Interview with Shelf Reliance Consultant Misty Marsh - Part 2

Here's part 2 of my interview with Consultant Misty Marsh.  This interview is about the products of Shelf Reliance and some tips for new customers.

Q: How do the products at Shelf Reliance compare to products that we buy at the store (in terms of taste, quality, and shelf life)?

THRIVE foods are incredible.  They truly are delicious.  They taste just like the products you buy at the grocery store.  I use them daily in casseroles, pizza, enchiladas, soups, baked good, etc with absolutely no difference in taste.

They are also much easier to use than fresh product from the grocery store.  All the meats are pre-cooked.  All the vegetables are pre-cut. The cheese is pre-grated.  I save enormous amounts of meal prep time by using these products.  No more time spent browning beef, shredding chicken, chopping veggies or grating cheese.  I also spend less time cleaning up: fewer prep jobs means fewer dishes!

The nutrition of THRIVE freeze dried produce is actually superior in many cases to that of the produce you find in the grocery store.  Grocery store produce is typically picked before it is ripe (before all the nutrients have developed), and often forced to ripen with hormones.  Then, before you eat it, it sits in a truck to get to the store, sits at the store, then sits in your fridge losing nutrients.

On the other hand, THRIVE produce is harvested as peak freshness and immediately freeze dried.  The freeze drying process does not change the nutritional content of the food, it simply removes the water and oxygen.  So, all the nutrients that were in the food at it's peak freshness remain until you open the can and enjoy the product.

In addition, freeze dried products need no preservative or additives: no added salt or sugar to maintain their average 20 year shelf life.

Q: Does Shelf Reliance offer any products for people with special dietary restrictions such as low fat or gluten-free?

All of the produce is fat free making it an ideal (easy, healthy and delicious) snack to eat right out of the can.  In addition, there are many items that are MSG, GMO and Gluten free.

Q: Are the foods easy to prepare?

Yes!  These are foods that you will use in your everyday cooking and they will save you time.  All the meats are precooked, all the produce is pre-cut / chopped.  The cheese is pre-grated. Simply add water.  In addition, there is a recipe on the back of every can,  a cookbook available, and recipes on the Shelf Reliance website.  I also keep a blog where I regularly post recipes and tips for using these products in your everyday cooking. 

Q: For someone who's just starting their own food storage, the massive list of products can be overwhelming.  What's the best place to start?

I suggest using this worksheet to decide which product would be most beneficial for your family.
 
Q: What is the Q?

The Q is an innovative online program that helps you create your own home grocery store. It will help you build a supply of delicious THRIVE food at your own pace and budget. By following three easy steps, you will be able to create and manage a food plan that is customized to your family. This plan will set up a queue of THRIVE food.  Items from that queue that fit within a pre-set budget that you set will be shipped to your home each month.

Q: What is your recommendation for people who want to start doing food storage, but are on a tight budget?

(1) Use your food storage in your everyday cooking!  If you actually use your food storage on a regular basis, then it can replace some of your groceries.  In other words, you don't have to increase your grocery budget, you simply reallocate a portion of it to food storage.  THRIVE foods are perfect for this because they are incredibly easy to use in your everyday recipes.  You can find many such recipes on my blog: Your Own Home Store
(2) Host a Shelf Reliance party.  You can earn FREE and 1/2 off product this way.
(3) Become a Shelf Reliance consultant.  I actually started as a consultant simply because I wanted to earn my food storage for free.  I have been able to that and so much more.  Being a Shelf Reliance consultant is an incredible opportunity!