Ultimate Blog Party 2011 Party Post

WELCOME!

My name is Misty and I am the owner / author of Your Own Home Store.  I'm excited to be a part of this blog party and get to know some fun bloggers!  If you are only here for the giveaway, you can scroll to the bottom.

Before anything else, I am mother to my four beautiful children. Usually, that is by choice. Sometimes it is b/c they simply demand it. (*haha*) I have 3 yr old twin boys, an 19 mo old daughter, and a newborn daughter. They keep me busy and very, very happy. I also have a wonderfully amazing and supportive husband who adores our children as much as I do. There is never a dull moment in our house and almost always a reason to laugh. Many of my decisions are strongly influenced by the fact that I have young children. That includes my decisions about food and preparedness.


I want to be able to provide for my children in any circumstance.  So, I've invested in health insurance, life insurance, car insurance, renter's insurance etc.  I also started creating "food insurance" for my family.  I call it "My Own Home Store."  I initially did this (without increasing our food budget) through "couponing."  Each week I would buy A LOT of whatever was on sale for an extremely low price.  After a while, I had a large "home store" full of crackers, cereals, condiments, pasta, rice, soups and baking supplies.  I also invested in a significant amount of wheat from the LDS cannery. (they have the lowest prices around)

Shortly after graduating from law school in April 2010, my husband lost his job.  We used our "own home store" as the food insurance it was meant to provide and were able to live off it for some time.  However, there were a few important food groups I hadn't been able to stock up on: produce, meats, and dairy.  We still had to buy those items.  In addition, I cook mostly from scratch:  we didn't really enjoy eating much of the processed foods I'd stocked up on.

Eventually we moved in with my parents.  My mother had started building her own home store with THRIVE foods from Shelf Reliance.  I fell in love with these foods!  They:

• Came in every food group (including produce, real meats, and dairy: cheese, yogurt, milk), 
• Were completely unprocessed, 
• Just as healthy as the fresh product, 
• Easy to use, 
• Tasty, 
• Affordable, and 
• They had an average 20 year shelf life!   

I began using them in my own made from scratch recipes. I also saw just how much my kids liked the fruits and veggies strait out of the can. 

They made my life easier: no more chopping veggies or browning meat! No more last minute trips to the grocery store for an egg, some shortening or another forgotten ingredient. I could include meat, produce and dairy in my own home store! I was hooked!

I decided that THRIVE was the food I wanted for my family's "home store." Once my husband found a new job, I started purchasing it. I'm selling it for two reasons:

1. I use the money I make to help us develop our home store sooner. (I'd like to eventually have a full 1 year supply for our family)
2. I believe "food insurance" is something every family should have.  THRIVE foods provide that while also saving time, money, and stress.  I can't think of a better gift to give to others!

I started this blog as a way to help others learn how to cook with and use the foods in their "own home store." I experiment with the products so you don't have to!   Also, since having a "your own home store" is all about preparing you to provide for your family in any circumstance, you will also find tips about preparedness in general here.

In addition, I hope to help others build that their "own home store" in the least expensive way possible.  So, I post product sales and specials and offer an innovative monthly shipment program called the Q.

If you'd like, you can learn more about building Your Own Home Store. 

You can also join me in the adventure of helping others build a "home store" of their own.

If you'd like, you can can also learn more about the Ultimate Blog Party.  I'm excited find and "meet" like minded bloggers!

GIVEAWAY:

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.  Thanks for all your entries!  Please check back tomorrow morning (4/9/11) for the winner!

Thanks for stopping by!  As party of the PARTY, I will be shipping $115 in FREE Shelf Reliance products (at RETAIL price, not sale price) to one lucky winner!  You can enter the give-a-way by doing the following:

Leave a Comment telling me what you would purchase with your $115 credit.
Please include your first name and an email address (not to be used for any reason other than to contact you if you are a winner).  If you do not want to leave your email, just be SURE to check back on April 9th when I announce the winner.  You will only have 24 hours to claim your prize)

You can also submit up to THREE extra entries (please leave a separate comment for each entry):

• Subscribe to this blog in a reader or  by Email, then come back and leave a comment telling me that you did so.  If you already subscribe, just leave a comment telling me that you do.
• Post about this give-a-way on your blog or facebook page or tweet about it on twitter (make sure you include a link back to this website), then leave a comment stating that you did so.
• Put one of our buttons (the code is in our sidebar) on your blog or website (personal or business related), then leave a comment stating that you did so.

Thanks!  I can't wait to see what products you'd like to try!  Let me know if you have questions!  If you are looking for starter reccomendations, here are a few:

These products are less expensive than at the grocery store:

• Whole Powdered Eggs (work GREAT in baking, many professional chefs prefer them)
• Tomato Power (use it to make, paste, sauce or juice: even soup!)
• Shortening Powder and Butter Powder (make homemade tortillas, chewy rolls and more!)
• Freeze Dried Celery or onions and carrot dices (make soups and casseroles in minutes)

These products save a lot of time:

• Freeze Dried Chicken, Beef, or Sausage (These are REAL meat, precooked, with a 25 year shelf life! They taste AMAZING, and all you do is add water)
• All the Freeze dried veggies (all pre-chopped: just add water)
• Instant beans (much better than canned and require no soaking or hours of boiling!)

These will help you feed your kids healthier:

• All the freeze dried fruits (My kids call them "candy:" they really are THAT good, but have no added sugar or other preservatives: replace all your fruit snacks!)
• White Wheat Flour (Much easier to use when trying to replace all-purpose flour, but still 100% wheat!)

 These are just fun:

• Freeze Dried Ice cream bars and sandwiches
• Just add water brownies or macaroons (no eggs or oil needed)