20 Minute Refried Beans made from Instant Beans

I love instant beans.  Similar to instant rice, the beans have been cooked and the dried, allowing you to cook dry beans in 20 minutes or less, with no soaking required.  Ever since I found instant beans I have been switching over my food storage to contain instant beans instead of regular dry beans.    

20 Minute Refried Beans

½         c. bacon, diced

2½      c.  Instant Pinto Beans

1          tbsp. Chopped dehydrated Onions

1          tsp. Iodized Salt

1          tsp. all-purpose seasoning blend

1          tsp. granulated garlic

4          c. water

1          tbsp. lime juice

¼         c.  freeze dried Shredded Cheddar Cheese, reconstituted (or fresh)

In a 2-quart saucepan, brown the bacon and remove from the pan.  Add instant pinto beans and stir to coat with bacon grease.  Add onions, salt, all-purpose seasoning, garlic and water.  Cook on low simmer for 20 minutes.  Add lime juice and puree mixture with a hand blender until reaches desired smoothness. Top with shredded cheese.

Recipe adapted from: Chef Todd 

How you can save money by being a Thrive Life Consultant?

Hint: You don’t have to sell anything!

The number one reason people become a consultant is because they want to get a discount on Thrive Life products.   It is why I became a consultant, and I am so happy with how I have been able to build up my food storage and emergency preparedness items at a great discount. 

1.       For anything you buy outside of your “Q”(discussed below*), you get:

a.        10% in commission and

b.      10% in free product. (Based on retail pricing, just pay shipping).

2.       For anything someone else buys from you, (again, not a requirement to sell to anyone, but just in case someone you know wants to order something…), you get:

a.       10% in commission and

b.      10% in free product. (Based on retail pricing, just pay shipping).

c.       The customer can also earn 10% in free product, when they decide to host a party.

3.       For anything purchased from an event hosted by someone else, (again, not a requirement…) you get:

a.       10% in commission and

b.      The host of the event earns 10% in free product and

c.       The customer can also earn 10% in free product, when they host a party.

Being a consultant will SAVE YOU MONEY!!!   There are other perks too, but that’s the basics.

Example savings: If you were to buy the Freeze Dried Ground Beef Pack (12 cans) = $418.99 ($34.92/can… a phenomenal price to begin with.)You get:

a.       $41.90 in commission and

b.      $41.90 in free product!

c.       $100.00 in ½ off product

How do you become a consultant?

As a consultant, you don’t have to sell anything! There are only 2 requirements:

1.       Buy a kit.  They start at $199.  I recommend the one that is $289 (with shipping it is $329)

2.       Have a monthly shipment to your house (a “Q” *) of at least $50.  We recommend $80 because the shipping cost for $1-$80 is $7.99.  We figure you might as well get the most bang for your shipping buck. 

Ready to get started? 

1.       Go to http://homeparties.thrivelife.com and click on “Join My Team”.  (On the right).

2.       Click “Get Started Today” (purple button)

3.       Click “Login/Create Account”  (my consultant # is 1209)

4.       Call me if you need help!  I am excited to help you save money while getting prepared! 

Heather Lorimer  435-535-1470  heather@teamshelfreliance.com

Preparedness Accomplishments and Goals

Last week’s preparedness accomplishments

• Made granola with the kids.  I love cooking simple things with my kids.  I ended up making it just with the little ones so they did a lot of dumping of ingredients and I did everything else. 
• This week I figured out what I need from the Case Lot sale, and decided to wait for a different stores case lot sale.  Most of the grocery stores  in my area have case lot sales this time of year and they offer slightly different products.  After inventorying what I needed I found that I need to wait a couple of weeks for those items to go on sale at another store. 

 

• Purchased a Volcano Stove for my husband.  It has been on his emergency prep wish list for a while and so this week we got it.  He is already excited to try it out.  He told me I should try canning on it.  I’m pretty skeptical about that but if it works I’ll let you know. 
• Made stir fry with the sprouts I grew last week.  My 8 year old told “Me that we were wasting seeds because those seeds could have grown into plants and grown more seeds but they can’t now because we ate them.”

 

• Made banana bread from food storage (plus my fresh bananas and minus the chocolate chips)

This week’s preparedness goals

• Put away my recent purchases.  Over the past week or two we have added a bunch to our food storage and our preparedness supplies.  They all got brought into the house and piled in the basement.  This week I need to put everything away. 
•  Make muffin mixes.  I love these Mix and Match Muffins, and we are out of muffin mixes so it is time.
• Make a list of easy to make food storage meals.  I recently ran across a list of 100 dinner ideas and I want to make one of easy food storage meals.  That way when you are wondering what to make it is easy to come up with an idea.
• Try to make something edible with Quinoa.  I know that everyone loves it but my family has really struggled with it.  I’m hoping that the new Shelf Reliance Organic Quinoa is going to be amazing. 
• Try a new recipe.  I have one for Slow Cooker Tomato Basil Soup that I’m hoping will convent to 100% food storage easily.  I’ll share the recipe if it turns out to be delicious.

What did you do to be better prepared this week?  

Soup in a Mug—the easiest food storage meal ever

My family loves to eat soup.  A while back I heard of the idea of making soup in a mug, with food storage ingredients.  So I gave it a try and my kids loved it.  There is almost  no prep work and you can be eating dinner in about 10 minutes.  Everyone gets to design their own soup so there is no complaining about ingredients (like onions) that are offensive.   Since that first time we have made this meal often and it is always a hit.  

How to make Soup in a Mug

What you need

• Large mug for each person.  I used large clear glass mugs but you can use whatever you have.  My mugs hold 16 ounces or 1 cup. 
• Hot Water-about a cup per person.  We have an electric tea kettle and I fill it up and turn it on, then once the mugs have the dry ingredients in them it is easy to pour water over the top. 
• A variety of Freeze Dried Veggies and Meats and bouillon, you can really use whatever Freeze dried items you have on hand.  Here is my family’s favorite:

• Freeze Dried Chicken Slices
• Freeze Dried potatoes
• Instant Beans *takes the full 10 minutes to cook
• Egg Noodles *takes the full 10 minutes to cook
• Instant Brown Rice *takes the full 10 minutes to cook
• Freeze Dried Peas
• Freeze Dried Corn
• Freeze Dried Celery
• Freeze Dried Green Beans
• Freeze Dried Onions
• Freeze Dried Spinach
• Chicken Bouillon

* If you choose to use the instant beans, instant rice or egg noodles be sure to wait the full 10 minutes for them to soften and cook.  My kids are pretty impatient so I usually don’t have them add those ingredients to theirs. 

How to assemble Soup in a Mug

• Choose a mug
• Add your ingredients, you are aiming to have the mug 1/3 to ½ full of Freeze dried ingredients.
• Put a scoop (about 2 Tablespoons) of starch in your cup
•  Put a scoop of protein in your cup
• Put 2-3 scoops of veggies in your cup
• Put 1-2 tsp. of seasonings in your cup
• Cover with BOILING hot water
• Wait 7-10 minutes.
• Enjoy.