Saturday, December 31, 2011

Join Me for A Pantry Challenge


An month of eating from the pantry is a great way to rotate your food storage, evaluate your food storage and save money on groceries.  

  
source mullica

Jessica over at Good Cheap Eats is sponsoring a pantry challenge this January.   After reading about her challenges for a couple of years I’ve decided to participate and I hope you will too. 

So what is the Pantry Challenge?
Give me the details

 Source  ChalonHandmade 
  • The Challenge starts Sunday January 1st and Ends Tuesday January 31st. 
  • It is a month long focus on eating the foods that are already in your house instead of grocery shopping.    
  • It is a thoughtful approach to menu planning. 
  • It is a chance to get creative with the ingredients that you already have.
  • It is NOT a total abstinence of grocery shopping.  I am going to be purchasing fruits, veggies, bread, and milk and eggs.
What am I going to be focusing on? 

 Photo Source by mullica
  •    Getting organized.  Okay a little admission my pantry has needed to be cleaned out and organized for months, maybe I’ll have to have E come over and give me some tips.
  •  Creating menus that my kids will like and that focus on foods that we already have on hand.
  •   Lowering my food budget.  I currently spend $400 a month on groceries and $150 on long term food storage.    For a family of 5 I think that $550 in food each month is pretty good.   I’m hoping that by focusing on the foods we already have by the end of the month we will have some money saved to purchase some beef to fill up my freezer.  (It is a big chest freezer and currently has 3 turkeys in it.  They are lonely and I’d really like to have a full freezer).
  •  Evaluate my food storage.  Taking a month to eat out of our pantry will really help me evaluate if we are storing the foods that we should be.  I really believe that you should store high quality nutritious foods that you like to eat.
I hope you’ll join me.

Are you joining the pantry challenge?   What are you planning on focusing on?  What do you need help with?    


   


Thursday, December 29, 2011

Buy Now and Save--Price of Thrive Blueberries Increasing by $10 a can in January

The  Shelf Reliance winter price list is now available and I wanted to make you aware of a couple of drastic price increases so you can buy now and save money. 

I did some comparison shopping for you between fall and winter price lists.  There are three Thrive foods that really increase in price in January. I just loaded up on them for my home store right now.  I recommend you do too! You can purchase these items now on my website at the lower prices, until January 2nd.


Blueberries are currently $32.89 beginning January 2nd they will be $41.29, nearly a $10 increase!










Cauliflower is $13.69 but will increase to $18.49 almost a $5 per can increase.










Spaghetti is $12.79 and will increase to $16.69 just under $4 per can increase.













These are all the #10 can sizes. When you purchase a case of any one item you'll receive an additional 5% savings.

I'm sure you are aware of the increased food prices that are happening across the country.  I am committed to helping you find a great deal with out compromising on quality.  
 

Call me if you have any questions about these items or the upcoming price lists.  Please contact me at heather@teamshelfreliance.com or 435-535-1470

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Freeze Dried Raspberries--Everything You need to know


Freeze Dried Raspberries have an amazing  color  and  flavor , a burst of raspberry flavor, they are quite tart.

How to Rehydrate Freeze Dried Raspberries

Makes
Amount
Water
Instructions
Freeze Dried Raspberries
1 c.
1 c.
1 c.
Place FD raspberries on a plate.  Spray with cool water until thoroughly damp.  Let sit for 7-10 minutes until soft.  Drain of any excess water.
Cost
Freeze Dried Raspberries cost per cup $2.53
Freeze Dried Raspberries cost per serving $0.63
*Based on the Fall 2011 Shelf Reliance Price List

 Freeze Dried Raspberry 
Recipes you might enjoy
 

Raspberry Vinegar Tart from the New York Times recipe by Allison Kave (you have to scroll down a little bit to see the recipe)





How do you like to use freeze dried raspberries?


Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Tent Winner


Thanks to everyone who entered.  I was very interested to read about what you are prepared/preparing for. 
The Winner of the 2 person Dome Tent is

We prepared well for underemployment. And, we are living well off of our stockpile/food storage. We need to be better prepared for floods.
Dana you have 48 hours to claim your prize.  E-mail me heather@teamshelfreliance.com

Saturday, December 10, 2011

3 Ways to Help your Children Come To Know Christ this Christmas


 This is not a post about food storage it is about Christmas and how to focus on Christ.   I have been thinking about writing a post like this for a while. 


I have 3 young children.  As a parent the thing that is most important to me about the holidays is helping my children come to know Christ.   



This is hard.

A relationship with Christ is a deeply personal thing.  But how do our children develop one unless we show them how?

Over the years we have experimented with a bunch of things and have settled on a few that really help our kids (and ourselves) come to better know Christ. 
      
      1.      Let them expereince the Nativity.  We do this by having a Nativity specifically for them.  Kids are always wanting to touch, hold, and play with the beautiful Nativities they see.  Have you ever found yourself yelling at your child for playing with the Baby Jesus?   The whole point of the Nativity is to help us understand and remember the birth of Christ.  Children do that through play so have something the kids can play with.    We have two Nativities for the Kids (and one more for the top of the piano)

·          Little People Nativity and I love it.  When my oldest was just a tiny baby my wonderful neighbor (Jullie I am talking about you) showed me hers and helped me find one.   I will always be grateful for the suggestion.  Nothing warms my heart like seeing one of my children telling the story of the Nativity story to a younger sibling. 



·        Nativity Puppets A few years ago my sister called me and asked if I wanted to make Nativity puppets with her.  I was game for an adventure so we made a set for each of us.  Since than I have been given some, and bought some (namely the sheep it is really hard to make a decent sheep).  I love to use them for family nights, for Christmas parties, and I leave the out all season.  I find that my kids put them on and start acting out the story quite a bit.  



If you are looking for the pattern for the square puppets I got it from Michelle Taney you can e-mail her at michelletaney@msn.com
 
       2.     Have and Read the right Christmas books:  Children learn a lot from a good book.  Sadly not every Christmas book is perfect for kids.  Some have too many words, complex stories, terrible pictures or are really just written for adults. 

We have found two that we really like. 


·        Humphrey's First Christmas.  I love it.  I have read it about 50 times this year.  It is the Nativity told from the camel’s point of view, it has an appropriate number of words per page.    It has a little humor.  And every time I read it I feel  the Spirit testify of the divinity of Christ. 


·  When Jesus was Born in Bethlehem has the most beautiful painting of the nativity.  The words are from the Bible but for my kids (and me) the painting really help me understand  the meaning. 

       3.      Do less
 I used to do everything. I sent Christmas Cards to everyone I knew, baked cookies by the truck-full, attended every Christmas event, had my decorations up the day after Thanksgiving, gave the perfect gift to everyone on my very long list, etc. 

Now I don’t. Don't get me wrong we do lots of Christmas activities.  But we no longer HAVE to do everything.

 I used to hate Christmas. 

Now I don’t. I think the two are related.  The pressure and stress of Christmas can be overwhelming,  especially if you are the Mom.  But it doesn't have to be.  You can do less.

 If you hate Christmas and feel like you aren’t focused on the Savior chances are your kids feel that way too.

 STOP doing so much. 

 I give you permission to do less. 

You don’t have to send Christmas cards, or sew homemade pajamas, or bake a million loafs of bread for the neighbors or whatever it is that is causing you stress.  It will be okay; in fact it might be better.

Two years ago my youngest son was born four days after Christmas.  Needless to say during that holiday season I was not up to much.  I did not put up the tree,  I did not send Christmas cards, I did not attend holiday parties.  It was a wonderful Christmas. One of the best my family has ever had.

My husband put up the tree with the kids the week of Christmas.  It was ugly.  Really ugly.  Nothing was coordinated, the ornaments were all bunched on one side and they loved it. They still talk about decorating the tree with Dad (he is much funner)

My friends still talked to me even though I did not send a card.

We celebrated by doing the things that were meaningful to us and not the things that make a “Martha Stewart” Christmas.  (Why are we copying Martha, she doesn’t even seem happy)

What we did that year was only the basics.  But we still were able to make wonderful memories and feel the love of Christ.

Since the year we got a baby for  Christmas, we have found greater joy in service, in family, and in the Christ.  

What things to you do to help your Children to better know Christ at Christmas? 



I'm linking this post up to the Christmas Book of Mormon Link Up