The Food Money Pit

Source: DeseretNews

This article in the DeseretNews emphasizes one of the reasons I use THRIVE Foods instead of fresh for certain foods.  "The food money pit How food waste costs thousands and how to stop it"

"American households spent an average of $6,129 on food in 2010 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. If Jones' figure of 14 percent waste is correct, that is about $858 per year or about $71 a month wasted on food thrown out. Some food waste experts say the food waste figure is as high as 25 percent or about $1,532 a year."

I did the math and discovered we're closer to that avg spent on food than I thought.  And I probably use to throw away that much in food per year.  Isn't that disgusting?!  Goes back to one of my favorite phrases I've heard through Shelf Reliance - the most expensive food is the food you throw away!

And I'm working on implementing their suggestions (and have been).  But I found an additional solution they didn't mention - replacing those foods I tend to throw away with THRIVE Freeze Dried Foods.  I've stopped throwing away Yogurt now that I've replaced it with Yogurt Bites - Strawberry and Pomegranate are our favorites.  And no more half used green bell peppers either!

So instead of throwing away food, take that money you would have wasted and start investing in THRIVE foods with a monthly Q.  By focusing on those foods you tend to throw away, you'll be saving AND having those nutritious foods always available!  And with a monthly Q budget of $100 or more, you receive the Platinum Q Club membership for free (a $79.99 value) and you'll earn reward points for every dollar you spend in your Q that you can redeem for free product!

How to Edit your Q Shipment

As I was working on my personal Q this afternoon, I thought you might find it helpful to see how to edit your Q shipments.

Tip - Firefox works better with Shelf Reliance's website than Internet Explorer.

First, log in to your Shelf Reliance account.

This will bring to My Dashboard.  From here you can click View/Edit Q Settings and Shipments (for my family's privacy, I smudged out our order details).

This will bring you to your THRIVE Q Summary.  On this page, you can Edit your budget amount (my budget as a Consultant is $60, which is $50 minimum in product and then money for shipping and taxes).  You can also Pause your Shipments (you can pause shipments for a month or two without losing your free Platinum Q Club membership.  If you pause longer than that, you would have to pay the renewal fees to re-establish that membership.  You can restart your Q, though, without that membership if you prefer.  But we're here today to Edit the shipment

When you click on Edit, you will go to the Edit Shipments page (below).  This will show you what the computer has put into your shipment, based on your Custom food Plan.  In the picture below, I had already made some adjustments but I hadn't finished yet.  If there are items planned for your shipment that you don't want, click "Remove" to the right of that item.  Then add items from your food plan by clicking on the appropriate food category about halfway done the page.  For my order, I wanted to add the Freeze Dried Green Bell Peppers that are on sale for June so I selected Vegetables and that category expands to show what's in my food plan.

You may have to scroll down to see everything on your screen, like I did.  But when I looked for the peppers, it wasn't on my list (but I didn't get that screen shot).  So I had to click Add More Vegetables which you can see at the very bottom of the vegetables list. 

I was then taken to the Food Groups page for vegetables and I selected the Green Bell Peppers.  I told it how many I wanted, of which size.  In my case, I wanted 1 #10 can of Green Bell Peppers (as I keep using my Green Bell Peppers, I'm thinking that should have been more to add into my plan).  I then have two options - Add to THRIVE Q, and Add to Cart.  I want to add it into my Q shipment, not an individual order so I selected Add to THRIVE Q.

You are returned to your THRIVE Q Summary.   The item is now listed in the Available Items, but not in your current shipment.  So scroll until you find the item (I wanted the Green Bell Peppers) and click Add to Shipment to the left of the item.

 

A pop up window appears in front of your Q Shipment Summary and asks how many you want in your shipment.  You have to click the Up or Down arrows, not type in a number.  Then click Update.

The item now shows in your shipment.  Now that you've customized your shipment, be sure that the Locked box is checked (upper right of the shipment section).  This will prevent the computer from changing the contents of your shipment.

You can also edit future shipments by clicking the Next button that's on that green bar.  Here's what the computer says it's going to send me in July.  Germade is not a priority for me so I'm sure that will be a change I make for next month.  I can do the changes I want now, but I won't - I'll wait to see what goes on special for July and adjust my shipment accordingly.  If I knew I was needing a specific item ordered in a future shipment, I would make those changes and then click the Locked button so that it doesn't get changed by the computer later.

I hope this helps you with your Q.  If there is any way that I can help with your Q, please let me know!  The Q has become invaluable to me in reaching our food storage goals, one step/month at a time.