online - see thrivewithcindycanada.shelfreliance.com . Or through another independent Canadian website if you know a consultant. Or you can purchase from shelfreliance.com

 

3) You may purchase through Home Parties - attend one or host one (great host benefits bytheway). Click HERE to find a Consultant near you.

 

Or 4) what most people are choosing to do - you may purchase on a personal Q Program.

What is the Q?

Your own 'food-storage' long-range plan which ships to you in regular, affordable packages on a monthly basis. Thats right. Straight to your door. Every month. BEST price - Guaranteed.

 

And the Bonus way - 5) THRIVE is always looking for new business associates to help spread the good word to those who 'eat'. If you would like to join our team or find out more - visit thrivewithcindycanada.shelfreliance.com and click on "Join My Team".

 

Adding THRIVE foods to your family's grocery budget reduces daily waste, improves over all health, and continually adds to your Home Store all while staying within what you can afford.
It simply doesn't get any better than that! Before you know it, you'll be well on your way to protecting your family with a viable, stable, long term and nutritionally sound source of food.

THRIVE: Welcome to a New World - where food storage stays FRESH.

Leap of Faith: Confronting the Origins of the Book of Mormon

I am reading a new book. Well, new to me - not exactly new, although published in 2009 is not exactly old. This book came highly recommended to me by more than one student of the gospel who's opinion I hold in the highest esteem. Nevertheless, it has taken me this long to find the time to sit down to it.

First, let me go on record as saying "I completely concur with their high recommedation."
EXECELLENT BOOK. Written in layman's terms, by someone who doesn't make his living teaching the gospel. The author Bob Bennett, for those of us who don't know him ( like us Canadians) - is (or was) a United States Senator, and although he has many other interesting details in his portfolio, the most important one to me, is that he is a Latter-day Saint who loves the gospel, and is an avid student of the Book of Mormon. He is intelligent, well read, and has an interesting outlook on the Book of Mormon - shaped no doubt by his unique life and career experiences. He has a lot to offer those of us who also love the Book of Mormon. 

"Is the Book of Mormon a Forgery?"

This is the question that Bob Bennett addresses. Its detractors of course, dismiss it as such. And those of us who believe it, often fail to ponder its origins deeply enough to respond effectively to such criticisms. The author writes "For anyone truly interested in the Church and its claims, a thorough examination of the Book of Mormon as a possible forgery is a requirement. Instead of being just a footnote in an overall review of current Church activities, discussion of the book should be a primary focal point of the investigation." In actual fact - the truthfulness of the Church of Jesus Christ sets on the fact that the Book of Mormon IS exactly what it proports to be. It IS the keystone of our religion, as Joseph Smith told us. But it is more than that. Everything else we believe rests on it. IF it is true, then Joseph Smith really was a prophet of God, called from boyhood, prepared from the foundations of the world for his unique latter day task, which means that the church he established really IS the Church of Jesus Christ restored in these latter days. That means that each prophet who succeeded him was also called of God to do exactly that, which means that Thomas S. Monson IS in fact, the mouthpiece of God the Eternal Father in our day. Which means that everything he says - as prophet, is instruction from God to His children. It is critical that we put the question of the Book of Mormon to rest.

quote from the book:

"In the fall of 1829, two young men went to a printer in Palmyra, in upstate New York, with a manuscript they said they wanted printed und the title "Book of Mormon". It was in the handwriting of one of them, Oliver Cowdery, but they said that it had been dictated to Oliver and a few other scribes by the other - Joseph Smith, known to his neighbours as a local farmer. 

The printer was understandably dubious. A book written by a man who lived inteh 4th century, talking about an appearance by Jesus Christ in the Western Hemisphere in the 1st century, translated into English by a twenty-five year old farmer in the 19th century? 

Very curious. Where did Joseph claim to have gotten it? 

From an angel. 

Even more curious. How did it happen? 

Joseph said that the angel's name was Moroni, the last person to have possession of the plates in life. Joseph claimed that Moroni appeared to him in 1823 and led him to the place where the plates were buried and then came back again, several times through several years, to give Joseph additional instructions and to prepare him for the time when the plates would be turned over to him for translation. That supposedly happened in September 1827, when Joseph began translating the writing on them into English. 

He said he was able to do this because, along with the plates, which had "the appearance of gold", Moroni had given him a set of interpreters, a unique instrument called the Urim and Thummim, words which appear in the Old Testament. This instrument enabled him to receive by divine revelation an understnding of the meaning of the engravings on the plates. In addition to the Urim and Thummim, he said, he also possessesd a seer stone that emitted light and provided additional informatoin when it was needed. 

No wonder the printer refused to go forward with the job unless he saw the money up front.

No matter how preposterous this story sounds, however, the manuscript exist, so there had to have been some source for its creation." pg 35, 36 of the book

The author has unique and fascinating experiences with the world of forgery - gleaned from his career, which he brings to bear in his careful and objective examination of the Book of Mormon, and its claims. Through three of the most successful forgeries in American history, he became acquainted with several tests commonly used to help identify a forgery. He applies these tests to the Book of Mormon.

A springboard for meaningful discussion by people of all faiths. 

Click Image below to watch Interview with Author Bob Bennett about his book Leap of Faith.

additonal reviews on the book you might interesting:
http://www.lifeongoldplates.com/2009/09/review-bob-bennetts-leap-of-faith.html
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6796696-leap-of-faith
http://www.mormoncurtain.com/topic_bobbennett.html

Book available at Generations LDS Bookstore

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