Preparedness: Convenience Foods

We don’t buy pre-boxed junk. We make our own everything….ok….I DID buy a couple of bags of Veggie Straws last trip to Costco…I LOVE those things….anyway…..,

We TRY not to buy pre-boxed/pre-packaged junk. It’s not very hard to resist anymore. Just look at the ingredient label, and I lose all affinity for some of my favorites rather quickly.

What do I miss the most? Convenience! Oh, to have a meal on the table in the same amount of time it takes to make a box of Kraft Mac N’ Cheese. My little secret? You can TOTALLY do this! It just takes a little prep on a day when you might have an extra 10, 30, or 60 minutes. It makes things so much easier!

And yes, I have to admit that many of my convenience foods take full advantage of the convenience, and health aspects of Thrive foods. Listed from back to front, left to right: Beef & Peas with Rice, Mac N’ Cheese, Raspberry Vanilla Summer Porridge, and Cream of Chicken Soup ( just add some Thrive Chopped Chicken, some Thrive Celery, and some Thrive Chopped Onions). All of these can be made in 15 minutes (except the Summer Porridge which I prefer to add water and let soak overnight in the fridge).

I regularly make and keep on hand muffin mix, tortilla mix, bouillon, instant oatmeal mix, chicken nuggets, ready-to-bake cookies, bean & cheese burritos, and granola.

Also, canning your own beans, chicken/beef stocks, and meats can make throwing a quick meal together as easy as snapping your fingers.

And then, you can prepare foods ahead of time and have them ready to go when you need to be faster than a speeding bullet at getting dinner on the table. For example, prepping veggies and freezing veggies, and freezing individual portions of rice.

Now, convenience foods are pretty important in making peace a part of everyday life at my house, but can you imagine how much MORE helpful they would be in times of economic stress or emergency??? Having lived both ways (doing everything from scratch with NO convenience foods, and making my own convenience foods) I can tell you that having some quick and easy things available is CRUCIAL to getting through it all with your sanity intact.

Remember to consider the convenience factor when planning  and acquiring your homestore!

What are YOUR favorite convenience foods? Which ones do you make yourself?
Leave me a comment and let me know!