Thrive with Christina

Who does Food Storage?

18 Mar 2012 Leave a Comment

by precioussadies in 72 hr kits, Thrive, Where do I start? Tags: charity, church of jesus christ of latter-day saints, donations, education, food storage, home parties, jewelry, mormon, nations, new company, precious sadie's, provident living, shelf reliance, thrive, yogurt, yogurt bites. provident

This post is written by Stephanie who I just met, at her family’s home party, most parties really don’t last as long as this one, but they were really enjoying everything they saw and tasted! The company Shelf Reliance that sells the food Thrive is not related to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.   She wrote her thoughts down in this article after this past Thursday’s event,  and with her permission, I am sharing it with all of you!

Who said food storage was just for Mormons?

I have to admit, I hadn’t heard of food storage until I met my now fiancé, Michael. Raised in a Mormon family, he was taught to make sure that food storage was part of his home, and his life. Living on his own, as a bachelor, his panty was filled with very little on the everyday stuff, but had a few shelves full of Mylar packaging that held rice, grains, and a few tins that held other long lasting products as well. Food storage has been around for years, and there are canning centers setup in LDS social services buildings, around most cities. As you can probably tell, I am not a Mormon and most of my information I have learned over the years of being surrounded by Mormon families, and Mormon friends in the community. I don’t need to read The Book of Mormon to find out how important food storage is (although I have opened the book from time to time on my own as it is a religion I am around often) and why a family should make sure they have a 72 Hour Kit, as well as a two year supply of different types of food (ideally).

My question is why is it that the majority of Mormons are the only ones to be focusing part of their budget on this absolutely crucial survival tool?

In late October of 2011, residents of Connecticut and Western Massachusetts were without electricity for over seven days, due to a snowstorm along the East Coast of the USA, which caused over two million power outages. In Connecticut and Western Massachusetts alone, there are roughly 25000 Mormons. In both of these places total, there are 4408900 people total. That leaves 4383900 people who may or may not have any knowledge to the idea food storage, and let’s give 383900 people the benefit of the doubt and say they do their own food storage. That’s still 4000000 with no means of survival should there be a disaster worse than no electricity for seven days.

Now, let’s move away from the focus being on the religious aspect of food storage. Why is it good? I bet I could get my five year old to at least come up with a few answers for this one, but I’ll save you all the hassle of trying to decipher her typing. In case of a natural disaster forcing you to keep yourself locked in your home for days, you have a limited supply that goes further than what is in your fridge. (This, by the way, will perish after the Best Before date.) What about income loss, and inability to provide the essential meals to your family of four?

No one wants to think about worst case scenario, but as a mother of two, almost three, I have been the single mother who worked pitiful jobs to make ends meet so my children could be cared for at least with basic needs. We are lucky in Canada that basic needs are far more than those in third world countries, but no one wants to be the mother taking their kids out for a walk in those rubber boots that are just a bit too small, or the mother who hears, “rice and beans again?”.

Food storage has come a long way, and is absolutely the best way to ensure you are prepared (along with your 72 hour kit) for any sort of financial/environmental disaster.

I was recently approached by my soon to be sister in law who mentioned she had a friend who was interested in doing a get together for us to show us all about how we can make food storage easy. We all know about these get-togethers. You go to a house, they show you their product and try and convince you to buy it. “Oh please, buy this candle. It will make your home smell like Vanilla Rainforest.” What does that even smell like? Or, “Please, spend 100 on this jewelry. It will make you glow when you go out for your date night.” Now, don’t get me wrong, I indulge in this luxurious spending from time to time. My wardrobe is filled with hoodies from I won’t say where, and my underwear drawer is filled with “must have” bras from cannot say who. When I was approached, I was hesitant to attend, but really had, had my interest peaked when I’d never heard of the company, and never heard of anyone else before talk about it.

So, there we were. I spent 3 hours at her house, mingling with family and learning and tasting about the types of food you can store with the absolutely incredible way they store the food. May I add, it is not dehydrated, it is freeze dried. Which means NO nutritional value is lost! I tasted Pineapple, Apples, Spinach (did I mention we made a smoothie, added the spinach and had no idea it was in there except for the fact that, well, we made it?) and, my favorite, the Pomegranate Yogurt drops. I joked that I would be buying those but not including them in my food storage. (They thought I was joking, anyways.) We made Black Bean and Soy (tasted like hamburger) soup. The instant black beans took 5 mins to cook, not 6 hours. The soup tasted like something my mother in law would serve at a delicious lunch prepared for us. My daughter could not keep her hands off the cans, and wanted samples of all of the food we would allow.

So, with that all being said, how do we do it? Gone are the days of doing your own canning. This is still a perfectly acceptable means to maintaining or beginning your food storage adventure, but time consuming.

I have joined with a company that offers a different, more efficient, cost effective way to protect your family. You are promised value, nutrition, variety and good food. After all, you will be cycling through what you buy, so why not take the few minutes it will take to find out how you and your family are safe in the event of a crisis? And who says all of your purchases for food storage need to be put away for the two years? Seriously, those yogurt bites are heaven. If you don’t believe me, let me show you.     Stephanie Kelly

Thanks Stephanie, for your passion! Most of what Thrive offers is freeze-dried, but there is also some that is dehydrated.  If you are interested in purchasing Thrive, you don’t need a home party from me, it can be bought directly through the website from me, if you live in the US, or in Canada. I would be willing to answer any questions you may have.     Don’t live in this countries? Shelf Reliance is relatively new, and is working towards entering other countries as well! It’s also a great time to become a consultant, as it’s so very new, and not too many people have heard of it.  I want the food, I buy the food, and because I do sell it, I do earn commission off the sales, which saves me money, and we all need to eat!  But…it you want jewelry…I could sell that to you too!

5% of all THRIVE profits are donated to the Shelf Reliance charity, Thriving Nations. Through this charity they provide food and support to hungered nations and help them learn how to be self-reliant in their own crop and food production, helping them to become more self-reliant!

Home Parties were introduced just in 2009 in the US, and December 1, 2011 in Canada.  It’s a way, that people can taste the food, and be educated on the importance of becoming more self-reliant, as most know the government isn’t going to help you, 100%.

On the side note, if you like to know why for 75 years, the idea of self-reliance and many aspects of this, has been promoted and  amongst  “mormons”  or members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints, check out www.providentliving.org

Off to have some of those yogurt bites….orange, cherry, blueberry, passionfruit… melt in my mouth, as my can is open!

Christina