Shelf Reliance Thrive food products?

[monkeybug]

OK, I promise I'm not some crazy survivalist or anything! I think having quite a few LDS friends is just rubbing off on me, and I'm starting to see how having emergency food supplies can be a great idea, even for just everyday life. (if one month is particularly tight on the budget, you don't feel like dragging kids to the store, the car breaks down, ect.) We will have more room in the budget soon and I was thinking of using some of that "extra" money to slowly build up some food storage.
I noticed that Costco sells Thrive products and was wondering if anyone has every tried or used them? It seems like a decent price! (and the cans are pretty!)
http://www.costco.com/Common/Search...e=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=en-US

 

[AlexWyattMommy]

Have you gone to their website?

Oh my gosh, they have the coolest storage system for their product to ensure proper rotation of stock.


I am a realist. I believe in being prepared. I need to restock my pantry, thank you for the reminder. We keep about 3 months of non perishable foods.

If I had a Costco membership, I would totally by buying these. I don't know if they pricing is as good say Emergency Essentials, I didn't look. But not paying shipping and seeing exactly what you are getting sounds pretty good.

Be sure you plan your meals around what you open. They last forever unopened, but once the seal is broken...you need to use them up.

Please let me know if you get any and how they work out for you.

 

[monkeybug]

Have you gone to their website?

Oh my gosh, they have the coolest storage system for their product to ensure proper rotation of stock.


I am a realist. I believe in being prepared. I need to restock my pantry, thank you for the reminder. We keep about 3 months of non perishable foods.

If I had a Costco membership, I would totally by buying these. I don't know if they pricing is as good say Emergency Essentials, I didn't look. But not paying shipping and seeing exactly what you are getting sounds pretty good.

Be sure you plan your meals around what you open. They last forever unopened, but once the seal is broken...you need to use them up.

Please let me know if you get any and how they work out for you.

I did go to their website! Their storage things are very cool!!
After reading reviews online and looking at a few other companies, we decided we are going to order some from Costco in June. I figure I'll just order one or two sets a month until we have what we want. I can't go too overboard because the military won't move it, and I have to haul it all to where ever we end up next. I'm thinking a 3 months supply is a good number to shoot for.
I will let you know how it works out! I buy the freeze dried pineapple from Trader Joes, so I can tell you that when a giant can shows up at my house that will be the first thing we open and try! My kids think it's candy.

 

[shortbun]

I guess I don't see the value in survival supplies that require I bake. Seems like in a real emergency, I might not have a high enough heat source to actually bake. For those of you buying the collection, how do you plan to use that part of it? I certainly see the good in the dried fruit.

 

[AlexWyattMommy]

Stored propane for grills, wood for fireplace [cast iron cooking] and a solar oven. This is for when the generator fuel runs out.

There are two ways you can think about prepping - for "the end of the world as we know it" and for small emergencies. I prep for small emergencies - snow/ice storms can't get to the store, sick adult/child can't get to the store, major fixes that take money away from grocery shopping temporarily. I don't do doomsday stuff.

A major thing to think about for either prepping is your water. We have a cistern so we always have bottled water for drinking[because I don't like to drink the cistern water]. Also have rain water catchers for gardening that could be used for washing in a pinch.

 

[monkeybug]

I guess I don't see the value in survival supplies that require I bake. Seems like in a real emergency, I might not have a high enough heat source to actually bake. For those of you buying the collection, how do you plan to use that part of it? I certainly see the good in the dried fruit.

A lot of the food is freeze dried or dehydrated veggies, fruits, and meats, and those would only require water to use (or no water if you wanted to eat them out of the can.) The baking items would obviously require a heat source, but if you have a cast iron dutch oven, your heat source could just be fire. We actually bake when we go camping for fun!
I'm not really a doomsday planner either, more of a small emergency girl too. I just want enough that if for some reason I couldn't (or didn't want to) go to the store I have options.
I think of people who have recently had long bouts of unemployment, having 3 or more months of food stored can at least help you get through those rough times.
A lot of my friends have a 1 year supply stored (and big family's...I have a friend who has number 10 cans stored under decorator tables with table clothes covering them!). I don't feel like I need that much, but I can appreciate that they never have to join the hoards of people buying up milk and eggs before a blizzard, and they never have to figure out what to make with cottage cheese, black beans, and graham crackers when the grocery budget is gone and there are still three days until pay day.

 

[barkley]

if you have an emergency situation where you are without power, even if you have a means to cook-i suspect your first inclination would to be to use those items in your freezer or fridge that absent cooking would go bad. even then you would be looking to how to keep those, once prepared, in a continued non perishable state (this is what happened a couple of years ago when our neighborhood was totaly isolated and without power for several days due to snow).

people look to my garage and think we are lds because of the stocks of canned goods and other items i keep on hand, but i use it and replenish it (it's just cheaper for me to buy during case sales). most traditional canned goods have a shelf life of 2 years so i can cycle in and out products that my family eats and i know a variety of items i can prepare with.

i'de suggest before anyone spends what seems like allot of money on the linked products, they consider getting similar smaller sized products and actualy trying them out for ease of preparation and actual taste. cabellas and other outdoor type stores sell small packets of freeze dried meats and the like-through smaller purchases a person could trial and error out what they absolutly would not/could not use.

p.s.-during our neighborhood's "lockdown" people who thought they were prepared came to the realization that among other items they had'nt considered needing, the following were important to have in an "emergency" pack-

women's sanitary products (and diapers if a little one in the home)

otc meds-anti nausea, anti inflamatories, anti diahrea...(if you drasticly change your diet to dried fruits and freeze dried products your body may react in a manner in which you will appreciate some of these items)

a 2nd back up hand can opener (in case the first breaks or the generator poops out)

cooking equipment that can be used on the bbq or camp stove (your glass coffee pot will not suffice if you are a caffeine junky), heavy duty foil is an advantage as well-you can line a cooking item so you don't have to use precious water to wash it (and propane or wood to heat that water so it reaches a heating point where the washing does any good)

a hand coffee grinder (again for the caffeine junkies-those lovely whole beans do you no good with your electric grinder unavailable)

a non portable land line phone (when the power goes out the portable phone goes out, a $10 non portable from walmart continues to work-and even if you have cell phones, it's a good idea-when cars are buried or you can't get them to even turn over you might not be able to recharge a cell if you looking to that as a backup when you are absent power).

 

[monkeybug]

i'de suggest before anyone spends what seems like allot of money on the linked products, they consider getting similar smaller sized products and actualy trying them out for ease of preparation and actual taste. cabellas and other outdoor type stores sell small packets of freeze dried meats and the like-through smaller purchases a person could trial and error out what they absolutly would not/could not use.

p.s.-during our neighborhood's "lockdown" people who thought they were prepared came to the realization that among other items they had'nt considered needing, the following were important to have in an "emergency" pack-

women's sanitary products (and diapers if a little one in the home)

otc meds-anti nausea, anti inflamatories, anti diahrea...(if you drasticly change your diet to dried fruits and freeze dried products your body may react in a manner in which you will appreciate some of these items)

a 2nd back up hand can opener (in case the first breaks or the generator poops out)

cooking equipment that can be used on the bbq or camp stove (your glass coffee pot will not suffice if you are a caffeine junky), heavy duty foil is an advantage as well-you can line a cooking item so you don't have to use precious water to wash it (and propane or wood to heat that water so it reaches a heating point where the washing does any good)

a hand coffee grinder (again for the caffeine junkies-those lovely whole beans do you no good with your electric grinder unavailable)

a non portable land line phone (when the power goes out the portable phone goes out, a $10 non portable from walmart continues to work-and even if you have cell phones, it's a good idea-when cars are buried or you can't get them to even turn over you might not be able to recharge a cell if you looking to that as a backup when you are absent power).

We have a 72 hour kit with most of the items (and additional ones) you mentioned (didn't think about the coffee grinder though, and we are major caffeine junkies, so thanks for the tip!!). We keep it in two large backpacking packs in our basement.
It is a good idea to taste the food or know your food prep limitations (no sense in stocking up on wheat if you don't know how to use it in an emergency). Most people recommend only storing ingredients you would use in your everyday cooking, and then using some of the products you purchase so you can get familiar with recipes and how to prepare them. Just because it's an emergency doesn't mean you need to eat food that tastes like it has a shelf life of 25 years!!!
Once you have an idea of what you like though, the larger cases are much more affordable per calorie than the little packets they sell at outdoors stores (which can be quite expensive). So far the Costco products are the cheapest per calorie I've found, but I haven't done extensive research by any means. I also trust Costco as a company, they take anything back for any reason, so I know if we don't like it for some reason, they will let me return it.

 

[barkley]

the costco price is cheaper-so long as you've tried the stuff to see if you can prepare it (and if it's edible).

a good friend is lds and in the begining she was big into stockpiling until her women's group had a speaker in for a day long seminar on the subject. they had the ladies bring some of their stockpiled items along with their grinders and the like. only provided them with what the average person would have on hand to prep/cook with. the bulk of the ladies found that despite believing they could prep meals with the stuff they had, the reality was most could'nt figure out the way to use their grinder to effectivly grind the wheat, let alone cook with non "all purpose" flour (and absent yeast that fresh ground flour is not going to rise into that lovely loaf of bread they had been envisioning).

it was a real wake up call for the group-and many started incorporating regular pre-emergent cooking practice sessions into their lives. maybe once a month or so they do the whole days meals as though they were in an emergency sitution, that way if a real emergency came up they would have some experience/knowledge of how to work through it.

 

[monkeybug]

the costco price is cheaper-so long as you've tried the stuff to see if you can prepare it (and if it's edible).

a good friend is lds and in the begining she was big into stockpiling until her women's group had a speaker in for a day long seminar on the subject. they had the ladies bring some of their stockpiled items along with their grinders and the like. only provided them with what the average person would have on hand to prep/cook with. the bulk of the ladies found that despite believing they could prep meals with the stuff they had, the reality was most could'nt figure out the way to use their grinder to effectivly grind the wheat, let alone cook with non "all purpose" flour (and absent yeast that fresh ground flour is not going to rise into that lovely loaf of bread they had been envisioning).

it was a real wake up call for the group-and many started incorporating regular pre-emergent cooking practice sessions into their lives. maybe once a month or so they do the whole days meals as though they were in an emergency sitution, that way if a real emergency came up they would have some experience/knowledge of how to work through it.

LOL! I have a friend who has two ginormo buckets of wheat and a grinder in her basement (given to her by her MIL), yet I don't think she has ever baked a thing in her life!!! She jokes that her family will just have to chew on the wheat kernels, because if Taco Bell isn't open, they're screwed!
A lot of the Thrive products could be used with out much no how (freeze dried fruits, veggies, and meats), but some of the others might not be for every one. I actually bake my own bread in everyday life (I'm a nerd!!!!) and also buy yeast in bulk at Costco. I don't have a grinder yet, but really want one. Not for emergencies, but because fresh ground wheat makes some yummy bread!! I have a friend who taught classes at a local parks and rec on how to feed a family healthy meals on a budget, she brought in her bread for people to taste, and went home with bread orders!! Now she sells it at local farmers markets!
I agree though that buying food you wouldn't or don't know how to use is a waste of money, and probably not much help in an emergency! I'm comfortable ordering the stuff from Costco even though I haven't tried it, because I have tried and used freeze dried veggies and fruits before. The meats will be a new one for us, but as I mentioned Costco allows you to return anything for any reason.