Category Archives: Food

9-Grain Breakfast

Food, Recipe

Servings: 1; Total Time: 5 minutes; Prep Time: 2 minutes; Refresh Time: 0

Ingredients

½ cup 9-Grain Cracked Cereal
2 tsp Honey Crystals
1 tsp (optional) brown sugar
— (optional) Fruit, finely chopped
— (optional) Dash or two of Cinnamon

Directions

  1. Take some THRIVE fruit and chop finely.
  2. Add 1 cup water, chopped fruit, Honey Crystals, and brown sugar in a small saucepan and heat to a boil.
  3. Turn off the burner if using an electric stove or set to low simmer for a gas stove, add Cracked Cereal, and stir.
  4. Let sit in the hot pan for 5-10 minutes (longer time for softer consistency).
  5. Optionally add a little milk for a creamier texture.

BioLite

Equipment, Food, Review

The BioLite cooking system is a very innovative product designed to solve two problems at once, namely, cooking and electricity. The BioLite stove includes an internal fan for extremely efficient burning, a power pack that converts heat into electricity, and a mounting system that supports a variety of optional attachments. Attachments include a portable grill and a large KettlePot. The BioLite can burn almost anything combustible to generate heat and electricity.

Advantages of the BioLite system include:

  • Can be powered by almost any combustible material
  • Generates electricity and has a USB plug
  • Can accept a grill, kettle pot attachment, or lights

Disadvantages of the BioLite include:

  • Weight: the BioLight is heavier than most camp stoves
  • Less efficient than comparable gas backpacking stoves
  • Larger in size
  • Small firebox requires adding fuel often

I am not sure what to think about the BioLite system. It is definitely a very cool concept. Being able to cook, generate electricity, and not require store bought fuel is a very appealing concept. However, the BioLite is large and heavy compared with other cooking systems and you can generate electricity more passively with portable solar panels. The small firebox means that you will have to add fuel often. If it takes a few hours to charge a device then you will have to babysit the stove to ensure that it does not run out of fuel. I would prefer to have a solar charger that I could “set and forget.”

If you are going to be extremely remote and have no way to obtain fuel then the BioLite makes sense. For normal backpacking the BioLite is simply too large and heavy to be practical especially for solo trips. While being able to use any combustible fuel seems appealing there are ultra efficient gas stoves that use very little fuel and are much lighter. There are also lighter stoves that can burn any biomass fuel.

Couscous

Food, Recipe

This side dish is tasty and very fast and easy to make. I prefer the very small tri-color couscous because it cooks very quickly and it looks nice when finished.

Servings: 4; Total Time: 5 minutes; Prep Time: 2 minutes; Refresh Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

2 cups Water
1 cup Couscous
2 tsp Chicken or Vegetable Bouillon
1 tsp Butter Powder
¼ tsp Sea salt
¼ tsp Parsley
— Add an assortment of Thrive vegetables such as Onion, Carrots, Spinach, Red Bell Peppers, etc.

Directions

  1. Place water is saucepan and add all ingredients EXCEPT the couscous.
  2. Heat to boiling. As the water heats the THRIVE ingredients will hydrate.
  3. Add couscous to boiling water, stir, cover, remove from heat, and wait 5 minutes.

Rice Bowl

Food, Recipe

This quick and healthy meal takes about two minutes to make and requires only water and a microwave oven. I use one Pyrex bowl with a cover and one small plastic container. Use the Pyrex bowl to rehydrate and cook your meal.

This recipe uses about one rounded tablespoon of chicken or beef. One THRIVE pantry can contains about 23 rounded tablespoons of chicken or beef. This is enough chicken/beef to make over 3-weeks of rice bowl lunches.

Servings: 1; Prep Time: 2 minutes; Refresh Time: 20 minutes; Cook Time: 4 minutes

Ingredients (Pyrex Bowl)

Add these ingredients to the Pyrex bowl. Vary the ingredients as much as you like.

  • ⅛ cup, or one rounded tablespoon of THRIVE Shredded Beef, Pulled Pork, or Chicken
  • 1 tsp of THRIVE Chopped Onion
  • Add THRIVE vegetables — whichever ones that you like. I often use broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, carrots, red or black beans, corn, etc. Be creative and try different ingredient combinations.
  • Add a seasoning such as: (1) ½ tsp Sea salt + pepper (to taste), (2) powdered marinade or seasoning (amount will vary depending on the seasoning), or (3) BBQ (other other) sauce

Ingredients (Small Plastic Container)

In this contain add ½ cup of instant rice or potato flakes.

Directions

  1. Add about 1-1½ cups of hot water to the Pyrex bowl and leave it covered for at least 5 minutes. This step rehydrates the freeze-dried ingredients and will be used to cook and rehydrate the rice or potatoes later. You can use hot water from a coffee maker, microwave a cup of water, or use warm water and let the ingredients rehydrate for at least 15 minutes.
  2. Uncover the Pyrex bowl and microwave for 2 minutes. There will be excess water in the bowl.
  3. Add the instant rice or potatoes to the Pyrex bowl. Stir all ingredients, cover the Pyrex bowl, and allow it to rehydrate for at least 20 minutes (you can leave it longer). I did this step while on a work break and came back to it at lunch time.
  4. Remove the cover and microwave the bowl for 2 minutes.
  5. Put the cover pack on the bowl and let it sit for 2 minutes. This allows the ingredients to finish cooking and allows the water to absorb.
  6. Stir the contents, re-season as needed, and eat.

Lasagna Soup

Food, Recipe

Servings: 6; Total Time: 17 minutes; Prep Time: 2 minutes; Refresh Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

2 tbsp Olive Oil
3 cloves Garlic
6 cups Water
¼ cup Thrive Chopped Onion
1 cup Thrive Ground Beef (Hamburger)
4 tsp Thrive Chicken Bouillon
3 tbsp Thrive Mixed Bell Pepers
¼ cup Thrive Tomato Powder
1 ¼ cup Thrive Tomato Dices
2 tsp Thrive Basil
¾ tsp Thrive Oregano
1 ½ tsp Thrive Italian Seasoning
1 tsp Sugar
1 ½ tbsp Thrive Parsley
8 Lasagne Noodles (leave out for glutan free)
1 cup Thrive Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
½ cup Thrive Parmesan Cheese

Directions

  1. Heat a pot and saute garlic and onion in olive oil with a touch of water.
  2. Add all ingredients except the lasagne noodles, mozzarella cheese, adn parmesan cheese.
  3. Once boiling break noodles into bite sized pieces and simmer until noodles are done.
  4. Just before removing from stove add both kinds of cheese and allow them to melt.
  5. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  6. Serve and enjoy!

No Cook Chicken Salad

Food, Recipe

Servings: 6; Total Time: 15 minutes; Prep Time: 5 minutes; Refresh Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

1 ½ cup Chopped Chicken
1 ½ tsp Chef’s Choice
1 3/8 cup Water
½ cup Celery
1/3 cup Onion

Directions

  1. Measure out all ingredients.
  2. Refresh the Chicken, Chef’s Choice Seasoning with water for about 5 minutes. Do not drain.
  3. After 5 minutes add Celery and Onion.
  4. Let sit for approximately 5 minutes.
  5. Serve and enjoy

Year-Old Apples

Food

A Thrive Life representative stated that the average age of an apple in a typical grocery is about 12 months. This sounded a bit hard to believe so I thought I would do a little research. I did a quick Internet search and found no shortage of articles.

Foodrenegade.com: Your Apples are a Year Old/

The author of this article found that the average age of a grocery store apple is 14 months. The article also documents how “apples are a rich source of polyphenols.” Polyphenols are “antioxidants that can help fight cancer and improve post-workout recovery by reducing muscle fatigue.” The author sites this study that concludes that “antioxidant activity in apples gradually drops off after three months of storage” and that antioxidants will be nearly gone after a year.

That apple you just bought might be a year old – but does it matter?

This article also claims that the antioxidant properties of apples are nearly gone after being in cold storage for long periods of time. I found a number of other articles that reiterate this same theme. The points that I got from my brief research into apples was that:

  • Retail apples are picked too early to increase their shelf life
  • Most apples from grocery stores are not fresh
  • The older apples have far less nutritional value
  • Most apples have been treated with various chemicals to preserve them

The Thrive apples are picked at their peak and flash frozen within 2-6 hours of harvesting. Freeze-drying locks in flavor and nutrients. With Thrive there is about 0-2% nutrition loss. Do your own research. Use google.com and search for “age of apples in grocery store” and read the articles for yourself.