FINISHED BEING FAT

Betsy Schow was good at starting things. Diets, classes, projects of all kinds, setting goals, …. you name it, she started it. You might say she was "addicted to starting”. The problem was that she never finished.

And with that lack of finishing came the unsatisfactory, even debilitating feelings of being out of control, of being subject to people, things and influences around you, of being ‘acted upon’ rather than acting, of not taking control of one’s own life, of not taking responsibility, of not owning ‘agency’.

Betsy was ‘fat’ – that was the word for it. No matter how nicely you’d rather say it – that was the word that best described her physical appearance. But it wasn’t just her physical appearance. It was her house and her attitude toward life. It was a ‘full-meal-deal’.

For Betsy, her story is about regaining her life. ‘Re-gaining’ may be a misnomer because it implies that she once had it; she didn’t really. ”It all started,” she says “with the sound that often accompanies the moment when you know your life has somehow gone awry …” A scream.

“Daily routine: Wake up, feed the kids, entertain the kids, keep kids from killing each other, put kids to bed, put kids back to bed thirty minutes later, and then collapse into my own bed and fade into unconsciousness. Repeat. My life was a lot like running on a treadmill, a whole lot of effort to get absolutely nowhere. Not that I had much experience with treadmills mind you, … One morning, I woke up depressed and berated myself for all the things that I wasn’t. Wasn’t skinny, wasn’t accomplished, wasn’t happy. In a fit of masochism, I decided it would be a good time to take on my mortal enemy, the digital scale. ….”
 

Betsy refers to things we have all experienced, but may not have put into words. Things like a “starter’s high” – that feeling (too often brief feeling) of taking control when you start a worthwhile goal – like a weight loss diet. “Like falling in love, starting a new project flooded my body with endorphins and gave me a single-minded focus on the task ahead, for at least a few weeks. …. This was the simple truth that I had missed at the time. I was addicted to starting, but once that initial high faded and things got hard and boring, I would quit and start something else to get my next fix.”

This is not a book about weight loss, although Betsy loses seventy five pounds (and keeps them off this time). It is not a book about running, although it includes some running metaphors as Betsy took up running, and eventually ran a marathon. It is more a book about “finishing”, about learning some very important truths about herself along the way, and working through them to take control of her life – of which weight was simply a part. Being “fat” was a symptom of many other factors. Betsy’s process was one of “finishing”. Finishing the project, completing the goal, discovering the wonderful feeling that comes from a job well done –

“For me, taking responsibility was not a matter of blame but of control. As a passenger, I had no control over my life. Living in constant worry waiting for the other shoe to drop was not healthy for my mind or my indigestion. Bad things happened, and there was nothing I could do about it. I hate that feeling of helplessness. Always looking over my shoulder, waiting for something to push me down. It took consciously choosing what I believe about myself and my relationship with the world. Was there some predestined life that I was supposed to lead and I just had to bear the rough patches? Or did I decide what I would do and who I would be?
I chose to believe that while yes, some things happen for a reason, one of those reasons was that I make it happen. As a driver, I decide which way I am going to go and how I let things affect me. Sure it means that I have to take ownership for my ‘accidents’, but it also means that I do not have to sit idly by waiting for a Mack truck to sideswipe me. And just like my car in real life, the driver not only gets to pick the radio station, but she picks the final destination.” – pg 56.

It’s a book about “Finishing”, and Betsy Schow was “FINISHED BEING FAT”.

Who is it for? It’s for all the rest of us who are finished letting someone else, or something else chose our final destination. It’s for those of us who truly want to be finished too. Finished with those nagging inconsistencies in our life that interfere with our feelings of self-worth and happiness. While you are journeying with Betsy on her personal road, you will discover that you have some things in common. And as Betsy gains control, you’ll find her journey empowering as you too commit to being a ‘finisher’.

FINISHED BEING FAT by Betsy Schow 

review by Cindy Suelzle

Breakfast: that MOST Important Meal of the Day

Breakfast: that MOST Important Meal of the Day

Whether you're a breakfast person or not, we all want our kids to have that good start on their day. 

Once a week at least, perhaps on Sundays - its nice to sit down as a family for a nice satisfying breakfast. In our busy lives usually that's the only day we can do it, 

so if you're like me, you often serve typical "breakfast foods" for Dinner. 

Whatever works for you, check out the video below for recipes 

and visual instructions from Chef Todd, and for some good fun

* German Pancakes
* 10 Grain Pancakes 
* Breakfast Burritos
* Energy Fruit Smoothie - (here's a hint, add 9 grain cereal into your fruit smoothie for some whole grain added nutrition. LIterally breakfast in a glass)
* Creamy Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal
* Hashbrown potatoes with peppers 
* Egg white Scramble for the calorie conscious  (with all the proteins and nutritients of fresh egg whites but with a three year shelf life!) 

All made in minutes with THRIVE Freeze Dried foods - ever available in your pantry.

THRIVE is always the Healthy, Easy option. Shelf stable for an extended life.  Nutritious and Delicious. No chopping or dicing, and Absolutely NO waste. Cooked without the fat and grease often associated with your typical breakfast foods

ENJOY! :D

I think I will go and make some breakfast!

Independent Consultants can Beat "BigBox".ca on THRIVE prices

Best Deal or Not Best Deal - that is the Question 

Should I Buy the THRIVE package from the "bigbox".ca store or my friendly Independent Consultant? 

I am told that I cannot use the actual 'name' of the bigbox store that lists these THRIVE packages on their website. (What's with that?) In order to comply I have eliminated their 'name', but I'm thinking you have a pretty good idea who I'm talking about.
Question #1 is: can they or can they not, beat your friendly Independent Consultant in price? Question #2 is: even if they can by a slim margin, isn't the personal service, ability to try the foods in your own home, and the education you receive from your Independent Consultant worth it?
When its all about the money - then where is the better deal?
Let me make it easier for you. I've done the math.

Costco.ca currently offers two packages online. One TVP and one called a Starter Package
Your friendly Independent Consultant will be happy to match those prices bytheway, but do you really want them to? Let me show you the details.

CXXXXX option on the TVP package sells for $99.99

Turn to the Thrive® Meat Variety Pack for a healthy, delicious meal anytime! Casseroles, soups, pot pies, sloppy joes, tacos, and a multitude of other menu options are easy when you have this variety pack in your pantry! This package comes with six different types of MSG-free meat textured vegetable protein’s (TVP) including ham, sausage, chicken, beef, sloppy joe and taco. All meat TVP’s require minimal preparation (just add water) and have a ten year shelf life. Thrive® Textured Vegetable Protein's are used primarily as a substitute for real meats.
Features:

• 263 total servings
• Freeze-dried products have up to 10-year shelf life if unopened
• Shelf life varies per can/product (see individual cans for optimum shelf life suggestions)
• High protein
• Easy preparation instructions and recipes on every can
• To rehydrate, soak meat TVP in hot water for 5 - 10 minutes, drain and enjoy
• The THRIVE® Meat TVP Variety Pack contains one can of each of the following:
  - Freeze-dried chicken TVP (45 servings)
  - Freeze-dried beef TVP (44 servings)
  - Freeze-dried ham TVP (44 servings)
  - Freeze-dried sausage TVP (45 servings)
  - Freeze-dried sloppy joe TVP (43 servings)
  - Freeze-dried taco TVP (42 servings)

bytheway - for your information, the above information says 'meat', but take note of the line that says "used primarily as a substitute for real meat". TVP - textured vegetable protein, is not meat. It is a meat replacement. Perfect for vegetarians, or those who would like to reduce the amount of meat they eat, or those who would like to extend their meat with a more economical source of protein.

At $99.99, this package works out to an average of $16.50 per can.
If you purchased this from your friendly Independent Consultant, and asked her for the 'party price' you would pay the following.
TVP Chicken = $11.59
TVP Beef = $11.79
TVP Ham = $12.69
TVP Sausage - $12.49
TVP Sloppy Joe - $17.59
TVP Taco = $14.59
total = $80.74 averaging $13.46 per can. 
Add the shipping cost of $24.00 on 6 cans ($4.00 per can) for a total of $104.74,
now averaging $17.46 per can. You would pay .96 cents more a can thru your Independent Consultant. Don't worry, he/she will happily match the Costco.ca price to save you the .96 cents.
But look at the rest of the picture.
Did you know that your Independent Consultant would be happy to answer all your questions about the product and let you sample it? Did you know that she would even be willing to come into your home to do a Home Demonstration for you and your friend? And if you decide to host a party, you would receive a full 10% in FREE product when you purchase this package (or anything else you choose to buy) PLUS additonal product at 1/2 OFF depending on the total value of your party sales! Now wait a minute! THAT works out to a savings of MORE than .96 cents a can!
+ you get personalized service
+ you get your questions answered, concerns addressed by someone who knows the product
+ you get a Home Demonstration
+ you get to sample several of the products as well as some dishes prepared from them
+ you can order exactly what you want, in the amount and can sizes that suit your family, not be restricted to the 'package' as is
+ you can share the good news with your friends and family
+ you can re-order again and again at the same great savings, because you are guaranteed to love the product.

See below for the breakdown on the CXXXXX option on the Starter package for $129.99 

The Thrive® Starter Variety Pack was designed to provide your family with a variety of great-tasting, nutritious foods that can be used in everyday menu planning. The taste and texture of meat textured vegetable protein (TVP) is consistent with real meat, making it a great addition to vegetarian diets. The freeze-dried sweet corn and broccoli are ideal as replacements for fresh vegetables in all your recipes and the freeze-dried peaches and the strawberries make excellent snacks!
Features:

• 270 total servings
• Freeze-dried products have up to 10-25-years shelf life if unopened
• Shelf life varies per can/product (see individual cans for optimum shelf life suggestions)
• High protein
• Easy preparation instructions and recipes on every can
• To rehydrate, soak your desired meat TVP, vegetable or fruit in hot water for 5 - 10 minutes, drain and enjoy
• The THRIVE® Starter pack contains one can of each of the following:
  - Freeze-dried chicken TVP (45 servings)
  - Freeze-dried beef TVP (44 servings)
  - Freeze-dried sweet corn (46 servings)
  - Freeze-dried broccoli (47 servings)
  - Freeze-dried peaches (43 servings)
  - Freeze-dried strawberries (45 servings)

At $129.99, this package works out to an average of $21.64 per can.
If you purchased this from your friendly Independent Consultant, and asked her for the 'party price' you would pay the following.

FD Chicken TVP = 11.59
FD Beef TVP = 11.79
FD Sweet Corn = 15.69
FD Broccoli = 17.69
FD Peaches = 27.79
FD Strawberries = 27.89
total = $112.74 averaging $18.74 per can. 
Add the shipping cost of $24.00 on 6 cans ($4.00 per can) for a total of $136.44,
now averaging $22.74 per can. You would pay 1.07 cents more a can thru your Independent Consultant. Don't worry, he/she will happily match the Costco.ca price to save you the 1.07 cents.
But look at the rest of the picture.
Did you know that your Independent Consultant would be happy to answer all your questions about the product and let you sample it? Did you know that she would even be willing to come into your home to do a Home Demonstration for you and your friend? And if you decide to host a party, you would receive a full 10% in FREE product when you purchase this package (or anything else you choose to buy) PLUS additonal product at 1/2 OFF depending on the total value of your party sales! Now wait a minute! THAT works out to a savings of MORE than 1.07 cents a can!
+ you get personalized service
+ you get your questions answered, concerns addressed by someone who knows the product
+ you get a Home Demonstration
+ you get to sample several of the products as well as some dishes prepared from them
+ you can order exactly what you want, in the amount and can sizes that suit your family, not be restricted to the 'package' as is
+ you can share the good news with your friends and family
+ you can re-order again and again at the same great savings, because you are guaranteed to love the product.
You get the picture. Your Friendly Local Consultant, would be happy to match Costco prices when you ask, or you can take advantage of her already low prices to SAVE even more!

The party price and the Q price are the same, low price!

Q: What is the Q?
A:  a Brillaint 'pay-as-you-go' plan for you to continue to get Freeze Dried foods at the best price possible. (Much more than is available on costco.ca) All fruits, vegetables, grains, basics, meats & other proteins, dairy products and the New THRIVE Express Meals. Simply use the planner to figure out exactly what your family needs, tailor it to your family's preferences, decide on your monthly budget and presto! Exactly what you want, on your doorstep, every single month! Building your family's FOOD STORAGE or "HOME-STORE" steadily and affordably with the Best product available in the world! Highest nutrition in preserved foods. Shelf life of 25+ years! It doesn't get any better than that! 

That's the Q in a Nutshell!
Talk to your Friendly Independent Consultant to get started today.
Don't know one? Contact me @ thrivewithcindy.shelfreliance.com

- Cindy 

THRIVE: helping you become Self Reliant! 

Food Additives in THRIVE Express Products? Really?

Food Additives in THRIVE EXPRESS products?

Since I was a young mom I had a 'food-rule' of thumb that I tried hard to adhere to. It was simply “if you can't say it, don't eat it”, and we were quite successful at it - I might add. I am not normally a 'mix' cook, or inclined to take short cuts at the expense of nutrition. If there was a contest, nutrition won. One of the things I appreciate most about the entire THRIVE line of foods is that even though they are intended to last a very long time, they depend on the brilliant process of freeze drying rather than food preservatives. Hence, a can of freeze dried spinach – contains 'spinach'. Simple. Straight forward. Nothing added. Just spinach. Same with peaches, apples, brocolli, and every other freeze dried fruit or vegetable.
In their New line of EXPRESS products – instant meals in 20 minutes, it only stands to reason that the mixes will contain more ingredients, and curses, some that are not commonly pronounced. THRIVE has assembled a team of food scientists to develop these combinations – who adhere strictly to THRIVE's commitment to avoid all harmful substances such as colours and preservatives. These recipes are developed by people who want only the best food for their families and ours, and those of us who know them best can be comfortable with their integrity in such matters. However, upon scanning the lists of ingredients on their Express line, we come across a few food “additives” which most of us are not familiar with (although if we read labels, certainly we have come across many times). I have done some research for my own satisfaction, and thought you might be interested in what I learned.

What is Maltodextrin?

If you're obsessed with reading labels, then you've probably come across the ingredient maltodextrin. Sounds like some type of sugar, but is it safe to eat? It'll settle your mind to know that this common additive is an easily digestible carbohydrate made from rice, corn, or potato starch (celiacs beware — it can also be derived from barley or wheat). It's made by cooking down the starch, and then acid and/or enzymes break the starch down even further.
Maltodextrin is a white powder often used in processed foods as a thickener or a filler since it's fairly inexpensive, as well as in pharmaceuticals as a binding agent. You'll find it in canned fruits, snacks, cereal, desserts, instant pudding, sauces, and salad dressings. Since it contains fewer calories than sugar, it's also found in sugar substitutes, such as Splenda or Equal.
Maltodextrin is usually used in such small amounts that it doesn't have a significant impact in terms of the amount of protein, fat, carbohydrate, or fiber it adds to foods. Although maltodextrin is processed and it's not the healthiest thing to put in our bodies, at least we know it's made from real food, not some nasty chemicals.

What Is Autolyzed Yeast Extract?

Autolyzed yeast extract is a substance that results when yeast is broken down into its constituent components. It is used as a substitute for MSG, and as yeast extract is a natural substance.
Definition: Autolyzed yeast extract results from the breakdown of yeast cells. The cell wall gets disrupted as the yeast’s enzymes break down proteins, releasing amino acids, salts and carbohydrates. The soluble portions are separated from the insoluble components and referred to as autolyzed yeast extract.

Uses: Autolyzed yeast extract is used primarily as a flavor enhancer in a variety of processed foods such as soups, meats and vegetarian “meats.” Like MSG, it is valued for its ability to stimulate taste receptors that are sensitive to the savory type of taste.

What is Disodium phosphate?

Disodium phosphate is a sodium salt of phosphoric acid. It is a white powder that is highly absorbent and water soluble. It is therefore used commercially as an anti-caking additive in powdered products. Used as a food additive for emulsification and phosphate fortification.

What is Thiamine Mononitrate?

Thiamine Mononitrate is a water soluble vitamin of the B Complex. It is sometimes called aneurin. Thiamine is synthesized in plants, fungi and bacteria.

When all is said and done, I'm okay  with these additives. In true THRIVE style, their attention to the best is still evident in this Newest of their THRIVE line of great products.

Sun Oven? in Alberta?

What the heck is a Sun Oven? and can it possibly be of any value in Alberta? 

A Sun Oven is a cooking solution for energy conservation or emergency preparedness. It is a durable appliance that can reach 400 degrees Farenheit - yes, even in Alberta! Hey, we have more sun year round than most other locations. Its not the temperature you're supposed to think of here, its the 'sun', and even in the winter, Alberta gets plenty of sun.

Devised for areas where heat sources are expensive at best, non existant at worst - a sun oven is the perfect way to harness the sun's rays to cook outside in the heat of a summer's day, without heating up the kitchen too. But the same principle that works in the summer, works in every season - just with variation and a little ingenuity. Angle your Sun Oven to catch the rays of the sun, and let nature do the rest. With special reflectors and a tempered glass door to retain the sun's powerful heat, the Sun Oven can cook anything that can be baked in a conventional oven: breads, cakes, muffins, pizza, vegetables, poultry, fish, meats, casseroles, grains, pastas and desserts. It lets you harness the power of the sun to cook without fuel. How simple and yet how clever is that? 

Working like a greenhouse, the Sun Oven will work on any sunny day at any time of the year - rays from the sun can pass through the glass front, but a good deal of the longer waves can't find their way back out. The result: heat is trapped inside. For convenience, the Sun Oven comes equipped with an oven thermometre, and can reach as high as 400 degrees and can be adjusted by adjusting oven and reflectors. It is not difficult to maintain a 350 degrees oven.

The adjustable Sun Oven reflectors allow you to take advantage of differing sun positions - depending on time of day and season. It is easy to take anywhere there is sunshine. When closed, it is as portable as a small suitcase. With the Sun Oven, you will be prepared for any interruption to traditional power sources, able to cook any kind of food as well as boiling water. As long as there is sunshine, you will have the power you need to cook your meals.

Hints for increasing the efficiency of Sun Oven in winter months: 
1) The sun is so low during the winter that the solar oven and reflectors need to be tilted at nearly a 90 degree angle. 
2) Turn the cooker frequently, especially when needing a constant high heat like for breads or muffins. 
3) Best cooking time is between 10 AM - 2 PM. After 3:00 on short days, the sun is too low for solar cooking. 
4) To increase circulation of your cooker on cold clear winter days, wrap the body of the cooker in an old blanket. 
5) For highest heat, check for gaps between glass and the box. Should be a tight close. 

 Available at Generations LDS Bookstore - www.generationsbookstore.com

WHY do Mormons Store Food?

Being a niche LDS Bookstore, we haven't had much to draw non latter-day saints into our store, unless they're looking for a gift for their 'Mormon' friend or relative. But more and more during these last few years, we are seeing non LDS people come into our store - because of they're interest in food storage, and emergency preparedness. Evidently we are the 'go-to' people on the subject. I wish I believed that most of us are complying with the counsel we have received all our lives to actually BE the 'go-to' people about food storage. We certainly have plenty of history directing us to do so. .... But that is a subject for another day. 

 One day, as I was helping a customer with his purchase of THRIVE Freeze Dried foods, he asked me
 "Do YOU (meaning you 'mormons') do THIS (meaning store large amounts of food) for the same reason WE (meaning all us non-mormon preppers) do?"
hmmmm, I had to guess at all the reasons non-latterday saints might be on a self reliance kick. "I assume" I answered, "that the reason you 'do' this, is because of the things we read in the newspapers and internet?" He nodded. "Well I have to admit that I certainly am interested in all those same things, but no, that is NOT why we store food and do our best to prepare our families for potential emergencies. We would do it anyway. I have lived like this my entire married life. I was raised with the idea of food storage. We 'do' this because we have been directed to to do it."

The truth is - if there was no external evidence confirming the wisdom of it, we would store food anyway. In fact, for most of our married life, we have endured polite chuckles from our non-member family, and not just a little bit of 'eye-rolling' because of our irrational practise of buying more than we need for the purpose of storing the excess. We have been called 'hoarders', and a few other things. My inclination to be like "Ma" on "Little House on the Prairie" was a source of much amusement to some. And I have to admit, although I never once second guessed our choices, I got tired of the ribbing. We started to keep part of us a little more private. Things like:
- our practise of buying and receiving books as the gift of choice for every occassion for every person in our family.

- my husband's birthday gift to me one year was a clothes line. That drew some raised eyebrows from his co-workers. "You're buying Cindy a WHAT? for her birthday?" Incidently it was my favourite gift! And when we moved, I got another one for another birthday. 
- that we ground our own flour, and bought wheat by the bushel; that a wheat grinder was the most used appliance in our house.
- I have an herb garden that keeps us in fresh, dried or frozen herbs all year long
- that we have a 250 gallon water tank in our basement
- that we have a wood stove in our family room and every fall collect wood for the winter, even though we live in the city ....
Lets face it, from the perspective of our non-LDS relatives, we were a bit excentric (to say the least). 

So. Why DO Mormons store food? Its certainly nothing new. I grew up in a less-active home where the gospel was not taught nor practised, but my parents were both raised in Mormon homes and they brought acceptance of the food storage practise into their marriage. It wasn't a religious thing, it simply made sense. It was in their blood.

“In the day of plenty, prepare for the day of scarcity.” was the “Message of the First Presidency,” in Conference Report, April 1942. 

“Learn to sustain yourselves; lay up grain and flour, and save it against a day of scarcity.”

President Brigham Young
When I was a young married woman trying to live the gospel by observing how others did it - always from the outside looking in, food storage was a principle I understood and could live with conviction.

“Everyone who owns a home recognizes the need for fire insurance. We hope and pray that there will never be a fire. Nevertheless, we pay for insurance to cover such a catastrophe, should it occur. We ought to do the same with reference to family welfare.”

President Gordon B. Hinckley

“Many more people could ride out the storm-tossed waves in their economic lives if they had their … supply of food … and were debt-free. Today we find that many have followed this counsel in reverse: they have at least a year’s supply of debt and are food-free.”

President Thomas S. Monson
“It is within everyone’s grasp,” explains Presiding Bishop Burton "The first step is to begin. The second is to continue. It doesn’t matter how fast we get there so much as that we begin and continue according to our abilities.”

In a Nutshell. The answer to 'WHY?' is a simple one. We are directed to store food and to be self reliant by those we sustain as prophets, seers and revelators, who speak the will of our Heavenly Father. It so happens that to "lay up in store" at the moment is a cool thing to do. In fact there is a whole cult following of the principles of self reliance. They even have a cool nick name - "PREPPERS". Who knew? We were preppers long before it was cool to be one.
I don't know that our non-lds family is still not rolling their eyes at our practices, but I don't care anymore now than I did for all those difficult years when food storage wasn't cool.

- Cindy Suelzle

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.

Store what you Eat & Eat what you Store!

If you're like me, you've had good years and not so good years when it comes to keeping up with Food Storage. Its not like I haven't always been aware of the counsel to keep a food storage. Oh my goodness, since I was a little girl .....
In our early married years there were months that we almost completely depended on it. Many months that I supplemented it with only $100.00 for fresh produce and dairy. Those weren't altogether bad years - just a little challenging in their own way.
Having 5 children, I was used to shopping, canning, gardening, and cooking for a family of 7. But then slowly, those sleeping at our house started dwindling, and the only big meal of the week was Sunday when they all came home. Still I continued to shop, can, garden and cook for a family of 7. It was a tough transition - and apparently I'm a slow learner. My kids started making fun of the expired dates on things that surfaced from the food storage room. Anybody who knows me, knows that I don't have a sense of humour when it comes to laughing at myself. (I inherited that from my dad.) But they were right. Our food storage rotation began to fall badly behind about the same time we bought the Bookstore. (coincidence?)

Enter the Harvest 72 Food Rotation System (and the beginning of my long relationship with Shelf Reliance). We figured nothing could be more expensive than throwing out all the 'too-old'  food that had seriously crossed the date-line. I hate wasting what I previously considered a good investment.
The Harvest 72 was the answer we wished we'd had 25 years before. It holds up to 600 cans and takes up less room on the floor than we were used to. It cleaned up our food storage area and made rotating a snap. We decided that the time we could have most benefitted from it, was when we could least afford it, so we bit the bullet and gave one to each of our married children that Christmas.

Our youngest son (the one who claimed we were trying to kill him by making him drink expired apple juice - brrrruther!) left for a mission to the Philippines on July 1 2009. We decided that from that day we would stop buying groceries until we had 'eaten-down' our food storage so that we could freshen it up. Wouldn't he be surprised when he came home! We gave our married kids cans of oats and other basics that we weren't using regularly enough. Our committment was to buy only fresh produce and fresh dairy, for as long as it took. It was sorta fun actually. Our Sunday family dinners transformed somewhat - time warped back to the days of our kids' childhoods. That was okay.
We did that for MONTHS! The following April we had a family of 5 adults move in with us for three months. We continued only buying fresh produce and dairy while eating down our existing food storage.
Thats two years of not having bought basics at the grocery store. One Sunday our Bishop announced a challenge to the ward: to go for one entire week living completely on what was stored in our home. HAH! Child's Play! Bring it ON! Our son comes home in only weeks, and we still haven't gone through it yet, (although there are significant bare spots now).

Somewhere in there, we started thinking that it was time to get back into the 'acquiring' mode of Food Storage, but we discovered that as difficult as it was to get out of the habit of shopping for the long term, it was just as difficult to get back into the habit, and we found ourselves in very unfamiliar territory - trying to re-start. Our food storage began to have seious gaps in it, and we knew we needed to fill them, but in our new habit of not grocery shopping, never got around to it. .... Food Storage shopping really is a habit. And so is Food Storage eating!

Shelf Reliance to the rescue again! Right about the time that we were most compelled to action, we discovered that SR's THRIVE 'Q' Program was coming to Canada. We had begun carrying THRIVE Freeze Dried Foods in our store in January 2010, and as we slowly became familiar with it, we were more and more impressed with the quality of each product. (My favorites are Spinach and Strawberries, or Mangoes, or Peaches, or Raspberries...) We had watched with mild interest from an arms length distance as it launched in the United States, but now - suddenly all that changed!

The NEW Q Program: 
The purpose of the Q program - over the regular retail program of selling THRIVE only in stores like ours, is that it "Brings it HOME" - letting people taste it and learn how to use it in their own homes. It encourages friends to share with friends, and provides a whole new way of personalizing a product that simply must be tried to be appreciated.
Its specialty is the Freeze Dried Fruits and Vegetables - which have a shelf life of between 25 - 30 years!
Q. What is the difference between Freeze Dried and dehydrated food?
A. Freeze Drying is a much gentler process of preserving than dehydrating. Foods are dehydrated with the use of low heat, altering the appearance, texture, and unfortunately the food value. To be of use, the food most often must be rehydrated with water, time and occassionally heat. Freeze Dried foods are flash frozen to temperatures of between 50-80 degrees below zero. In that state their natural moisture is removed - creating a product of almost 0% moisture. This process locks in the natural colour, flavour, texture and nutritional value of fruits and vegetables better than any other method of food presevation. Because of the 0 moisture content, it has a sealed shelf life of between 20 - 30 years!

The most common questions people associate with Food Storage are:

Q1 - What do I Buy? and How Much do I Buy?

Q2 - How can I afford it?

Q3 - How do I use it?

Q4 - How do I store it properly? and for how long? 

The 'Q' Program solves these concerns and many more. 

A1 - With the Q Program, you can enter your family's food storage requirements - ie: how many people are you buying for? are you planning for a 6 month supply? a 1 year supply? .... With the information you input, the program calculates what you need. Since most of us are not starting from scratch, you can tailor it to fit your specific needs. That is your Queue.

A2 - You decide how much you want to spend on a monthly basis 'buying down' your Queue. Its a pay-as-you-go plan, so that you can fit it into your family's budget. Since you'll want to incorporate it into your meals immediately, you will start noticing savings right away, starting with less waste. In the Q you indicate how much you want to spend per month, and also what day of the month you want the payment being charged to your credit card. Based on your input your package is delivered right to your door every month!

Because life is full of changes, the Q program is flexible to allow for those changes. Want to increase your payments? no problem? Want to decrease your payments? No problem. Want to add to your Q? No problem. Want to subtract from it? Stop it? No problem. Its your Q. You are in charge of it.

A3 - THRIVE Foods are delicious and pure. Know what the ingredient label on the brocolli can says? "Brocolli". Contents of the can of spinach? "Spinach". What a concept eh? No preservatives. No artificial colours, flavour enhancers, sweeteners, or anything else you can't pronounce. Because of the 0% moisture content, it is not necessary to add preservatives. When I was a young mom, I lived by the adage "if you can't pronouce it - don' eat it". With THRIVE, that's easy!
Because THRIVE Foods are so easy to incorporate into your everyday meals, you'll find yourself using them more and more.

At this moment the open (that means I'm using them regularly) cans of THRIVE Foods I have in my pantry are: 

Spinach / Brocolli / Raspberries / Pancake Mix / Brownie Mix (what can I say?) / Taco TVP / Bacon TVP / Baking Powder

There's hardly a day goes by that I don't use it. I made spagetti sauce last Sunday with the taco TVP and we were half way through the meal before I remembered to point out what it was. My family assumed it had been ground beef. It was delicious.

Use it? Not a Problem!

A4 - Because of the extensive shelf life, it is easy to relax about rotating THRIVE foods, but nevertheless, rotation (first in / first out) is always important. For convenience, the packaging date is stamped on each can - simply add 25 years to know you are using it before expiration.
Using an FRS (Food Rotation System) like the Harvest 72 above, is the easiest way of ensuring excellent rotation.

Q - So the Big Question is: How and When Can I BUY My Own Q?

A - We are anxiously waiting for the official launch of the Q Home Party Program in Canada. We are suited up, and at the starting line. As soon as the official government approval is given and we get the green light, we're READY to GO! That very day, we will have a link on the front page of our website. Simply go into it, click on the 'Q' option and away you go.

Since we have a list of people wanting to be the first in Canada to get their Q's, we'll send out an email on the day we get the green light - to everyone on our email list - letting you know and giving you the link you will need. We'll also post it on our Facebook Fan Page.

Not receiving our emails? Join our email club. Join our Facebook Page.
If you have any questions contact Cindy at cindy@generationsbookstore.com

   

We are looking for Consultants!

If you would like to earn money while you are building your food storage, Talk to Us!
WE NEED CONSULTANTS Who are willing to SHARE this Great product with others.

Being a consultant is fun and easy, and will help you accomplish your goal of completing your food storage, while providing you with a steady income.

 

To become part of the THRIVE Team.ca contact Cindy at Generations LDS Bookstore

email: cindy@generationsbookstore.com

http://www.generationsbookstore.com/

Gone are the days when we were overwhelmed with the difficulty of Food Storage!
The THRIVE Q simplified it all.
Obeying the counsel to have a year's supply has never been so easy!

:-)
Cindy