
Meet the Natural State Family
Craig and Rachel Olienyk are both licensed clinical mental health counselors in the state of Arkansas and teach graduate courses online for a wonderful university in Arkansas, among other exciting ventures.
Craig Olienyk, M.S., LAC loves to create with his hands and has a lifelong dream of carrying on the traditions of his forebears—agriculture and food production. Natural State Freeze Dried is a coming home to his roots. Craig functions as Chief Operations Officer (COO) and loves the day-to-day details of operations, R&D, and food production and processing. Quality of process and purity of outcomes are his passion.
Rachel Olienyk, M.S. LPC, RPT is our Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and is an astute big-picture person. In between directing a local mental health clinic, teaching online, supervising new clinicians in the field, and working toward her PhD, Rachel plays a major role in long term planning and providing leadership and vision to keep Natural State Freeze Dried moving forward.
Natural State Freeze Dried exists to provide the highest quality freeze-dried foods to our customers in Northwest Arkansas and beyond. From backpackers, campers, cyclists, overland adventurers, RVers, road-schoolers, to people who are on the go in their careers—we believe everyone should have access to high quality, convenient, shelf-stable meals, treats, and ingredients.
Long Live Good Food!
Have Questions? Send us a message, we would love to chat!
We'd love to answer any questions you have about our processes, getting our products into your store or boutique, or to hear your ideas for new freeze-dried products. Give us a shout!
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We Believe in PRESERVATION:
Tradition
The Olienyks come from multiple generations of farmers, food producers, determined settlers, and entrepreneurs. It's in our blood.
Environment
We love our earth. Our freeze-dried products reflect a novel way to celebrate our connection to earth and culinary abundance.
Good Food
Natural State Freeze Dried provides you and your family with high nutrition freeze-dried food options for a variety of uses and situations.
The Olienyks come from multiple generations of farmers, food producers, determined settlers, and entrepreneurs. It's in our blood. We believe if something is worth doing, it's worth doing well and honest, and those values carry every decision made at Natural State Freeze Dried.
Craig and Rachel are both licensed mental health counselors, and while we believe in nurturing mental well-being, we recognize that good food and food security are primary components of overall well-being.
Feeding America has been a family value for generations, and preserving that tradition is incredibly valuable. We believe in freedom to choose what we eat, what is in our food, and from where it comes. We believe good food is healing and the energy put into making quality products matters.
Freeze-drying on a non-industrial scale is a very recent accomplishment and offers an exciting opportunity for us to offer wholesome food products in a new and long-lasting form—carrying on the tradition of generations of farmers and food producers.
We love our earth. We believe that she can provide all things necessary for our health and well-being. However, society has developed a mostly unsustainable method of managing these resources. The pandemic showed us that just-in-time inventory is a horribly flawed model for food security.
We never know the next event that could cause disruptions in food supply chains or crop failures. Careful planning and consideration is essential for both short and long-term food security and freeze-dried foods should play a key role in your family's food planning. Storing up for lean times is age-old wisdom for good reason.
It is our goal to help you enjoy the best, highest quality freeze-dried food and confections available. In addition to careful quality control and meticulous attention to detail, we take steps during our process to keep our earth the beautiful place it is.
We ship our products in recyclable cardboard boxes containing starch-based packing peanuts that disintegrate in water and are 100% biodegradable. Have fun watching the packing peanuts disintegrate in water. It's fun! It's especially fun for young ones you may have in the home—bonus entertainment!
Freeze-dried foods provide you and your family with sustainable, quality, high nutrient food options regardless of market conditions, environmental calamities and/or shortages. Many freeze-dried foods will last up to 25 years in 7-mil Mylar bags with oxygen absorber packets if kept out of extreme conditions.
Careful planning and consideration is essential for both short and long-term food security. Freeze-dried foods should play a key role in your family's plans.
Natural State Freeze Dried offers quality freeze-dried foods that are ideal for camping, backpacking, traveling, RV-ing, snacking, cooking, baking, and prepping.
You'll love our nutrient dense freeze-dried Superfood Smoothie2Go! so you can enjoy your smoothie anytime, anywhere.
Or you may need quality ingredients that you know will be available at any time regardless the season, market fluctuations, or local availability.
Natural State Freeze Dried has you covered with high quality, carefully crafted freeze-dried food and gourmet treats to ensure you can enjoy the food you love under any circumstance.