Short-Term Food Storage Basics: Part 1 – Getting Started
December 12, 2022
3 Comments
A beginner’s guide to short-term food storage and the differences between short-term and long-term food storage.
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Check out the October Thrive Life Specials
WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW BEFORE FILLING YOUR DELIVERY CART THIS MONTH
The October Thrive Life specials are here and I see some good protein and produce options!
As per the usual, I’m not listing these in any particular order, and I’m sharing my honest opinion.
**This post contains affiliate links, which means if you click on a link and make a purchase, I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you.
1
Raspberries - up to 40% off
25-year shelf life
** Raspberries have an OVERSTOCK banner on them, which means they might be 1-2 years into the 25-year shelf life.
These pack a punch for sure, so get ready to pucker up!
These are really tasty, but I prefer eating them WITH something else, to tone down the tartness.
But they really are what you would expect from freeze dried raspberries! Full of flavor and delicious!
2
Grilled Chicken Dices - up to 30% off
25-year shelf life
This tastes like microwaved chicken to me when I reconstitute it. It makes sense – it’s not Thrive’s fault. It’s just the nature of cooking meat and then reheating it later. I don’t fault Thrive – just my picky taste buds.
BUT, most people think this tastes totally fine. So unless you’re a chicken snob like me, this would be a good addition to your food storage.
3
Broccoli - up to 30% off
25-year shelf life
Really awesome veggie straight out of the can or reconstituted and cooked!
If I am wanting some warm fresh broccoli with dinner, I just throw some of this in a pot with some water and bring it to a boil and cook it for a couple minutes, just like I would do with a frozen veggie. It is SO nice to always have fresh veggies available. And can you imagine how amazing it would be to have this if you didn’t have access to fresh produce?!?!
Get your broccoli with a 25-year shelf life for your food storage here.
4
Potato Dices - up to 25% off
25-year shelf life
I’ve tried these in soup and also in a breakfast concoction of eggs, sausage crumbles, and potato dices, and they were great! I just don’t use diced potatoes very often in my cooking, so I don’t have very much experience with these. But the 2 things I have tried them in have been fabulous.
5
Instant Refried Beans - up to 25% off
25-year shelf life
I have tried these and they’re totally fine; it’s hard to mess up refried beans.
So the reason I don’t store these isn’t because they’re gross. It’s just because it’s not an economical way to store refried beans.
Without boring you too terribly much with all the ins and outs of short-term food storage, I will just say this: A can of refried beans from the store is about $1, maybe $2. Let’s be generous and say one pantry can of these refried beans is equivalent to 3 store-bought cans of refried beans. That’s $3-$6 worth of beans (that are ready to dump out of the can – no prep needed), and you’ll pay $11.35 for it in this from Thrive. That’s anywhere from double to quadruple the price.
So it all comes down to shelf life. These Instant Refried Beans do have a shelf life of 25 years, which is pretty awesome. But cans of refried beans that come from the grocery store usually have about a year-ish shelf life. So I’d rather store a year’s supply of cans from the grocery store than a year’s supply from Thrive.
The catch is, I have to rotate my store-bought cans. All the time.
With Thrive, I can set them and forget them (for 25 years).
I have a can rotator, and I am used to using this method with all the canned foods I use on a regular basis, so this a no-brainer for me.
If you know you are not going to be good at always keeping a bunch of cans of refried beans from the grocery store in the pantry, and/or you’re going to be horrible at rotating them, then by all means, get the refried beans from Thrive!
I just wanted to be transparent about why I’m going to pass on the beans.
6
Butternut Squash - up to 25% off
25-year shelf life
Haven’t tried this, because I don’t have any recipes that call for butternut squash. Click here to add butternut squash to your October Thrive Life delivery.
7
Cheddar Cheese - up to 25% off
25-year shelf life
YES. Yes to all the cheese.
This is 100% cheddar cheese. It’s a weird phenomenon eating dry, somewhat crunchy cheese from a can, but it’s crazy how the taste is 100% there, even before reconstituting it.
After reconstituting it, you have totally normal, functional cheese. It even melts like regular cheese!
Can you imagine life without cheese? Especially life where you are already limited on certain foods, so you’re having to improvise a little (or a lot)? Cheese just makes everything go down a little bit easier, amiright?
Don’t be sad. Add freeze dried cheddar cheese to your order.
8
Diced Beef - up to 25% off
25-year shelf life
This is pretty darn good! I will say, it has a bit of a reheated taste – I can definitely tell it’s not fresh meat, but the rest of my family can’t. It really depends on your sensitivity to meat.
As with all meats, I highly recommend browning this real quick in a pan (after reconstituting it, but before adding it to your recipe).
My favorite way to use this is to reconstitute it and throw it in a pot with some gravy that I make from a seasoning packet, and then I serve the gravy and meat over rice.
You can purchase diced beef to add to your food storage HERE.
9
Instant Milk - up to 50% off
25-year shelf life
** Instant Milk has an OVERSTOCK banner on it, which means it might be 1-2 years into the 25-year shelf life.
This used to be the only milk I recommended storing, but now there’s a really closer runner-up. I promise honesty, so here it is: the LDS Home Storage Center has upgraded their milk and it is really good! It’s cheaper than Thrive’s milk, so I’ll link it here for ya.
If you want to stick with Thrive’s, 50% off is a screamin’ deal. My kids can only tell the difference between this and fresh store bought milk if they see me mixing it up. I cannot recommend this milk enough.
Want to learn more about this instant milk powder? You can read more in this post.
If you trust me and just want to add it to your delivery, click here.
If you have questions:
PLEASE send me an email! Don’t delay getting started on your food storage just because something is confusing. I am here to help. If something is confusing to you, or even if you have questions about a previous order, PLEASE ASK!
melanie@planforawesome.com
Quick Ordering Reminders:
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August 15, 2022
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While every family’s food storage needs are a little different, every family needs food storage. These 12 items are my top favorites – most of them I even use on a regular basis when I’m out of the grocery store version.