Family, Fun, and—Food Storage?

 

Elizabeth and LaRon Rowbury are notorious in their family for their enthusiasm about food storage, and when they moved to Sacramento from Cedar Hills, Utah, two months ago, their 23-year-old son Ryan and others were given the daunting task of moving their substantial supply of food from the truck into the designated storage area they affectionately called “the bomb shelter.” Of that delightful experience Ryan said, “You wouldn’t believe how heavy everything was. Moving all their canned food and five-gallon buckets was one of the worst experiences of my life! Two of my friends literally got sick from heat exhaustion just moving all their food storage. There was only one saving grace in that whole debacle: Every box that had THRIVE stamped on it. The THRIVE products were a ton lighter than any other food storage items.”

 

The THRIVE Difference

The light weight was only the beginning of the Rowburys’ excitement about THRIVE. Elizabeth and LaRon quickly realized that the taste and convenience of THRIVE couldn’t be matched by the rest of their food storage. “We like THRIVE products because they’re fresh whether we’re keeping them short-term to eat or long-term to store,” Elizabeth said. “Plus they’re lightweight, cost effective (we don’t waste foods like celery by buying too much and not using it before it spoils), and best of all taste so much better than canned food. We like to snack on the food right out of the can and use it to cook with.”

The Rowburys’ Home Store of THRIVE foods–yum!

Elizabeth and LaRon became such fans of THRIVE foods that they decided to start using up their heavy canned foods and replace them only with THRIVE. “Since they moved, they have not bought a single canned food item,” Ryan said, “so they can get rid of all their bulky, heavy foods and replace them with lighter, longer-lasting THRIVE items.” The Rowburys have since converted many favorite family recipes—like chicken broccoli casserole, pizza, and chili—into THRIVE recipes that they can prepare every day as well as in emergencies.

 

Iron Chef: Food Storage Edition

When Ryan was put in charge of planning activities for an upcoming family reunion soon after, he knew he wanted to incorporate his parents’ “obsession” with food storage, so he came up with the idea of doing an Iron Chef competition using only items from his parents’ food supply. Ryan told his siblings about the activity in advance so that they could start coming up with meal ideas, and he said “it was easily the most anticipated activity of our reunion.”

On the day of the competition, the family decided to pit the men against the women: brothers Ethan, Ryan, Allen, and Kevin prepared to battle their sister Anna, wives Kymbra and Jennifer, and Jennifer and Kevin’s 9-year-old daughter Leah. Parents Elizabeth and LaRon acted as judges and would score the final meals based on taste, presentation, and overall resourcefulness. Elizabeth picked out 9 ingredients from their food storage, and each team was required to use at least three of them for their meal.

Ryan Rowbury and neice Leah (9) battle it out Iron Chef style!

An hour and a half was allotted for the teams to plan, prepare, and present an appetizer, main dish, and dessert. After much furious cooking, good-natured rivalry, and even some old-fashioned pizza tossing, the moment of truth had come. The boys’ team, “The Family Feuooders,” presented “poor man’s crab cakes” using THRIVE Chopped Chicken and Sweet Corn, Hawaiian pizza topped with THRIVE Mozarella Cheese and Sausage Crumbles, and hot chocolate made with THRIVE Sugar for dessert. The girls’ team, “The Royal Readiologists,” unveiled a chicken cream cheese pastry filled with THRIVE Chopped Chicken, a dish of spicy Thai noodles, and “baby cakes” with a glaze made from THRIVE Mandarin Oranges. How did it all turn out? You’ll have to watch their video to find out!

How are you bringing your family together with THRIVE? Post below to share fun activities your family has put together using THRIVE, or email survey@shelfreliance.com if you’d like to see your story on our blog!