Our Story
The Way It Should Be
MY WHY
My name is Autumn, and I am the founder of Whole Story Meals.
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Whole Story Meals was developed during a time of transformation in my life. I suddenly found myself a single mom of five beautiful children, one who is severely disabled. Through the process of settling into our new normal and trying to figure out how to embrace this new life, I looked for ways that I could spend quality time with my children while focusing on our mental and physical health. That's when we started hiking.
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Hiking was a form of therapy, togetherness, and adventure that united us as a family and helped us grow through our unexpected changes. At first, I was nervous about how I could possibly hike with five children, let alone one beautiful, little girl who has very special needs. I bought a carrier and backpacks. But, it wasn’t enough.
My daughter, Story Grace, is legally blind and deaf and is unable to walk, talk, or eat by mouth. The blended food for Story Grace’s feeding tube was just too heavy to pack into the backcountry. It was then that I got an idea. I created a product just for her that is lightweight, shelf-stable, easy to carry, and every bit as nutritious as the freshly pureed food I made for her at home. I did this by using freeze-dried food that has been ground into a powder. I could rehydrate it wherever we were and feed it to her right then and there.
These meals made hiking and camping possible for my family. So, we began visiting the woods. The impact on my children has been amazing. The more we went camping and backpacking, the closer we grew together. Story Grace loves our journeys, too. It’s been wonderful for all of us. And it was made possible by Whole Story Meals.
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I realized so many other families would benefit from this product because life with a feeding tube can be challenging. Whole Story Meals brings solutions to many of those challenges by providing convenient meals that are easy to carry with you wherever you go while offering the many benefits found in fresh, natural food.
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Follow Autumn on her outdoor adventures on Instagram @raiseemwild.
