How A Broken Freezer Saved My Life

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posted on

April 30, 2025

Hello farm family!

Hannah here.

In case you didn’t know. The month of May highlights Mental Health Awareness nationally.

As we have gone through our journey on this farm eating better quality food, we have found food to be medicine to not only improve many of our customer’s physical health and ailments, but also mental.

And today to kick off the month of May, I want to share a personal story about how our food directly impacted Wanda Farms’ very 1st customer.

Sick, Stuck, and Starving for Worth

It was February, 2017. Depressed, drained, defeated I just desperately wanted to disappear.

There was no anticipated future in my life.

Friends would often ask, “Hey, what is your goal or 5 year vision?”

5 year vision???

Heck I couldn’t see my life beyond 1 year.

And the goal?

It was just to make it through today.

Sadly, this above was my daily life’s reality.

Since I was a teenager, I struggled with depression, anxiety, and worse of all an eating disorder that led me down many dark paths. I was in and out of therapy and treatments. Better, bad, and worse seasons all rollercoasting throughout my teenage years and into my twenties.

I believed that skinny was beautiful. Women needed to be thin to be admired and loved.

So to achieve this, I created rules for myself:

Rule #1: Fat is bad: too many calories. So I leaned towards fish and chicken. I noticed however these meats at the grocery store were sold infused with some kind of sodium to preserve it.

Rule #2: Salt is bad. And what kind of sodium is this anyway? Is it safe? So I grew skeptical and hesitant of meat sold at the store and limited how much I could eat.

At that time I heavily got my calories from fruit, vegetables and chocolate. The deficient calorie intake along with excessive exercise led to a horrible health condition known as anorexia nervosa.

2015 to 2018 was one of the darkest seasons of my life. I used anorexia to handle my stress and give me a sense of control.

My everyday thoughts were about disappearing and numbing out.

All this said, I was very sick and stuck.

Beef, Belief, and a Broken Freezer

In 2018, after being married to Joe for 4 years, he was excited to begin our farming journey on our own farm. He had just finished raising our 1st group of 4 grass-fed only beef. He mainly did it for his mom, sister and my mom. All who were disgusted with commercial organic beef. They wanted the healthiest beef, no industrial corn raised beef.

We purchased a couple old freezers off facebook marketplace and set them up in our dungy old basement.

After filling up our families' freezers, and a few new customer orders, we put the remaining beef in our freezer.

However, 1 month later…..

Bad news.

The upright freezer’s door wasn’t shutting properly and all the beef stew on the freezer door was completely thawed and leaking out of the paper packaging.

So of course I knew I had to do something with it. I mean we just dumped our life savings into raising this beef, butcher fees, and freezers.

It couldn't go to waste.

So that weekend, I cooked up 25 lbs of beef stew to refreeze for later meals. I quickly learned all the things you can make with beef stew meat in the slow cooker. So I got busy in the kitchen making BBQ beef, beef tacos, enchilada, Italian beef, and of course beef stew.

At this time, I was still struggling and somewhat skeptical about the thought of eating beef. My thoughts would distract me; it was only safe to eat small amounts of lean cuts. However, having joined Joe in raising our beef and seeing 1st hand how it was raised and where it came from. I slowly became more confident and open to trying it.

As I battled my thoughts I would remind myself.

“I can trust this. This beef was raised in our backyard under our control.”

I started to eat the beef at first with hesitancy, but each time, I felt that I had more and more confidence.

Finding new hope

Shortly after this, we also raised our 1st batch of meat chickens. Now, the grocery store chicken always left me skeptical and hesitant in buying because I heard all the stories how they infused it with sodium to preserve it.

But….

Our chicken was different.

I saw how this chicken was raised and naturally processed. It was just chicken. All making me feel comfortable to eat chicken again.

Having worked alongside Joe in raising our meat I felt a sense of confidence and control knowing where our meat came from and I started to incorporate meat back into my diet regularly.

2019 was the healthiest year of my life in over 6 years.

This transformation didn’t happen overnight….but

My depression, mental health, and eating disorder were improving.

Then the best thing that ever happened to me.

My DREAMS came true. Yes, I started dreaming again and having HOPE!!!

December 2019, I WAS PREGNANT!!!

It was by far the most exciting time of my life. The feelings of guilt for not being able to bear a child were over.

I felt the best I’ve ever felt in over 15 years that Christmas.

Meat transformed my life and presented healing

We never thought anything of that broken freezer. We wondered for years how my healing came about. All the in-patient treatments, counseling, and therapy during a decade and a half of struggling never really moved the needle on my mental health illness.

However in 2021, Joe and I started to hear stories of folks on the carnivore diet.

After listening to their stories, which to our surprise, many had a similar journey of depression, anxiety, and eating disorder on a vegetarian diet, we heard how they also finally found healing with meat as their primary source of food.

I didn’t follow an all meat diet. However we saw that all the non saleable beef stew that we had to eat and the farm fresh chicken were all at the same time I experienced a turn in the road.

Maybe it’s just a coincidence, but maybe that broken freezer saved my life!

While I’m not here to say meat only created the healing. Meat was the missing piece in my diet. My brain needed those essential nutrients to improve my cognitive and mental health.

Today, meat is an essential part of my daily diet.

While Joe and I don’t live on a carnivore only diet. We no doubt make it our staple product in our household for every meal because we see the benefits it brings to our health both physically and mentally.

If you personally or have a loved one that is struggling with mental health, my deepest sympathy goes out to you.

It’s such a difficult battle.

It takes trusting in God, countless prayers, and a commitment to fight!

Thanks for reading.

Your farmer,

Hannah Wanda

P.S.

We want this farm to be more than just a place you buy food from, but a community where we can encourage each other for a brighter future!

If you have a health transformation story (either mental, weight loss, skin, gut condition, cancer, etc) that you would be willing to share to our community. Please reach out to me at Hannah@wandafarms.com. We would love to highlight your story to our community.

"Air-chilled" chicken: another marketing gimmick?

Air-Chilled vs. Water-Chilled: The Truth About Chicken Processing, PAA, and What Really Matters As consumers become more educated about food quality, one topic has begun circulating online in the health space: air-chilled chicken. New marketing language like “air-chilled” is showing up on grocery store packaging everywhere — and while the intention behind asking these questions is often good, the conversation has become oversimplified from our point of view. At Wanda Farms, we believe transparency matters more than trends. So yes, our chicken is water-chilled using a USDA-inspected cold water system with a peracetic acid (PAA) antimicrobial rinse. We aren’t trying to hide anything. However, this post explains why the air-chilled label has taken off, what actually impacts food safety and quality, and how we’re thinking about processing decisions with research instead of just chasing the latest marketing claim. Why Air-Chilled Debate Exploded The last several years, there’s been a growing push toward “air-chilled” poultry showing up at higher-end grocery stores and specialty butchers. Shoppers see the word on a package next to a premium price tag, and it’s easy to assume it means cleaner, safer, or healthier chicken. Consumers, as they should be, are mainly concerned about how their food is processed. “Air-chilled” feels like a shortcut to less-processed, more natural chicken — especially compared to a method that involves a “chemical rinse.” But removing water immersion from the process does not automatically create a safer or healthier bird. PAA: The First Line in Food Safety One of the most common concerns surrounding water-chilled chicken is the antimicrobial rinse itself. That concern is understandable — nobody wants to feel like their food was doused in chemicals. That said, here’s what’s actually true: PAA (peracetic acid) is effectively a combination of vinegar and peroxide, breaking down into acetic acid, oxygen, and water residue. It’s USDA-approved and used at tightly controlled, low concentrationsIt’s USDA Certified Organic-compliant, which is why it can be used at our Certified Organic processing facility. It’s one of the most common tools in U.S. poultry processing for reducing Salmonella and Campylobacter loads. This distinction matters far more than simply choosing air over water. Understanding what PAA actually is — and why it’s there — eliminates a lot of the chemical and environmental concern consumers associate with the word “rinse,” while still allowing our processor to meet strict food safety standards. We only use USDA-inspected processors — always. The Real Issue: Air-Chilled ≠ Automatically Safer Much of the air-chilled preference stems from a legitimate texture and quality discussion, not necessarily a food safety one. What Air Chilling Actually Changes Air-chilled birds are cooled with circulating cold air instead of being submerged in a communal chill tank. This typically means: Less retained water, so less purge in the packageBetter browning and skin crisping when cookedLess cross-bird contact during chilling All legitimate, real differences. We’re not going to pretend otherwise. Air-Chilled Is Not the Enemy: The Framing Is. There’s a growing misconception online that air-chilled is inherently “cleaner” or “safer,” and that water-chilled means “contaminated.” That’s not supported by the facts. Air-chilled birds still receive an antimicrobial intervention — typically a cold mist spray that includes an antimicrobial, and many air-chill plants also use PAA earlier in the process, before the chill step. Federal regulation doesn’t explicitly require an antimicrobial rinse, but it does require Salmonella testing, and to our processor’s knowledge, an antimicrobial step is effectively the only way to reliably pass that testing. Britannica also notes an important nuance about water immersion chilling: while it can create cross-contact opportunities between birds, the combination of the wash effect plus the antimicrobial treatment can actually reduce total bacterial load across the batch. The real question isn’t “air vs. water.” It’s whether the processor’s food safety program is doing its job — and both methods, done correctly, can meet that bar. Why We Haven’t Switched to Air-Chilled We understand why customers are asking these deeper questions. We’ve been asking them too. Here’s where we’ve landed, and why: We aren’t the processor. Wanda Farms doesn’t control chilling method — our USDA-inspected processing partner does. To this day, I don’t know of any poultry processors in the Midwest that offer air chilling. If one did, we’d absolutely consider switching, but it’s not currently on the table.Water alone, without an antimicrobial, would concern me more. Chilling in plain water without PAA would hold bacteria rather than reduce it. The antimicrobial rinse is required by our USDA facility specifically to reduce the Salmonella load present on the bird.Air-chilled isn’t automatically “chemical-free” either. As noted above, most air-chill operations still apply an antimicrobial at some point in the process — it’s just applied differently.Sourcing and scale. Air-chilling requires more space, more energy, and reduces processor yield due to moisture loss, which is part of why it’s harder to find at the scale a small Midwest farm like ours needs. Where We Focus Instead Rather than chasing a chilling-method label, we put our energy into the things we believe actually move the needle on quality and integrity: Raising chickens on pastureRotational grazing practicesNon-GMO feedNo antibiotics or added hormonesHumane, low-stress handlingNutrient-dense food raised with integrity Our processor uses the PAA water-chill method because, alongside meeting food safety standards, they’ve found it helps maintain the flavor, juiciness, and texture our customers consistently tell us they love. Your Farmer’s Final Thoughts I think this air-chilled vs. water-chilled conversation is a lot like the no-corn, no-soy conversation we wrote about — a real question, with some real substance to it, that’s gotten oversimplified into a single word on a package standing in for “better.” Salmonella occurs naturally in chickens and doesn’t affect them the way it affects us — it’s a human food-safety concern, not an animal-welfare one, and it’s why processors, air-chilled or water-chilled, treat for it. Properly cooked, handled without cross-contamination in your kitchen, it’s a non-issue either way. I don’t want to chase a marketing label just to capture market share. I’d rather be straight with you about how our chicken is actually processed, why, and keep our focus on the parts of the process we do control: how the birds are raised. Pasture access, rotational grazing, non-GMO feed, humane handling, and nutrient-dense food raised with integrity — that’s the standard we hold ourselves to at Wanda Farms. We’re always happy to be transparent about our process and answer any other questions you may have. Hope this helps.

SPECIAL CHICKEN DEALS END AUG 31st. Stock up on Chicken today!

How A Broken Freezer Saved My Life

Sick, Stuck, and Starving for Worth

Beef, Belief, and a Broken Freezer

Finding new hope

Meat transformed my life and presented healing

More from the blog

"Air-chilled" chicken: another marketing gimmick?

A Father's Belief

No Corn, No Soy: What's the buzz?

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