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.
May Thrive Life Food Storage Specials
It’s a new month, which means it’s a good time to add to your family’s emergency food supply! Keep reading to see what’s on sale, percentage off, and all of my opinions – the good, the bad and the ugly.
**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.
Are you itching for summer like I am? The first half of this year has felt so incredibly long.
I’m excited about the May Thrive Life monthly specials because there are some great summer snacks included! I think about things I can pack for roadtrips, pool days, and baseball snacks. Some of these fit the bill for easy grab and go and some will help you make cooking dinner a breeze so you can maximize on your relaxation time.
And it’s always a good time to add to your family’s emergency food supply. Keep reading to see what’s on sale, percentage off and all my opinions – good, bad and ugly!
**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
Green Peas - 30% off
Shelf Life - 25 years
These are pretty dang good. I actually think they’re good straight out of the can. Have you ever had a Cup O’ Noodle? You know how there are always a couple peas at the top? That’s exactly what these are: freeze dried peas.
They’re great straight from the can, they’re great cooked in a meal (like chicken pot pie), and they’re great reconstituted and heated up as a side of vegetables.
2
Grilled Chicken Dices - 25% off
Shelf Life - 25 years
By now, I think I’ve made it clear that I am not a fan of anything other than freshly cooked chicken. 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.
**Pro Tip: After reconstituting any freeze dried meat, throw it in a frying pan with some oil and brown it for a little bit – it really helps freshen it up!
If you’d like to give the Grilled Chicken a try, click here.
3
Peach Slices - 20% off
Shelf Life - 25 years
These are an awesome snack! They are just how you would imagine them. My only complaint is that they disappear too quickly. They are sliced similarly to the apples, and are just entirely too easy to eat too many of too quickly.
4
Potato Dices - 20% off
Shelf Life - 25 years
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
Cheddar Cheese - 20% off
Shelf Life - 25 years
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.
6
Ground Beef - 20% off
Shelf Life - 25 years
Meat with a 25-year shelf life? No joking here. And it’s actually pretty good!
Use it just like you would in any recipe you’d normally put ground beef in. Cool, huh?
Its appearance does resemble dog food, I’m not gonna lie. But once you have it cooked up and browned and in a meal, your kids won’t know what it looked like coming out of the can, I promise.
As far as taste: I can tell a difference from fresh meat. I am hyper-sensitive to reheated or precooked meat, so that makes sense that I can taste the difference when I use this. It has the same vibe as hamburger that you’ve cooked and either frozen or refrigerated, and then reheated. Which makes sense; afterall, this hamburger is COOKED! (Which means, yes! You can eat it right out of the can for some protein if that’s your style – nothin’ raw about it!)
Pro Tip: I have found that browning the hamburger after reconstituting it makes a HUGE difference in the taste and makes it taste a lot fresher to me, so I would highly recommend throwing it in a pan and browning it before throwing it into a meal. After finding this out, I honestly can’t tell a difference between this and fresh ground beef most of the time.
7
Instant Black Beans - 20% off
Shelf Life - 25 years
I have only ever used canned black beans, so the consistency of these seemed a bit mushy to me.
Truthfully, I think it’s more cost effective to just buy cans of black beans at your local grocery store or grab a case from Costco. Especially if they’re on regular rotation in your house.
If you’d like to give these Instant Black Beans a try, click here.
8
Instant Milk - 50% off
Shelf Life - 25 years
**Instant Milk has an OVERSTOCK banner on it, which means it may be 1 or 2 years into its 25-year shelf life already.
This stuff is GREAT!
I think this is one of the items that sets Thrive Life apart from other food storage companies. Their milk is really really good. Unless my kids see me mixing it up, they can’t tell the difference.
I definitely think this is one staple everyone should have in their food storage. (Well, I guess if your family is dairy-free it wouldn’t make sense. But, everyone else should have some.) Even if no one drinks it by the glass in your household, I bet you have a handful of recipes that call for milk (like mac & cheese).
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.
The 2 biggest differences between Thrive’s and the LDS milk:
- Thrive’s has a 25-year shelf life, where the LDS milk has a 20-year shelf life.
- Thrive’s comes in #10 cans and pantry cans, where the LDS milk comes in mylar bags.
- The cost per gallon of Thrive’s milk in a #10 can on this sale: $6.89
- The cost per gallon of the LDS Church’s milk: $3.94
If you want to stick with Thrive’s milk, 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.
If you want to know more about this milk, including cost per serving, go read this post.
If you’re ready to add this instant milk to your order, 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:
Related Posts:
Long Term Food Storage Basics: What you need to Know to Get Started
November 21, 2022
6 Comments
Answers to some of your most asked questions about long-term food storage, including the difference between dehydrated and freeze dried food.
My top 12 Freeze Dried Foods from Thrive Life
August 15, 2022
19 Comments
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.