Cooking from scratch can be a time-consuming and mammoth effort on some days, on the hard days especially. But the health of my family & myself is a high priority in my day-to-day choices.
What is From Scratch Cooking?
It’s Not About The Pinterest-Worthy Photos
Although a great shot of a delicious looking meal is somewhat important in regard to my blog, in my every-day life it just isn’t so.
Having a plate full of nutritious food, that may look a little slap-happy, is way more important than it looking pretty.
Yes, it is said that we “eat with our eyes”, but the taste and nutritional value is what is actually important.
Knowing What Is In Our Meals
We get to see the entire process. Planting the seeds, watering & nurturing the plants, harvesting the fruits of our labour & preparing into a delicious dish.
If we aren’t able to grow it all, which is pretty impossible, especially for me as someone who is new to gardening & living in a region that isn’t always the best growing environment, then we do purchase what we need. If possible, I will buy directly from the growers/farmers to cut out the middleman, and to know where it has come from. This also gives us the opportunity to talk to the producers and get some insight into their growing processes.
In the instance where I can’t buy direct, I prefer to buy from small suppliers where possible. Fruit & veg shops over supermarkets is a great way to get better products for your money.
The Entire Family Gets Involved
Having the entire family involved in planning for & preparing our meals is really important to me. Knowing my children will have the skills to plan out their meals by knowing what they have & what they need, and then also having the skills to prepare those meals, gives me much comfort.
Giving them the opportunity to also know that the meals that are presented to them each day are a labour of love, and not just something that happens. It takes time & effort to put these meals together to keep our family fed and healthy. An appreciation for this time & effort gives a whole new meaning to their meals.
It is Calming (Most Days)
Giving myself the time to prepare meals for my family is something like a love language for me. I love to feed people.
I have always enjoyed cooking, and love to experiment with new dishes or ingredients when I have the opportunity to do so.
When I have the time, there is nothing more enjoyable to me than dicing & slicing produce, grilling, stirring & roasting the proteins and baking up some sweets. It all has a calming effect on me. When there isn’t the time-pressure of getting the meal on the table to be able to move on to the next thing, the calmness in the kitchen is something that bring me back to the “good old days”. I imagine myself living the slower life of previous generations, and I appreciate the small things more.
The Health Benefits are Substantial
Who knew that gut health also had an impact on so many other areas of our lives.
In 2024, I became quite unwell, and this showed in my skin. Below are some photos of how my skin looked when it was at it’s worst. Quite confronting when looking back on it.
At the time, I didn’t realise how bad it was, I was just living through it and trying to figure out what was happening and how to fix it.
Luckily, I was able to completely adjust my diet by eliminating a large variety of foods, for what ended up being 10 months, until my skin completely cleared up. I was then able to reintroduce all of these foods and no longer have skin issues.
Since having the health issues, I have had my eyes opened to what is really in some of our foods. I do my best to use whole foods – products that are unprocessed as much as possible. Avoid anything with labels if there are fresh versions available.
This also started up my sourdough journey, and I now utilise sourdough in every dish I possibly can! It isn’t just our source of delicious and healthy bread, but it also makes our own Easy Fresh Sourdough Pasta, is the base of our Chocolate Chip Cookies & ads depth of flavour to our weekend Pancake breakfast.
Purchase in Bulk & Preserving to Ensure Access
Preserving what I can get my hands on, when able to get bulk, well-priced products is another great way of ensuring we have access to these products whenever we need them. Check out my blog post How To: Preseve Food and What You Need to get some more insight into how you too can keep products on hand long-term.
Food is seasonal. We all know that. So, what if we want to have a tomato-based pasta dish such as Beef Lasagne with Fresh Sourdough Pasta Sheets during winter when tomatoes aren’t in season. How do we ensure we are getting the best version of the products we are wanting?
Purchasing or growing in bulk when produce is in abundance during their growing season & then preserving them to keep them in stock throughout the year, ensures we have access to good quality products that will feed and benefit my family all year round.
How to Start Cooking From Scratch
Just get in the kitchen and give it a go!
If you lack confidence or knowledge on cooking, take the time to do a little research if necessary. Watch some chefs such as Nigella Lawson or Jamie Oliver. These two are amazing chefs, but they are also very relaxed in their cooking styles, which doesn’t leave you more confused or feeling “less than” after watching their videos.
Start small. Create a simple dish that takes only a few steps and ingredients, so you don’t get overwhelmed. Don’t over-complicate things by trying to be fancy. Sometimes, the simplest of dishes can actually turn out to be the tastiest.
Take a look through my blog posts to see if you can find a recipe that speaks to you and give it a try.
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