moved my blog to www.logicalprepping.com

THRIVE Instant Milk vs Powdered Milk

Thanks Misty for the break down

 

THRIVE Life sells two different types of milk.  One is the Instant milk and the other is the Non-fat Milk   Instant Milk is used for drinking, in my opinion it takes like 1% or skim milk while the other is used for cooking. One thing to note is that most people think the powdered milk is much less expensive. This is because it costs less per #10 can. However, a #10 can of Instant Milk makes 5 Gallons. A #10 can of Powdered Milk only makes 3.5 gallons. The powdered milk is actually only about $0.05 less per gallon. Use the chart below to see the other differences:

 

                              Instant Milk                            Powdered Non-fat Milk

 

 

.	Best Use	Drinking or Baking	Baking
.	Ingredients	Non-Fat Milk	Whey, Non-fat milk, Oil, Corn Syrup, Soy
.	Sodium per serving	110 grams	140 grams
.	Sugars per serving	12 grams	15 grams
.	Vitamins	Vitamins A, C, & D Plus Calcium	Vitamins A & D Plus Calcium
.	Shelf Life	25 years sealed & 2 years opened	25 years sealed & 2 years opened
.	Appearance	A bit more grainy	A bit less grainy
.	Mixing	Dissolves instantly in cold water	Must be mixed vigorously in warm or hot water
.	Taste	Just like fresh milk (SERIOUSLY!)	Good, but different from fresh milk
.	#10 can = ?	5-6 Gallons	3.5-4 Gallons
.	Cost per #10 Can	More Expensive	Less Expensive
.	Cost per Gallon	About Equal	About Equal

Freeze Dried vs. Dehydrated

What is the difference between freeze dried and dehydrated foods?



I know some people don’t even realize that there is a difference.  It is very important to understand the difference, especially if you are promoting these items to your customer.   Both are great options to add to your food storage or home store, but they are used in different ways.   A lot of people will dehydrate food at home with some type of counter top dehydrator or they may use their oven.  But freeze drying is a process at the moment that the average home owner can't afford.   For example, freeze dried products can be used in your own recipes and taste just like the fresh product.   However, they are more expensive because of this greater versatility.   While dehydrated food actually changes the produce, like grapes to raisins or plums to prunes.  Use the chart below to help you as you decide which type of food to invest in for your family. Remember, it doesn’t have to be all one or the other. I have both in my food storage.  Thank you to Misty for the breakdown...

 

 

                   Freeze Dried                                                  Dehydrated

 

 

.	Process	The product is frozen, then placed under vacuum which allows the water in the product to vaporize without passing through the liquid state. About 98% of the water is removed.	The product is heated and water is removed through evaporation. It is impossible to remove all the water. About 25% of the water remains.
.	Shelf Life	Very long (20-30 years) because of the lack of water left.	Shorter (1-8 years) because there is always some water left in the product.
.	Additives	None	Sugar, salt, or other preservatives are usually needed.
.	Nutrition	Retains all nutrients	More nutrients (up to 50%) are lost because of the heat applied during the process
.	Color, taste, texture?	Color, taste and texture are all very similar to the original product. Without hydration, they are dry and can be crushed to a powder.	Most dehydrated foods look and taste different from the fresh product.

Shelf Reliance is now offering certified gluten-free and organic foods

Food Rotation System - Ready Racks

Shelf Reliance - Food Rotation System - Ready Racks

 

 

click here to purchase

 

 

This is one of Food Rotation System that Shelf Reliance offers, this is a Ready Rack.  They come in different configurations, but this is the one I purchased last month.  Why this one you ask.....?  This one was on the January specials, that is why.  I orginally bought this one to take to expos, but after its arrival, I keep coming up with reasons not too.  Like it will be really hard to move, how will it fit in my van along with my other products, will I have to take it apart and then put it back together at the expo...no way....uhmmm how many reasons can I come up with.  My husband isn't buying any of them as of yet...he knows my alter motive.  Just to keep it for my self, forget dragging it back and forth to expo's, I want to put it in place and use it for my food storage.

 

The only problem with the shelf right now, is it is sitting in the middle of my family room until the arguement gets resolved between my husband and myself.  I want to move it downstairs with all my food preps "home store products" and of course he wants to somewhat dismantle so it is ready for the expo's.  It has been 3 weeks, at least I am using it to hold all my cans of THRIVE food, just not located in a very good spot (not really easy to move while sweeping the floor).

 

Okay here is the info from the company....

 

Ready Racks by Shelf Reliance provide the ultimate storage capacity for all of your emergency supplies and food storage cans. By combining our patented first-in-first-out can rotation rows with pull-out drawers, we have provided you with flexibility to store your emergency preparedness supplies, bulky food items, and food storage cans in one organized, convenient space.

Each Ready Rack also comes with four hooks so you can hang your 72-hour kit backpacks right on your system. When it comes to emergency preparedness and food storage organization, Shelf Reliance Ready Racks simply can’t be beat.

This system will hold up to 238 soup size cans and up to 66 medium size cans.

Dimensions
Height: 72"
Width: 36.5"
Depth: 24.5"

Note: Due to the unique tooling of our drawer systems, 6” of space will remain at the back of each drawer. Although the frame of our drawers measures 36”x24,” the base of each drawer has the capacity to hold an area of 32” wide x17.5”deep.

To view assembly instructions for all of our Food Rotation Systems, please visit this link: FRS Assembly Instructions
* Ready Racks combine the convenience can rotation and organization with flexibility of storing bulkier food items and emergency supplies
* 4 hooks included
* Additional options allow you to customize your system to fit your specific needs
* First in first out technology and drawer sliders allow you to fit your system flush against virtually any solid surface
* Will hold up to 238 soup size cans and up to 66 medium size cans


www.logicalprepping.com   logicalprepping@yahoo.com  www.logicalprepping.blogspot.com      www.facebook.com/logicalprepping

Fruit Snacks

By Lindsey Mote – Thrive blogger

Let’s examine some fruit snacks, shall we?

On the left we have the contents of 2 bags of Sunkist snacks.  These “fruit” snacks contain ingredients like corn syrup, modified corn starch, dextrose, sodium citrate, malic acid, mineral oil, carnauba wax, colors red 40, yellow 5, blue 1 and beeswax.  I guess they can call them “fruit snacks” because they roughly resemble some shapes that might be considered fruit-like.  The orange ones look like orange wedges, the blue ones look like pineapple, the purple ones look like cherries, and the green and yellow ones look like blobs.  They pretty much all taste the same.  There are 8 pieces in each package(less than ¼ cup), totaling 80 calories of pure sugar junk.  I paid $2.69 for a box of 10 packages, 8 ounces total.  This equals out to be about $0.34 per ounce.

On the right we have THRIVE freeze dried fruits.  Clockwise from the top are strawberries, mandarin oranges, raspberries, pineapple, blackberries, bananas, and blueberries in the middle.  They contain absolutely zero added ingredients – no salt, no sugar, no additives, no preservatives.  They are shaped like fruit, they smell like fruit, and they taste like fruit!

You could probably make 10 packages of these real fruit snacks in about five minutes, with as much of each fruit as your child would like.  You might even be able to sneak in a few veggies!  There is a quite a large weight vs. volume discrepancy because the THRIVE fruits are freeze dried, so it is difficult to do an accurate price comparison.  Just for the heck of it, I filled a Sunkist “fruit” snacks bag with THRIVE fruits, then weighed it and did the math.  It cost me $0.23 to fill that tiny little bag with REAL berries.

Which fruit snacks would you rather pack in your child’s lunch box?

Homemade baby food with THRIVE

I wish I would have found THRIVE food a lot sooner. 

Gabor is almost 3, he will be 3 in March.  When Gabor was born, I decided that I was going to make all his baby food.  No commercial baby food, I didn't want him to be ingesting all the added chemicals and preservatives found in those products.  Like most mother's, I was scared about Autism and other medical conditions, but mostly Autism...  Not knowing for sure what the cause of Autism is or some of the other medical conditions that seem to becoming more prevalent these days.  So I began the process or buying organic foods or growing our own food and then steaming, puree and freezing them into portion size for Gabor.  Besides all the work, the only problem was when it was time to travel with him.  Transporting frozen baby food wasn't always the easiest or most convenient.

So now at the age of 2 1/2 almost 3, I find THRIVE food.  Thrive food is part of the company of Shelf Reliance.  After doing months of research, I decide that THRIVE food is a good fit for my family.  Most of their foods is chemical and preservative free.  Sometime in the next month, they are launching their Organic line.  They have just been waiting on the paper work to clear government guidelines.  THRIVE food is picked at the peak of ripeness and freeze dried or dehydrated.  They carry a wide variety of foods ....fruits, veggies, meat, TVP, and of course the basics.

Baby food.......
Yes the reason for this blog.  Take the freeze dried product and place in a food processor or grinder or blender until powder.  Once you have a powder, place in a airtight container.  When time to feed your baby, place the desired amount in a bowl and add water to the desired consistency.  Instant baby food!  No more STEAMING, No more PUREE, and No more FREEZING.  And talk about convenience, just throw the container in your diaper bag.....add water .....oh don't forget the spoon.  Its time to feed!  No more glass jars (to worry about breaking), no more worries about storing in the fridge once opened.  And the possibilities of recipes....whatever combination of fruits and/or veggies or meat that you come up with.....
Oh and don't forget the toddlers, older kids or even us adults.....the freeze dried products are great snacks....straight out of the can.  Later I will post a comparison done by another consultant on commercial fruit snacks as compared to ours. 

My website is
www.logicalprepping.com
or email me at
logicalprepping@yahoo.com    

Homemade Baby Food Recipes

 

Remember the 4 day wait rule !!!

 

Stage 1:

4 months to 6 months

(these foods should be thin and runny and are foods that are the lowest on the allergy scale and are also more easily digested.

These include:

Fruits – apples, avocados, apricots, bananas, mango, nectarines , peaches, papaya, pears, plums, prunes & pumpkins

Veggies – Green beans, carrots, peas, sweet potato & squash

Grains – rice, oatmeal, barley

 

Stage 2:

Is for babies 8 months and older or babies at 6month old who began to eat solid foods

This stage if softly mashed or cut into fine bits….fruits, veggies, meats, pasta and dairy such as yogurt and cheeses.

 

Some ideas or combinations of food to try, only after trying your child on each food separate first….Remember the 4 day wait rule, before introducing a new food.

Apple/pear

Apple/peach/banana

Peach/mango

Blueberry/apple

Blueberry/peach

 

Garden vegetable combo/delight: Green beans, peas, zucchini, potato and carrots

Peas & carrots

 

Meats recommendation is usually around 8 months in the US, but again check with your physician.

Chicken puree

Remember, always consult with your pediatrician regarding introducing solid foods to your baby and the possibility of food allergies.

 

All you need is a THRIVE product - Coffee grinder, food processor or blender - container with lid to place powder in - some water

 Pantry Can of THRIVE FD Peaches

 Placed a few pieces in grinder (as you can tell I have already been grinding ...was making peach flavored butter.)

 Grinding the peaches to powder

 My 2 1/2 year old wanting to grind

 Gabor (2 1/2 yrs old) eating peaches while I make the baby food

 THRIVE FD Peaches turned to powder

 add water to the desired consistency

 THRIVE Homemade Baby food....Yummm

   

Click here to order THRIVE FD Peaches

Click here to order THRIVE fruits

Click here to order any THRIVE food - veggies, meats, etc...