Did you think I disappeared forever? Nah. I took a trip to South Dakota to clean out a store room of things that were left there the fall before Paul died. But now I'm back! I'm finding all kinds of opportunities to substitute food storage items for the things I buy at the store normally. The powdered eggs are about $1.14/dozen, which is cheaper than my local stores sell fresh ones. Since I do like the egg yolk, not just the whites, and since I don't like fried eggs, this works just fine for me. In scrambling the Thrive eggs, I can't tell the difference. I toss in my favorite additives, and they are yummy.
Cookies, breads, any kind of cooking that requires eggs, I haven't found a significant difference in taste or texture. To be honest, I haven't found any at all. I mix the egg first and then put it in the recipe.
The Taco TVP has replaced entirely the hamburger I used to use for tacos, for chili, and for anything else that requires cooked ground beef. I haven't tried it in meatloaf yet, but I'm contemplating replacing at least half the ground beef in that. The Ingles near me grinds up steaks each morning - not that they are old steaks or expiring, but they cut new ones each day - and the hamburger is 95% fat free. Still, I figure it can't hurt, and I'll have to figure out the cost to see how that works out.
Freeze-dried vegetables work wonderfully in soups, stews and casseroles. The fruits and the yogurt bites make great snacks. I'm still not convinced I want to stock the freeze-dried ice cream sandwiches. No you don't add water to those.
It's just that I don't think I'll get that desperate for ice cream. I know people who love them, though, not as ice cream, but as a sweet snack - almost a cookie.
So I'm finding more and more ways to use the food storage, and I want to move further and further in that direction. It requires planning ahead, because I don't live in American Fork and can't run over to their facility if I let myself run out of something. But planning? Yes, I can do that!
