With last-minute preparations for Halloween, I imagine that a lot of you have a few tasks to take care of. Are all the costumes ready? Are your pumpkins carved? Do you have all the Halloween treats you could ever ask for? Before you lose yourself in the holiday craze, I’m excited to announce the winner of this week’s giveaway.

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

35

Timestamp: 2009-10-30 18:02:30 UTC

Comment #35 was left by Jenni! Our lucky winner will be able to get a lot of use out of our fire starter and 16-piece cookset. She has been notified via e-mail and will have one week to accept her prize. Thanks so much for participating in our giveaway contest, and we wish you a happy Halloween!

***This giveaway is now closed.***

The best part of all my childhood camping trips were the delicious, patched-up meals we’d eat around the campfire. Even if the different dishes didn’t complement each other so well, and if we had to use our fingers in place of spoons, the food managed to taste great and bring everyone together at the end of the day. This week’s giveaway prizes will help you to prepare food and keep warm in the outdoors.

Our Sixteen Piece Cookset includes 3 pots with corresponding lids, along with four plates and four plastic cups. The set nests together for easy storage and includes a nylon carry/storage bag, which will keep your dishes clean when they’re stored in a basement, garage, or car trunk. High quality stainless steel construction protects this cookset from dents and dings, so you’ll be able to keep using all sixteen pieces for years to come. The set is valued at $47.90.

When you need to boil water or heat some coals for cooking, the Sparkie Fire Starter is a great tool to have around. The fire starter is light, easy-to-use, and designed to produce maximum sparks. Watch as Bart Mills demonstrates the Sparkie’s ability to create light and warmth, even in wet conditions.

This week’s winner will receive a Sixteen Piece Cookset, along with a Sparkie Fire Starter. Keep reading and enter to win! (more…)

This week, we asked you to share your favorite THRIVE fruits with us in order to enter the Free on Friday giveaway. You all had my mouth watering with your recommendations! We used the Random Integer Generator at random.org to decide on our winner.

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

45

Timestamp: 2009-10-23 18:08:14 UTC

Comment #45 was left by Karin, who loves the idea of using our Freeze Dried Blackberries in a tart. We hope she’ll find some equally scrumptious options for the bananas, apples, and peaches we’re sending her way. Congratulations, Karin!

***This giveaway is now closed.***

One of the most frequent questions we get from customers here at Shelf Reliance goes something like this: “What is the difference between dehydrated foods and freeze dried foods? Which is the better option? Why is there a difference in price?”

Freeze drying – a method of removing moisture from perishable items – was developed to protect food from spoiling and to reduce its weight, making it easier to transport. First, selected foods are flash frozen, causing any water in the food to freeze into tiny crystals. Next, the food is subjected to a delicate balance of heat and pressure. This process, called sublimation, instantly converts a solid (ice) into a gas (water vapor), eliminating about 98% of water from the food. The water never enters its liquid form, meaning that all the pre-existing taste and nutritional value will remain in the food without risk of spoilage.

As you may imagine, the freeze drying process is more delicate and technical than simple dehydration, and this leads to an increased cost. The freeze dried food lasts longer and is more nutritious than the dehydrated options.

For this week’s giveaway, our winner will receive 3 cans of THRIVE Fruits – one each of our Freeze Dried Sliced Bananas, Dehydrated Organic Apple Slices, and Freeze Dried Peach Slices. Each slice of fruit is delicious and top-quality.

Whether you already have these great fruits in your pantry or they’re completely new to you, you can enter this week’s contest! Keep reading to learn how. (more…)

The Random Integer Generator on random.org is a truly amazing thing, especially to someone like me who is generally in awe of anything scientific or technical in nature. The Irish scholars who run the integer generator rely on atmospheric noise to come up with random numbers – numbers that anyone with internet access can view and use. This week, we asked the Random Integer Generator to come up with a number between 1 and 91.

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

39

Timestamp: 2009-10-16 18:05:44 UTC

Comment #39 came from Emily Dixon, who subscribes to the Shelf Reliance newsletter. Emily has been contacted, and she’ll have a week to claim her prize. For those of you who didn’t win, there’s no need to despair. A new giveaway will be posted next week, and in the meantime, you can have a look at our Cansolidator Series to see if you’d like one of your own. They’re currently on sale, so think about the holiday season and which of your loved ones might like to see something from Shelf Reliance under the Christmas tree.

***This giveaway is now closed.***

The Cansolidator Series from Shelf Reliance has appeared in our weekly giveaways before. People love these things; they’re easy to put together, and they help to save you money by keeping all of your cans in plain sight for timely use and enjoyment.

The Cansolidator comes in three widths, meaning that you can find the right size for your space. This week’s giveaway will feature two of the Cansolidators – the Cansolidator Pantry and the Cansolidator Cupboard. Our winner will receive one of each of these systems, allowing him/her to store up to 60 cans. The cans in these systems will rotate in a first in/first out basis, making it easier to know what items you have on hand and to use food before it expires.

Want one of your own? You can check out our supply of Cansolidators by clicking here. You can buy multi-packs of these systems at discount and read reviews from customers like you.

Want to win this week’s prize? Keep reading and find out how. (more…)

You’ve waited all week long, and now it’s time to announce the winner of the SunStar Solar Powered Radio. Of this week’s entries, the Random Integer Generator helped us to choose entry #40 as the winner.

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

40

Timestamp: 2009-10-09 18:03:21 UTC

Comment #40 was left by Stacy, who subscribes to our newsletter. Stacy has been contacted and will have until this Friday to accept her prize. As always, we’d like to thank everyone who entered the contest and spread the word about it. Stop back at the beginning of next week to find out about our next giveaway prize and enter to win!

***This giveaway is now closed.***

There are some things that you probably consider to be absolute essentials for your emergency kit. Does a flashlight make the list? How about a radio? How about a way to call for help to those in the surrounding area? This week’s Free on Friday prize gives you all those things and more in a self-sustaining package, making batteries obsolete. I’m happy to introduce the SunStar Solar Powered Radio.

All in all, this great item is actually six tools in one! The SunStar boasts an ultra bright LED flashlight, an AM/FM/weather radio, a strobe light, a siren, red LED flashers, and a cell phone charger. You can pack it along with your other emergency items without any need for batteries; the SunStar Radio can be powered by solar energy or by the three-way hand crank for faster charging. Use it indoors or outdoors. The waterproof and weather-resistant design will leave you worry-free in any situation. The SunStar Solar Powered Radio is valued at $59.95.

We’re keeping things simple for this week’s giveaway. There are two ways to enter. Keep reading for your chance to win!

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Another week, another winner. We received a fantastic response to this week’s giveaway, which means that many of you are giving thought to your first aid needs! Continue working on this goal, and remember that Shelf Reliance has a great selection of kits for you to consider. The kits range in price from $8.00 to $134.99, so there’s bound to be an option that suits your needs and budget.

Of the 133 entries we received for this week’s giveaway, the Integer Generator at random.org selected #67.

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

67

Timestamp: 2009-10-02 18:05:20 UTC

Comment #67 was submitted by Heidi Bateman. Heidi has been contacted by e-mail and will have one week to claim her prize. My condolences to everyone who didn’t win, but it was great to see your interest and to read a little bit about the special first aid needs in your home! Remember to come back next week to try your luck at winning another great prize. Have a great weekend!

***This giveaway is now closed.***

I suppose I could write a snappy little introduction for our new giveaway prize, but Bart Mills does such a great job of it himself that I think I’ll just leave it to him. Take it away, Bart:

Doesn’t this kit sound amazing? It goes so far beyond the run-of-the-mill grocery store kits that you can purchase, but it’s still compact and portable. In addition to the really useful items that Bart mentions, the kit also includes finger splints, antacid, pain reliever pills, tweezers, and nearly 100 bandages. You can view the entire list of kit contents by visiting the product page.

The 326 Piece OSHA First Aid Kit is regularly priced at $39.99. As part of our month-long sale on emergency preparedness items, you can currently pick up this great item for $29.99 (a 25% discount). This sale will last through Wednesday, September 30th, so now’s the time to make your order! Of course, you have the option of trying your luck at winning the kit in this week’s Free on Friday giveaway. Keep reading to find out how.

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