Fed Up Foods is a new small food preservation business located in Stevens Point. Melissa Haack is the founder.
I discovered Fed Up Foods as a new vendor at the Stevens Point Winter Farmer’s Market. I thought the name was interesting and the labels were interesting and thought, I wonder what the story is behind this new food business in Stevens Point.
I reached out to Melissa to learn more about her and Fed Up Foods.
Can you share the spark of inspiration that made you decide to start Fed Up Foods?
There’s a couple of sparks. I find great joy in making food shelf stable and I know there is a need for locally made grocery items in our area.
In September of 2020, I left my position at the Stevens Point Area Co-op where I was a Collective Manager. I wore many hats at that job-as most do-but my favorite task was being the produce buyer. I worked directly with farmers and distributors to fill the produce cooler with seasonal goods and pantry staples. Sometimes I would accidentally overbuy, things would come in not looking so great, or the wrong items would come in on a truck. When that happened I felt responsible for ensuring the produce found a home. If co-workers and others wouldn’t take it, I would strap it to my bike rack and bring it home. I am still so grateful to my roommates for accepting my consistent supply of ugly produce! Once the freezer and fridge were full I had to make things shelf stable. That meant canning, trying new recipes, and lots of dehydrating.
I took on more buying roles when the COVID 19 pandemic struck in March of 2020. This meant buying from a lot of other small producers at the food cooperative and other tasks. I saw through the panic-buying rush that our supply chain was fragile. Larger distributors prioritized large stores, and some products were out of stock. I am sure people remember flour being out of stock in most grocery stores. As SPAC has a direct line to some local mills, we weren’t out of stock on flour. It was this tangible example that made me feel pulled to really put my eggs in one basket and start going full force with Fed Up Foods. I left the food cooperative and am currently operating Fed Up Foods (FUF) full time.
Why did you create a food preservation business?
There is so much food produced in this world and I think the statistic is about 40% of it doesn’t even make it to the consumer. If there were more small to mid-sized value-added food producers maybe that could help change that statistic. Additionally, I wanted to feed the community without the additives.
I wanted to be able to create a product where you could picture every ingredient in your head. No more unknowns; what does an artificial flavor look like? It’s probably made in a lab and shipped in 50-gallon drums. As a buyer at a food cooperative, the group was always trying to find alternatives to items that don’t have additives, preservatives, etc. and there aren’t always options!
Outside of the bigger picture reasons, I love the cyclical nature of preserving food: stocking up when there’s a bounty in the summer and resting and indulging in the winter. The moment when I see all of my freshly canned jars filled with food that I’ve been processing all day, that is a moment where I feel alive. I wanted to have that feeling more often and at a certain point, I knew I needed to make some for others to consume, too!
Where did you learn the art of food preservation?
I was introduced to food preservation by my mother. She spent a lot of time in the garden and always did a few runs of salsa and strawberry jam each year when I was a kid. She’s always been able to guide me through my processes when I had questions as well. Outside of that, I taught myself through lots of books and internet searches.
Talking with the elders in the Growing Collective (a subgroup of Farmshed that grows plants for the plant sale each May) has always helped me and given me support when taking a chance on a new recipe, but I am also still learning. It’s really only my 5th year canning foods and just like most things you learn from your mistakes; you burn applesauce, you compost a whole batch of moldy red plums.
How did you come up with the name, Fed Up Foods?
At the inception of Fed Up Foods I was working with my best friend, Miranda (owner of Salt of the Earth Botanicals). We co-owned the business up until early December when she decided it would be best to step away and focus on her other endeavors.
To come up with the name we listed a bunch of words on paper and spent a couple of sessions just mixing the words up and saying them out loud. Lots of laughter for silly ones and furrowing of brows for the bad ones. At some point, something clicked, “Fed Up Foods” one of us said and you could tell that would be the one. We asked a few people and liked their reactions. We thought, “Is it too edgy? Are we actually fed up?” The answer was that maybe Central Wisconsin needs a little more edge and yeah, we were upset. The food system wasn’t serving us.
The name Fed Up Foods says you are tired about something. Can you tell us about what got you fed up and taking action with your food business?
Seeing so much food go to waste and not being able to purchase items without additives are the two big reasons. Food goes to waste and people are still going hungry! The bigger food giants just create food products as a gimmick, to sell things to the consumer. Not as a way to nourish the body. Not as a way to care for our land. Not as a way to feed the community.
I think all of those things together made me want to push everything off the table and start over. If the system isn’t serving you, make a new one, do it yourself. There’s already such a strong network of farmers in central Wisconsin because of organizations like Farmshed and the Stevens Point Area Cooperative. Why not take advantage of those resources and make something that checks all the boxes?
I saw in a Facebook post you said, Fed Up Foods is trying to dismantle the food system, one jar at a time. Can you tell me more about this food system you are trying to dismantle?
There is food going to waste throughout the whole supply chain. At the source on the farming side (though most farms compost or feed imperfect produce to their animals), in the production plant for value added goods, at the warehouse, when distributing, at the grocery store, in your fridge. There’s leaks throughout the supply chain. When everything topples like what we saw with the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, where do big distributors take their products, their biggest retailers.
We need lots of little production plants to feed our communities with real food. Making it smaller and more direct reduces the risk for waste, utilizes resources nearby, and sells to retailers nearby.
The additives, artificial flavors, artificial colors are also unacceptable to me. If we want to live long we need to know what we are putting into our bodies. It might be a huge undertaking at first but if you buy one jar of Fed Up Foods cranberry sauce instead of the alternatives for holiday, it’s a start. Every journey begins with one step.
What would a more beautiful food system world look like to you?
I love this question. A beautiful food system would have many small food preservation businesses. One in each county or state.
A LOT more organic farms. A LOT less monoculture.
Where everyone has the time to prepare and eat 3 meals a day. Each meal a moment to support your community.
Each community having it’s own compost pick up and the resources and knowledge to grow your own food. It means trading garlic for apples and never worrying about what to eat, but when.
It’s a world where people don’t go hungry. A world where more people know how to can and preserve food. It’s a world where ugly produce is respected for being unique and something slightly less than fresh like a squishy beet is eaten and not composted. Where you know where everything came from and whose hands touched it.
How can we as consumers support a more beautiful food system?
It starts with eating more balanced diets and taking small risks to try new things. It also includes having respect for the seasonality of things, for example, savoring apple season when it comes and patiently waiting until next fall when apples come back (they always come back!).
Trying our best to keep our dollars in the community. Asking questions and finding a farm in your area that you like to support whether at the Winter or Summer Farmer’s markets weekly or through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) box (you purchase the CSA in Winter/Spring and get a weekly box of seasonal produce direct from the farm each week). We can attempt to grow our own gardens. I know I gained a lot of respect for farmers when I tried to grow tomatoes for the first time. They make it look so easy with their bins of tomatoes in a rainbow of colors at the markets in August.
I think it’s important to mention that all of these things aren’t always monetarily accessible to a lot of people. We have to find creative solutions, ask for help, and/or consider changing purchasing in other realms of our life to afford the luxury of clean, whole foods.
Just to reiterate though, buying organic produce from a big grocery store is an incredible start! Thinking about your diet and what you put into your body is a part of supporting a beautiful food system. For the record, I am by no means, a perfect foodie angel. I do my best and don’t take the heat for going off course, but I know my body can feel it when I do.
I also read that Fed Up Foods believes that good food is a resource that should be available to all. How is Fed Up Foods making this good food resource more available?
I have a lot of ideas brewing surrounding this. Since I am just getting this business off the ground I acknowledge that a quart jar of applesauce for $10 seems insane to some people. I am just not at a scale where I can offer it for any cheaper, but I am working on it! So as a start, I am working to scale up my production so I can buy more for less and offer those savings to the consumer.
I have ideas to share the art of food preservation with the community, through workshops, work trades, and/or garden to jar consultation services. I’d like to be able to donate to disaster relief, donate profits to organizations that I align with, and so many other things. For now, I am honing in on the details of keeping inventory in stock and getting my ducks in a row to certify my recipes so I can offer them to a larger audience. It’s a long list to get through, but I have big ideas for the future of Fed Up Foods! I am also open to ideas community members think this business could fill.
You also say Fed Up Foods is processing produce that could otherwise be waste, Fed Up Foods sources ingredients from local farmers in central Wisconsin to create unique canned goods. Can you share more about how you are sourcing from our local farmers?
Working as a produce buyer at the Stevens Point Area Co-op has primed me well for sourcing from local farmers. Right now any of the Curried Pickled Zucchini someone buys has zucchini from Whitefeather Organics.
I worked in tandem with members of Rising Sand Organics to get their B-Grade (lower quality) beets which are featured in the Maple Ginger Beets and the Kickin’ Pickled Beets.
I worked with the new produce buyer at the food cooperative to source cranberries from Reusch Century Farms out in Vesper, WI.
All the apples you’ll find in the 4 types of applesauce FUF makes are sourced through Upstream Cider who sources from farms in Wisconsin.
Now that I am honed in on my products a little more and have some sales data to go off of, I am attempting to do some planning with other farmers and small distributors in the area to secure produce items for this upcoming season.
I also work with a few herbalists in town to get some of the culinary herbs I use in recipes like thyme. I also worked with Gordy Cunningham to get some garlic for some new recipes I’ll be rolling out in a few weeks here, Fire Cider Pickled Garlic and Tomato Basil Pickled Garlic. Whenever there are things that I can’t source locally like anise seed, apple cider vinegar, etc. I always contact the Stevens Point Area Co-operative and take advantage of their Special Order case discount as well.
You have interesting and unique names for many of your products. Maple Ginger Beet, Kickin Pickled Beet, Browned Butter Sage Apple Sauce are some of your more interesting names. What is unique about the flavors of each of these preserves?
One thing that I am attempting to do with FUF is ‘bringing a fresh taste to the timeliness art and skill of food preservation.’ That means shying away from the classics our elders have made and trying new flavors together. I know there is nostalgia surrounding the classic pickled red beet with the clove and cinnamon but isn’t there something intriguing about a gold beet with maple syrup, ginger, anise seed and shallots?
The Kickin’ Pickled Beet topples the classic pickled beet by bringing in spicy and savory making it more robust in flavor and showcasing the earthy flavor of beets in a totally different flavor palate.
I happened upon a food blog that featured a Browned Butter Sage Applesauce recipe and the idea blew my mind! Sage is an herb that is a close ally to me for mood balancing. I drink it in tea every morning. Seeing this recipe made me realize that I can sneak herbs into peoples’ diets that have medicinal properties but disguise them as simple pickled side dishes or snacks. It’s all done with good intentions, and I think our taste buds will thank us for exploring new and exciting flavor combinations.
Where do you find your inspiration for these interesting combinations?
I have to admit to doing an incredible amount of internet searches to find things that inspire me, but I did grow up with a resourceful mother who could turn an empty looking pantry into a magnificent meal. That meant taking ingredients that didn’t seem like they’d match and trying them together. Additionally, after doing a lot of cooking, mixing and matching flavors, it seems like you can read a recipe and imagine what it might taste like in your mind. I think that cooking experience has helped me develop the recipes to be what they are today.
What are your most popular products?
I think the Curried Pickled Zucchini is a favorite amongst the general public. It’s approachable and full of flavor. The turmeric brings such a beautiful golden color. People are familiar with zucchini as well so that makes it an easier sell.
Next I would say is the Browned Butter Sage Applesauce. The flavor combination is intriguing and the butter adds a nice texture to the applesauce that you can’t get any other way. The sage is subtle, but really fresh because I used Gateway Pines Apothecary sage from this past summer.
The Maple Ginger Beets would be up there too since we sold out of them so quickly. The golden beets featured in this product have such a beautiful color to start with, and the brine they are pickled in features the amber color of maple syrup so the aesthetic of the product has a unique appeal, and of course they taste really good!
I love your logo. How did you come up with the design?
Miranda and I worked closely with a designer out of Milwaukee, Gemma Ryan. She is truly a mastermind because she somehow figured out what was going on in our minds and put it on paper. When Miranda (former business partner) and I started the process we had this silly idea to have vegetables coming out of someone’s head to depict a few things: that we were so fed up with the food system that our heads were exploding, that produce is always on our mind when making products, and that when you eat one of these products your mind will be blown by the flavor combinations. We had latched onto the idea of watercolor being featured in the labels somewhere along the line and when we were looking at the logo having the humanoid figure being of no particular race was important to us. That’s why the water color used in the face of the logo: it added this layer of camaraderie while simultaneously it looks like a face with a little dirt on it, which I really liked.
Where can we find your products?
You can find Fed Up Foods at the Stevens Point Area Winter Market every Saturday from 8AM – Noon at Redeemer Lutheran Church (900 Brilowski Drive, Stevens Point, WI) off of hwy 10 behind Fleet Farm as well as at this upcoming Summer Market on the square.
Where can we follow your business online?
Right now you can follow Fed Up Foods on Instagram @fedupfoodswi or on Facebook Fed Up Foods, LLC. I am working on building a website and hope to get that finished sometime this year.
Let’s dream a bit more about the more beautiful possible future. What is your dream of the new local food economy that Fed Up Foods helps to steward into being?
I think the new local food economy needs a lot more players to work in my biggest dreams. More risk takers taking their prized potluck dish to the next level…I also think we need more community resources to make it happen. Large scale equipment and their use at affordable prices, and built-in trust with each other to share things and learn from each other.
We also need more people willing to be a part of community organizations that already exist and they need to bring the vigor and innovation that is inside their hearts and run with it. It feels like the collective just needs to grow more food and then we’ll all cherish it in a different way. I don’t think the new local food economy is full of free or cheaper food because farmers need income too and they work really hard all year to grow the food they do. I do believe it would be even more abundant with more enthusiastic participation from the beginning of the supply chain and each step along the way. If we could subsidize things grown by small organic farmers the way that large corn and soybean producers are, I really do think we’d be onto something.
Is there anything else you would like to share with us?
There are so many ways to participate in our local food community whether through volunteering with Farmshed, a working membership at the food co-operative, a work-trade at a small organic farm, volunteering with giving gardens, and so many more. We live in such a unique place that has those opportunities available to us. The journey to a better relationship with local food can start with one step and doesn’t have to happen all at once.
If there’s one thing I know to be true it’s that if you ask an experienced gardener for advice you better be ready to listen. There are so many nuances to growing, preserving, and cooking food that you can’t read in books or find on the internet. You have to let yourself make a few mistakes along the way before you have it all figured out. I know that I would not be confident enough to start a small food preservation business if I didn’t have a community that supported me and a place to fall on if it all falls apart.
Thanks Melissa!
Find Fed Up Foods every Saturday at the Stevens Point Area Winter Farm Market every Saturday from 8AM – Noon at Redeemer Lutheran Church (900 Brilowski Drive, Stevens Point, WI) off of hwy 10 behind Fleet Farm.