10 things to know, DO and NOT DO when buying emergency food

Years ago, I bought this Emergency Food bucket at Costco in Utah. It says it has 200 adult servings – pretty impressive. I think I paid almost $200 (cdn) for it. I tried one of the meals as soon as we got it, and I recall thinking it was ‘okay’ and in a real emergency if it was all we had, we’d probably be glad to have it. I liked the claim of a 20 year shelf life (still like that part).

To be fair, at the time there really weren’t too many alternatives on the market so its not like I had a whole lotta options and I considered myself lucky to make this find.

The label says 100% vegetarian and vitamin fortified. Each package contains 5 servings. All this appealed to me. I offered it to my son-in-law to use for backpacking trips he was taking in the mountains at the time. He took some meals once and reported that they were ‘alright’, but I noticed that he never asked to use them again. . . . huh.

So flash forward to now, I thought I’d start using some of them – as time is flying by and I did spend $200 on it after all. The first morning I tried one of the breakfast packages, oatmeal. The ingredients: oats, sugar and flavourings (natural and artificial). Instructions: add to 5 cups of boiling water and cook for one minute, stirring. This is much more water than I add to quick oats normally, so I was a little suspicious of the claim to five servings per package.

It wasn’t terrible, but it really wasn’t good either. No milk + no salt = kinda blah. I added some Thrive Instant Milk powder and a little salt and it was ‘better’, but not much. I would have preferred to have had the milk and salt already in the pkg. Gramma Great said it “wasn’t terrible”. but I’ll be glad when they’re all gone. I tried to serve it to my grandkids when the came for a sleep over a few days later, but though they are huge oatmeal fans, they disliked this profusely. Let they lose confidence in “Gramma’s oatmeal” (which they love and request every time they’re here), I promised to never make THIS kind for them again.

I tried a few different meals this week. They were all pretty yucky. I’m committed to try more meals so that I know better what I’ve got, and how to prepare it for my family. Then I’ll decide what I’ll do with what’s left. Dan says we could use it for chicken food.

From the perspective of TODAY (15 years after I bought it), I have 10 suggestions when buying long term, shelf stable emergency food:

1. CONFIDENCE

when you buy something you expect to last long term, you should really know what it’s like. You should be able to have confidence in it. That means you should sample some of those meals fairly soon after buying, so that you know what you’re dealing with. If its good, its good and its gonna stay good. If it’s yucky to start out with, its certainly not gonna get any better in 15 years.

2. STORE WHAT YOU EAT. AND EAT WHAT YOU STORE.

Use the food from time to time so that you’re aware of how it’s ’aging’. Yes, it’s got a long shelf life, but time has a way of passing before you know it. And I know it’s tempting to go with a “One and Done” mentality for food storage, and then forget about it. But I have seen the result of that way of thinking. . . food that you thought you could count on – only to find out too late that it was poor quality.

What if you really had needed it? It let you down. Simply because you didn’t really know what you had. You trusted something too much, something that had not earned your trust.

In the end, you’ll waste a lot of money if you don’t STORE WHAT YOU EAT, AND EAT WHAT YOU STORE.

Keeping it rotated (by using it) keeps it good, and eliminates the potential of waste if it expires.

3. USE IT

‘Protecting’ your food till the end of the world or when the zombies come, may seem like a good idea at first, but eventually it will expire. Even 20 years comes to an end one day – and then what?

If you have something similar to what I describe in this post in YOUR food storage – that you bought a loooong time ago – USE it. Now would be a good time to know whether you like it or not. Finding that out later when you need it is a terrible ‘failure to plan’.

Don’t let it go to waste. The money you spent then, was real money, and if the food expires, you’ve wasted those dollars $$$!

4. CHECK REVIEWS

Seek out ‘real’ reviews from ‘real’ people and better yet, recommendations from like-minded friends. If you find a good line of shelf stable food that you’ve tried and like – tell others. If an emergency supply of quick easy to prepare meals is important to you, and you find a line that you really like, tell others. Learning from each other saves a lotta time and effort for everyone. Personal recommendations from a friend COUNTS.

5. SALT?

The sodium in that package of oatmeal was ‘0’ (zero). Impressive until you tasted it. There’s a reason we use salt. Just sayin’ . . .

6. GOOD FOR YOU?

I really don’t like artificial ingredients. Of any kind: flavours, colours, anti-caking agents, preservatives, etc . . . That’s important to me, even in something I expect to last a long time; maybe ESPECIALLY in something I expect to last a long time.

It’s gotta be “good-for-you”, or what’s the point? In this regard, the food in that bucket is profoundly disappointing.

7. TASTE?

After trying the few meals I tried, I have to say I really dislike the artificial after-taste. Its gotta taste good, or again – what’s the point? Who want’s to eat it if it tastes bad? I seriously couldn’t bring myself to eat a bowl of the bowl of the soup I made last night.

8. TRIAL AND ERROR

When I first bought that bucket, I’ve since found a brand I like MUCH better – for taste and quality, but I did the best I knew at the time, so I don’t regret my choice to purchase the original one. You can’t win them all. I just would never do it again – with what I now know. And I’d be a little more careful to read the label better. I trusted the place I bought it, and sadly, I put too much trust in the labeling – it said things I like to read. But I didn’t take the time to look at the ingredients.

I made mistakes, and learned from them.

9. AVOID PANIC BUYING

To be fair – like I said at the start, there were very few options for emergency food at the time I invested in this one. I may have “panic purchased” for that reason, scarcity.

That’s no longer the case. There are options now. I recommend taking your time. Check out reviews. Ask for opinions. I still think emergency meals are important to have – but ask around first. Read reviews.

10. PAY ATTENTION TO THE DETAILS

Take the details seriously if you don’t want to waste money.
Preparedness is not a vacation; it’s a journey and an investment – so its worth investigating, reading and asking around. If all you’re concerned about is shelf life, then no worries – there are lots of things that will last a long time. But if you want it to be nutritious, read the labels. If you want it to be delicious, read the reviews. And don’t just put it away “in case of”.

My conclusion –
Don’t be afraid to try things – how else will we learn. Though I didn’t like anything about the package I bought 15+ years ago, I don’t regret buying it. It was important to me to invest in emergency planning and I did the best I could have at the time. I learned – and that made the purchase worth it (although I hate wasting money). However, if I can reduce my mistakes by learning from other people’s mistakes – all the better. Which is why I am writing this – so that you don’t have to make the same mistakes.

I am happy to see better options available now, and the BEST in my opinion – came on the market just a few years ago. Thrive Life Premium Meals – 12 individual meals available singly or in 5 assorted packages. What makes them different?

Well, for starters –
I have CONFIDENCE in the company as I’ve tried everything else they produce. They are INSTANT meals, meaning just add water, and ready in 10 minutes – much more suited to emergencies, and also suited to meal prep on those crazy busy days when you still have to feed the family. They are completely freeze dried (prepared as meals from nutritious ingredients, then freeze dried to preserve goodness and taste). I was fortunate enough to be able to taste a few before I invested in them, so I knew they tasted good, and now I can read reviews about them.
Yes, I STORE them for long term, but I still USE them at home when we need a quick meal, for camping trips, in the trailer, at the cabin, I even take them when I travel sometimes – because they’re so easy to prepare. In this way I keep them rotated and replenished.

*I like that they have a 20 year shelf life. *I like that they taste good. *I like that the ingredients are wholesome and nutritious. *I like the variety. *I like that there are many reviews – and more added constantly. *I like that they don’t require cooking, and that they can be refreshed in a bowl or their original package. *I like that each package has THREE servings, honest-to-goodness-hearty-real servings. *I like that they are available in an Emergency bucket very similar to the one I bought all those years ago – suitable to grab and go, or easy to send home with a College student or to take camping or whatever. *I like that I can order them to arrive right at my door. *I like that I can get FREE shipping (yes, even into Canada). Hey, I just plain LIKE them! And I highly recommend them.

Live and learn I guess.

Warmly,

Cindy Suelzle

Rule of THREE

When considering any emergency, I find it helpful to consider the RULE OF THREE to prioritize my means and my energies. 
*We can live up to 3 minutes without air.
*In extreme weather, we’ll be in trouble within 3 hours without shelter.
*We can go up to 3 days without water.
*Our bodies will start shutting down long before 3 weeks without food.
Variables include age, weight, health, activity level, environmental conditions and type of food of course. 

So with these priorities in mind – whether considering emergency scenarios – especially without POWER or fresh running WATER (both of which could go on several days), do you have plan in place? . . . .
I live in Edmonton, Alberta and in the winter we can experience some pretty severe cold weather from time to time.  To be without power during those times can be deadly, and yet it is precisely those times that we may have problems with our furnaces. Furnaces are not going to quit in the summer when they’re not being used, they’re going to quit in the winter when they’re being used daily, especially when it’s bitter cold outside. (sigh . . . . I know right?)

And if you don’t have heat in the winter, you will soon have a water problem as well. Regardless of the time of year, our water supply is precious yet volatile, always susceptible to restriction or contamination. It is worth protecting and having a clean supply on hand.

Rule of 3

AIR
– not likely to be a problem UNLESS we need to provide an alternate source of heat, at which time improper ventilation becomes a concern.  Carbon Monoxide is produced any time you burn fuel: in vehicles, stoves, lanterns, grills, fireplaces, gas ranges and furnaces.  It is a very real, very scary thing – which can kill. 
*NEVER bring in an outdoor heat source or cooking stove. NEVER EVER.  Those are not meant for indoors. 
link to my post THE NIGHT WE NEARLY WENT TO SLEEP FOREVER
https://backyardcityhomestead.com/2018/12/13/the-night-we-nearly-went-to-sleep-forever/

SHELTER
– This should give us pause to consider the circumstances of the many people without houses right now.  Every day I hear about another death or two in the ‘tent cities’ in Edmonton. People just trying to stay warm in the most difficult situation.
But if we’re sheltering in place during an extended power outage, there are things we need to take care of.  With no heat, it will take only hours for the inside of your house to be the same temperature as the outside.  If we don’t have an alternate source (fireplace or wood stove), we’ll need to leave the house in a short amount of time.  Hopefully we’ve got a place in mind that we can go.  We do – Right? And of course dressing for the weather is imperative.

Assuming we have a wood stove, lighting it when its really cold is not so easy.  The low temperature in our chimney will force the cold air down creating a blockage – that prevents the smoke from escaping.  Time to figure out how to light the fire and have it draw properly. 
Assuming that we’ve mastered that, we may find it a good idea to have everyone sleep in the room with the heat source.  We have a Carbon Monoxide detector right? One that is battery run and fully charged.  Right?
Dressing for the weather is important IN the house too – sweaters, slippers, blankets . . .

WATER

– If we have to leave our home because of no heat, we must ensure the water is turned off and the lines are drained.  Water will freeze in only hours and burst water pipes will cause terrible destruction.  (don’t ask me how I know this)
But even if we’re sheltering in place, there may be parts of our home that are at risk of freezing.  It may be advisable to shut the water off anyway.  We have another source of water in the house – Right? 

If we only have one area that is warm, bring containers of water into that area to prevent them from freezing. 

FOOD

We have more flexibility with this than anything else.  For the short term, open up a can of pork and beans or make yourself a sandwich.  (You have a hand operated can opener – Right?)  Eat up some leftovers in the fridge – it could be lost within a day or two.

If the power outage goes on for more than a few days – your frozen food is in jeopardy.  When its bitter cold, setting it all outside is an option – but that’s a terrible job!  If the weather isn’t cold enough, we better be able to cook – or we’ll lose a lot!  But that sounds like an arduous job too, and not very practical. I strongly advise AGAINST having your freezer contain the bulk of your food storage.  Not a good idea at all, and this is exactly why.  Having said that – I too have a freezer, and I use it. But depending on it alone for your food storage is a terrible idea.

Having some Meals in a Jar (MIJ) on hand will be a life saver if we have the ability to cook a one pot meal.  They are nutritious, delicious, easy to prepare, and provide variety to meals that we’ll be glad to have.  All we need is a pot, some water and a heat source.  15-20 minutes for most meals. 

Instant freeze dried meals-in-a-pouch provide tasty and nutritious hearty meals with nothing more than added water.  Excellent resource to have in your pantry or food storage.  If you have the ability to heat the water, then all the better.

Always consider the RULE OF THREE and use it to measure every emergency when coming up with a game plan. 

Warmly,

Cindy Suelzle

does it work? heating water on a candle

I’d heard about heating water over top of a candle for a long time, and I’d been casually curious about it, but my recent involvement with our WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER Emergency Prep group seemed like a good time to try it myself.

Not coincidentally, the scenario we were focusing on the second week of January was LOSS OF POWER. As fortune would dictated, it happened to be our coldest week of the years with temperatures dipping to -40 Celcius, and we were feeling it. Church last week even got cancelled to prevent unnecessary exposure, it was a good week to stay home.

And with us trying to keep the house reasonably warm without straining the system with our electrical needs, it seemed like a perfect time. We lit a fire in the woodstove downstairs and enjoyed the coziness of that warmth for several days, burning up quite a lotta wood. And we had a brief concern that our hot water heater might be having issues, but it had a happy ending.

So the claim I saw was exactly this (see below). I recreated it as closely as I could, but think I had more water than the original test cases used. My smallest kitchen pot is 4 cups, so 4 cups of water was my test.

You can see the start of bubbles in the bottom and steam coming from the water. That’s pretty impressive for 4 cups of water over tea lights.

It took a lot longer than I expected, a couple of hours till it reached 197 degrees. But to be fair, 197 degrees is pretty hot, hot enough to heat some soup, and maybe to even cook some eggs. If you aren’t in a hurry that is.

I’ll be using this hack again in the future – even if just to show off to the grandkids. And its nice to know if we ever run out of power, that we can have hot water with little effort.

After I took the above video, I meant to blow the candles out but forgot. When I came back in about half an hour, I was surprised to see that it had reached a slow boil. I guess what they say about a watched pot not boiling is right. They’re so shy.

I think I’ll pick up another pack of tea lights when I see them. A good thing to have sitting in the linen closet for just such a time as this.

Warmly (in a very cold week),

Cindy Suelzle

making old look like new again

Use it up, wear it out. Make it do, or do without.”

For most of our married life – we’ve adhered to a continuous routine of fixing up our world as we could afford it. Our agreed upon routine has been one INDOOR project a year (usually done in the winter), and one OUTDOOR project a year (usually done in the summer). There’s never been a shortage of projects, and they move up and down the priority list according to need and affordability at the time.

This year our big indoor project was to refinish our dining room table. It had been moving up the list for a long time, well worn from 24 years of heavy use. Unfortunately, the time we chose ended up being the coldest weeks of the year – so opening the windows to get some air became a sketchy thing, but we had to a couple of times! The stain smell became very strong that we opened a few windows in -40C temperatures for a few hours to get rid of the worst of it, while Gramma Great watched tv in front of the woodstove downstairs.

As soon as the Christmas decorations were put away, we cleared the table, set in all four leaves and began a job we’d been putting off for years: that of refinishing our well worn oak table. We were nervous as heck which is why we procrastinated for a decade. But we’d collected advice and courage long enough – while our table continued to collect more scratches and worn areas – letting us know it needed a major face lift. Thank goodness it was only the top that needed attention.

Step 1 – Borrowing a friend’s super-duper sander/vacuum system, Dan sanded the top. That was the only area that needed refinishing. He did it in the house – right there in the dining area. We thought we’d need to hand plastic sheeting everywhere but as I said that sander was of the ‘super-duper’ variety, and it was fabulous.

Step 2 – We took a leaf to into a paint shop, trying to match the colour with stain. The leaf had the original colour still in the facing under the top.
Step 3 – With the help and encouragement of a talented friend, Dan applied the stain. But the colour was toooooo ‘red’ for me. Argh.
Step 4 – Back to the paint store to ‘brown up’ the stain colour. They did a great job.
Step 5 – Dan applied another coat of stain but sadly, didn’t apply it evenly enough which resulted in some splotches. We tried to fix them up by applying another coat but that didn’t work. By this time we were into a week or working on it – around our regular working / living obligations. I knew I wouldn’t be happy with it. Argh again.

Step 6 – Re-sand the whole stupid thing and start over. As frustrating as that it, I have learned with many other projects over the years, sometimes that is the ONLY way – and it’s far better to concede sooner than later.
Step 7 – Re-stain. But this time we did it together. Working quickly and efficiently together, we covered the table beautifully.
Step 8 – Still, a few uneven spots. Our friend and neighbour came back to assess and advise us. Back to the paint store to buy a matching stain in a spray bottle. We lightly touched up the spots. Wow! Great stuff.

Step 9 – Applied the first coat of Varathane – with our friend. We let it dry, then I lightly buffed with fine steel wool. We applied another layer, and let it dry – then lightly buffed again with steel wool. One more coat, let it dry – then gently rubbed with a piece of brown paper to smooth out the finished job.

Step 10 – We brought out our well worn chairs and after rubbing with steel wool, I gently sprayed the seats with our matching stain. Let dry, then smoothed with the steel wool again and applied a coat of Varathane.

It was a happy day to let the whole project harden over night, then removes some leaves to clear out the kitchen area. I happily vacuumed well, handwashed the floor and tucked the chairs around.

Done. Two full weeks later! So happy we finally DID it, and now its behind us. I still have three more chairs to finish, but that’ll be a piece of cake in the next week or so.

Not looking forward to the first scratch, but I’m resigned to it happening. And I have full confidence that we’ll be able to touch up as needed with the tools and confidence that we now have at our finger tips.

Welcome 2024. One big job down!

Warmly,

Cindy & Dan Suelzle

Cooking with Food Storage – Chili MIJ

Traditional Chili con Carne (but in a Jar)

Using mostly freeze dried ingredients, this is an easy dish to prepare for the pantry, ready when you need to pull a great meal together in less than half an hour. Meal in a Jar! Imagine that. LOL
*when my kids were little, one of our favourite story books to read was STONE SOUP. A hungry traveler convinced uncharitable villagers that he could make Soup from a Stone. Curious villagers contributed assorted ingredients, shaking their heads and musing “Soup from a Stone! Imagine that.” Well it wasn’t that long ago that the idea of a shelf stable Meal in a Jar was just as novel and just as curious to me. Now its a way of life, and I always have several on hand in the pantry – for times that a quick hearty meal will make the day go better, or when I want to send a meal out to someone who could use a lift.

Servings: 6
Time: 15 mins
Layer ingredients into quart sealer in this order:

2 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp cumin powder
4 Tbsp tomato powder
1 Tbsp beef bouillon
3/4 t black pepper
1 Tbsp freeze dried garlic
1/4 cup freeze dried Chopped Onions
1/4 cup dehydrated red + green peppers
1 cup freeze dried Ground Beef
1 + 1/2 cup Instant Beans (which are parboiled and dehydrated) your choice of type
1/2 cup freeze dried Corn

1 quart of home canned tomatoes or 1 796 ml can of tomatoes (your choice of type)
4 cups water

Directions:

  1. if preparing a Meal in a Jar (MIJ), layer all ingredients in the jar. I like to arrange very neatly so that it looks nice. End with the corn – and put as much corn as you can to fill the jar.
  2. Put the lid on and label with name, date and brief instructions.
  3. Store in pantry for up to a year. It’s okay if you pass a year, but shoot to use it within a year. This is no longer long term ‘food storage’, it is intended for the convenience of a kitchen pantry. For up to 5 year storage, insert an oxygen absorber and vacuum seal.
  4. Dump contents of jar into a pot and refill the quart jar with water to add. Stir to combine thoroughly and dissolve spices. Add quart of tomatoes.
  5. Turn heat to high and bring to a boil. Stir and reduce heat to gently simmer approximately 20-25 minutes until beans are tender. Remove from heat and let sit 5 minutes.
  6. if you prefer to have chili soup, just add another 2 cups of water.

If preparing meal straight in the pot (without a jar), just put all dry ingredients in the pot, add water and canned tomatoes and follow directions above.

Serve with dollop of sour cream on top and corn chips. Or cornbread (see recipe for cornbread mix).

When I try a new recipe, I make the recipe once into the pot, and again into the jar. That way I can check the measurements that fit into the jar, and sample the soup to know how much I’d like to store. After we finish dinner, I know if I’d like to make a few more. I’ll make up to four jars to store of a recipe that we enjoy, to keep on hand in my pantry or to share.

Enjoy!

Cindy Suelzle

Cooking with Food Storage – Chicken Curry MIJ

Traditional Yellow Curry Chicken

using mostly dried ingredients, this is an easy dish to prepare straight from the pantry

Servings: 6
Time: 20 mins
Ingredients:

1 + 1/2 cups freeze dried chopped or diced Chicken hydrated in water to cover (I use the bouillon here)
1-2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1-2 cloves minced or 1 Tbsp freeze dried garlic
1/4 cup freeze dried Sliced Onions
1/4 cup freeze dried Diced Green Chilies
1/2 cup freeze dried Green Peas
1/2 cup freeze dried Green Bell Peppers
1/2 cup freeze dried Red Bell Peppers
1 tsp Garam Masala
1Tbsp Yellow Curry Powder
1 Tbsp Chicken Bouillon
1 tsp Black Pepper
1 Tbsp Turmeric
1 Tbsp Cumin
1 Tbsp Paprika
pinch of Cayenne
2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
3 Tbsp Tomato Powder
2 cans Coconut Milk
1/2 – 1 cup freeze dried Zucchini, Green Beans, or your choice of other vegetable

Directions

  1. Pre-cook your favourite type of rice.
  2. While your rice is cooking, place freeze dried chicken in a bowl covered with water and 1 Tbsp bouillon. Set aside to refresh 10-20 minutes.
  3. Heat a large skillet with sides, to medium-high heat. Add the olive oil heat. Saute garlic, onions and chili peppers in the oil. Add the chicken (with water used to refresh), and saute until the chicken is tender and warm.
  4. Add all of the seasonings and stir to mix well, continuing to simmer.
  5. Add the coconut milk, tomato powder and brown sugar and stir well to completely dissolve tomato powder and brown sugar.
  6. Add the peas and zucchini and any other freeze vegetable you want to use. Don’t be afraid to add a little more water if needed.
  7. Simmer till warmed through, then remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes Serve over hot rice.

for Meal in a Jar:
1. layer in dry seasoning – one at a time; I like to put the smaller amounts against the glass so that they show better. Top seasoning with the tomato powder, unless you’re using tomato paste later.
2. 1/4 cup each of freeze dried Sliced Onions, and freeze dried Diced Green Chilies,
1/2 cup each of freeze dried Green Peas, freeze dried Green Bell Peppers, freeze dried Red Bell Peppers
3. 1+1/2 cup freeze dried chopped or diced chicken
4. Top the jar up with 1/2 cup of your choice of Zucchini or Green Beans, or your choice of another vegetable. Add as much as you can till jar is full.
5. Put the lid on, label and date, put it away in your pantry to use within a year. Store away from light. For best results, don’t push the shelf life passed a year.
6. To prepare – cook your rice ahead; pour jar ingredients into a fairly large skillet and add 2 cups water. Stir to combine well, while bringing to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, add coconut milk, stir well to combine. Lightly simmer till chicken is tender, then remove from heat. Let sit covered for 5 minutes and serve over top rice.

Pro Tips:
– if you don’t have tomato powder, use tomato paste (not in the jar – at the time of cooking)
– if you don’t have all those spices (other than curry), not to worry; just use what you’ve got. CURRY however is important. If you don’t have curry – don’t make the dish.
– to simplify the preparation I spoon the spices into a small (1/4 pint) jar, arranged beautifully. I save this seasoning mixture in my spice cupboard to add all together when preparing similar dishes later.

Enjoy!

Cindy Suelzle

Turning your weakness into strengths, and – ‘it’s not about you’ 

two Life Hacks that changed my life

Somewhere within my first year of marriage (within the first 6 months), I experienced an abrupt metamorphosis in my life.  I stopped going out.  Stopped leaving our apartment.  Stopped even answering the door.  It didn’t happen suddenly but sudden enough.  It took months before it became evident that it was a ‘problem’ more than a choice.  I wouldn’t go downstairs to use the washing machine.  Dan bought me a little washing machine we hooked up to the kitchen sink.  I wouldn’t use the dryer so we had clothes hanging all over the living room for hours to dry.  I’d go to church and to my parents and Dan’s parents houses, but no where else – unless Dan was with me.  I wouldn’t go for a walk.  If Dan wasn’t home I wouldn’t answer the door.  It went on for a couple of years.  We had disagreements about it.  Dan would say “You NEVER go anywhere!” 
“Yes I do. I go to Church.  I go to your Mom’s.” 
“You never go anywhere without me.” 
“I go to Relief Society.”   Those were places I felt safe. 

Dan tried his best to encourage me to go out.  We’d go for walks.  We’d go over to Westmount Mall across the street.  He tried to get me to apply for a part time job.  One day he pushed me out the door, and told me not to come back for an hour. 
“I don’t care where you go” he said.  “Anywhere! But do not walk back inside this door for at least an hour.”
I sat on the back door step and cried for an hour, then came back and said I’d gone for a walk. 

That might have been my first big clue as to how big this problem was becoming.  I was pregnant with my first baby and I began to wonder what kind of a mother I could be.  What would I do when it came time for him to go to school?  I knew I couldn’t take him the way I was.  I began to acknowledge that this was bigger than me, and all my excuses and justifications began to sound lame – even to me.  I realized they were strategies to cover up the fact that I wouldn’t / couldn’t leave the house. 

Five babies and I never went to a single doctor’s appointment alone. 

After Jacob was born I began having Dan drop me off at the library on his way back to work after lunch.  I would hide in the back behind books with the baby stroller until I was brave enough to walk by the librarian and out the door.  Then I’d walk home.  Eventually I got brave enough to get a library card and actually sign out a few books.  It was pathetically slow progress, but it was empowering. 

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy” is the term Luke told me described what I was doing. 

It took me YEARS to get through it.  Years of being controlled by fear.  Thousands of experiences.  Lots of strategies that I would implement in trying to control my fear. 

No one ever knew what we were dealing with, although my behaviour had to have been difficult for some people to understand and I’m sure there were rolled eyes – because sometimes my excuses sounded lame even to me.  I remember once a friend at church telling me “They totally knew you were home Cindy”  after I couldn’t open the door when the home teachers stopped by.  Dan wasn’t home and I didn’t know they were coming.  I couldn’t deal with surprises like that.  I was SO embarrassed. We lived in a branch, so they had driven over 30 minutes to get to my house.  I felt terrible.  Still do. 

One evening, – skipping several years and four kids ahead – Dan and I were watching W5 on TV, and they did an Expose’ on Agoraphobia.  We were riveted to the screen.  We had never heard anything like it.  I remember saying to Dan “There’s a name for it.  It’s a thing!  There are people like me.” 
You never see them of course.  Because they’re at home. 

Skip ahead another few years – I thought I was better. 

After I had Luke I said to Dan while we were doing dishes together one evening.  “Its happening again.  I can feel it.  I’m in trouble.” 
He said “No Cindy.  We’ll never let it happen again.  We know what to look for now.” 
“Seriously?   I haven’t been out of this house in six weeks.  Did you even know that?” 
No.  He didn’t.  And that was what scared me.
“You LIVE with me!  That’s how good I am at this.  Not even the people I live with know what I’m doing.”  It took me three weeks before even I knew what I was doing – but at some point my reasons started sounding contrived, and I knew.   I also knew that if I fell back into that hole – I’d probably never have what it took to get back out again.  I knew there wasn’t a thing Dan could do if I didn’t buy in. 

I began to develop strategies.  It helped that I had told Dan. 

Skip ahead another few years.  We owned the bookstore by then.  I started working a little from home.  On the computer. I had the ability to manage the store computer from home.  One day I said to Dan “It’s happening again.  I can feel it.” 
“No Cindy.  We’ll never let it happen again.” 
“Dan! I haven’t walked out that front door for over TWO WEEKS!  Did you even know that?” 
No.  He didn’t.  “I manage a bookstore!  Dan if I can figure out how to stay home, you’ll never get me outta here again!” 

I began to think of it as my demon.

So all that was to give you some context for the Life Hack that changed my life

My first year working in the bookstore – I didn’t know anything. Christmas.  Wow.  In a retail business I discovered, your 4th quarter is everything.  A good 4th quarter will pay your rent till June – which you need, because not every quarter is a good one.  That first January I had a big crash. 

The next couple of years as I learned the business, that 4th quarter became even more stressful. Christmas started in April – and I started seeing old familiar feelings surface.  But now I was trapped.  Old strategies weren’t transferable.

I remember kneeling beside my bed – begging for help.  And I hit upon a plan.  I would schedule a CRASH for January.  That way I could be in control of it.  I looked at my calendar – and with all my January commitments in mind – found THREE days that I could afford to have a nervous breakdown.  I blocked them off and let everyone know that I was out of commission those days.  They became sacred days to me.  And I knew that they had to trump everything.  I had too much at stake to lose control again.  I knew that if I didn’t control my demons, they’d control me.  I’d been there.  I had done that.  I never wanted to go back again. 

I remember standing at the til chatting with customers and occasionally one of those days might get mentioned.  “Oops” I’d say “I can’t be there.  I’m having my nervous breakdown that week.” 

It became something to chuckle at and joke about – but I was dead serious.  I knew that those three days I would be home.  Doing – – – who knew?  Maybe read.  Maybe stare out the window.  Maybe I’d have a few hot baths or stay in my pajamas all day.  I didn’t plan to answer the door, or even answer the phone. 

It was therapeutic even thinking about it.  Freeing.  It was my light at the end of the tunnel.  Every long day as I drove home overwhelmed – I’d think “This is okay.  I’m having a nervous breakdown on January 22.  I can do anything.”  By PLANNING it, and scheduling it I controlled the when and where.  By limiting it to three days I stayed in control.  I might stay in bed and cry for three days, but at the end of that third day – I knew in the morning, I’d get up, shower and dress and life would go on. 

I cannot tell you how much that helped. 

I’ve since discovered there’s a name for that too.  MAP.  My Action Plan. 

Who Knew? 

My MAP evolved – it changed the way it looked over time, but I kept those days – and I kept control.  It was the light at the end of my tunnel. 

I learned many things through this process –

  1. I learned what Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is.  Who Knew that going to the library and hiding out behind the books before could have such a cool name?
  2. I learned that we can help ourselves and that if we don’t – nobody else can. 
  3. I learned that we never know what someone else is going through. 
  4. I learned that we need to give people grace.  No matter what.   
  5. I learned the meaning of this scripture “IF men come unto me, I will show unto them their weakness.  I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for IF they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me THEN will I make weak things become strong unto them.”  Ether 12:27 
    That’s an IF – THEN promise. My favourite kind.
  6. I learned that my weaknesses were MINE. They are actually a gift – specially designed for me. Given to me from God. They’re not going anywhere. They can however, be changed into strengths if I allow that to happen. “I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.” DC 82:10 Of all that I could have bound to me, I can think of nothing I’d prefer than Him.
  7. I learned that weaknesses don’t just go away. Though it may seem that they have – they are in fact, still there. You learn to manage them, but they’re always yours. Remember, they have a purpose.
  8. I learned to “search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good, IF ye walk uprightly and remember the covenant wherewith ye have covenanted …” DC 90:24

    ALL things – that’s pretty inclusive.  It doesn’t say ‘some’ things.  It doesn’t say ‘most’ things.  It doesn’t say all things except mental illness or cancer.  It literally says “ALL things.”  That means even our weaknesses, IF we walk uprightly and remember our covenants.  Another IF – THEN promise. 
  9. I learned that with God, my weaknesses can become strengths. But that doesn’t happen by pretending they’re not there. 

All this is very self absorbing. And its easy to get lost in one’s SELF. But to do that is contrary to God’s way. Somewhere along the line, I learned another hack that helped immensely. In a private conversation in our family room – Michael McLean shared a hack of his own. He has never made a secret of the fact that he suffers from clinical depression. That’s his demon. And yet, he’s a performer, in the public eye a lot. What seems to be his greatest strength is actually his weakness turned inside out. I asked him “What about when you’re not feeling it? What about if you just don’t feel that you can pull it off?”
His answer: “Sometimes, its not about YOU.”

He shared his testimony about the antidote to “YOU”. He said that if it was always about him, he’d hardly ever do anything. He said that sometimes it had to be about something more. Look up, and look outward. As a people, we greatly desire to become Christlike. We try to be Christlike. We pray to be more Christlike. So IF that’s truly what we want, when was it about Him? In all scripture – when was it about Him? It was always about someone else. The person he was healing, preaching the doctrine of his father, even on the cross it wasn’t about him. Twice in scripture the Savior posed the question – “What manner of men [and women] ought ye to be?” The second time his answer was “Verily I say unto you, even as I am” (3 Nephi 27:27) So it becomes a point of doctrine to try to be like Him.

Michael said to me, that before entering any door – we should briefly pause and ask ourselves – “Who is the most important person in this room?” Then look around. Occasionally the answer may be ‘me’. Today I am the most important person in this room. And if we are, then we are entitled to all sorts of self centered thoughts, opinions and feelings. “I’m uncomfortable. I’m busy. I have a lot on my mind. I don’t even really want to be here. I never know where to sit anyway.” And all those self directed thoughts are justifiable – when you’re the most important person in the room.

But what if – just IF, you’re not. What if you decide that . . . SHE is the most important person in the room. Immediately, your thoughts shift. You think – “Wow, she’s having a good hair day. Looks like a new dress. I really like that colour on her. There’s an empty chair beside her. I should tell her how much I enjoyed her son’s talk in sacrament meeting. I should tell her what a kick I got out of her daughter when I subbed in primary last week.” See how things in your head change? Less thinking about you – and more about someone else – creates a headspace that is more healthy. More selfLESS. More willing to serve. More considerate of another’s feelings. More willing to take care of someone else. It is true what they say, about focusing outward. God can work with you better when you’re willing to look outward.

Talk about your Action Plan. Best action plan ever!.

By doing that – you take care of yourself in the best way possible, and you invite the spirit to hang out with you more often. Your best friend.

These are two of my Life Hacks. 
1. TAKE CONTROL of your weaknesses BEFORE they control you. 
Give them some space. A safe place. And fair time. Then put them away.
2. Remember, it’s not always about YOU. In fact, it seldom is.

You’ve got this. With God, “All things” can work together for your good. Believe it.

Warmly,

Cindy Suelzle

Families are Eternal

Our first grandchild was born twenty two years ago yesterday. A grandson. His name is Samuel Raymond Daniel Burgess.

He didn’t stay here very long, only a few days. His destiny was different than many of ours. His was to gain a body and belong to a family. He accomplished both of those and then went back to heaven. I like to think he interacted with our other grandchildren before they left their heavenly home, and that he currently enjoys the company of his several great grandparents and a favourite uncle who live there now too.

We think of him often and wonder what life is like where he lives, but we never wonder IF he lives. We appreciate this week especially. It was a difficult time for his young mom and dad, but at the same time it was a privilege. Some babies are just like that. Spirits too special to stay here.

I have a stone from his grave displayed on a shelf in my living room. Its been there these 22 years. I have his name written on it and his birth date and death date. I called it Samuel’s rock. When his younger sister was little I would ask her from time to time (wanting to remind her about heaven and angels and such) “Olivia, where is Samuel?” She would go and get the rock.

I would say “No, this is a rock. Samuel lives in heaven.”

Then a few days later I would ask her again “Where is Samuel Olivia?” She would go and get the rock, and I would repeat “No, this is a rock. Samuel lives in heaven.”

And so it would go, eventually I hoped to solicit a response like “Samuel lives in heaven.”

One day I asked “Olivia, where is Samuel?”

She responded dismissively “Oh, he’s a rock.” 😂 I decided to wait a few months before we revisited the concept. 🙂

She and her younger siblings have it down pat by now. 😉 They get it. They know exactly where he is, and even all the cousins know about their older cousin who none of them met (at least not here). How grateful I am that families are eternal and that we know Samuel is not lost to us, and we’re not lost to him.

We are family. And that means, that through the atonement of Jesus Christ, we can live together again as families.

In the meantime, Happy 22th Birthday Sammy. If you were here, I have no doubt you’d laugh a lot with your younger siblings. They’re a hoot. But perhaps you chuckle with them even now, from your current vantage point. And probably roll your eyes a little at their shannanaggins. Like me.

Warmly,

Gramma Suelzle
January 2024

PS
I so appreciate the beautiful heartfelt words of someone who has gone through something deeply personal and moving. And I appreciate their willingness to share those sentiments so that others can feel the spirit of them – speaking right to, and right ‘from’ their own hearts. With that in mind, included here are the beautiful lyrics to a song written and recorded by Larry Pearson and Marie Pearson. Chosen by Samuel’s parents, and sung at his funeral by friend Leanne Smetaniuk, accompanied by friend Linda Purnell. Thank you Larry and Marie (brother and sister bytheway).

To Let Your Son Go
Ever since I held him close and saw that tiny face
I believed I understood why I’m in this place.
Birth is but a letting go from the arms of God,
But every tear of mine I’ve shed – When I had to give him back again.

Maybe someday I will understand,
But if he’s not in my arms, then at least I’m sure
He’s home within yours.

And within his newborn eyes, I’m sure I saw a light
An angel as a living soul, too perfect for this life.
I never knew what miracles I’d know because of him;
If I knew how it would end – I still would go through everything again.
He left Your home, then he left my own.
I guess You know what it is really like – To let Your son go.

Please here my prayer, heal me now in my deepest need.
Cause it’s enough to help me through
To know the one who understands – is You.

He left Your home, Then he let my own.
I guess You know what it is really like – To let Your son go.

the CD “One by One” by the Pearsons, produced cc 1998. I am sharing this image in the hopes that perhaps you might be able to find it one day either in the original CD, or Spotify or YouTube or wherever. It was independently done and I’ve looked in vain on line for any version that I could share with you here. Well worth the effort if you can find it.

the Holy Ghost

Many years ago, I met a man (Stephen E. Burrows) who told me about a trip he took to Vancouver Island with some friends.  They spent several hours at the beautiful Botanic Gardens near Victoria, enjoying the most gorgeous flowers he said he’d ever seen.  Near the end of his trip he and his wife were looking at one particular flower together when she remarked on it’s remarkable deep RED.  That startled him because he saw the flower as orange.  “RED?”  he asked as he took off his sunglasses.  He was shocked to see deep and vibrant colours all around him, that he had completely missed that entire day because of the filter of the sunglasses.(1)  He had believed all along that he was having the same experience his group was having, but in actual fact they were seeing things so much differently than he was!  And when he saw how much more beautiful the garden that they saw was, compared to the one he saw, he was saddened and he wished he could go back and look at it again the ‘right way’ – without the filter that had diminished its beauty.  But it was too late, their day was spent and the garden was closing. 

When he told me about this experience he said, he saw it as an analogy of how much truth we sometimes miss though we’re looking right at it – simply because our perspective is altered.   What if we had our cheap sunglasses permanently removed?  What if we saw not only ‘hints’ of what the Holy Ghost could do, but continuous evidence of it?

The Holy Ghost visits people without baptism – it is the convincing power of the Holy Ghost that testifies to our hearts that we are learning good things.  Otherwise, how would we ever be drawn to truth or recognize it?  Before baptism good people feel the power of the Spirit directing them to one course of action or another. One of my all-time favourite examples of this is Christopher Columbus.  Columbus sailed 33 continuous days into the unknown with a crew that was scared for their lives and on the verge of mutiny. Every decision he made was crucial to both the success of his expedition and the survival of his small fleet of three – across an ocean that most educated people believed was flat.  Geographers today say that he “did not make a single false move in the entire voyage”.  How?   How is that possible – especially since it had never been done before?

Columbus was an experienced seaman, and most of his crew members were too. In order to man the expedition, the Spanish crown offered amnesty to convicts who signed up for the voyage but only four men took the offer. It surprised me to learn that so few had taken the chance, but one cannot estimate the power of fear, and to many – the expedition was a fool’s errand. And yet, we all know what the result was. Though Columbus didn’t anticipate a continent between him and his destination, he touched ground and brought the Americas to the attention of Europe, fulfilling prophecy by early New World prophets.(2)

He said in his journal “With a hand that could be felt, the Lord opened my mind to the fact that it would be possible to sail from here to the Indies. . . . This was a fire that burned within me.  Who can doubt that this fire was not merely mine, but also of the Holy Spirit? 
—Christopher Columbus (3)

There is no question that the light of Christ has been on the earth for thousands of years – and that the Holy Spirit had an important role to play in many peoples’ lives long before the Restoration of the gospel.  But what if you could have that with you ALL THE TIME?  A gift.  As a constant companion.  What would that be like?  I believe it would be like having a veil lifted from your eyes, a permanent removal of cheap sunglasses which would restrict your clear and beautiful view of things as they are? 

After Baptism by water, we receive the HOLY GHOST through the laying on of hands by those who are in authority to give it.  You cannot give a gift if its not yours to give – so proper authority is very important.  Joseph Smith – who I love with all my heart, said this:
“The gospel requires baptism by immersion for the remission of sins” . . . then he added in true Joseph style “You might as well baptize a bag of sand, … if not done in view of the remission of sins and getting of the Holy Ghost.  Baptism by water is but half a baptism, and is good for nothing without the other half – that is the baptism of the Holy Ghost.   The Saviour said ‘Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.’ (John 3:5)” Joseph Smith continued to say “Baptism is a holy ordinance preparatory to the reception of the Holy Ghost; it is the CHANNEL AND KEY BY WHICH THE HOLY GHOST WILL BE ADMINISTERED.” (4)

When I was 8 years old I was baptized and I received the gift of the Holy Ghost.  I remember very little from that day.  I grew up in a less active home and was not taught the gospel.  I don’t know why my parents thought it was important to get us baptized, but they did – and all four of us siblings were baptized at 8 years old. I am forever grateful for whatever prompting they had that made them feel that was important, and for their willingness to follow it.  It’s a saving ordinance – and though we didn’t suddenly become active members of the church – over the years I learned a very important thing.  
*If you’re ever going to come back, you have to have some place to come back to.  

Baptism and receiving the Holy Ghost not only gave me membership in this church, but it gave me the companionship of the Spirit to guide me on my way back.  He is my dearest and most treasured companion.  He has never let me down, and he has never left me.  There were times in my life that I didn’t deserve his companionship and so you could say I walked away from him – but when I came back I found he was still there, waiting just where I left him – my ready companion, anxious to help me.

The SIMPLICITY of the ordinance of receiving the Holy Ghost may cause some to over look its importance.  But don’t be fooled.   The four words RECEIVE THE HOLY GHOST are not passive.  They constitute an important and binding contract between you and God.  There is nothing magic about it – its not a sudden pronouncement that makes the Holy Ghost instantly operative in our lives simply because hands have been placed on our head and those four words were spoken – even if by the proper authority.  Nothing is quite that simple.  It is our responsibility TO ACT AND NOT SIMPLY TO BE ACTED UPON (2 Nephi 2:26).

If I handed you a gift and you didn’t lift your hand to receive it, then you didn’t really ‘receive’ it did you?  I may have done my part but you haven’t done your part.  In the Doctrine and Covenants we read “For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift? Behold, he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in him who is the giver of the gift.” (D&C 88:33).   It’s as if there was no gift – so when you hear the words “RECEIVE THE HOLY GHOST” you should think to yourself “Yes, I WANT to RECEIVE it.  I WILL Receive it – I’ll do my best to learn what it means and to be deserving of it.  I’ll try to listen to the Holy Ghost and try to follow his guidance.  I’ll spend the rest of my life doing all I can to keep him close.”   

As we receive this gift, each of us accepts a sacred and ongoing responsibility to DESIRE, to SEEK, to WORK, and to SO LIVE that we DO indeed RECEIVE THE HOLY GHOST. (5)

When I received the Holy Ghost as an 8 year old, I had no idea who he was, how I would come to identify him, and that he would become my most trusted friend.  It didn’t happen that I came to know all that over night, or even by time I was 12, or 18 or 28.  As I look back however, I recognize that I followed his promptings a lot, though I didn’t always recognize they were HIS promptings.  The truth is – I have almost no recollection of a life without the Holy Ghost and I didn’t realize that until one day when I was talking to a friend.  Like me, she had been baptized as an 8 year old and had received the gift of the Holy Ghost.  She had taken a different path than I had and deserted his constant companionship.  When she came back to the church, she underwent a period of time that the Holy Ghost was not with her.  She described this time to me as being dreadfully lonely.  As I listened to her experience I thought to myself – ‘I have been through a lot.  And I’ve made many mistakes.  And I know there were times I didn’t listen and didn’t care to listen – but I never have felt the same dreadful loneliness of having the spirit taken away from me that she described.’  As I reflected on her words, for the first time in my life I realized that I have never known life without the Holy Ghost – even when I didn’t recognize it at the time.  And I promised myself that day  – that I never would. 

That doesn’t mean I never make mistakes or that I always choose the right though it makes me sad to admit it.  He’s not that kind of friend.  He truly loves us and is a loyal devoted friend who would never desert us. But we do have responsibility.  We need to listen, pay attention and follow promptings – or our ability to hear will fade. 

We couldn’t possibly learn all there is to know in a month or two, or even a year or two – about the Holy Ghost and how important he’ll become in our life.  We get little mini lessons as we read something inspiring, or listen to a talk or a beautiful piece of music, or as we sit in a church meeting, or as we serve someone we hardly know, or in the many, many ways that he’ll manifest himself to us.  Whenever we feel those tender feelings that sometimes make tears come to our eyes – we learn something new about how the Holy Ghost works. 

One of the things we can do is to make him feel Welcome.  He’s the 3rd member of the Godhead: Father, the Son and Holy Ghost.  That means he’s a god.  Where would a god like to be?  Not sitting with us watching a violent or vulgar movie that’s for sure.  Not in a place where language is fowl and people are unkind.  Not where the music is vulgar and full of bad language or any other place that drags us down to think or act inappropriately.  These are times and places where we may cause the spirit to withdraw from us for a time. 

We can also become distracted by the cares of the world and the routine of daily living and we take for granted or even neglect this most valuable gift.  David A. Bednar said “We more readily receive and recognize the Spirit of the Lord as we appropriately INVITE Him into our lives.  We cannot compel, coerce or command the Holy Ghost.   Rather we should INVITE Him into our lives with the same gentleness and tenderness by which He entreats us.”  (GC Nov Ensign 2010) (6)

Brigham Young said
Tell the brethren to keep their hearts open to conviction so that when the Holy Ghost comes to them, their hearts will be ready to receive it. They can tell the Spirit of the Lord from all other spirits. It will whisper peace and joy to their souls, and it will take malice, hatred, envying, strife, and all evil from their hearts; and their whole desire will be to do good, bring forth righteousness, and build up the kingdom of God. Tell the brethren if they will follow the Spirit of the Lord they will go right.(7) 

The Holy Ghost is a Revelator, a Comforter, a Friend, and a Teacher.  While we are learning all the ways He can bless us, – our life will just get better and better and better because he’s in it.  What a fantastic way to start a new year!

Warmly,

Cindy Suelzle

footnotes

  1. Life Without Cheap Sunglasses by Stephen E. Burrows
  2. 1 Nephi 13:12-16
  3. First Voyage to the Americas: Columbus Guided by the Spirit – https://rsc.byu.edu/christopher-columbus-latter-day-saint-perspective/first-voyage-americas-columbus-guided-spirit
  4. David A. Bednar, “Receive the Holy Ghost” GC Report Nov 2010
    https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2010/11/sunday-afternoon-session/receive-the-holy-ghost?lang=eng
  5. ibid
  6. ibid
  7. ibid

FREEZE DRIED Food: a Backyard City Homestead review

At first glance it seems like it’s “NEW stuff”, but over four decades ago I had my first introduction to the ‘newness’ of freeze dried food. It was way ahead of its time for the crowd I was in, and we had a hard time wrapping our minds around the concept. And the price? – it was really expensive. But it remained in the back of my mind, and the next time I was introduced to it some years later, I was a little more receptive and bought some. I still didn’t really get it though. Flash forward another decade or two, and I came across it again – this time more open minded.

The big attraction for me was the long shelf life – 20 years they claimed back in the day. And there’s a reason they call it “space food”, because it is to the Space industry that we owe the modern development of this food science. The space industry needed a food that was:
1. highly nutritious
2. had an exceptionally long shelf life
3. could be consumed without water
4. was easy to prepare
5. was appealing to the taste, with good variety potential
Good job people! You did it.

But still, its a long journey from a space station to the average kitchen, and though it was inevitable it would make that journey, people tend to take a long time to transition from ‘normal-to-new’. Good thing we had over half a century because that’s about as long as its taken us to get to this point.

But freeze dried food is not as ‘new’ as most people think. The popular breakfast cereal “Special K” used freeze dried berries as far back as 1955! And we didn’t even know it, or think about it. We just liked it.

And food storage isn’t new either of course; for generations, its been a way of life in North America. But traditionally that food storage consisted of grains, legumes and canned fruit, vegetables and meats – with an increasingly understood limited shelf life, and greatly diminished food value. As the year 2000 (and the accompanying Y2K scare) approached, and the technological world was preparing for a massive upset, people started being a lot more interested in things like food storage. At the time, we owned a niche bookstore – Generations Bookstore – in Edmonton, and one of our major sidelines focused on helping people get their food storage together, but we had a heckuva time finding good sources of good shelf stable food. We could find tools, and equipment like wheat grinders, but actual food? Not so easy. We kept looking and we tried whatever we could find, and some were ‘pretty’ good, although none of them really stood out. Until 2008! That was the year one of our Canadian vendors (In Case Of), phoned me up and told me they had just discovered the BEST Freeze Dried Food on the market. They were very excited about it, and since we had a good working relationship built on trust – I took them at their word. In January 2009, we began carrying THRIVE LIFE freeze dried fruits and vegetables in our retail store. We started small – with ten cases to begin with, one case each of their top ten best sellers. Every month we added one or two more items till soon we carried whatever we could get across the border. No meat. No dairy. No pantry cans, only family sized cans.

In the meantime, at home – we were going through a bit of a purge where it came to our own food storage. Items that had gotten out dated – due to poor rotation. As our youngest prepared to leave on his mission for two years, I prepared to STOP buying groceries until we “ate our food storage down“. Luke left on July 7, 2009. The first Sunday after, when the married kids came for dinner they were surprised to see not the usual fare, but instead – comfort foods they grew up on. When they asked about it, I told them “Welcome back to your childhood. We’re gonna eat food storage until we get control again and I could use your help.” We had a garden, so its not like we didn’t have fresh produce, but with little exception – I avoided grocery stores. I’m not going to go into details about how long it took us, but gradually shelves started to clear, and we used up what we had on hand.

It was provident that I was starting to discover “good” freeze dried foods right about that time. My mind was open and I was looking for better options. By the end of 2011, THRIVE LIFE launched a different platform in Canada. They no longer retailed in stores, but went the route of direct sales – making it easier for people to try the foods in their own homes, learning about it in a hands-on way. It was kind of an exciting time as a whole new industry broke ground in Canada. Yes, there were other freeze dried food companies – through the store we had experimented with several of them, but nothing like this! Nothing that could touch the quality of Thrive Life.

But still the mystery remained for many people – What exactly is it? HOW to USE it? and HOW to incorporate it into their daily lives? And why should they want to? How to understand and appreciate the value of it? I learned about a lot of people’s reluctance to use freeze dried food with my experience in the store. Because of the 25 year shelf life, they were tempted to make a lump purchase and then forget about it. 25 years sounded like a lifetime away. Customers would brag that they had a lot of freeze dried food already in their food storage. I knew the food they referred to. It was the same type I had purchased many years ago too, in its earliest days. Many strides have been made since those early days.
I would then ask my customers “How do you like it?” And the answer was always the same – as if we followed a script.
“I don’t know. We never use it.”
“Why not?”
“It’s food storage! And besides that – I don’t know what to do with it anyway.”
“How long have you had it?”
“We got it the year after we were married.”
“How long have you been married?”
“37 years.”
“Wow. You know its 12 years past the expiration date right? When were you planning on figuring out how to use it?”

THAT is something I have a hard time making sense out of. If you don’t USE your food storage, eventually it gets outdated and you have to throw it away – that’s a lot of wasted money. Throwing food in the garbage is the same as throwing cash money in the garbage. There’s gotta be a better way.

I am all about Food Storage

From the beginning I’ve been all in! In every way. I’ve seen our family benefit and be free from want and worry many times because of our food storage. It used to look like grains, beans, honey, oil, canned food, frozen food and dehydrated food. It looked like wheat grinders, pasta makers, juicers, canners and dehydrators. It looks like a garden, fruit trees and grocery stores. Everything has its place. In my situation, freeze dried food came a little late to the party, but it introduced variety, quality, nutrition and a long shelf life that wasn’t possible without it. Food Storage requires an open mind to embrace new ways of doing things. It requires commitment and looking at the bigger picture. It requires effort and continuous learning. It requires STORING what we eat, and EATING what we store.

That one principle – essential to a successful food storage is one that cannot be ignored. But still, freeze dried food is new to most of us, and it requires some effort to get familiar with it. How to help people overcome their reticence to embrace something so new – no matter how good it is? Thrive Life quickly understood that consumers needed experience! Tutelage to develop confidence. So they came up with an excellent strategy, an ‘experiment’ to introduce a variety of freeze dried foods, help the cook learn about them and USE them in every day cooking. The goal: to experience using the new food in combination with fresh ingredients common in the average kitchen – to make good tasting, appealing MEALS. Brilliant! They called it a CHEF PACK.

The first one to kick off the experiment was SOUTHWEST CHICKEN. It contained 9 pantry sized cans of different foods including a meat, some vegetables, fruits, and other ingredients as well as several recipe cards to use the contents of the box to make family sized entrees and side dishes. By USING this pack, following the recipes – the cook would learn how easy it is to merge freeze dried ingredients with more common household ingredients to prepare great dishes the family would surely love. And it worked! That Experience went over beautifully, and customers asked for more. It was originally intended as a stand alone package, but some of life’s greatest discoveries come to us in unintended ways – life’s happy accidents. And demand was for more like it.

Soon one became three – THREE Chef Packs, each coming with 5-7 recipes cards and enough freeze dried ingredients to make several entrees and side dishes.

Three options to choose from:
Southwest ChickenGround BeefPulled Pork

what’s in them?

The Ground Beef Chef Pack contains enough freeze-dried ingredients to make:
Hearty Calzone
Italian Baked Penne
Loaded Refried Beans
Shepherd’s Pie
Weeknight Tacos
Vegetable Medley

The Pulled Pork Chef Pack will allow you to make:
Sweet and Sour Pulled Pork with Rice
Open-Faced Pulled Pork Sandwich
Pulled Pork Shepherd’s Pie
Pork Chile Verde
Spanish Rice
Steamed Green Beans with Red Peppers
Loaded Mashed Potatoes

And the Southwest Chicken Chef Pack contains the ingredients to make:
Chicken Fajitas
Zesty Black Beans
Green Chili & Sweet Corn Brown Rice
Tortilla Soup
Corn & Cheddar Biscuits
Chicken Pasta Skillet
Effortless Queso Dip

So if it’s so good, why don’t I freeze dry myself?

I’ve been asked that a LOT over the last few years – and its a reasonable question given my propensity toward self reliance and home-made options whenever possible. Yes, I garden. Yes I preserve the excess of what we grow. That means freezing, dehydrating and canning. And I seriously believe that what I “put up” is as good as, or superior in quality to what I could be purchasing.

Here’s my reason. Frankly, its this symbol. I do not believe I could match the quality (or even come close to the quality) of the freeze dried foods I buy from Thrive Life. This NUTRILOCK symbol is found on every can of Thrive food. What does it represent? There are over 40 quality-control steps that are strictly adhered to in order to qualify for this symbol. They begin at the farm and go right through to the minute the food is sealed in a BPA free can. Adherence to that compliance is called THE NUTRILOCK PROMISE.

The fact is, I live in central Alberta. The bulk of what I might normally freeze dry, I’d have to purchase from a grocery store or market or orchard – many hours away. Most fruits are picked green – before they’re fully developed and before all their natural nutrition is intact. Then they are shipped to my city (still green), and often times I would still buy them green and wait for them to ripen in my kitchen. It is commonly understood that produce begins to deteriorate within the hour after harvest: nutritionally and in every other way. But the fruit that I would purchase would already be several days past harvest time – diminishing it’s nutritional value.

With all that considered, I’m already I’m behind the 8 ball. Time is of the essence for nutritional superiority, and already I’ve lost valuable time. If I grew all these items in my own backyard, it might be a completely different story, but I don’t grow enough strawberries for freeze drying, and I don’t grow peaches, apricots, pears, suitable apples, pineapples, mangoes, assorted berries or many other fruits that I would like to have in my food storage. I don’t feel I grow enough fruits or vegetables to justify the cost of the freeze dryer, and even if I did I doubt I can match the high percentage of original food value that Thrive Life ensures.

Thrive produce is harvested at the perfect ripeness, the peak of nutritional perfection. It is flash frozen within 2-4 hours from harvest, the first step in the two step ‘freeze drying’ process. It is then shipped in a frozen state to the nearest Thrive facility where it goes through the second step – that of drying. It goes straight from frozen to freeze dried without thawing or forming crystals – through the miracle of food science at its best.

Frankly, I just don’t believe I could match that quality. If I have to purchase the food anyway I reason, I might as well purchase it FINISHED. That’s just me. If you live in southern BC or southern Ontario and grow a lot of your own of produce then freeze drying at home is probably more suitable for your situation. We all have to make that decision.

My assessment after many years of including Thrive Life Freeze Dried foods in our family’s day to day eating and food storage –
I like it. I really like it. It has earned an honoured place in our home, and it’s here to stay.
Yes, it can be pricey. But food IS pricey these days. Ways that I beat that:
I always shop the sales, always get free shipping, and always use it – cutting down on food waste in my kitchen.

I hope my personal experience gives you the encouragement to experiment yourself, and learn the value of freeze dried food in a well planned out Food Storage. If you’re new to this whole way of eating, take the CHEF PACK Challenge. Try all three, one a month. That’s approximately 20 fun new recipes designed to help you learn to love the food. Prepare to be amazed. I’d love to hear about your experience. Please comment below.

Warmly,

Cindy Suelzle