The other day a friend said they hoped to be able to ‘cook from scratch’ one day, like I do. But they are not ready to.

I get that. ‘Cooking from scratch’ takes a lot of planning, effort, practice and shortcuts. And all of those are hard to get.

But I want to let everyone in on a secret.

I do not ‘cook from scratch’.

No one ‘cooks from scratch’. (Well, it’s rare as get out.)

When I bake bread, I do not raise the wheat, harvest it, mill it…

When I roast a chicken, I do not raise it to adulthood, butcher it, clean it…

You get it.

‘Scratch’ cooking is an arbitrary term. YOU pick the place where you are comfortable jumping in and making food that is whole and healthy for yourself and your family. For me, this is making a pound of beans in the Instant Pot and freezing them in 2 cup measures. A can of beans is not ‘less whole’. It’s not less ‘from scratch’.  I grab 5# bags of carrots and peel and cut them before a meal. Grabbing a bag of frozen carrots or fresh baby carrots or even canned carrots and using them is still offering whole good food.

None of those choices is ‘I planted the carrots and grew them’. They are all ‘from scratch’.

Cooking ‘from scratch’? As I said, planning, effort, practice, shortcuts.

Effort needs energy. If you don’t have the energy to do anything other than open a box or a bag and nuke something, you take care of yourself. Not everyone has the same 24 hours in a day. Try to add whole foods to your nuked meals, and try to find shortcuts to get them to you. Cooking is less important than giving yourself the nutrition and good food you need.

If you have the energy, a bag of frozen veg, a can of beans tossed with dressing, are easy additions of whole foods to any busy schedule.  As you get more practice with it, you can get more ideas and it’s easier. A sliced tomato next to a meal. A can of beans stirred into a casserole. A whole fruit for dessert.

Practice is vital. I can have a few onions and carrots chopped in a few minutes, because I know what I am doing *now*.
I didn’t used to.
Have a few minutes? Chop an extra onion or two. Get used to doing it. They freeze well, and then you can toss them into the pan when cooking over the week when you have no time. Same for carrots, celery, green peppers. The more you cut them, the easier it will be.

And look up a video to learn how to cut them. Epicurious is one of my favorites. If no one taught you how to cook and prep, there is no way you can do it fast and easy and that will cause you to not ‘cook from scratch’.

Shortcuts. This one is really hard to explain. Part of it is knowing that bread can rise in the fridge overnight so you do not have to spend all day baking, or that there are breads designed to be stirred up and baked. Part of it is grabbing that chopped onion from the freezer or a can of beans. Part of it is skipping a bottom crust and using a streusel for a pie. Part of it is having the luxury of a food processor and a strong mixer. The more you try to do things, the more shortcuts you will realize you can make.

Planning. This is important, and it’s emotional labor. I used to not plan. Now I plan. I do not know one single thing that helped me out with this switch. But if every night you get home and you are tired and hungry, there is no way you can cook. I used to plan some time every weekend to sit and plan out the week’s meals. Everyone got to pick a meal. I would plan a dish in my clipped recipes file. That worked. It made shopping easier, fewer things went bad, and we had a more varied diet. Now, that is all second nature, I have meals planned out for weeks, food rarely goes bad.

Wait, no, we still have flexibility! I don’t mean I know what we are eating Monday 2 weeks from now. Just that I know what we want and that we have the stuff for it and that I can find a day that works for it.

And also, ‘planned overs’. Again, with the labor. Nothing goes into the fridge or freezer without a plan for it. We had stir fried veg the other day. Putting it away, I thought it would go well as lunch with a pack of Ramen.
Yes. Ramen. Cooked with an egg in the pot, with leftover veg added. No more ‘work’ than regular ramen, but way better for us. Ok, yes, I added some scallion and sesame seed and cilantro, but that’s because I have them and need to use them before they go bad.
Planning. Clean out your freezer, make a list of what you need to get rid of, and then make a cup (or pour a glass) of something good to drink, and make a list of 5 meals to attempt next week. Compare prep and cook time with your calendar (no way an hour long prep/cook can be done after soccer practice, but a crock pot meal can be) and give it a try. The more you do it, the easier it gets.

So, cooking ‘from scratch’ is a sliding scale. You pick the place you are comfortable with on any given day, and you work with it, with your tools and your experience.