Today I went to the grocery store and bought groceries for the first time in about 6 weeks. I bought a lot of lettuce. LOL.
The truth is, I had been wanting to experience the whole "living off our home store" thing for quite some time now. I wanted to see how practically we had prepared. I wanted to know how well we were doing. I wanted to know we could eat good food, not just sustainable food. I'm a total foodie. I am sure if I am in a situation where it's "starve or eat gruel" one day, I'll find a way to choke down the gruel. But if I can avoid that choice, and instead have the choice of "eat yummy food!"... Well, I'll pick the yummy food every. time. So I had been wanting to know how well I could do this for my family.
Due to a couple of other circumstances (namely that my grocery budget was in the red, due to 1/4 of a cow we bought at the end of last year and the fact that I hadn't created a sufficient buffer in our grocery budget to cover said 1/4 of cow; and also the fact that we are likely moving out of state in the not-too-distant future and therefore had reason to work on consuming said 1/4 cow as well as other perishables in our house), I decided February would by my month of finding out the answer to those questions. Some of you may have joined me on my journey in February, whether via Facebook or through this blog. You have seen the meals I have prepared for my family throughout the month, using only what I already had in our home from mid-January. It was an awesome experience, and I really enjoyed doing it. I may do it again sometime in the future, just for practice. Because I think we can always learn more. But for now, this is what I've learned:
1. Whole Egg Powder is a must in my household. Either that or chickens. Or preferably both. I really believe in a variety of things, because you just never know what situation might present itself. My husband also says he thinks we should have a rooster. I'm really on the fence about that one. I mean, I can totally see the logic in it; but (call me wimpy), the idea of eating fertilized eggs really grosses me out. So we shall see... I am, as my husband accuses me of being, a total city girl ;).
2. I love fresh produce. And, surprisingly enough, it's not even the fruits that I missed. It was the vegetables! Why? Because I depend a lot on salads as a quick source of vegetables for my family! My THRIVE Vegetables were AWESOME. Seriously. But THRIVE doesn't make freeze-dried lettuce. This meant I had to learn how to make delicious vegetable dishes using my THRIVE veggies! It was a great learning opportunity for me, and I came up with a written recipe (based on my friend Tina's recipe) for pea salad. And I loved it. I also developed a stir fry recipe not too long ago (before February began, though) that was super helpful for a delicious vegetable dish. And I LOVED the vegetable soup I made with all my THRIVE. Not only was it super-tasty, it was also super-easy to prep! So I have filed those 3 things away for future knowledge of easy and delicious ways to use my THRIVE Vegetable home store ;). And I also know I need to play around with recipe for vegetables using my THRIVE more! But I also know my hope is that, if we ever do have to live off our home store for a couple months, I hope it's in the summer ;)!!! Then I can grow my produce! Hahaha.
3. In regards to my mention of the fruit above... I totally didn't miss fresh fruits. THRIVE Life fruits are awesome. And technically fresher than at the grocery store, since they are picked ripe and flash-frozen within 2 to 4 hours of picking, then freeze dried (as opposed to being picked early, sprayed with chemicals, shipped, sprayed with more chemicals, and then being sold to you!). Bananas are a huge staple in our house, and I was concerned it would be a real hardship without regular grocery-store bananas. It really wasn't! My kids were just as happy with the THRIVE Bananas. And we also enjoyed THRIVE Raspberries, Blueberries, and Granny Smith Apples during the month of February. PLUS the Snackies Fruit Crisps are also super-awesome and a great source of not only fruits, but vegetables! Total win and must-have for our home store!
4. Some of my THRIVE Life ingredients are so versatile! They are definitely must-haves in my home store! I mentioned the eggs above, but also the sour cream powder! Twice I needed cream cheese or a soft cheese-like spread for a recipe, and twice I subbed THRIVE Sour Cream Powder! It was awesome! The lemonade powder is another great example of this (as would be the Lime Powder, which I didn't use in February, but which would be just as useful for things like salsas or key lime bars or limeade!
5. Because I have been using THRIVE Life in my daily cooking for the last (almost) two years, this was not a difficult thing to do during the month of February. It wasn't like I was all of a sudden changing my family's eating habits or ingredients. I use a good mix of grocery-store items and THRIVE Life ingredients daily. This meant I didn't have to feel stumped (or afraid) when trying to use the ingredients. It also meant my family didn't turn their nose up at any of it (well, my girl didn't like the pea salad, but she ate it...). This is a totally awesome reason for not only building your home store with THRIVE Life, but also using it in your daily life! My hope is that none of us every has to rely on our home store exclusively. But life happens. Jobs get lost, people get hurt and can't work for a time, disasters do happen (consider Japan's earthquake and tsunami in 2011 and the emergency situation with their nuclear plant, which caused people to be advised to stay in their homes for days), and economies do fail (consider the plight in Venezuela that is going on right now). It is comforting to know one is prepared for any of those events, should they happen, even if none of us ever wants to have to endure them. I am prepared, not only with a home store of stuff, but also with the knowledge that helps me to use the stuff :).
I learned a lot. And I wanted to share what I learned with you! If you have questions, feel free to ask! If you're interested in learning how you can build your own home store, contact me at THRIVEingNilla@gmail.com or you can also follow me on Facebook at THRIVEing With Hila.
Happy THRIVEing! And thanks for joining me on my learning adventure during my February Home Store Challenge :)!
