I think it’s safe to say that we all love a good sale. And believe me, this is one of my favorite Thrive Life Sales.
Keep reading for a quick run-down of what is on sale and my opinion on each item. Once you know what you want to add to cart, do it quick! This one is over in no time. (But make sure your order is processing during the dates of the sale: Wednesday, August 23 – Monday, August 28th)
**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.
YES!
Who else reaches for the mushrooms and they’re black and slimy? It feels like every time I buy fresh mushrooms, they go bad before I get the chance to use them. Because of this, I use Thrive Life’s freeze dried mushrooms in my cooking instead of fresh mushrooms. Every single time.
They are so awesome to have on hand to just toss in a sauce. You can rehydrate first or if you’re putting them in a meal with liquid in it (like soup), just toss them right in.
Super convenient for every day and an awesome option to give you some variety in your food storage meals.
“I keep meaning to message you and thank you for the tip on freeze- dried onions and mushrooms! I’ve been using the onions, which I love, but I just started using the mushrooms. I’ve always loved fresh mushrooms, but the freeze-dried mushrooms are so great that I don’t know if I’m ever going to buy fresh again unless it’s for a green salad. The freeze-dried mushrooms are definitely a game changer for sure! Thank you for the great tip! You so rock!” – Donna E., California
These are ZINGY straight out of the can! But isn’t that what we would expect from cranberries??
Just like I wouldn’t recommend eating cranberries straight out of the bag, I wouldn’t recommend eating this right out of the can.
But they ARE a wonderful option to be able to store for a time when cranberries may not be available.
Kind of like applesauce – I like knowing that I could make a little something with these to mix up the flavor in a meal.
Add freeze dried cranberries to your cart by clicking this link.
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:
I will say, freeze dried meats have become SO MUCH MORE TOLERABLE for me once I started browning them in a frying pan. This makes all the difference to me. Don’t just stop at reconstituting the meat. Take the extra couple minutes and brown it with a little bit of oil!!!
Not my favorite. I think it’s because I am a frosting girl. If I could dip these in frosting, I’d probably like them, but just plain isn’t for me. They’re dry and not sweet enough for me. 😂
Click here to add these freeze dried cake bites to your order.
I’m sorry to say, I’m not a fan.
I ate it dry, straight out of the can, and that was great.
Then I rehydrated it and threw it in some pasta salad. It was a little squishy…like a foamy squishy. Sponge-y. That’s a better word for it! So a little bit of a weird texture when rehydrated. Some of that sponge-i-ness did go away when I cooked it with some spaghetti sauce.
But the real problem is the grain of sand sensation that you get when you eat it.
It literally tastes like there is a grain of sand in almost every bite. I am not sure what causes that with zucchini and not other foods, but it’s real. That’s a deal-breaker for me.
I’d much rather just sub in some broccoli, green beans, or peas, than deal with the sand.
If you’re ready to add freeze dried zucchini to your cart, click this link (if you don’t mind eating sand every once in a while).
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.
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!
Haven’t tried these – my family doesn’t like cooked tomatoes, so these don’t make sense for my food storage.
Healthy and tasty. This cauliflower is so good to use in pretty much any dish – soup, casseroles, on top of a salad, stir-fry. Basically, anywhere you’d normally use cauliflower, go ahead and use this.
It’s also pretty decent to just crunch on as a healthy snack. It’s kinda like eating popcorn (but watch out for the gas – I know, I know – consider yourself warned).
Also, I have heard rumors that this one is being discontinued, so now’s your chance!
If you’re ready to add freeze dried cauliflower to your food storage, click here.
These are interesting – in a good way!
They’re chopped SUPER teeny tiny.
They have a super fresh flavor – it’s hard to describe but it’s like the freshest cucumber I’ve ever had.
These are actually really good just straight out of the can – but I also love throwing them on a salad!
*Warning: if you eat too many of them, they can chew up your mouth, kind of like Captain Crunch cereal. 😅
Click here if you’re ready to add cucumber dices to your order.
These are seriously SO amazing. A great snack for any day of the week!
I dare you to eat just one handful.
THESE ARE A FAVORITE at our house.
My family doesn’t like cooked bell peppers in meals, so I can’t speak for these.
I have tried them straight from the can and they’re fine for a snack – nothing to write home about, but nothing to complain about either.
Click here to add freeze dried red bell peppers to your order.
I don’t use this very often, but when I do, I’m so glad I have it! I have 3 recipes that I use sour cream in, and I would really wish I had this in my food storage if I weren’t able to get fresh sour cream!
It does have a strong flavor, so I usually add less of this than what my recipe calls for.
I love having the sour cream powder in my pantry so much that it made the cut for my top 12 items I keep in my food storage.
Click here if you want to add sour cream powder to your order.
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 from the store. 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 form 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 is 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.
Cookie dough. Do I need to say more? Mix this in and no more halfway worrying about eating the dough raw.
Also, no shells. It’s a win all around!
They also cook up just like regular scrambled eggs. I definitely would not want to live life without eggs, so these are a MUST in our food storage.
I am not a shrimp fan, so I have never tried this personally, but I did ask a friend to try it for me, and she made her shrimp pasta dish that her family loves, and she said it was good and none of the kids mentioned that anything tasted different about the shrimp.
So given that, I’d recommend this if you have any recipes that involve shrimp!
This is your last chance to grab freeze-dried shrimp, if that’s your jam. Thrive Life is discontinuing this product.
These are awesome. Just like the Fuji Apple slices, these make an awesome snack. They are tart, just like you’d expect, and they disappear fast!
These are exactly what you’d expect and full of flavor! They aren’t chewy like the dried ones you get at the grocery store. You know the ones – covered in sugar and chew, chew, chew.
These are light, airy, and crunchy – great fruit snack.
I’m not a huge blackberry fan, but they do taste just like blackberries!
If you like blackberries, then you’ll most likely enjoy these.
A million times over – YES.
I’m really happy any time I get to share my love for this corn. It’s seriously one of my favorite snacks. I think you’ll love it, too. I love it so much that it made the list of my top 12 favorite foods from Thrive Life.
Have you ever given someone freeze dried food for a gift?
No? Well, I sure have. No lie – I give cases of these chopped onions as gifts. I’ve been told it’s life-changing.
These are THE NUMBER ONE THING I RECOMMEND FROM THRIVE LIFE!
Never cry over chopping onions again. I use these almost daily when cooking.
You will not regret adding these freeze dried onions to your food storage.
Meat that can sit on a shelf for 25 years? Sounds made up, right? Nope! It’s real!
Use it just like you would in any recipe you’d normally put ground beef in. Cool, huh?
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.
It’s fine. It’s squash.
Click here to add freeze dried butternut squash to your order.
Applesauce lovers will be very happy to have this around. It’s pretty good, in my opinion.
**Note: You need a blender to make this – just add water. But this would not be a good plan during a power outage.
Click here if you want to add dehydrated applesauce to your order.
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.
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.
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.
So. Dang. Convenient.
Say goodbye to washing and chopping fresh celery for your soups – now you can just scoop and pour!
This celery is PERFECT for throwing into any recipe that calls for celery.
Heads up: when reconstituted, it does not crunch back up like fresh celery. So if you’re looking for a crunch factor in something like a potato salad, this isn’t going to do it. But for anything cooked, this is perfect!
These were so popular in the Snackie size that Thrive recently made them available in the pantry can size, with a 25-year shelf life!
These are a DELICIOUS snack if you like coconut.
One of my all time favorite products – ever.
If you can fit this in your budget and find the space, it is a must get. You will not regret this purchase.
I am working my way through their predone meals, so I can’t speak for all of these.
We have tried and loved the Breakfast Skillet and the Cheesy Chicken.
The Vegetable Pasta Primavera was just okay.
That’s what I can tell you so far!
These chef packs are a way to try cooking an entire meal from food storage. They hand-pick different things that would go well together, to make some meals out of it all.
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
Answers to some of your most asked questions about long-term food storage, including the difference between dehydrated and freeze dried food.
My absolute favorite food storage organizer While Thrive does offer a few different options for can rotators, this Variety Can System is hands-down my favorite.
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.
