1KHO 833: Ultimate Meal Prep | Crystal Schmidt, Freeze Fresh Meal Prep

Summary

The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast

Episode: 1KHO 833: Ultimate Meal Prep | Crystal Schmidt, Freeze Fresh Meal Prep
Host: Ginny Yurich
Guest: Crystal Schmidt (Author, Whole Fed Homestead)
Date: June 20, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode explores the art, science, and joy of meal prepping via freezing, with special guest Crystal Schmidt—gardener, homesteader, and author of Freeze Fresh Meal Prep. Crystal and host Ginny Yurich discuss practical ways to preserve fresh foods (whether homegrown, farmed, or store-bought) by transforming them into frozen meal starters, baked goods, snacks, and more. The conversation mixes hands-on food preservation tips with reflections on connecting to nature, home-cooked food, and seasonal rhythms—all in the context of reclaiming a more present, less tech-dominated family life.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

How Crystal Discovered Food Preservation

[02:14]

• Crystal has always loved freezing as her favorite preservation method: “Frozen food is fresh food because it just tastes…so fresh.” – Crystal Schmidt [02:21]
• Her interest was sparked by growing up close to the land, with a dad who was a woodsman and gardener. Later, she homesteaded on 20 acres, striving for nourishment while avoiding burnout.
• She finds freezing simple, fast, and effective—and noticed a lack of inspiring, modern resources about it.

Why Freezing? What Sets It Apart

[03:00–04:25]

• Freezing is accessible and retains the fresh taste and color of produce.
• Crystal contrasts it with heavily processed frozen meals and outdated preservation books: "I wanted to make resources for people so that they could take the fresh stuff…whether they grew it themselves or got it at a farmers market…turn them into something that makes making a meal easier and really delicious." – Crystal Schmidt [04:14]

Introducing Meal Starters & Recipe Innovation

[06:04–08:01]

• Crystal’s new book, Freeze Fresh Meal Prep, focuses on freezing “meal starters”—partially-prepped bundles (like soup bases, stir-fry veg combinations, etc.) that just need pantry staples or proteins added later.
• Example: Her all-time favorite, Chicken Tortilla Soup Starter. She freezes sautéd veggies and spices; later it's transformed into fresh soup in 10 minutes by adding broth, beans, and chicken.
• The photo-worthy frozen “bundles” are both beautiful and highly functional.

Notable Quote:
"This is my favorite thing…number one thing. It's chicken tortilla soup starter…when I wanna make the soup, I just thaw it…put it in a pot and heat it up with broth and beans…add some chicken, and it literally takes 10 minutes…"
– Crystal Schmidt [06:39]

Freezer Storage Best Practices

[08:14–11:56]

• Crystal details container choices: freezer bags, specialty round containers, reusable deli containers, silicone molds (“super cubes”).
• On glass: Small glass containers (good for jams), but large ones can crack and break.
• “Air is the enemy of frozen food.” [10:27]
  • Always use the smallest container that fits your food.
  • With bags: Squeeze out as much air as possible before sealing.
  • For broths/soups: Add a splash of water if the container isn’t full (“it protects it a lot better…you’d never know”). [10:27]

Sizing, Labeling & Personalization

[12:16–13:04]

• Choose portion sizes based on your family’s needs—flexibility is part of the appeal.
• Label clearly and portion based on meal size (e.g., single servings vs. whole family).

Flash Freezing & Preventing Freezer Burn

[13:04–15:22]

• Flash freezing is ideal for items like blueberries, broccoli, and other produce you want to use in small amounts. Spread them on a tray to freeze individually, then bag.
• Biggest tip for avoiding freezer burn: invest in a dedicated chest or stand-up freezer ("fridge freezers don’t work as well”). [14:37]

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What You Can Freeze: Categories & Creative Examples

Meal Starters

[19:56–30:26]

• Soup Starters: Like her favorite Chicken Tortilla Soup or French Onion Soup base.
• Meal Starters: Broccoli Fried Rice (frozen sautéed veg base makes dinner in 10 min), pasta dishes, pizza casseroles.

Notable Quote:
"It feels like…a treasure chest full of gold…you just grab something homemade from the freezer and turn it into a quick and tasty dinner."
– Ginny Yurich [19:56]

Baked Goods

[22:10–23:25]

• Don’t limit yourself to main dishes: Crystal’s book covers freezing cakes, muffins, pancakes (“sheet pan pancakes”, cut to fit the toaster), waffles, cookies, and even cookie dough.
• Root veg (carrots, beets) work especially well in baking for the freezer.

Memorable Concept:

• Double chocolate beet cookies: “They add a starchy quality and bake up so well…” – Crystal Schmidt [21:39]

Drinks & Drink Starters

[36:04–37:14]

• Freeze homemade fruit syrups or juice cubes for quick summer drinks (Peach Iced Tea Starter; Cranberry Juice Cubes).
• Throw a cube into water, tea, or a cocktail for instant flavor.

Sides & Snacks

[37:35–38:31]

• Hash brown waffles: Use a waffle iron (“great way to use up russet potatoes, which don’t freeze well in other ways”).
• Side dishes like vegetable bakes or roasted beet salads freeze well.

Thawing:

• Not microwave-reliant. Options: thaw in the fridge, in cold water, or reheat in a toaster/oven.

Treats and Bonuses

[39:26–41:03]

• Fruit sauces (e.g., strawberry rhubarb, cranberry pear) double as muffin bases; “choose your own sauce muffins.”
• Granola, overnight oats for grab-and-go snacks.
• Pie fillings, jams, and dessert bars.

Gift-Ready Freezer Meals

[43:54–45:24]

• “Gifting” frozen meals is a game-changer for meal trains or supporting others during tough times; soups are especially welcome (“Soup feels like a warm hug” [44:01]).
• Add a bow or twine for a special touch.

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Living Close to the Land: Gardening, Seasonal Rhythm, & Raising Food

[24:52–26:39]

• Most preserving gets done in summer, in sync with the growing season and local harvests (asparagus, berries, stone fruit, tomatoes, etc.). Peak seasonality brings both joy and overwhelm.
• Crystal encourages embracing the “rolling” rhythm of produce—"watching the season unfurl.”
• Not everyone needs to grow their own food to benefit: “You don’t have to be doing that in order to use a book like this…a CSA, a farmers market, even a sale at the grocery store can provide your ‘abundance’.” [26:59]

Gardening & Homestead Tips
[46:34–50:01]

• Crystal talks about gardening failures and encourages trial, error, and perseverance.
• Also discusses starting seeds, why certain varieties are worth seeking out, and how even failed crops are instructive.

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Homemade, Hands-On Living: Bees, Chickens, and Crafting

[46:34–53:08]

• Crystal grew up helping with bees (“It was easier to keep bees decades ago…”), chicken-keeping, and making maple syrup. Her family also ran a Christmas tree farm—she made and sold ornaments and crafts from greenery.
• Activities like growing, cooking, crafting, and even making soap or lip balm can all draw people—especially kids—into a more engaged, nature-connected life.

Kids & Nature

• Even kids from “the city” light up when picking berries or pulling carrots: “You present a kid with a cluster of beautiful…raspberries, and their face lights up…those things I’m sure will be memories for them forever.” [48:27]

Memorable Moment:

• Crystal’s favorite childhood outdoor memory: “Laying down in the softest patch of grass, twirling flowers, looking up at the sunshine and just being so mesmerized with nature…” [54:47]

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• “Frozen food is fresh food because it just tastes…so fresh.” – Crystal Schmidt [02:21]
• “I love taking seasonal abundance and turning it into year round nourishment.” – Crystal Schmidt [03:12]
• “Air is the enemy of frozen food.” – Crystal Schmidt [10:27]
• “If you get started in this, you could have a treasure chest full of gold…grab something homemade from the freezer and turn it into a quick and tasty dinner.” – Ginny Yurich [19:56]
• “A lot of preserving happens during the warm months, and then ride out the winter eating what you put up.” – Crystal Schmidt [23:56]
• “Soup feels like a warm hug. And if you give it to them frozen, they’re not obligated to eat it right away.” – Crystal Schmidt [44:01]
• “Planting a seed is so magical…” – Crystal Schmidt [50:01]

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Engaging Moments

• Crystal describing her favorite meal starter: chicken tortilla soup; how it’s prepped and frozen, then quickly finished as a fresh meal. [06:04–07:42]
• Sheet pan pancakes and hash brown waffles as creative, space-efficient ways to prep family breakfasts and sides. [30:42–38:31]
• Gifting frozen meals, complete with photo-ready presentation tips (clear container, twine bow). [45:07]
• Nostalgic reflections on childhood outdoor experiences, picking flowers, and the grounding joy of hands-on living. [54:47–55:32]

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Resource Highlights

• Crystal’s Books:
  • Freeze Fresh (focused on individual produce and techniques).
  • Freeze Fresh Meal Prep (160 meal starters, make-ahead dishes, tips, and recipes).
• Website: wholefedhomestead.com
  • Recipes, bee-keeping, crafts, homestead tips, and seasonal projects.

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Practical Tips

• Use the smallest airtight package for freezing, removing as much air as possible.
• Flash freeze produce intended for grab-and-go use.
• Invest in a small stand-alone freezer if possible.
• Don’t just freeze main meals—think drinks, desserts, snacks, and sides too.
• Seasonal living and embracing imperfection ("every gardener fails…") are key.

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Final Thoughts

• Crystal’s approach fuses practical meal prep/convenience food with the deep satisfaction of homegrown, hands-on living—all while fostering a connection to family, nature, and tradition.
• The episode is packed with actionable tips, encouragement for beginners, and inspiration for experienced preservers—the perfect primer for anyone seeking to eat better while slowing down and reconnecting with real food.

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Transcript

[Podcast Host/Advertiser]

This episode is sponsored by Fora Travel. I've always been the person people come to for travel advice, whether it's planning a camping trip in Northern Michigan, figuring out how to travel well with kids across the country, or finding experiences that actually help families connect instead of just filling an itinerary. I genuinely have loved helping people create meaningful adventures. And I know a lot of you listening are probably that person, too. The friend who plans the trip, the one who researches the details. The one person people trust to find the hidden gems and make everything run smoothly. I Fora is built for people exactly like that. Fora is a modern travel agency that helps people build their own travel business, no matter what stage of life they're in. You don't need prior experience because Fora gives you the training, technology, and support to help you get started. And you're joining a community of people who are building businesses centered around experiences, relationships, and helping others travel well. A lot of advisors begin simply by helping people they already know and grow naturally from there. What I also appreciate is that there are no sales quotas or minimums. You can build this at a pace that works for your life and your family. Your next act starts here. Become a for adviser today at foratravel.com 1000hours. That's F O R A travel.com 1000hours. And make sure you tell them we sent you for travel.com 1000hours.

[Jenny Urchin]

Welcome to the 1000hours Outside podcast. My name is Jenny Urchin, the founder of 1000 Hours Outside. And I learned about something so cool that you can, like, freeze part of meals and you can have these, I mean, these pictures. I'm holding it up, so if you're listening, you're not going to see it, but it's all these, like, little frozen bundles of beautiful colored food. And the author of this book, which is called Freeze Fresh Meal Prep, it's Meal starters, Frozen Meal Starters, and Make Ahead Dishes for the freezer. Author Crystal Schmidt is here, creator of Whole Fed Homestead. And this is your second book about freezing foods and just making meals easier and more fresh. Crystal, welcome.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Thank you so much.

[Jenny Urchin]

All right, tell us. I mean, I don't really know anything about this. I'm trying to think if I've frozen meals before, like a couple times. Not much. All right, so how did you get interested?

[Crystal Schmidt]

How did I get interested? I have always loved freezing as a preservation method. It's always been my favorite. Just because it's quick and it's easy and it's accessible and the food tastes fresh. I always like to say that frozen food is fresh food because it just tastes, it literally tastes so fresh. And when I started writing books about freezing.

[Jenny Urchin]

Okay, wait, wait, no, I need you to go one step back because I would say that I am not the type of person who has a favorite preservation method. So how do you become the type of person who has a favorite preservation method?

[Crystal Schmidt]

I think just doing a lot of different preservation methods, but like, is it

[Jenny Urchin]

because you're growing stuff? Is it because you're farmers marketing?

[Crystal Schmidt]

For me, it's because I'm growing stuff. Okay, yes, absolutely. We, I live on 20 acres with my fella and we try to grow and preserve as much of our own food as we can every year without burning ourselves out and while still enjoying it. And I just, I love preserving so much. I love taking seasonal abundance and turning it into year round nourishment. There's just something about that that makes me feel so grounded and so connected to nature and to like a humanness that is disappearing. So I have done all of the preserving methods. I love them all too. But freezing for me is just so easy and so good. And there weren't a lot of. I think part of the problem is when I started writing freezer books, there weren't a lot of great freezer preservation resources out there. They were all very antiquated, they were all very, I don't know, uninspiring, almost just kind of old information. And so I wanted to make resources for people so that they could take the fresh stuff that they were, that they had, whether they grew it themselves or got it at a farmer's market, or whether you just bought a tub of spinach at the store and you're not going to use it up, that you can take those fresh ingredients and turn them into something that makes making a meal later easier and that's just really delicious and that it's something that you want to eat.

[Jenny Urchin]

Okay, sorry that I keep going backwards.

[Crystal Schmidt]

No, that's okay.

[Jenny Urchin]

Talk about getting to the point where you live on 20 acres and you're making food that you want to preserve.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Oh, gosh. I, I count myself very fortunate that I kind of grew up in the outdoors, which I'm sure a lot of your listeners can resonate with. I. My dad was a woodsman. We did a lot of hunting, fish, foraging, you know, picking wild blackberries and they always had a garden. So I grew up around that kind of stuff and I grew up around food. So I'm very thankful for that because I don't know if I would have found it as an adult had I not been kind of living close to the land in my youth. But yeah, we have a homestead on 20 acres. And man, I just love growing stuff. I do.

[Jenny Urchin]

And then you preserve it because you have extra. And so you preserve that. And the freezing part is a thing because you know you can freeze it and then it gets freezer burn or you just don't use it, it just sits in the freezer. And so this is about making sure that the things actually get used and then making a meal easier later down the road. Okay, so this particular book is the second book, the Freeze Fresh Meal Prep. And then your first book is called Just Freeze Fresh where you're talking about different fruits and vegetables and just time tested techniques that ensure the color and the texture and the flavor are retained the freezer. So you go through like peas and avocados and citrus fruits. So this one is more of a meal prep. And you have meal starters. Honestly, Crystal, I've never heard of this.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yeah, it's. It is. So a starter is become one of my favorite categories of things to freeze. And there are a couple of different ones. There's meal starters, soup starters, beverage starters, and dip starters in the book. And so what it is is basically you're taking the fresh portion of the recipe, so the fruit or the vegetable and herb portion and cooking it together and freezing it. And then when you want to make that meal, you just thaw it and then you're adding your pantry staples like rice, beans, noodles, and usually a protein, eggs, meat, whatever to complete the meal. And it's a really freezer space saving way to preserve stuff, which for me is really important. As somebody who grows and preserves a lot of stuff, I'm always looking for ways to conserve freezer space. But then it also makes making a meal later really easily. And I can give you, I'll give you an example. This is my favorite thing. If you ask me what's my favorite thing of all time to preserve. This is what I would say. This is the top number one thing. It's chicken tortilla soup starter. And so it's basically a soup that I make in a disjointed way. And so I, you know, start by sauteing onion and pepper and garlic and then add in fresh tomatoes and simmer it with spices and then add in sweet corn. And I've got this really flavorful vegetable mixture that I freeze. And then when I wanna make the soup, I just thaw it and put it in a pot and heat it up with broth and beans, add some usually leftover chicken, and it's literally, it takes 10 minutes to heat up. It's so quick. It tastes like it simmered all day. It's made with fresh ingredients. It's homemade. It tastes so good and it was so easy to put together.

[Jenny Urchin]

And it looks really cool. Frozen.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yes, that too.

[Jenny Urchin]

How's it. These pictures. What in the world? They're so colorful. I'm like, I've never seen anything like this in my life. Did you make this up?

[Crystal Schmidt]

Oh, I did. I actually did make pretty much every, every piece of food you see in there.

[Jenny Urchin]

But like, did you make up this idea of having a meal starter?

[Crystal Schmidt]

I don't know that I made that.

[Jenny Urchin]

I think you did.

[Crystal Schmidt]

I think there's some canning recipes that are kind of similar where it's like, you know, tomato soup start. You know, I don't know if I did or not. I'm sure I didn't. Well, thanks.

[Jenny Urchin]

I think it, I was like, I've never seen this in my life. Okay, so the reason, part of the reason why they look so cool is you freeze them in. Okay, well, first of all, you talk about how to freeze the things and you're like, in glass. And we've had the, we've done like broth and glass and then the glass breaks. So I was like, oh, yep. She says not to do that in this book. But you're, you're freezing these in containers that look like they're mostly round. And so then you have these incredibly cool looking round frozen food things.

[Crystal Schmidt]

That was more artistic for the photo because we were just looking for neat things to make photos for the chapters. But I freeze in a couple things I do. Like plastic freezer bags. They protect your food. They're inexpensive, they're easy to use, they're easy to store. Like, they pack in the freezer really good.

[Jenny Urchin]

Yeah.

[Crystal Schmidt]

And you can reuse them too, if you want. And then I do like some round containers. They're kind of like a deli container, but they're made for the freezer, so they're really thick, so they protect your food. And they don't, they're not brittle and they don't crack and break. And then I do things like, have you ever heard of super cubes? Or like the molds that you freeze, you can freeze blocks in? I like some of those too. Sometimes there's all sorts of options. And I do freeze some things in glass. A couple things. Not a lot of things, but like jam. I really love freezing in Glass, because I just, I think it deserves an elegant container. And I love eating, you know, a jam.

[Jenny Urchin]

Our little ones have never broken, but the big ones have broken.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yep.

[Jenny Urchin]

They're like, I guess, quart size or, you know, if you put a big thing of broth in. But our little ones of jam have never broken.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yep, same, same.

[Jenny Urchin]

Okay. Okay. So you go through in the book how to do it, and I would imagine that you do the same thing in freeze fresh, right?

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yeah, Yep. All sorts of how to freeze it, how to thaw it, how to heat it, how to eat it.

[Podcast Host/Advertiser]

Okay.

[Jenny Urchin]

But this is more focused towards meals. Okay, so then can you talk about, you say air is the enemy of frozen food. This would be the thing that people I think are freaked out about, because what do you do if you have a container but you don't fill the whole thing? Or how do you make sure that you get the air out of the Ziploc bag? So what are the tips and tricks about dealing with air?

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yes, the dreaded air. So that is the one, the one thing when you're dealing, dealing with. For trying to prevent freezer burn, it's very important to use a good quality container and remove the air from that container. So like you said, if you have a rigid container and you don't fill it up all the way, that space that you didn't fill is air. So use the right size container for what you're, what you're putting in it. And for example, when I have, because I freeze a lot of broth too, if I don't have quite enough to fill up the container, I actually will put water. I'll add a little bit more water to it. It just, it dilutes it like a teeniest bit. You would never know, but it protects it a lot better. But in general, I'm always trying to choose the size of container for what I'm putting in it. That's where if you use freezer bags, that becomes easier because you can squish the air out of a free of a freezer bag where you can't do that with a rigid container as much. So if you only have half of a bag worth of stuff. Yeah. You can squish that air out and then you're going to be a lot more protected.

[Jenny Urchin]

What if what's in the bag is squishy already?

[Crystal Schmidt]

Oh, how do you mean?

[Jenny Urchin]

Like if it was like tomato sauce or something that is like runny.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yeah, there's. That's the kind of thing, I think once you do it a bunch you get really good at it with kind of holding it up and closing the bag almost all the way and then kind of pushing the product up just until it gets close to the top and most of the air is out of that bag. And then you quick zip the rest of the corner of it.

[Jenny Urchin]

Yeah. Okay. And then you can. You can lay those things flat. So you want to make sure that there's no air. That's. That's one of the biggest tips. Air is the enemy of frozen food. And then you talk in the book about labeling so people can read that. The book is called Freeze Fresh meal prep 160 meal starters and make Head Dishes for the freezer. How do you know what quantity to freeze in?

[Crystal Schmidt]

Well, I think for. I think that's going to be a kind of a personal preference thing. So for a lot of the recipes in the book, it's, you know, a meal's worth and you freeze the quantity that the recipe calls for. But if you're freezing something random, like raspberries that you picked or, you know, little. If you want to do portions of, like, oatmeal for breakfast, like, I have a blueberry and peach steel cut oatmeal recipe that I really like, and so those I do in half cup portions because that's about the amount that I like to eat. But if you are feeding a whole family, you can freeze that in four cups in a. In a bag or, you know, if you want to double a recipe because you have a huge family. I don't. I have a small family, so I'm always freezing a little bit on the smaller side. But I think that's the nice thing about it. It's easy to tailor up to your needs. Or down.

[Jenny Urchin]

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And then you talk about flash freezing, which we've done once. I kind of had forgotten about it until I read your book. But we live in Michigan, and in July, there's. You can pick blueberries. They're kind of everywhere, and there's so many of them. And so one year we got so many blueberries, and then we put them in a pan and put them in the freezer and. And then they're like little marbles. And then they don't stick because they had frozen.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yep.

[Podcast Host/Advertiser]

Individually.

[Jenny Urchin]

But then we put them in Ziploc

[Podcast Host/Advertiser]

bags and we had them for a whole year.

[Jenny Urchin]

Anytime we made pancakes or muffins, we would put in our own fresh blueberries.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yeah. Isn't that thing.

[Jenny Urchin]

But we only did it one time.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Well, you should do it again. It's so it's so rewarding, isn't it though, to be able to pull those out and have the memories of when you went as a family together and you picked them and you had so much fun and you got to see the plants and you got to see the farmer, and I just think that's so worthwhile to do.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Jenny Urchin]

Okay. What are other things you can flash freeze?

[Crystal Schmidt]

Oh, you know, I. So in the books, I kind of go through that. Everything is a little bit different. One of my favorite ones to flash freeze is broccoli florets, because then you can just grab out. If you want a small handful, you can grab out just a small handful. If you need a lot, you can grab out more. But pretty much anything that you want to use in a smaller quantity like that, or that you'd want to take a handful out rather than having to thaw a big package, you can flash freeze.

[Podcast Host/Advertiser]

Hmm. Yeah.

[Jenny Urchin]

So many ideas in the book. What about the dreaded freezer burn?

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yeah. Do you know what my biggest tip for that is? I think that people who have the biggest trouble with freezer burn are people who have and are using only the freezer that is on their fridge. And I know for some people that that's all that they have. But a dedicated freez, a chest freezer, like a deep freezer, chest freezer, or even a stand up, a dedicated freezer is going to give you so much better quality than the freezer that's on your fridge can. So if you're serious about wanting to do meal prep and wanting to eat in season vegetables and fruits and pick your own and grow your own, a dedicated freezer, even just a small one, is, I think, a really worthwhile investment because it really does keep the food better, interesting.

[Jenny Urchin]

So that would be a way, the best way to prevent the freezer burn.

[Podcast Host/Advertiser]

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[Jenny Urchin]

some of the basics and you can read all the basics in the book. You go through all of it way more than we got in depth here. But freezing basics and best practices, you talk about in the book. It's called freeze fresh meal prep. And then we're going to talk about some of the actual contents in here. So if you get started in this, you could have a treasure chest full of gold. That's what you say. So that you could just grab.

[Crystal Schmidt]

That is what it feels like.

[Jenny Urchin]

Yeah, you just grab something homemade from the freezer and turn it into a quick and tasty dinner. So meal starters, we talked about that. You created, made this up. I've never heard of this. So cool. Meal starters, including soup starters. And then there's baked goods, soups, sauces, drinks, drink starters and dips, vegetable side dishes, cooked fruits, pie filling, jam, frozen treats, and so many of these soup starters. There's a lot in here. It's kind of wild that there's so much in here.

[Podcast Host/Advertiser]

Crystal.

[Jenny Urchin]

And I'm like, I've never even heard of this in my entire life. So. Okay, so can we talk about some of the different categories? First of all, there's Beets all over the place.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yes. Yep, you can. Beets are surprisingly wonderful vegetable for the freezer, and you can freeze them in a ton of different ways. They really don't change texture very much. They stay pretty much how you put them in there. I like to do them roasted. I have a shredded beet salad in there that has, like, an orange, slightly sweet vinaigrette. It's kind of like a sweet pickled beet. I even have a cookie recipe I make. I like to turn beets into a chocolate fudge cookie. There. There are so many ways to freeze them.

[Jenny Urchin]

Yeah, that's the one that I had made a special note of because I was like, whoa, double chocolate beet beet cookies. And you say that they're for beet lovers only. But the beet flavor, I do really like beets. The beet flavor pairs so well with earthy dark chocolate. Oh, did you read about this, or was there one day where you were like, I like beets. I'm just going to put it in my cookie recipe?

[Crystal Schmidt]

That's a good question. And I have no idea. I was, you know, with this book, I was just trying to come up with, like, what are some really unique and interesting ways that you could take a fresh ingredient and freeze it as something really delicious? And any kind of root vegetables are really good in baking. Typically, you know, you got your carrot breads and that kind of. Yeah, you know, like, they really. They add a starchy quality and they bake up so well. So beets and chocolate cookies were born. Yeah.

[Jenny Urchin]

Okay, so can we talk about the baked goods just in general? So if this is like a freezer, fresh meal prep book, I wouldn't have expected there to be cakes, breads, muffins, pancakes, waffles, cookies, and cookie dough. So can you kind of help the listener understand how those pair together? Baked goods with freeze meal prep?

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yeah, I think it is a meal prep book, but at its heart, it's actually a preserving book. That's really the lens that I wrote it through and that I wanted to work through was how can we take these fresh ingredients and make them into something that you want to eat? And I don't know about you, but I. I want to eat some baked goods most of the time. So. And there are so many. Right. You have banana bread, you have zucchini bread, you've got muffins. And fruits and vegetables do so well in baked goods for the freezer because fruits and vegetables have a lot of moisture in them, and that moisture lends itself to the baked good, they stay pretty moist in the freezer. They come out, you know, just like the day that you baked them and you have a lovely treat that you didn't have to make now. And like you were saying before with the blueberry pancakes or whatever, might remind you of a time when you got to spend time outdoors. And.

[Jenny Urchin]

And it's true. Yeah, it is true. It does take you back. It makes you think about how connected we should be, I think, with our food and like, where it came from. Because you can bring back all of those memories throughout the year, the different seasons, what your, your pattern is the wrong word. But like, what's your rhythm for freezing? Like, do you spend a little bit of time on it every day? Do you spend a lot of time on it a couple times a year? Do you spend a ton of time on it in the summer and then just use the things throughout, you know, the other seasons?

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yeah, well, we, I live in a very cold climate, so we definitely try to grow and preserve all we can in the warm months and then ride out the winter eating the things that we put up. And so definitely the bulk of my freezing happens in the summer with the garden season, with the orchard season. We grow a lot of different fruits and vegetables. But even, you know, I do, I certainly do a lot of year round freezing too, because I do appreciate having things prepped ahead in the freezer, even, you know, different. Yes, all the fruits and vegetables that I talk about in my book. But also, you know, I do a lot of proteins too. I'll, you know, make batches of meatballs and back batches of chicken to have ahead because I just like having an emergency stash of foods that I can pull from when I am too busy, too tired, too whatever to make a homemade meal to make something that's nourishing and good for me and good tasting.

[Jenny Urchin]

So in the summer, what does that look like? Like in the evenings or, you know, do you do it with other people? Because obviously there's always, you know, often it's kind of can be a short window. Like, especially if you said you live in a cold climate, like we're in Michigan, so our season is not super long, but it's long. Ish. You know, but the strawberries, they're only two weeks. You know, the blueberries last for four weeks and they're pretty short seasons to get the stuff. So. But in that perspective, from that perspective though, it is kind of rolling, right? Like the strawberries are at the end of June and then the blueberries are in July. So it doesn't seem like it's all at once. Is that kind of what you're doing, kind of rolling through the season and putting things up as they come?

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yep, absolutely. Like, we're just heading into asparagus season now and kind of the first things are asparagus and mushrooms and fresh herbs and. Yep. Strawberries. And then that rolls into, like you said, we get some of the blueberries and then we start to get green beans and zucchini. And then it's high summer and it's just crazy mad dash. There is a point where everything comes in so hot and fast that it's overwhelming.

[Jenny Urchin]

Yeah.

[Crystal Schmidt]

But yes, it does. It does definitely roll along with the seasons. And I love that. I love the seasonality of that and kind of just like watching the season unfurl and enjoying all the new things as they come up. Because, you know, like, I try not to. A store bought tomato is just so disappointing to me sometimes. And so like, I haven't had a tomato in so long and when we have that first heirloom tomato that is so juicy and sweet, it's like saying hello to an old friend. You know, it's. It's so wonderful. And so I just, I love to roll through the season like that.

[Jenny Urchin]

It makes you think, like that's probably how life should be for all of us, if only.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Right.

[Jenny Urchin]

Living seasonality, that seasonal living and the expectation of what's coming next. Where do you like to get your seeds? Do you seed save and any gardening tips? Because we've never gotten food to really grow very well, only flowers.

[Crystal Schmidt]

I do start a lot of seeds every year, mostly because I like specific varieties of things to grow. And so, you know, when you go to a. Greenhouses are wonderful too, but they've only gotten certain types of things. So I do start my own seeds. You know, it's just. I would just say keep trying, don't give up. Every. Every gardener fails. We even. I have. I've been gardening for over a decade, 15 years probably. So seriously. And I fail at something every single year. It's not personal. It's not you. Maybe it's you sometimes, but you know, it's crops. It's. You have good years and you have bad years. But. And you know, the thing about it though is you don't have to grow your own to meal prep and to preserve and to do all those things. I mean, certainly, yes, it's great. And that. And that just makes me a good person to write a book like this. But you don't have to be doing that in order to use a book like this. So if you do just want to have things prepared ahead. If you, if you love shopping at a farmer's market, maybe you've. You're in a CSA and don't know how to use up or can't use up all the vegetables or, you know, going to the U pick farms. There's just so many ways to still feel a connection to your food and to still put up that food in a really cool way and a useful way that you'll enjoy having later.

[Jenny Urchin]

Yeah. Okay, let's talk about a couple of the other ones that really stuck out

[Podcast Host/Advertiser]

to me in here.

[Jenny Urchin]

So you kick off this book, you're talking about all of the different basics and things like that, and then you've got this. All these different starters. I might even. I'm going out of order here. But one of. I, I don't even know why I did this on my notes, but I've got meal. I think because I was so interested in the meal starters, because I've never heard of that. That's what I have at the front. So you gave the example about the soup, but another example that you gave in the book is broccoli fried rice. So another one that you say you could have dinner ready in 10 minutes with this freezer meal starter that you know, some. Then I guess some of them look like cubes because you put it in a. In a cube container to freeze it. So you say fried rice is an infinitely custom, customizable dish. And so all you have to do is put in some frozen shrimp or whatever your protein is, maybe some frozen beef, peas, and some green onion or scallions, and then some hot sauce, and that's it. And then you have options like make it a breakfast one, you know.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yeah, I love, I love that recipe because the very common way, and I do a lot of this too, is to freeze broccoli. You just blanch it and freeze it in florets, and that's fine, and that's wonderful. But I really love freezing it as a fried rice starter. It's actually a few vegetables. It's broccoli, carrots and onions are kind of the main vegetables that you're preserving there. It's all things for me that are ready in season at the same time, and all things that freeze really well when you treat them correctly. And so you, you know, lightly cook them, add some seasonings, and then freeze that mixture. Then when you want to make the fried rice, all you have to do is dump it into a pan. You use your leftover rice that you have or, you know, that you have in the fridge, scramble in a couple eggs, drop in some soy sauce, and it's fried rice to go with your dinner. Or, you know, add, like you said, add shrimp to it, add your protein right to it if you want. And literally, literally takes 10 minutes to heat up. You've already done the work ahead of time.

[Jenny Urchin]

Yeah. I mean, you could see how it would just save so much time to have that part ready. So that was an example. Another example. In the meal starters, there was a pot. There were some different pasta ones. There was a pizza casserole. So lots of ideas there. We talked some about the baked goods, but one of the ideas I thought

[Podcast Host/Advertiser]

was really cool that stuck out to

[Jenny Urchin]

me was a sheet pan. Pancakes.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yeah. Yeah, that's my, that's my utilitarian version of a pancake. Instead of making them in a skillet, I just bake them in a huge pan. And it's nice because one, they're square, so they. You cut them in there square so they fit in your freezer bag really well. They also fit in a toaster really well. When you want to reheat them, they reheat in the toaster just beautifully like a toaster waffle. But it's a blueberry pancake and you've preserved. I think there's a couple cups worth of blueberries in that recipe. So it's actually a really great way to preserve your blueberries if you have a little harvest or if you have some extra you need to use up.

[Jenny Urchin]

Okay. Yeah, it's a great idea because then you could cut them in a uniform.

[Podcast Host/Advertiser]

Shapes.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yes.

[Jenny Urchin]

So it's way easier to freeze. And then if it's breakfast, your kids can grab that out of the freezer. And it's homemade and it doesn't have any junk in it. Okay. That one really stuck out to me.

[Podcast Host/Advertiser]

I thought that was really cool.

[Jenny Urchin]

The photos are fantastic. So that was in baked goods.

[Podcast Host/Advertiser]

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[Jenny Urchin]

okay, back to the beets. There's also a beet soup.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Oh yes, that's right. There is a beet soup in there.

[Jenny Urchin]

So you like beets? Have you always liked them?

[Crystal Schmidt]

I would. I'm a beet liker. I'm not like super over the top in love with beets, but I do appreciate them and they do. They just freeze so well. So if you're a beet lover, just know that there are so many ways you're covered.

[Jenny Urchin]

You are covered in this book. Yeah.

[Podcast Host/Advertiser]

Okay. All right.

[Jenny Urchin]

So then you've got different drinks. So heading into summer season, these are really fun. So I've never done this, but like the cubes. So when you talked at the very beginning about the different types of ways that you can freeze, like you can freeze in the freezer bags, but you could also do all sorts of cubes to make really special drinks. So can you talk about one that you like?

[Crystal Schmidt]

Probably my favorite, what I'll call a drink starter is a peach iced tea. So when fresh peaches are in season, and this is if this is so great, if you have some that are like maybe a little bit mushy, starting to get past something that you need to use up that's not maybe the best for eating, you can cook them with a little bit of water and then strain them to get the juice and to get this beautiful kind of thick, syrupy peach nectar that you can freeze. And then when you want to make peach iced tea, all you have to do is Brew up some tea and then add your peach starter to it, and you have, like, an instant peach iced tea. It tastes so fresh. It tastes so delicious. It's fast. It's. It's really. It's a fun one.

[Jenny Urchin]

What a cool idea. I love the one about the cubes. There was one that was cranberry juice cubes.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yeah, cranberry juice cubes.

[Jenny Urchin]

What a fun thing for the summer.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yeah, for sure. And those are. That's just. It's kind of the same thing where you cook cranberries and get the juice out, and then you freeze the juice in cubes, and all you have to do is throw one into a glass and you've got a little cranberry juice. You can add it to a cocktail. You can, you know, do all sorts of stuff with it.

[Jenny Urchin]

Yeah. Okay. So there's that whole section. It's like dips and sauces and things like that. Then you go through vegetable sides, which. That's kind of a big deal because sometimes the sides are a hard thing to think through when you're making dinner. The one, once again, sort of similar to the pancakes, where I was like, oh, make it in a sheet pan. You made hash brown waffles?

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yeah. That's a really great one. You know, potatoes can be a little bit tricky to preserve sometimes. You gotta have the right type for the right job and the right preservation method.

[Jenny Urchin]

And you talk about that in the book very clearly. It's potatoes and dairy that comes up over and over again. The nuance there's.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yep. Gotta be careful with that. But I love the hash brown recipe. It's. It's really easy to whip up. It's. You know, you grate potatoes and add a little egg and seasoning and stuff to it and then put it in a waffle maker. It's one of my favorite things to do when I have, like, when I'm doing dishes or when I'm putzing around the house and doing some other things, because they take a cycle or two to go through the waffle maker. It doesn't require very much babysitting, but it's a great time to multitask. And it's a great way to use up russet potatoes. Russet potatoes in particular. Any kind of starchy potato does not freeze well in a lot of other ways, but they freeze really well as these hash browns.

[Jenny Urchin]

Huh. Okay. So some of the things like the pancake, the sheet pancake, or these hash brown waffles, then that's done. That's like something that's Completely done. You can put it in your toaster to thaw. You give all the different ways that you can thaw. A lot of them will say toaster. Like you could thaw in cold water. Different types of things. It tells you exactly what to do. You spell it out in the books. And I love. Because we don't have a microwave, so none of it is dependent on microwave.

[Podcast Host/Advertiser]

There's all sorts of different ways that you can thaw.

[Jenny Urchin]

So, like the hash brown waffles, and those are totally done. So certain things are completely done. And then certain things are starters for your meals. So then there's also frozen treats, and there's jam. There's overnight oats. You talked about that earlier. Overnight oats is in here. Different pie fillings and then cooked fruits. And then there's bonuses, which I love. So one of the bonus examples is choose your own sauce muffins.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yes, that. So I have quite a few different fruit sauces in the book. A little bit fancier than just applesauce. A lot of them are fruit combinations. Like, one of my favorites especially to make right now is a strawberry rhubarb sauce. It's got a little bit of honey in it. It's got a little bit of orange zest in it. It tastes. It's so fresh. It tastes almost tropical. And it's so nice to have in the winter. Reminds you of summertime. But it also goes really great in a muffin as the wet ingredient. And you can do that with all sorts of different fruit sauces, just incorporate. And it's kind of. I call it one of my, like, weekday muffins because it's not a fancy muffin. It's no frills. It's. You throw it together. But it's got so much flavor from this fruit sauce that you've already made. And you can do it with. I have a cranberry pear sauce is another one of my favorites in that. In the book, to make into a muffin as well. But you just. You're using the sauce as the. The moist part of the muffin, and they come together really quick. And it's fun because you're using. You're taking that flavor that you already made and that thing that you already worked on and then using it for something that helps you make a meal, make a snack, make a treat a little bit quicker.

[Jenny Urchin]

Yeah, what a great one. That's a bonus. And so then you say you can use it with raspberry, peach, cranberry, pear, strawberry rhubarb, sweet beet, Applesauce, fall harvest applesauce, all the different ones that you can add. And then you talk about if you want to add cinnamon or not. There's another one in here. Another bonus is for granola. So that's great for getting outside. A lot of these things would be great for, you know, I think quickly to throw together a batch of muffins if you're going outside for the day.

[Podcast Host/Advertiser]

Like our kids always loved if we

[Jenny Urchin]

had muffins along, or just some sort of like, kind of small baked good like that that doesn't have a bunch of junk in it and you can quickly whip up together in the morning to take with you for the day. So that's in here as well. And then we talked about starters, but the soup starters, there were so many of those. You want to make sure that there's very little liquid when you finish, and then you're just throwing it in a pot with broth to finish it up. So there was a lot of options here, like minestrone and chili and even French onion soup.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yeah, that's one of my favorite ones, especially because I think for a lot of people, onions are kind of a hard one to preserve.

[Jenny Urchin]

Yeah.

[Crystal Schmidt]

There's the very standard, like, chop it up and put it in the freezer and onion, which is wonderful, but I love taking onions and you just, you cook them down. You're kind of frying them, caramelizing them, and then adding some seasonings to it to make a French onion soup starter, as I call it. And then you have this. First of all, it takes up so little space in the freezer, those onions cook down so much that you are saving just a ton of space because they cook down into very, very little. And then because French onion soup can be kind of time consuming, all you have to do is thaw this container of onions that you already cooked, throw it into some beef broth, and basically you've got your soup. But you probably see in the book, one of my. Actually, my favorite thing to make with it is a French onion soup rice dish. It's a baked rice dish. It's so good. You just use that same starter, those cooked onions that you cooked down, and add them in with some rice and broth and make it into a rice dish. And it's so it's. It's versatile. You can use them for soup, of course, but there's so many other ways. I also like to use that French onion soup starter for. Anytime I make a pot roast or like a crock pot roast, I throw that in for flavor. And it's, it's so quick. That's the thing I love about it. So quick. It adds a ton of flavor and it just tastes, it tastes delicious there.

[Jenny Urchin]

It's really versatile. Really versatile.

[Google Health Sponsor]

Yeah.

[Jenny Urchin]

This French onion soup bake, I had started that too, because that's a bonus. And, and then you say if, if you have leftovers of that, then you can freeze that.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yeah, you could freeze. You can freeze the rice too, if you want.

[Jenny Urchin]

It's a cycle of freezing. This is amazing. All right, let's hit one last thing that's in the cookbook and then we could talk about a couple other things because I know with your, you, you have, you do chickens and bees and honey as well. So this is called Freeze Fresh meal prep 160 meal starters and make ahead dishes for the. So this is going to help you if, you know, as we're heading into the summer months, if you're trying to preserve more, if you want to eat fresh year round but you don't know where to start, you can start with Crystal's books. They're really going to help you to get to where you need to go. Let's talk about when we have to take meals for other people. And I feel panicked about it every time.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yes.

[Jenny Urchin]

But you do give some tips on gifting frozen meals, which feels like that would be a total game changer.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yeah, I wanted to, I did want to touch on that in the book because that is something. It's so important. And I know when I see meal trains and people organizing meal things like that for somebody in need, it's just, it's a lot of casseroles, it's a lot of pastas because, and that's valid. It's easy. Most people love that. But I think that doing something a little bit different can be really worthwhile too, especially if it's a frozen. A frozen soup, for example, is one of my favorite things to gift. Everybody loves soup. Soup feels like a warm hug. And if you give it to them frozen, they're not obligated to eat it right away. They can, they can thaw and eat it at a time when maybe that meal sounds more appealing to them, especially if they're ill or at a time when that would be more useful to them. So I think doing more kind of protein and vegetable centric gifted meals can be a very welcome change for a lot of people. And, and I go through some of my favorite examples of that in the book.

[Jenny Urchin]

Yeah, I like the idea too, of just considering a special Treat sometimes, maybe if it's not a meal train, but you know, someone who's struggling, you give that idea as well. So that.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yeah, absolutely. It doesn't have to be elaborate at all. You can bake up just a little treat for them and let them know you're thinking about them.

[Jenny Urchin]

Yeah. And the picture that is in the book, the photos are fantastic. They're so cool looking. They're very enticing and inspiring. The photo in the book, when you're talking about gifting soup, is a, you know, frozen container of soup. So you can see the soup through it. It's like clear. And then you just tied a little ribbon around it. I was like, oh, it's perfect. Like it's like twine, you know, with a little bow. Like, oh, that just gives it such a special touch. So I love the book Freeze Fresh meal prep.

[Google Health Sponsor]

You.

[Jenny Urchin]

This obviously is striking a chord with people because you did your first one and you came out with a second one and it just came out this week, the week that we're taping. So I know it's been a really big week for you, a big week of book launch. But this is obviously going to help people with their health long term. You talk about other things too, though. I just want to make sure people know about your website. So the website is called Whole with a. With a W. Wholefedhomestead.com you talk about bees and honey, chickens, handmade things, health property and obviously preserving and gardening and recipes are on here too. So have you same sort of questions. Have you always done like the bees and the chickens? Have those been added in later?

[Crystal Schmidt]

I actually grew up with honeybees and we we've kind of been on and off on honeybees. They're a little bit hard to keep alive where I live, but I was really fortunate. My dad was a beekeeper when I was growing up and that was at a time when it was. Was a lot easier to keep bees. They weren't dying from some of the diseases that they have now that are really challenging. But I remember.

[Jenny Urchin]

Tell us more.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yeah, I'm sure you. I think most people probably have heard the decline of pollinators and the decline of bees.

[Jenny Urchin]

Yeah. But you have like firsthand experience of seeing. I kind of think it's sort of similar with child childbirth and things like if you talk to midwives, they'll talk about how there's just a lot more complications than there used to be, um, on a, you know, sort of on a row rolling basis. But so this is like a Something that maybe you'd seen firsthand, like if your dad kept bees, like, oh, it's a couple decades ago, it was just

[Podcast Host/Advertiser]

a little bit easier.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yeah, it was. They got. The big thing they got was there was a mite that started. Mites that started infecting them. And. Oh, I think it's a lot of different things. It's a. Kind of a complex issue, of course, loss of habitats and flowers and of course, all the different pesticides and insecticides they have to deal with. But, yeah, it was. He will. I. I remember it. And he did not have the troubles keeping bees that we seem to have these days. But. But I feel very, very fortunate to have grown up with that and learning that and watching and getting help extract the honey. I mean, it's just wildly fascinating and. And so interesting. But yeah, we do. We've. We're chicken keepers and we like to make maple syrup and we grow mushrooms and we do. We do all sorts of fun things over here.

[Jenny Urchin]

Can you talk about how there's so many options to engage kids and to

[Podcast Host/Advertiser]

help get kids outside?

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yes, I. So I don't actually have kids, so maybe I'm not the best one for this, but I do have some nephews that when they come over here, they absolutely love to pick things. They don't want to help me weed and they don't want to help. You know, they don't want to do the chore part. But, man, you. You present a kid with a. A cluster of beautiful glowing red raspberries, and their face lights up and just getting to pick. And. And in particular, my nephews are all city kids, so they don't see this stuff anywhere else. I mean, if you, if you aren't exposed to it, how would you even know? But to just see them light up when they get to pick a raspberry or my other favorite, watching them pull a carrot out of the ground and just seeing their hands around the. The greens and they're pulling with all of their might and then it just pop and let goes of. Let goes from the earth and it's just this beautiful big orange carrot. Those things I'm sure will be memories for them forever. And it's. It's. Man, it's so special. I think it's so fun.

[Jenny Urchin]

Yeah, I think you've got the bees and the chickens and the gardening, and it just shows that there's so many things to do out there. The carrot seeds, which. We've been a disaster. I think the carrots that we grew were like, they were so thin. I'm gonna send you a picture later. I'm like, they were like thinner than a pencil, all scraggly. This is like the ugliest looking carrots I've ever seen. But, but if they do grow right it. The seed is. Oh, you can hardly even see it. You're like, how does it turn into that huge. It could be purple.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Isn't that wild? That's one of my favorite, favorite things and I think a great, A great catalyst for getting kids involved with gardening, if you're able to. Because if otherwise, how are they going to be exposed to this? How will they know where their food comes from? But, but what you said planting a seed is so magical. Like, you plant this little thing and it's going to grow the best tomato you ever had. It's. This other seed is going to grow you 50 pounds of squash. And this other seed is going to grow you a perfect purple carrot. And you know, we talk about metaphorically planting seeds as human beings, but like, have you ever seen that in person? Like, have you actually seen a seed grow into something? Because that is so inspiring and I think that is just such a worthwhile thing for everybody, but especially for kids.

[Jenny Urchin]

Yeah. Watermelon seed or pumpkin seed. Then you got this whole vine and then that pumpkin has more seeds in it. It is such a cool thing. Okay, so beyond that, then you also do a lot of other homemade things, such as all so much hands on living crystal. I love it. So the soaps, you do lip balms. And you talk about how to preserve those too. Even one of the things I loved. And this is out of season, but so people can realize that it's on your website. Milk, milkweed pod Santa ornaments.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Aren't those so cute? That's one of my favorite favorite crafts that I've ever done. It's. Yes. Is out of season. That's well, but pay attention now, though. Know where the milkweed is now because when it dries in the fall, you can collect the pods and it's so simple to. You dab a little paint on them in the shape of a Santa head and the pointy part is his beard. And there's such a lovely little decoration for a Christmas tree or for the holidays.

[Jenny Urchin]

What a fun thing to go collect those at the end of the season.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Oh my gosh. They're so fun to collect too, because they're full of all the seeds and all the cotton and you can throw, you throw them and they're blowing through the wind and billowing and it's it's magical on so many levels. Yeah.

[Jenny Urchin]

And then you keep the pot and you can make a craft out of it. Can you talk about how another thing growing up is that your parents had

[Podcast Host/Advertiser]

a Christmas tree farm.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yes. Oh, did you read that? Yeah. Isn't that, isn't that unique? That was another fun thing. You know, I remember when I was like 5ish, we planted all the trees, hand planted with, you know, acres of trees. And then I got to grow up with the Christmas trees. And then when I was a late teenager, we got to help sell them. And that was really. That's a fun experience because it's. Family's coming. Everybody is in a good mood and happy and excited to go out and find their tree. And it's just such a joyous, joyous time.

[Podcast Host/Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Jenny Urchin]

Did you say you could make ornaments and sell them or little decorations or things like that, you know?

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Jenny Urchin]

That was extra money.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yes. My, my mom let me. Whatever I wanted to make and sell, I could sell and I got to keep all the money. That was so. That was nice as a teenager and a adolescent getting to make. We made wreaths and all sorts of greenery items and ornaments and stuff. That was fun.

[Jenny Urchin]

Wow. Yeah. So she was providing opportunity for entrepreneurship. I love that. What a cool thing. What a cool thing. Just more, more ideas, more ideas of things that you can do outside that are hands on and embodied and making soaps and making these little ornaments. I'll put a link to that one in the show notes because I thought that was ex. Especially cute. And then there was a link for evergreen kissing balls as well. So lots of options on there. You always know it's like the holidays. Someone said that the other day they were like, in six months it will be Halloween. And I was like, oh, yeah. And then, then you're like right into it. You know, it comes so quick. So I love all this crystal. I'm so glad that we connected. We, like tried to connect a long time ago to do a podcast, but now we have finally connected. The website is called Whole Fed Homestead. The book, the new one is called Freeze Fresh Meal Prep. So this is how to take the things and, and really make meals out of it year round. Very healthy. But then you also have Freeze Fresh, which is focus a lot on individual ingredients. But then Also there's a 100 recipes in there as well that freeze well. So like broccoli cheese soup and, and different things that you can take outside, like tart cherry oatmeal bars. So there's a lot in here. Smoothies. It's really cool. It's so cool. It's so stunning. The photos are so stunning.

[Crystal Schmidt]

I got really lucky that frozen. Frozen fruits and vegetables are just so beautiful. They're. They're easy to photograph. They made it easy to make a beautiful book.

[Jenny Urchin]

Yeah. But I'm like, I've never seen anything like these little discs of frozen meal starter. So what? I. What a great idea. I love it. Crystal, thanks so much. And I'm so honored to get a chance to talk to you during book launch week. We always end our show with the same question. The question is, what's a favorite memory from your childhood that was outside?

[Crystal Schmidt]

Oh, a favorite myth. The first thing that came to my mind, I spent, like we talked about, I spent a lot of my childhood outside. Very, very thankful for that. I remember just picking flowers, just being surrounded on a property that was full of life and full of vibrancy and flowers and just, I don't know, like something out of a movie. Picking flowers and sitting. Laying down in like, the softest patch of grass, twirling flowers and like, looking up at the sunshine and just being so mesmerized with nature and the beautiful beauty, the beauty of all of it. That's probably one of my. My favorite memories.

[Jenny Urchin]

Oh, like the simplicity of it. We had a friend over yesterday, and she has a one year old, and so the one year old obviously is like, way closer to the ground. So we are walking around and there's like these little teeny purple flowers that are just starting to come up through the grass. I'm like, I probably wouldn't have even noticed those, you know, except that this little one is way closer to the ground. Like, oh, there's just beauty all over. It's everywhere.

[Crystal Schmidt]

So, yeah.

[Jenny Urchin]

What a reminder. Crystal, I love this. I'm excited to try a bunch of these different ideas. I think it's such a cool idea. And of course, in this day and age when we're trying to have less processed foods, this is a way that you can really have food that tastes good and is fresh. It's fresh.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Jenny Urchin]

There's nothing processed in there.

[Crystal Schmidt]

So it is. And I love that. And I think, you know, it's. It's. If you want to preserve wonderful. I have so many ideas for you to preserve stuff. But if you are just. If you're somebody who values a homemade meal, if you want to prioritize eating fruits and vegetables, if you want to prioritize eating intentionally and not kind of spur the moment, reactionary when it's dinner time and you have nothing. I think you'll. I think you will enjoy the book.

[Jenny Urchin]

Yeah, it's real. It's really real unique you say? It's the intersection of preserving meats, convenience food, the ultimate meal prep and perfect balance of home cooked and convenient. Crystal, thanks for coming on to tell us about it.

[Crystal Schmidt]

Thank you so much for being so excited. Yeah, thank you so much for having me. This was fun.

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