← Simple Farmhouse Life
Simple Farmhouse Life
290. Simple Meal Systems & Batch Freezer Cooking in Busy Seasons | Jamerrill Stewart of Large Family Table
01:00:35
Jamerrill Stewart shares practical tips for freezer cooking, stretching the grocery budget, and simplifying meals during busy or challenging seasons of family life.
Loading summary
Transcript252 lines
- [00:00]
Lisa
Once the temps started rising, I realized I was back in the same worn out rotation. Same tank, same shorts, same everything. So I gave my daily uniform an upgrade with Quince. Their pieces are easy, elevated and somehow make me feel more put together without even trying. Like 100 European linen shorts and dresses from $30, Luxe Swimwear, Italian leather platform sandals and so much more. The best part Part Everything with quince is priced 50 to 80% less than what you'd find at similar brands. By working directly with top artisans and cutting out the middlemen, Quince gives you luxury without the markup. And Quince only works with factories that use safe, ethical and responsible manufacturing practices and premium fabrics and finishes. I've gotten tired of clothes that looked cute online but felt cheap in real life. I want better fabrics, a better fit, just better everything. And with Quints, I got it. Their quality is incredible and everything feels intentional and the prices are shockingly reasonable. It finally feels like my clothes match my standards. Treat your closet to a little summer glow. Up with Quint Go to quint.comfarmhouse for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's Q U I N C E.com farmhouse to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quint.com farmhouse I've always had people to.
- [01:25]
Jamerrill Stewart
Feed like, you know, as the mom they need to eat. And so we develop little systems along the way. And of course as you get to be a more seasoned mom, you have more systems. Whenever you have some kind of basics in your freezer, it's going to help you when the unexpected happens or it's sports season. You got four kids doing soccer and you got ballet and that's in the evenings. Okay, well that can quickly be chaotic. I started to make sure I had dinner in the slow cooker in the morning, right? But we don't get to the point to knowing how important that is until it's 4:30 and you're all leaving and you're grabbing the bread and peanut butter and trying to make it out to the soccer field.
- [02:00]
Lisa
My name is Lisa, mother of eight and creator of the blog and YouTube channel Farmhouse on Boone. On this podcast I like to talk about simplifying your life so you can live out your priorities. I help you learn how to cook from scratch and decorate on a budget through this podcast and my courses Simple Sourdough and the Simple Sewing Series. I also help people reach their goals from home through my business course YouTube Success Academy. I will leave links to these resources in the show, notes and description Box below. Now let's get into the show.
- [02:28]
Jamerrill Stewart
Foreign.
- [02:31]
Lisa
Welcome back to the simple Farmhouse Life podcast. Today we are having on Jamerrill from Large Family Table. She inspires so many of us with her tips for filling your freezer, planning ahead so that you have something to eat no matter what comes your way. She's a large family mama, but plenty of families that are smaller in size. Learn from her techniques and her wisdom. Without further ado, let's jump into the inter Jamerrill. Welcome back. When was the last time I you were on this show? I cannot remember. I know you were on. I just can't remember when it was.
- [03:08]
Jamerrill Stewart
I. I'm not sure. I think this is my third time.
- [03:13]
Lisa
My first time.
- [03:14]
Jamerrill Stewart
I have to do it by pregnancies and babies and yes, pretty solid. This is my third time.
- [03:20]
Lisa
Okay. Yep.
- [03:21]
Jamerrill Stewart
I want to say my first time, like 2019 or 2020. Ish.
- [03:26]
Lisa
Yeah. Yeah. Well, I started the podcast in early 2020 and I do think you were one of my first guests, so I think that would be accurate. Yes. Almost five or. No, not almost. It's been five years now that we've had the podcast and yeah, I've had you on several times. Because you, like me, have a large family. That means that you are in the kitchen all the time. There's always something to prep, something to make. I always say, like, you can't make too much food. My sister has one child and one husband and she said, well, I get in a position where I actually, like, make too much or buy too much and it goes bad. I'm like, that is a different strategy. I'm not very familiar with that. But that's. I could see that happening. I just forgot about that phase of life and it's not fresh in my brain. So we're going to talk about that. Freezer meals, canning, meal prep. You are the queen of all things large batch cooking, but also women who don't have a large family. I think you offer a lot of practical tips on how to make that job easier so that maybe you don't feel like you're in the kitchen all the time, or at least that it's doable. So for those who don't know you.
- [04:37]
Jamerrill Stewart
Go ahead and introduce yourself. Let's see here. My name is Jamerrill. I'm a mom of nine. My kids are ages 2 through 24. Also since 2023. Who knew this was on my bingo card? But I'm also a single mom of nine. So, hey, let's have a lot of kids and have all these adventures. So women in your audience who have been raising children and homeschooling for decades, maybe running businesses, maybe not, and then life just ends up being full of surprises. I can definitely, I know that there's a percentage in both of our audiences because we're all living this human experience that can relate. So I have not been able to consistently live a happy homemaker, homesteading, homeschooling life where I can raise my cooney cooney pigs and raise my meat birds to butcher and read stories in the sunshine, happily ever after. A whole lot of real life. Whole lot of real life. So I have been sharing on YouTube for over 10 years now and I have my little, my over 100 million views over there, which I've created a course in reference to that that I share about. And I was a full time blogger before that. So I've been in the business for about 14 years now. Yeah, first being a full time blogger, then seeing something sparkly on YouTube and going all in there. So I'm an entrepreneur mom also. But I can be found everywhere. Jamerrill Stewart and my blog that has all my big batch large family style recipes is largefamilytable.com.
- [06:22]
Lisa
Yeah. And you have the meal packs where.
- [06:25]
Jamerrill Stewart
I have freezer cooking guides. So that's@shop.largefriendlytable.com so my biggest YouTube videos early on started to be where I was just sharing my freezer cooking, freezer cooking with a whole bunch of kids, towel on my head, baby on my back. You know, 10 years ago. And those videos got the most views. And as women entrepreneurs, we always look for our angles on what our audience is telling us that they want from us. And for me, my spidey sense tingled. Okay, everybody loves watching me do big batch freezer cooking. They want the recipes. I started putting the recipes on my blog and then I started developing big batch freezer cooking day days and making we've rebranded it. They used to be called large family freezer meal packs and now they're big batch freezer cooking guides because not only large families use them. I have, I have group homes that have purchased them that use them. I have women who've contacted me who've said they've used the recipes for veterans dinners for all kinds of events. There was one, it was a teen group home for, for moms. So teenagers who had their children with them all living in a home together. And they've used the big batch cooking guides as like a cooking curriculum every month. So the moms get together, make the meals and feed themselves and their children with them for their dinners for the month. So I have them for breakfast, lunch, dinners, snacks and yeah my good. I think I have 24 or 25 of those now.
- [07:56]
Lisa
Yeah, that's quite the collection.
- [07:58]
Jamerrill Stewart
40 meals. But there's in most of them there's a smallish big batch edition. So if someone doesn't want to fill their freezer with 40 meals they could do sensible like 10 to 15.
- [08:08]
Lisa
Right? Yeah.
- [08:09]
Jamerrill Stewart
And I've empty nesters that use them like instead of 9 by 13 pans they'll do them in 8 by eights and just get more meals. But that's some of the stuff we got going on.
- [08:18]
Lisa
Well yeah. And then you also have a lot of budget shopping and grocery type of content. Luke and I were watching you the other night. Shop at. Hold on. Shop. Sharp. Sharp Shop.
- [08:30]
Jamerrill Stewart
Like I can't say this made them world famous. Yes, it's a phenomenal store. And like they'll have 25 pound bags of oats for. I mean it used to be 16, it's 20 something now. But they'll have the big, big bulk bags and they'll have Bob Red Mill products and like provolone. The big logs of it I like to get. And we'll slice them down. But then they also have items like from big name grocery stores which how when I first got started online 14 years ago, I had a grocery budget of 250 to $350 a month for my then family of seven.
- [09:06]
Lisa
Wow.
- [09:07]
Jamerrill Stewart
And so I did that by of course I had a garden and I was canning but I didn't have all the resources like we have on the Internet now. So I was really like hacking my way through it. If I could have found like Jessica from Three Rivers Homestead 14 years ago with a two page PDF guide on.
- [09:24]
Lisa
You know what I mean?
- [09:24]
Jamerrill Stewart
So I was, I was just gardening as a hobby and learning to can what I could. But out of that 250 to 350amonth I took my first hundred dollars because like those pennies were precious. $100 went to Sharp Shopper and I got what I could. Now by that point I was making homemade yogurt in my slow cooker and things like that. But I never knew what deals they would have and it would, I'd be able to stock up on things and even things like like we can make homemade bagels now. But back then I didn't know how to make homemade bagels and I could get name brand bagels, two bags. They were two for a dollar. So I could get 12 bagels for a dollar and so I could spend $10 and stock up on 20 bags of whole wheat bagels from. It just made sense, right? So then I would take my next $150 or so to Walmart and then there was like a Russian kind of little grocery store, but they would have produce deals and I live near orchards and stuff, so so sometimes, you know, when peaches were in season and I was freezing, and from a decade before that when I was also working weekends as a full time charge nurse, I learned to do like one for now, one for later type freezer meals. Very simple there. And got into batch cooking that way.
- [10:37]
Lisa
So yeah, so in your motherhood journey when you had say like six kids, so they're all fairly little, not.
- [10:46]
Jamerrill Stewart
Yeah, like 12 and under 10.
- [10:47]
Lisa
Genuine help. I mean, well, they're, they can be helpful, but you know, like they can't like take over the whole kitchen and feed the whole food family. I'm assuming you did large batch days and then that made the rest of your week flow smoothly.
- [11:02]
Jamerrill Stewart
How I got into that is when I would do that precious little grocery shopping for that very small amount. I would then like the next day I would cook all of my meat for the month. So it might be like 15 pounds of ground beef. And I would cook that. I would. Then I bought a lot of chicken leg quarters. I think they were like 67 cents a pound back then. And so I would get several bags of those and I would boil that chicken in stock pots, peel the meat from the bone. So I'd have all my shredded chicken for the month and then I would have all of that broth also. Now that was factory chicken, but it was still chicken.
- [11:41]
Lisa
Yeah, yeah, right.
- [11:42]
Jamerrill Stewart
It wasn't. Yeah. So. So that's how I would kind of get my meal prep going for the month. I wasn't necessarily doing like a true once a month cooking day yet, but I would get those components, like sometimes even my rice for the month and those kind of things. And I had a meal plan where everything that I cooked was at least big batch. I would freeze extra portions, but again, I wasn't hyper focused on the freezing yet, but like I would just plan to do chili, but I would do enough that we could have it in different ways for two or three days, right?
- [12:17]
Lisa
Yeah, yeah. So yeah, stock the freezer, pull out your options. That's something I've never been great about. And I remember last time you're on the podcast, you were saying, well, just Always make, if nothing else, always make double of what you need. And then you'll have that for another meal. And it does happen with some things, like, you know, depending on, like if I'm making a roast, especially now with, you know, the number of kids we have, I'll always make two roasts at the same time. Yeah. And then we have that shredded meat throughout the week. I mean, sometimes we'll eat quite a bit of that. We'll need. Depends on how much roast is on each.
- [12:52]
Jamerrill Stewart
Like what you can do a whole roast and. Yeah, exactly.
- [12:55]
Lisa
Yeah. But I haven't got good about if I'm making something like, let's just say a lasagna. Making two of those just deliberately to have leftovers. It. It ends up that I make a large amount. We do have some leftovers, but never like, okay, I am deliberately making double right now for the leftovers.
- [13:13]
Jamerrill Stewart
But I always go back to like our very basic recipes. And even the other day I was saying to a teenager because we just had a medical cris. I mean, you know, always has to be something. And I was in and out. I was the bedside patient advocate for like 15 straight days. Now I do have teenagers and young adults at home, and I am their mama. So, like, they, they know how to work those sheet pans, you know.
- [13:36]
Lisa
Right.
- [13:36]
Jamerrill Stewart
Like stuff and how to work things to the freezer. And the little times I did come home for like four hours here or 30 minutes there, I would pull things from the freezer. Like I had two gallons of sausage gravy that I froze a couple weeks ago. And so one of the times I came home, I just poured that, pulled that from the freezer and put it in the refrigerator. And about two days later, I gave my. One of my young adults directions to just put that in the slow cooker. And I told them to just do toast. You all can do gravy over toast. They ended up doing sheet pan eggs and someone made four dozen biscuits. So it all worked out. But the base of that, like, sure, they could have done all the cooking, but how nice to have two gallon bags of gravy.
- [14:17]
Lisa
Well, and just the idea presented to you, because a lot of times that's the big thing. Like, yes, we can make biscuits and gravy, but here, this is the idea. We're going to have biscuits and gravy, you know, to make eggs with that. I think that's probably the biggest benefit. Right.
- [14:33]
Jamerrill Stewart
That was the other thing that was in my brain floating around. So one of my teenagers the other day, we just Noted. We haven't had tacos in a while. Like, we'll get on kicks. We'll have years where we like Taco Tuesday. And then we might have, like two years and no tacos.
- [14:46]
Lisa
I mean, you know, the same thing.
- [14:47]
Jamerrill Stewart
50. So, you know, I've got all kinds of food experiences. And so I was like, okay, we need to do tacos maybe this week or next. But when we do, I will do a massive amount of our taco meat. So that we have. I'm looking at my stock pots. Like, I'll try to do, like, my 30 quart stock potatoes equivalent of taco meat, and then that will give us enough to have for a couple days of taco varieties. Then we should be able to get several gallon freezer bags of the taco meat. And that way. So, like, when I cook and meal prep, I don't. I never think of it in terms of we're going to eat the rest of this taco meat this month. We might not get that taco meat back out for 12 weeks or for even six months sometimes. You know, just with the medical emergency we just had. There was fried rice from August 2024, and there was sloppy Joe's from December. And so middle of March, those were some of the items that got pulled out and used.
- [15:54]
Lisa
Yeah, that's such a nice. Like having an event like that that pops up out of nowhere, but being able to say, hey, there's something in the freezer, and you didn't really even know at the time what you were even making it for.
- [16:07]
Jamerrill Stewart
Exactly.
- [16:08]
Lisa
Yeah.
- [16:08]
Jamerrill Stewart
But I've lived this life long enough with enough humans. Like, right now, I only have 10 people at my house. And, you know, some people are so funny. They're like, oh, it's 10 people. Like, as if that's so much. And the other day I just googled, like, what's the average Thanksgiving size in America and the average Thanksgiving size people are serving? Nine to 10 people. Well, that's for one meal every day.
- [16:30]
Lisa
Three times a day.
- [16:31]
Jamerrill Stewart
You and I do Thanksgiving three times a day, plus snacks. So 90 Thanksgiving meals a month.
- [16:37]
Lisa
Yes.
- [16:38]
Jamerrill Stewart
And sometimes you have people over, you know.
- [16:40]
Lisa
Yeah, it is a lot. It's a lot. And I have a lot of little kids still. And so even, like, feeding them is kind of hard because you got to make all of their plates, too. You know, you're kind of like trying to get everybody, like, how many plates do I make again? We're counting them. We're counting forks, counting plates. I was like, wait, the baby doesn't need a plate. So that means we need this many plates, you know. Yeah.
- [17:01]
Jamerrill Stewart
It's a whole new thing. I've gotten to the point now where, because let's see, I have, so I have a preschooler and then I have two elementary boys. There's the seven year old's almost eight. You know, we got to get those birthdays. Then 10 year old. And then I have four that are teens, basically 12 through 18. And then I have another young adult that still lives at home doing their grown up things. And my mom and I. So I've gotten to the point for a lot of meals, all I pretty much set out like a buffet.
- [17:29]
Lisa
Okay.
- [17:29]
Jamerrill Stewart
Like it, like the other night it was a meatloaf from the freezer. Another recipe I have for unstuffed pepper casserole, but I did a dairy free version. I know some of the questions that we have are about switching things up to be gluten free and dairy free.
- [17:44]
Lisa
Yes.
- [17:44]
Jamerrill Stewart
So I had already tweaked that one to be dairy free when I got it in the freezer. And then what else did we do? I think I did some sweet potatoes in the slow cooker and then I usually set out like some kind of fruit. So I will generally have like one to two type main course options.
- [18:02]
Lisa
Okay.
- [18:04]
Jamerrill Stewart
And as I say, sometimes I do that, other times it'll be tacos. But there's a variety of ways to eat it.
- [18:12]
Lisa
Yeah.
- [18:12]
Jamerrill Stewart
But if I have them in the freezer. Okay. Two different casserole options and that. But both were gluten free and dairy free from the get go. And then we have some kind of heated vegetable. I think I also did steamed broccoli with that. So all the options are healthy.
- [18:27]
Lisa
Right.
- [18:28]
Jamerrill Stewart
And they can just choose. There's a lot of different. And then you just kind of choose your own adventure. So some of my kids like just had meatloaf and ketchup.
- [18:35]
Lisa
Right.
- [18:36]
Jamerrill Stewart
And then some had a little bit of everything. I had a little bit of everything. And then some might have like one vegetable.
- [18:44]
Lisa
Yeah.
- [18:45]
Jamerrill Stewart
One piece.
- [18:46]
Lisa
That's typically how we handle leftovers. Like we will throughout the week make things. And then it's like I got little bits of lots of things and so I put them all in the oven, set them all on the table. And then people just take like we got like one slice of pizza, one fourth of a meatloaf. You know, just like all of this random stuff doesn't have to go together at all. Is that, do you do that too with leftovers or how do you handle leftovers I do.
- [19:12]
Jamerrill Stewart
And actually we're gonna have leftovers tonight. So we actually. We ended up eating out twice yesterday just with a church thing and another event. And so that meal, I just said for Saturday, parts of it is still in the refrigerator. So I will pull all that out again. And then also I need to do my April grocery shopping. So I will scrounge around and, like, it's a good time to see what else we have, you know, half a pack of blueberries. Right. I don't know. Adventures and. Yeah.
- [19:42]
Lisa
So what's your rule of thumb in storing things in the refrigerator? So once say it was in the. You made it. It was in the freezer. You pull it out, it's thawed out. How long or how many times will you reheat it? How long will it stay in there? Do you have some, like, rules?
- [19:57]
Jamerrill Stewart
We have enough people that things are going to be eaten. Like, whatever's left today will be. So I don't deal with a lot of this has been in here, you know, four days. Should I throw it out or not?
- [20:12]
Lisa
Okay.
- [20:12]
Jamerrill Stewart
Of course, there's the sniff test. Of course there's food safety and food handling, but I just don't generally have an issue with that because we do still roll through things.
- [20:24]
Lisa
Well, yes, and we do, too. But still, you have to have sort of a flow to where you're not getting out more food. And at some point you're saying, okay, we should eat everything that's in this refrigerator.
- [20:35]
Jamerrill Stewart
And that's why, like, tonight I'm not like, I have meat that I had set out that's defrosted, but it's in the refrigerator. And I said to one of my teens this morning, we're not doing that tonight. We're gonna finish Saturday's. What's left over from Saturday tonight, on Monday? Because yesterday, other people fed us.
- [20:54]
Lisa
Right.
- [20:54]
Jamerrill Stewart
But normally that food would have been finished yesterday.
- [20:58]
Lisa
Okay. Yeah.
- [21:00]
Creating really great retailer experiences is tough, especially with multiple stores, teams of staff, fulfillment centers, separate workflow. It's a lot. But with Shopify Point of Sale, you can do it all without complexity. Shopify's Point of sale system is a unified command center for your retail business. It brings together in store and online operations across thousand locations. Imagine being able to guarantee that shopping is always convenient. Endless aisle ship to customer, buy online, pick up in store, all made simpler so customers can shop how they want and staff have the tools to close the sale every time. And let's face it, acquiring new customers is expensive. With Shopify Positive, you can keep shoppers coming back with personalized experiences and first party data that give marketing teams a competitive edge. In fact, it's proven based on a report from EY businesses on Shopify POS see real results like 22% better total cost of ownership and benefits equivalent to an 8.9% uplift in sales on average relative to the market set surveyed. Want more? Check out@shopify.com farmhouse all lowercase and learn how to create the best retail experience experiences without complexity. Shopify.com farmhouse the youth mental health crisis.
- [22:11]
Unknown
Is all over the news and we know social media is driving it. This shocked me. Teens spend on average nine hours a day on screens outside of school. That's basically a full time job just scrolling mindlessly. I know how easy it is to get sucked into social media. I can't even imagine as a teen because when I was a teenager I had a lot more free time, a lot more flexibility in my schedule. Today there's very few moments where I can get sucked in, but even few.
- [22:37]
Lisa
Moments can totally pull me in.
- [22:38]
Unknown
So I just can't even imagine being young and vulnerable and having that temptation. Here's the good news. A company called Gab has solved the problem by doing something no one else is doing. Their approach is tech and Steps. Tech and Steps works by providing a kid safe phone and watch for every agent stage. Basically the right device at the right time. So what does this look like? First off, Gab devices have no social media or Internet apps. For younger kids they have a watch with GPS tracking and safe zones for tweens, a starter phone with more features like monitored messaging and video calling and finally for teenagers, an advanced phone with features like parent managed apps and a premium camera. Bottom line, you don't have to give your kid a device that was made for an adult. Get them Gab which keeps them socially connected safely. We love having a Gab phone. Luke and I go on date nights. The older kids have a few things they do independently where it's really nice when they can reach us. But I don't have to worry about them filling their minds with just the endless amount of information and commentary and all of the things of the Internet. I can't recommend Gab enough. Use our code to get the best deal on something that will make parenting easier and give you peace of mind. Protecting your kids has never been easier. For the best deal, sign up to Gab today. No contract required@gab.com SFL that's Gab G A B B.com SFL Gab.com SFL Terms and Conditions apply.
- [23:59]
Lisa
Yeah, I kind of gauge it by like how full the refrigerator is. Like, okay, we need space. So tonight we're not making any new food. We're just going to eat everything that's in here. Now you have a large fridge. And in my new house we're gonna have a large fridge, which I love because we run out of fridge space all the time, especially with getting raw milk. We get eight gallons a week. It's full. Like, I can't fit two meals in my current refrigerator, so I have a large fridge.
- [24:25]
Jamerrill Stewart
And I have other refrigerators and freezers in my basement again because I've collected them. Like, I have the fridge from my first house from like what year was that even like 1997.
- [24:39]
Lisa
Yeah, yeah.
- [24:41]
Jamerrill Stewart
Greater new for that house. And it's still going.
- [24:43]
Lisa
Okay.
- [24:44]
Jamerrill Stewart
So I, that was always my backup refrigerator at my farmhouse because I also back then with that small grocery budget implemented once a month grocery shopping. And so at that time we only went through 15 gallons of milk a month. And so I bought all 15 gallons up front.
- [25:00]
Lisa
Wow. The refrigeration that needs.
- [25:03]
Jamerrill Stewart
I put 7 gallons in my half freezer on that second fridge and then the other 8 gallons or so was out. You know, I put a couple in my kitchen refrigerator, couple in my back. But I lived rural with, you know, a lot of little kids and a very small budget, and it was easier for me to just have what I need for the month.
- [25:25]
Lisa
Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. I am just curious, what size is your current fridge in your kitchen? Your mega mama kitchen?
- [25:33]
Jamerrill Stewart
47.
- [25:34]
Lisa
Okay. So I'm getting even. I'm getting a smaller one than that, but it still is going to feel so massive.
- [25:39]
Jamerrill Stewart
Oh yeah, yeah. It's a S, A B, A maybe you say it. Okay. Brand. And another friend of mine who has 11 kids, I believe they got this same fridge like in 20. 2021. Ish.
- [25:53]
Lisa
Yeah.
- [25:53]
Jamerrill Stewart
And so I went off her recommendation and it's. It's been good to us. And then I have a 60 inch gas stove which has been good to me.
- [26:02]
Lisa
Oh, wow. Yeah, you've got the setup now.
- [26:06]
Jamerrill Stewart
I do for this season.
- [26:08]
Lisa
Yes, yes.
- [26:10]
Jamerrill Stewart
I could do it all again. Like when we, you know, when we travel, I use regular size. Like I had a regular sized kitchen until 2022.
- [26:18]
Lisa
So yes, it can all definitely be done. I'm currently in a very small kitchen. It's not a, it's not a small fridge. It's an average size fridge. But I think for refrigerators that split the fridge and the freezer down the middle. I want, like three fourths of that to be fridge and just a little bit to be freezer, because I keep all of my stuff that needs to be in the freezer outside. And so got this tiny little. Like, that's just a bad design.
- [26:43]
Jamerrill Stewart
And then I have a. I never liked that one.
- [26:46]
Lisa
Yeah, I know. I didn't know how much I. I didn't like it till just recently.
- [26:50]
Jamerrill Stewart
I live out of it.
- [26:52]
Lisa
Yeah.
- [26:52]
Jamerrill Stewart
I haven't.
- [26:52]
Lisa
I'm like, how do you fit anything in this thing, especially for a large family? But yeah, I'm operating out of, you know, very small kitchen, average size fridge, average size oven, and it's still totally doable. Like, I'm very much looking forward to having the. A better setup, but sure, you can do it. You can do it. Yes.
- [27:13]
Jamerrill Stewart
And I might realistically be moving in the future. And so as I, you know, look on Zillow and look at options, I'm like, oh, you know, the biggest thing I would do is have some cabinets blown out and have the same stove put in. Like, I love the stove so much. Yeah.
- [27:27]
Lisa
How many burners is it?
- [27:30]
Jamerrill Stewart
It's like a love fest with my stove. So we're eight burners, plus an unnecessary flat griddle space.
- [27:37]
Lisa
Okay.
- [27:38]
Jamerrill Stewart
So. And then it's like an oversized oven, and then a regular sized oven.
- [27:43]
Lisa
Okay.
- [27:44]
Jamerrill Stewart
And I do the ovens are electric, not gas. Because when I got into research in the stoves, I just heard so many stories about trouble with the heating elements in the gas stoves.
- [27:56]
Lisa
Okay. Yeah, yeah. Well, so right now I'm in an average size. Just. I think it's Frigidaire oven. Like whatever the standard width is. That's what I have.
- [28:06]
Jamerrill Stewart
Right.
- [28:06]
Lisa
And that is major because in my last house, I had the vintage oven, which was fabulous, but the oven is this wide, so it looks like people think it's two ovens because it's two doors. But on most models, if you go searching around, because this is the reason why I'm probably not doing vintage in my new house, which I love it. The look, it's beautiful. But every time I find one online, you open it up and one side's an oven. One side storage. That's what it was in my last house. And I can only bake one loaf of cast iron Dutch oven bread at a time. In my new oven, I can do two. And it took me so long to realize that. So I was, like, doing one at a time, and I'm like, wait, two Dutch ovens fit in this oven, like at the same time.
- [28:47]
Jamerrill Stewart
Yeah. When I do, like, I love to do your. What is it? It's your artisan beginner easy sourdough.
- [28:55]
Lisa
Yes. Yes.
- [28:56]
Jamerrill Stewart
Ever since you gave me that starter, I just, I just have a, like, I call it a farmhouse on Boone love fest, you know. And so I do that recipe again and again and I, I will get three Dutch ovens going at a time.
- [29:07]
Lisa
Yeah.
- [29:07]
Jamerrill Stewart
One in my regular size, one, and then two more and two in the.
- [29:11]
Lisa
Oversized Y to be able to do two at once. Because the recipe makes two at once. And so I'm used to. When you're baking bread, it's like, you know, leave the oven on for two hours at least maybe three, because you got to preheat it and then two more hours. And then it recently occurred to me that I can actually fit these both in at the exact same time. So it's, it just cuts it down significantly. So.
- [29:34]
Jamerrill Stewart
Glorious.
- [29:35]
Lisa
That's why vintage probably won't be what we do in the new house. Not at all that it can't be done because again, like, it, I made it work. I baked like every bread from scratch. We just always had the oven going. You're always putting stuff in there. It works. But that's right.
- [29:51]
Jamerrill Stewart
It's just whatever system you get used to in your kitchen. Like I was watching through, we did a compilation video of some of my first freezer cooking from eons ago. And in my last house kitchen, which was a super upgrade because my farmhouse, I had no dishwasher. You know, I had, I was very limited on everything. And so then my next kitchen, I had a dishwasher and I actually had a little counter space and had a decent size oven. In my last house though, even though I had all that space, as I kept doing my big batch cooking, this is before I had my 30 quart size mega mama bowls, as I call them, I stirred a lot in big stock pots and stuff. And so during the big cooking times, I just set stools around my kitchen and I would have, you know, different stools, different. Just whole, whole massive system.
- [30:41]
Lisa
Right, right. For what you have.
- [30:43]
Jamerrill Stewart
Like the countertops were full, the stove was full, and so I just, it would have been nice if I would have had like a little pop up camping type table or something to add another, another layer in the kitchen. But I just used stools and it worked fine and I never spilled anything and it all worked out okay.
- [30:58]
Lisa
So selfishly, since we're building a house right now, I want to know what's like the Biggest efficiency thing, like tips that you have in your kitchen. I know most people just like, probably won't apply, but if you have, you know, you're looking for a house or you're going to build a house, what would you say about that?
- [31:14]
Jamerrill Stewart
I have two dishwashers and.
- [31:17]
Lisa
Okay.
- [31:17]
Jamerrill Stewart
And people are still like, you always have dishes if you're sick. I mean, I have a lot of people and I basically cook for work, you know, so we have.
- [31:24]
Lisa
Yes. Oh, I understand.
- [31:26]
Jamerrill Stewart
Family dishes. And then we have additional content, full time food content creator dishes. So I did two big sinks so that I would always have like my work, my prep sink. And then we had a Sink for the 10 people, the 57 children, I like to say that live here. And we have two dishwashers. And that has been very nice. It's just always a lot of dishes and we use paper plates. Can't help it. It's a lot of dishes any way it goes. And what else, efficiency wise? I don't know. Because efficiency means that helps you get things done quicker. I guess the sinks just felt like a necessity. And then I Love the island. 12 foot. 12 foot by 6 foot island.
- [32:11]
Lisa
Yes.
- [32:12]
Jamerrill Stewart
Is just amazing.
- [32:13]
Lisa
Yeah. That having a work prep space in the middle of your kitchen. So I had that in my last house and it changed the game on having like sort of a triangle instead of all just on this one spot. We do in our current kitchen, run out of places to set things because my daughter will be baking something, I'll be making something. And we're like, we don't even know where to put things at that point. Again, it works, but it's not ideal.
- [32:36]
Jamerrill Stewart
Yeah. So some kind of space like that.
- [32:38]
Lisa
Yeah. So we in our last farmhouse did not have a dishwasher. I actually opted for the storage space for my whole grains instead. And then in this current house that we live in, we have a, I want to say 24 inch, like I think a standard dishwasher. No, no, no, that's not right. It's the standard one's 24. So it's a lot smaller than that, whatever that is, maybe half. And it taught me a few things about dishwashers because I feel like the problem with the dishwasher is it always has in it the thing that I need dirty. And what I learned, because I have a small dishwasher, so I'm not worried about running it when it's not like, like I can run it three times a day, is that you have to run it instantly. Like you can't wait until you have enough dishes in it. Is that what you find? So I'm like that I've been doing dishwashers all wrong. You got to load as fast as you can if you rinse. Because that's another thing is I thought people, you had to rinse. And so if you rinse, then I've already spent the amount of time that I usually spend washing dishes. So I'm like, okay, if it can get it clean without me doing literally anything, and I run it instantly. You can't wait until lunch and you can't wait until dinner.
- [33:48]
Jamerrill Stewart
Right.
- [33:48]
Lisa
Then I don't find the problem of, oh, the thing I want is in the dishwasher. And it's actually quite convenient. Now I'm curious with you having two, how often you run them? Because with the one small one, it works out really nice to run it three times a day.
- [34:04]
Jamerrill Stewart
Yeah, we might. I think we have days now if I'm not doing a big cooking project where we will run them once. So if I only had one, it would be run twice. If doing a big project, both of them could go two to three times. It just depends on what the day is like. I hand wash my 30 quart bowls and I did the whole testing. This is like a big Internet conversation. So buckle up like everyone. I got involved in the conversation years ago because I had like a very small kitchen in this house and I operated like even Becky from Maker Homestead came to visit me and the first thing she said when she came into my original kitchen is, my goodness, this is even smaller than it looks like on YouTube. It was just like the original.
- [34:54]
Lisa
Well, and you can't tell scale on YouTube. Yeah, that. That is something that people cannot tell at all. And I've noticed it going to other people's houses too.
- [35:02]
Jamerrill Stewart
Yeah.
- [35:03]
Lisa
So anyways, back to that.
- [35:04]
Jamerrill Stewart
So anyway, in. In that original little baby kitchen with the however old couple decades old dishwasher, I started trying to test because another friend of mine who I think has 11 kids as well, you know, all us large family moms become friends. She doesn't. They don't rinse their dishes. And there's like a tab. I'm not read up on this, but there's like a special tab you're supposed to get to put in your dishwasher that helps with it. Okay, Fill in the blank. And I read some online theory on it. I saw Crystal Payne from Money Saving Mom a few years ago talking about it. So somehow these people and you are going to hear from all of them. Lisa, don't rinse their dishes and they load their dishwashers, and it all comes out. Like, they would only scrape off the chunks. I tried that. I tried that with my old dishwasher and my new ones, and it does not work for me.
- [35:57]
Lisa
Okay.
- [35:57]
Jamerrill Stewart
With special tabs, you know, I've tried, like, only just, you know, scrape off the chunk. The chunk of cheese or whatever and get it in there. And no rinsing. And the Internet will just blame me. I'm the only one who fails at this.
- [36:10]
Lisa
Okay, well, my argument is if I'm rinsing it, we have very few dishes. We have a. We don't keep a huge stock. So we rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat. If it's in the dishwasher, we don't have it. We don't even have enough plates, you know, like, we have to have it. And so if I'm just rinsing it or if I'm already rinsing it, I. I don't see the time savings.
- [36:35]
Jamerrill Stewart
Yeah, well. And at my farmhouse for 10 years, we hand washed, and there was just always a strainer with dishes on the counter.
- [36:41]
Lisa
Well, that's true. That.
- [36:43]
Jamerrill Stewart
That's.
- [36:43]
Lisa
That's one thing about dishwashers.
- [36:45]
Jamerrill Stewart
That's. That's the trade off. So it is the trade off, a strainer that you can close.
- [36:50]
Lisa
That's true.
- [36:52]
Jamerrill Stewart
So much that I can't micromanage. So.
- [36:57]
Lisa
Yeah.
- [36:57]
Jamerrill Stewart
Yeah.
- [36:58]
Lisa
Well, so the dishwasher I have currently, it does work. If I don't. Now, I will say if somebody, like, leaves their. Okay, well, here's. Here's the thing. What if it's because you. You only wash once a day. Because I'm like this.
- [37:13]
Jamerrill Stewart
The.
- [37:13]
Lisa
The food is done. Like the kid eats it five minutes that things run. Maybe not five, but I mean, within 10 minutes, it's running. And so maybe it's not stuck as. As maybe a theory.
- [37:26]
Jamerrill Stewart
Maybe. I mean, whatever works. I'm just saying different conversations that you'll hear.
- [37:30]
Lisa
Yeah, I know. Well, I've been in the anti dishwasher camp for so long, and people are like, you're gonna use a dishwasher in that new house? And I'm like, here's the thing. I'm not anti dishwasher because I think that's, like, better to not use a dishwasher. Like, I think people mistake that. You know how the Internet is.
- [37:45]
Jamerrill Stewart
It sounds like you have a good minimalist system with it. You only have the dishes you need.
- [37:51]
Lisa
Yes. And so as long as you press that button right away, it's actually really Great. And like you said, it keeps the dishes off the counter. And in my new house, my new new house, not the in between house. I can't have the sink with the drain boards, which is so unfortunate. But we have to raise the windows if we have the high back sink. And so not having a drain board to put a dish drainer means you're really not set up to not have a dishwasher too. So.
- [38:17]
Jamerrill Stewart
Right.
- [38:18]
Lisa
Yeah, a little off topic, but that's fine.
- [38:21]
Jamerrill Stewart
No, people like to hear about dishes and dishwashers and efficiency. That's right.
- [38:26]
Lisa
There are so many things in life we just never get around to taking up that hobby, cleaning out the garage. You know, little things that don't really make huge differences in our lives yet. There's one thing that most of us have probably been neglecting that can have a huge impact on our family's future. It's life insurance. And with Select Quote getting covered with the right policy for you is easier and more affordable than you may think. Select Quote is one of America's leading insurance brokers with nearly 40 years of experience helping over 2 million customers find over $700 billion in coverage since 1985. Other life insurance brokers offer impersonal one size fits all policies that may cost you more and cover you less, while Select Quotes licensed insurance agents work for you to tailor a life insurance policy for your individual needs in as little as 15 minutes. And have you ever worried about getting coverage with a pre existing health condition? Select Quote partners with carriers that provide policies for a variety of health conditions. If you have high blood pressure, no problem. If you have diabetes, that's fine too. Even if you have heart disease. Select Quote partners with carriers that can cover those conditions and others. Or if you don't have any major health issues, they work with carriers that can get you some same day coverage with no medical exam required. Head to selectquote.com and a licensed insurance agent will call you right away with the right policy for your life and your budget. Select Quote they shop, you save. Get the right life insurance for you for less@selectquote.com farmhouse go to selectquote.com farmhousetoday to get started. That's selectquote.com farmhouse we had several audience.
- [40:01]
Questions in many different categories and one is how do you stay motivated to do all the meal prep? And I before Jamerrill answers, I mean this is also your job, but before it was your job you had to stay motivated too.
- [40:16]
Jamerrill Stewart
I just started filming it and then because I was already an online businesswoman I was like, okay. And also like, you know, running a business and also being present for our children and being a work at home mom and all of that, it's like, how can I multitask these things that I'm doing? So I've created a business around it. Yeah, but I was. And you know, I had no one watching when I was out there in my garden the first time I butchered chickens barefoot and pregnant. You know, I googled how to butcher a chicken the easy way. I didn't have any online content creation, but that would have been some great footage. That was 2011. And you know, when I was in that 250 to $350 grocery budget, I didn't have anybody watching, but I was doing it like I lived it for, well, let's see, probably 15 years or more. I started sharing aspects of it and now it's just, if I only had a 250 or 350 grocery budget, I know so much as an entrepreneurial woman that I would share that budget and then I would be profitable teaching people how to do it right. And then in turn I would have a bigger grocery budget.
- [41:27]
Lisa
Well, so, okay, and I'm with you. I did all this stuff for a decade before I shared it on the Internet. How did you stay? Or you know, obviously now you're in the flow. It's just something you do. So the motivation probably isn't as much of an issue, but in the beginning, how, when it was all brand new and you were trying to get into this groove, stay motivated to do that.
- [41:50]
Jamerrill Stewart
How I got started was when I worked as a nurse. And so I would Basically, I worked 7pm to 7am as a charge nurse and I was leaving, you know, three little kids with another adult and I needed to prep food for the weekend.
- [42:05]
Lisa
Right.
- [42:06]
Jamerrill Stewart
So that motivated me. I've just, I've always had people to feed, like, you know, as the mom, they, they need to eat. And so we develop little systems along the way. And of course, as you get to be a more seasoned mom, you have more systems in place. So if I, I will be really motivated. If there's nothing prepped like I'm, I am in a season living in active crisis almost two years in, and there's so many things that come up or affect my nervous system in another way. And I, I didn't know how, how this was going to feel or what I was going to have to process or what I was going to have to advocate for. And so as much as freezer meals and having Food prepped in advance have always helped me. They have definitely helped me so much now. And I've also had weeks and seasons where, you know, just getting the 2, 2 lasagnas at Costco and the already done rotisserie chicken and the chicken nuggets, I don't care. Because crisis, you still have to eat, right. So if you can step back from what's my life like when I'm in crisis and know that whenever you have some kind of basics in your freezer, it's going to help you when the unexpected happens or it's sports season. You know, we can say this on a nice happy homemaker level. Haha, right. Like it's sports season, you got four kids doing soccer, you got, you know, and, and you got ballet, and that's in the evenings. Okay, well that can quickly be chaotic. And so how I manage sports seasons and lots of activities before is I started to make sure I had dinner in the slow cooker in the morning. Right. But we don't get to the point to knowing how important that is until it's 4:30 and you're all leaving and you're grabbing the bread and peanut butter and trying to make it to the soccer field and you're wondering, okay, we either eat really early or we eat really late. And even sports season can turn into a chaotic mess.
- [44:00]
Lisa
Yes.
- [44:01]
Jamerrill Stewart
And so you quick, you learn trial by fire. Right? That. Okay, I best figure out something because we're gone four nights a week and I might want to rest one evening.
- [44:12]
Lisa
Yeah. And I, you were talking about like putting the crock pot, the food in the crock pot in the morning. One thing that always amazes me is how little effort there is between being really prepared and then being rushed out the door. And I have, you know, I have seasons where you kind of forget that and so you jump out of the float. It's like, oh no, we have this thing going on and we have no food and all it really took was you doing like a little something a little bit earlier on, whether that was thawing out meat, you know, just, just putting something in the crock pot.
- [44:44]
Jamerrill Stewart
Even having ground beef in the, in the freezer that's already cooked or ground beef. I know we have some questions about canning. If you have ground beef canned, you know, taking a day and canning, whatever level of ground beef that you have, it's shelf stable. And then all you need to do is dump that into your spaghetti sauce or for your taco meat or for your sloppy joes. These again are my little, my Little.
- [45:07]
Lisa
Go to, uh huh, quick things.
- [45:09]
Jamerrill Stewart
Because we are just a few days out of the medical emergency. So it's just like, okay, we always.
- [45:14]
Lisa
Go back to our roots, our canned food.
- [45:17]
Jamerrill Stewart
That's right.
- [45:18]
Lisa
Yeah. And I think sometimes we confuse not being prepared, lack of preparedness with massive effort. And we're like, well, I'll just do this. This is the easier thing. And sometimes it literally takes more time, more effort to do the easier thing. That really, just a tiny bit of preparation would have made it. No big deal. Like it actually a lot of this I think we picture, you know, especially if it's something we're new to, that you're standing in the kitchen all day long and you know, on those like batch cooking days, that very much can be the case.
- [45:52]
Jamerrill Stewart
I have whole. I know people see like the highlight reel. They'll see me, you know, canning 75 pounds of ground beef or processing 380 pounds.
- [46:02]
Lisa
But what about all those random days where you're throwing that in the pot, you know?
- [46:05]
Jamerrill Stewart
Yeah, but there's weeks I don't cook at all. Like there's.
- [46:09]
Lisa
Yes, you're throwing that canned stuff.
- [46:10]
Jamerrill Stewart
I'm, I'm living off of that, you know.
- [46:13]
Lisa
Yeah.
- [46:13]
Jamerrill Stewart
So that's what reminds me. It's so good. Keep going. And I haven't done any kind of batch cooking in probably three and a half weeks now. And tomorrow I plan to do a batch cooking day where I'm going to do a bunch of homemade pizzas for the freezer and also pizza dough. You know, we'll do sourdough pizza dough. I'll do traditional, just all of it. I like to freeze the dough, but I also like to have like pizzas ready. And so it's, my goodness, I'll do that. And then I probably won't do something like that for months.
- [46:46]
Lisa
Right.
- [46:47]
Jamerrill Stewart
You know, and I did a bunch of, I did like 280 breakfast sandwiches and I did, you know, homemade sourdough bagels, farmhouse on Boone credit and English muffins and traditional biscuits and all of that. And we'll be eating those. Well, they ate a lot of them during the medical emergency. And I have some different in my fridge now. I don't need to do big batch breakfast freezer meals even every month.
- [47:15]
Lisa
Right.
- [47:15]
Jamerrill Stewart
You know, I did that once every 12 weeks. That gives us a base.
- [47:20]
Lisa
So the sandwiches, how are you packaging them up and then how are you preparing them? Because I, I used to do this and I love the idea because every morning it's a new thing. Like what are you going to make for breakfast. And if you just had some sandwiches, just people to grab, you know.
- [47:36]
Jamerrill Stewart
That's right. So I do sheet pan eggs. Usually I'll do like a sheet pan omelet or whatever. So I do several sheet pans of eggs and then I have all my bread products that maybe I've made homemade or maybe I've bought from Walmart. It really depends on what, on my bingo card at that time. But it doesn't matter because I'm getting stuff in the freezer and but this, these last time, definitely 3/4 of everything was homemade. And then I'll have some kind of meat, like pre cooked sausage patties or I'll batch cook a bunch of bacon in the oven and then I'll get like my 12 pound log of provolone from Sharp shopper, slice down our cheese. And so I just keep assembling and as I run out of ingredients, you know, we might get to the end and have some sourdough English muffins with some sheet pan omelette on it. And so I just, I use my teenage army to then individually wrap things in plastic wrap and then we put them in. We get as many as we can in gallon bags and they go in the freezer. And so then my family's trained to, whenever we don't have any in our upstairs refrigerator, they'll bring maybe two or three gallon bags up. And then over the next several days, I mean I'll have kids that might eat them for lunch or I might have kids that eat them, obviously.
- [48:56]
Lisa
Right. Something healthy to grab.
- [48:59]
Jamerrill Stewart
I might have a teenage boy in the afternoon, go back, walk by. I mean they're like six foot two and there might be like sandwiches and.
- [49:08]
Lisa
Yep.
- [49:08]
Jamerrill Stewart
Hey, hey, look, I'm meal prepped, you know.
- [49:10]
Lisa
Yeah, yeah. So do you like put them in the toaster oven or.
- [49:16]
Jamerrill Stewart
Oh, I'm sorry. So many times they, they unwrap them.
- [49:20]
Lisa
Okay.
- [49:20]
Jamerrill Stewart
And you can also like, we go through things then we have times to go through things quickly. I've had times where I've just like done a layer of parchment paper. But sandwiches because you have the different components. So anyway, unwrap them and they're defrosted. So then they just put them in the microwave for a minute and a half to two minutes. It's similar to. Yeah, you know, if you go to 711 and you get a biscuit, I mean, you know, reality. Or you get a burrito and then there's just like the little crusty microwave at 7:11 and that's what people do they reheat it? So.
- [49:55]
Lisa
Right, yeah, yeah.
- [49:57]
Jamerrill Stewart
Version of a quick grab and go breakfast.
- [50:00]
Lisa
Yeah, we used to, when I used to do this and I haven't done it in so long, like I and my husband's still like, remember when you used to make me all those English muffin sandwiches and you had them in the freezer and like, yeah, I do. I used to do that. But we had a toaster oven that just sat on our counter and I think he had to put it in there for not that long. Like it was just the perfect little oven for heating up the sandwiches. So either one works.
- [50:27]
Jamerrill Stewart
And I have, I also go back to. And thankfully I just did this like six weeks ago. Way back in the day. I used to like freeze peanut butter and jelly and every. Everybody's like, why would you freeze peanut butter and jelly? Well, listen, if you're going to homeschool group with a gaggle of and you need to get out the door and then yes, for me in my life, if I can, the night before, take a dozen frozen peanut butter jellies out, put them in the refrigerator and the next morning is just a matter of throwing, you know, fruit crackers, whatever other things in our sandwiches. I made them one day and we will use those sandwiches over several weeks as needed. And so I will also do that with just bread and cheese. And so I can do, I will do sheet pan, grilled cheese. And again it, no, it doesn't take much time to put cheese on bread, but if you're doing 12 of them, you know, or 24, it all adds up.
- [51:22]
Lisa
Well, and when you're running out of the house last minute, like you still have to have something. And assembling a bunch of sandwiches actually does take a lot of time. I always say that like the easy option. People will talk about, you know, sandwiches, things like that. That actually takes for my large family more time than throwing a roast in the instant pot with some potatoes and carrots like that. Assembling all those sandwiches. Yes, it's easy. Everybody knows how to do it. But it actually does take more time.
- [51:49]
Jamerrill Stewart
Yeah. And yeah, I love, I've got one of those goose pots and so I'll put whatever kind of root vegetables on the bottom and then like two farm raised chickens and put the lid on it and look, that meal's gonna be done and they go through two chickens for one dinner. So anyway, meat volume.
- [52:06]
Lisa
Yeah, I know.
- [52:07]
Jamerrill Stewart
So I saw my 10 year old the other day, he'll take one of those cheese sandwiches. You take this. This is not time savings, but he'll take the cheese off. He puts the bread in the toaster, he puts the cheese back on. Then he puts the. Puts it in the microwave for 20 seconds, and that's his end of it. He's got his system.
- [52:24]
Lisa
He has his method.
- [52:25]
Jamerrill Stewart
10 year old. Yeah. If we're not doing 24, if he just wants one.
- [52:29]
Lisa
I could totally see my son, like, having a whole system like that, because he has his own ways of wanting to have things. Like, I don't want to. You know, I don't. I can't make his plate. Not that I would, but, like, he's got his own ways that he wants it.
- [52:42]
Jamerrill Stewart
Have at it, kids. When people ask me, what do you do if your kids don't want to eat what you eat? Yes.
- [52:47]
Lisa
Yes.
- [52:48]
Jamerrill Stewart
They can make their own dinner. They can make a sandwich. You know they can. That's why I usually have some options. And obviously, as a mom, like, you know what most people like.
- [52:58]
Lisa
Right.
- [52:58]
Jamerrill Stewart
And so. But sometimes I will have someone make a meat and mayonnaise sandwich. That's what they call it.
- [53:05]
Lisa
Mayo.
- [53:06]
Jamerrill Stewart
Meat and mayo.
- [53:07]
Lisa
Well, I love things that you can add as your taste. Like, we'll cut up some avocados. We'll cut up some jalapenos. We'll cut up some herbs. And so some of the kids just want chili. But then Luke and I want to pile on the sauerkraut, the avocado, the jalapeno, the cilantro, you know, or like, maybe if you have something where you're adding, like a fancy sauce you're making, just don't add the sauce. They might just want a tortilla meat, cheese. That's exactly.
- [53:33]
Jamerrill Stewart
And that's. That's what I've seen My little guys will do nachos, you know, if the. If we're doing tacos or something like that.
- [53:40]
Lisa
Yes. You have all the components there. And then they build it with just the cheese, the meat.
- [53:44]
Jamerrill Stewart
It'll be okay.
- [53:45]
Lisa
Yeah, it really will. Yeah, it'll be okay. Okay. We have a few questions about canning. It's, like, probably a whole thing to jump into. And I know you have a lot of resources on your YouTube channel. Do you have a playlist for canning specifically?
- [54:03]
Jamerrill Stewart
I probably do. I do have. I'm trying to think. I did broth, maybe in January. I want to go through and do more of my ground beef. I did ground beef a bit ago, but I'm out of ground beef now. And even, like, stew meat and things like that.
- [54:18]
Lisa
Yeah, yeah. Lots of questions about safety, things like.
- [54:21]
Jamerrill Stewart
That go to the, the national center of Food Preservation website. Anything that I can. Yeah, exactly. Anything that I can. Especially, you know, things for YouTube and such, I just go through there.
- [54:33]
Lisa
Okay.
- [54:35]
Jamerrill Stewart
Even like when I canned 380 pounds of tomatoes and did homemade sauce and did that adventure, I just used their directions for canning the sauce. Obviously I did a bigger volume and I do have like the 45 quart all American caner and I have an Amish canner. Like I have a lot of canning equipment. But if you have. I started with two presto canners. Well, one presto canner and then I went to the next. Yeah. So I can, I'm used to scaling to a big volume because if I'm, if I'm doing it, you know, what's five quarts when I can do 56 quarts?
- [55:13]
Lisa
Yeah. We had several freezer meal specific questions like what's not? Like what shouldn't you freeze? How do you keep it delicious? How do you organize? And I was noticing with a lot of the things you said about your kids, they're all very used to going to the freezer, checking the inventory. I think if you're a freezer meal household, then people know to look there, whereas there's, I've gone through seasons where we don't do that at all. And so I'll freeze just some ground beef and then completely forget that it's in there. And so no matter how organized you are, if you're not used to going into the freezer, I think that's a problem. But yeah, what are some of your tips?
- [55:49]
Jamerrill Stewart
Yeah, they start looking glassy eyed whenever they can't go to the freezer. And there's not 12 dozen varieties.
- [55:57]
Lisa
Where's the food, mom?
- [55:58]
Jamerrill Stewart
Yeah, exactly. So they, they don't know. So again, even recently like they had meals that they cooked. They did on the sheet pans. They paired it with freezer meals or used totally freezer meals, but they are used to having that base. Someone asked me something similar the other day and my goodness, I just feel like so many things have worked out well. But I have, I've stuck with the basics. Like I've, I've done egg rolls, I've done twice baked potatoes. So many things just freeze well. And so even sour cream. Like I have recipes where I'll use sour cream if I have it because I'm all about obviously using what I have up in the refrigerator. So if it's sour cream or if it's Greek yogurt or if it's cottage cheese. Like if I'm doing a baked spaghetti or lasagna or something. And all of those, even though they're dairy, not for the dairy free questions, but they all bake well, you know, it looks all ice chippy and such, but even freezing sour cream you can use for cooking and in different recipes too. So.
- [56:57]
Lisa
Yeah, so there's not many that you stay away from.
- [56:59]
Jamerrill Stewart
And nothing's gonna be like crispy on the top. So like I have a, like a taco bake casserole and the layers will be shredded. Tacos. Well, sometimes I've run out of tacos. I'll switch that out with tortillas. But people worry that the layers are going to be mushy. Well, even if you bake it with crispy taco shells in the layers, it's, it's going to be baked.
- [57:22]
Lisa
Right.
- [57:23]
Jamerrill Stewart
But you top it fresh like with that particular recipe. I top it with crunchy. So that's where you get your crunchy.
- [57:30]
Lisa
Okay.
- [57:31]
Jamerrill Stewart
You have your layers and then crunchy things I top before baking. So if there's different casseroles and things that would need a crunchy element or just like if you're. I do freeze gravy, but for different, like slow cooker dump and go type recipes or the instant pot, you know, like the last 30 minutes, you might need to add in your thickening agent or take some of it out. You know, add in. I use xanthum gum, gum a lot. Okay. And so those kind of things, you know, like you'll have to know that with some freezer meals, even though it's a, it's assembled, you may have to add a topping or stir at the end or like add a few other last minute quick ingredients.
- [58:19]
Lisa
Right. But even still going to your freezer and then having that idea given to.
- [58:24]
Jamerrill Stewart
You having 15 dinners. Yeah, you have 15 dinners there. I mean, how, how much can it save your life if over this next six weeks, you know, you have 15 dinners in your freezer? It's really great.
- [58:36]
Lisa
And on your channel, I know you share, you show how you package things, how you store it in the freezer, you share all of this kind of stuff. Are you also sharing time efficiency? Because I think when people are brand new to freezer cooking, for me personally, I made the wrong stuff because it took all day to get like stuff that I, you know, maybe could have easily made. And I think you have more of a system down that you can, people can go to your YouTube channel and see how it works.
- [59:02]
Jamerrill Stewart
In practice, we try to Especially with the big batch freezer meal guides have all the prep laid out. So because that's such a high volume of food, sometimes I will do the prep guide. Like, you know, if I need to cook ground beef first or process 20 peppers or what all those little components. And so I might do that the day before and then the next day do meal assembly.
- [59:27]
Lisa
Okay.
- [59:27]
Jamerrill Stewart
Is one way to look at it. And then I've had many times though, if I start in the morning, it truly can be one day. And then especially like for freezer, slow cooker, freezer meals, many times those can be assembled in the afternoon.
- [59:44]
Lisa
Wow. Yeah. So much great information. Inspiration. For those who want to see how this works in practice, head over to Jamerrill Stewart over on YouTube, your website. Tell people where best to follow along.
- [60:02]
Jamerrill Stewart
My main YouTube channel is it's just Aamerrill Stewart.
- [60:06]
Lisa
Yeah. And we'll leave it linked down below. I'm sure many of you already know Jamerrill, but here's your reminder to be prepared because just a little bit of preparedness can save you from, you know, just expensive, unhealthy takeout. Just all, you know, in a crisis, being able to have the confident assurance that I have the food that's going to sustain my family taken care of. I think that's invaluable.
- [60:34]
Jamerrill Stewart
Yes. Thank you.
- [60:35]
Lisa
Thank you so much, Jamerrill. Appreciate you coming on. Thanks as always for listening to the Simple Farmhouse Life podcast. My husband Luke and I and our eight kids work together side by side on our little homestead and use our blog, podcast and YouTube channel to reach other homemakers, home cooks and home setters with practical recipes and daily family life. For everyday sourdough recipes, make sure to check out our blog, farmhouse on Boone.com and to dig deeper, we do also offer a course called Simple Sourdough over at Bit Ly Farmhouse. Sourdough course, that's all one word. Bit Ly Farmhouses. If you're looking to learn how we earn an income online, check out my YouTube course at Bit Ly Farmhouse. YouTube course all one word.
- [61:35]
Jamerrill Stewart
SA.