I’m not exactly sure what sparked my interest to start cooking most of our food from scratch, but I can remember the exact moment when I decided it was time to start. It was Mother’s Day back in 2022, and I told my husband all I wanted to do that day was bake a loaf of homemade bread. I always loved to bake, and we cooked a lot at home, but I had never tackled homemade bread. I remember being so impressed with the first loaf I made that day, and from there, I was hooked.
Once I realized I could make my own bread, and it wasn’t that difficult, I started to think about other things I could cook at home. I started testing out so many things and I was instantly hooked. I spent my nights looking up different recipes to try and I couldn’t wait to get into my kitchen every morning.
Now, I bake 95% of our family’s bread (there have been just a few times where we’ve needed to grab bread from the store in a pinch), and I’ve finally mastered the art of making sourdough bread. I also try making something new every week for our family to try and they absolutely love it. My kids have started running around the house and yelling “Mommy is the best cooker in the world!” any time I make them chocolate chip muffins for breakfast. It’s quite the compliment and it makes me so happy that they’ll have memories of me making their favorite things at home.
To say learning to cook from scratch has changed my life would be the understatement of the century. Currently, we’re building a very large backyard vegetable garden, I have my own flour mill sitting on my kitchen counter, and I’m starting to develop my own recipes!
Learning how to cook from scratch can change your life too. I wanted share the top 4 things that happened once I started cooking from scratch, and why I think it’s so important to learn these crucial skills.
Your cooking will get better every day
When you started cooking from scratch, there will be some not so good meals that you’ll have to eat, but with time, your success rate will be significantly higher than when you first started. You’ll have a chance to learn something new every day and apply those learnings as you try out new recipes. You’ll slowly build your confidence, which will give you the extra push to try new and different recipes that your family will love.
Your health will improve
Once you start making things from scratch, you will slowly start to remove a good amount of the processed food from your diet. You’ll slowly start to swap out the kids snacks and premade goodies from the store to your homemade version, and it will taste significantly better. Reducing the amount of processed food you eat will help with your energy levels, mood, and overall health.
Your kids will start to get involved
The more your kids help in preparing the food, the more inclined they are to try something new. This is a great way to get healthier food in their diets and teach them cooking skills for the future. It will also provide you with quality time together, even if it ends up taking twice the amount of time it would if you were doing everything by yourself.
You will save money
You will save so much money by making things at home. From bread, to tortillas, to waffles, to chicken nuggets, it can make a huge difference in your grocery budget. Also, you may find that you don’t want to go out to a restaurant as often. It can be really fun to try making new things at home, with an added bonus of saving money.
Have I convinced you to start cooking from scratch yet?! I promise, you won’t regret it. If you want to get started, but you’re not sure what you’ll need, I’ve put together a free kitchen essentials checklist for you to download, which you can get here. By no means do you need to purchase everything on this list, but it’s a great way to see if there are any big gaps in kitchen tools that you may need to get started. I can’t wait to hear what you decide to make first!