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What I Make From Scratch (And What I Don’t)

BySally Kuzemchak, MS, RDN Published: Updated on
54 Comments

I believe that a diet based around mostly whole, fresh foods is the way to go, with wiggle room for some packaged items too.

As a result, I experiment in the kitchen, making homemade versions of store-bought staples. Sometimes I post those recipes here and on my Real Mom Nutrition Facebook page because I want to share something that’s worked for me.

What I DON’T want to do: Give you the impression that everything in my house is homemade. It’s not. I love to cook and bake. I love the satisfaction that comes from making something myself.

But making everything from scratch? That’s statistically impossible for me. Four of us eat nearly every single breakfast, lunch, and dinner at home (or a packed lunch made at home). My boys’ appetites are becoming alarmingly robust. And if the mountain of dishes I create every day from prepping food gets any higher, I’m afraid it will topple over and bury my husband, the designated dishwasher.

Here’s how from-scratch cooking goes down in my house:

What I usually make from scratch

What I sometimes make from scratch if I have time

What I only occasionally make from scratch

How to make homemade fruit leather

And here’s what that looks like for our family:

  • If we have from-scratch hummus, we’re probably eating it with store-bought pita bread.
  • If we have homemade nut butter and granola bars that week, there’s also a bag of pretzels in the snack cupboard.
  • If there’s a pot of chicken soup on the stove and homemade rolls in the oven, we are likely having boxed pasta and jarred sauce the next night (or fish sticks and French fries from the freezer).

In some circles, all packaged food seems to be demonized–that to admit you buy packaged foods is to somehow admit failure, laziness, or a lack of concern about health and wellbeing. And don’t get me wrong: I love a good Pinterest challenge. Homemade graham crackers? Maybe I’ll attempt that some lazy Sunday afternoon.

But I don’t feel guilty about using packaged foods. Balance is important. And for me, relying on some packaged foods does help my health and wellbeing because it preserves my sanity.

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54 Comments

  1. I agree. I strive for a balance. I make my own bread all the time, and usually make my own hummus. I like to make my own pizza–crust and sauce–but I try to keep a few frozen pizzas in the freezer. I’m also a big fan of frozen veggies that can quickly turn into stir-fry with packaged pasta or brown rice plus some cashews or almonds.

    Reply

  2. I always make: tortillas, soups, stock, all snacks (i.e. Granola bars), pizza dough, guacamole, cookies/desserts

    Buy: BPA free canned beans, veggie purees, salad dressing, pasta, pasta sauce, salsa, french fries, bread, nut butter

    I’m always experimenting with something new just to see how long it takes, or how hard it is, or to see if it’s something I could possibly make.

    Reply

    1. Hi Stephanie–Ditto on guacamole! And yes, I like to experiment as well and see if it’s “worth it” to me to make the homemade version, factoring in time, cost, hassle, etc.

      Reply

  3. You deliver on the “real” in your name, and I so appreciate that. As a fellow RD, I am encouraged to learn more about what happens in your house and how it works for you. This sounds very similar to my house, although the types of items differ somewhat. Finding this balance is also what I recommend to clients, as I do feel there is a place for convenience items in order to make the changes we desire. I did use my snow day today to make some homemade bread and it’s delicious!

    Reply

    1. Thanks Sam, glad you enjoyed the post. Balance is so important, and that will look different for everyone. I’m a fan of homemade banana bread too. 🙂

      Reply

    1. Meagen–some of my usuals are:
      *Triscuits
      *Boxed cereal: I wrote a post about my favorite ones here: https://www.realmomnutrition.com/2014/01/27/my-5-favorite-boxed-cereals/
      *Sore-brand whole wheat pasta
      *Smuckers natural peanut butter
      *Frozen fish sticks from Trader Joe’s (TJ’s brand I think)
      *Cascadian Farms shoestring frozen French fries
      *Hodgson Mills whole wheat macaroni and cheese or Annie’s whole wheat macaroni and cheese
      *Mott’s Healthy Harvest natural applesauce

      Reply

  6. I can’t tell you how nice it was to read this! I am constantly trying to remind myself that I can’t do it all (soak grains, make green juice each and every day for my entire family, grind my own flour, make my kombucha, and the list just goes on and on). Can get very discouraging. I do what I can, with the time I have. Nice to read about a fellow ‘real mom’ who simply does her best – Thank you.

    Reply

    1. Thanks Carrie. Glad you enjoyed it. Sounds like you are doing quite a lot! And no, you can’t do it all. Not unless you want to be in the kitchen all day everyday. 🙂 I like to cook and bake but I also like to play a board game with my kids, watch a movie with my husband, enjoy some downtime. Those things are as important as preparing healthy foods because it means we’re also taking care of ourselves!

      Reply

  7. Refreshing honesty! This is similar to our home – sometimes when I read blogs I wonder, how do they do it!!….thanks for this real Mom post!

    Reply

    1. Thanks Edie! I am guessing those bloggers buy some packaged foods too. 🙂

      Reply

  8. I always make salad dressing, soups, tomato sauce and ragu and pasta dishes. My one exeption is pesto sauce. Most of the times I make pizza dough. Maybe a couple of times a year my son and I make home made fettuccine, they taste like nothing you buy, but it’s a tret, not enough time to make pasta every time we eat it. We occasionally eat fish sticks or frozen burritos. I try to buy organic for the stuff that is on the “dirty list” and I always buy seasonal food. That’s pretty much how I grew up, I am from Italy, and I saw no reason to change when I moved here.

    Reply

    1. Barbara–thanks for the comment. Sounds like a pretty good system to me. And being from Italy, you probably make some amazing homemade dishes!

      Reply

  9. Great post! I shared it on Facebook. Cooking from scratch doesn’t need to be all or nothing in my opinion. There are so many die-hards out there it can feel like the only way to improve my family’s health thru food is to grow everything we consume and cook it myself . It’s nice to see someone who is professionally trained say it’s ok to have a little store bought food.

    Thanks!

    Sarah

    Reply

  10. I am interested and concerned about what we are hearing about the ingredients in Pillsbury products and Subway bread. Can you elaborate.

    Reply

  11. I hear you. And I think we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to be this total, all-in, completely processed-free house which is nigh impossible right now. Maybe eventually, I don’t know.
    We always make most of our own bread products (my husband is addicted to sourdough) and baked goods, from cookies and cookies to tortillas and hot dog buns. We only eat homemade granola for cereal and pizza sauce (we have THE easiest recipe which doubles as a super easy pasta sauce).
    I tried with pasta, but some of it went bad and I was totally deflated. Same with crackers (a lot of work and the kids prefer No Name extra salty saltine, of course).
    I guess we do what we can and move on when we’re ready.
    Thanks for being such an encouragement to do your best without being perfect (impossible, or so I’m told…) 🙂

    Reply

    1. Jenn–thanks for your comment. I agree that many of us do put pressure on ourselves to get it perfect and “right”. And I totally hear you on the saltines. I bought some of those recently when my son had a stomach bug and both of my boys went crazy for them. Ditto for the white bread at my parents’ house. 🙂

      Reply

  12. Thank you for this – I live in an area where it is hard to admit I work outside the home and therefore cannot always feed my family from scratch whole perfect unblemished organic food.
    But… working keeps me sane, and sanity keeps my children alive. I think it’s a fair trade off.
    We love cooking from scratch a few times a week and we love eating together and trying new flavors and new foods – but sometimes we need a break.
    Also, I have found that letting my kids have packaged food is a great way to remind them how much better “real food” tastes – and how much better it makes them feel. These are good lessons for later when I’m not cooking for them anymore!

    Reply

    1. I hear you Bree! I work as well and there never seem to be enough hours in the day, just to keep the house and the kids clean, much less make all the food from scratch. And some weeks are much crazier than others in that respect. Eating together as a family is so important, details like whether you made the bread from scratch are, in my opinion, much less important than being together. Thanks for your comment!

      Reply

  13. I make it all from scratch. Cookies. Tortillas. Stock. Fruit Leather. Jerky. Because I have to though not because I want to. When (hopefully) my daughter grows out of her food sensitivities that will change some. For now though that just means that those things aren’t an every day or even every month thing. We eat pretty boring.. meat and vegetables or soup for pretty much every meal… and a lot of fruit.

    Reply

    1. RJ–you certainly bring up a good point. Sometimes it’s simply necessary to make things from scratch because of food allergies/intolerances. Thanks for chiming in!

      Reply

  14. We buy packaged under a handful of circumstances which look like:
    1. too hard to make at home
    2. a relatively healthy version of it is available

    Likewise, we make things at home if:
    1. It’s very easy
    2. It’s hard to find versions of which I that are organic or I am otherwise unhappy with the ingredients labels.

    Homemade guac is pretty easy, but it’s also pretty easy in my area to find organic “wholy guacamole” with a very respectable ingredients list, in package sizes that can easily be frozen, so most of the time I save myself the hassle.

    I recently bought a tortilla press because I cannot consistantly find organic corn tortillas, and I’ve made the choice to try to the best of my ability to avoid GMOs. I want tortillas with like 3 or 4 ingredients tops. When I find organic low ingredient tortillas, I go ahead and buy them but I’m not opposed to making them myself.

    Balance is everything! I enjoyed seeing someone else admitting to not being capable of doing everything from scratch (I’ve never attempted pasta and I am intimidated by it)

    Reply

    1. Well Pam, now I’m intrigued by a tortilla press… 🙂 We eat so many tortillas around here, that might come in handy. Thanks for the comment!

      Reply
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  16. I always make French fries, salad dressing, pizza dough, granola, cookies and spaghetti sauce from scratch. I have never attempted tortillas, ketchup or Pasta. I would love to make homemade BBQ sauce but have never tired. Do you have a good recipe you can share? Great post by the way!

    Reply

  17. Thank goodness for processed foods when we need them! I had just spent about 3 hours preparing dinner when I saw a link to your blog. I would lose my mind if that was dinner every night.

    Reply

    1. Adina–I agree! Some nights I really enjoy spending lots of time in the kitchen, other nights it’s just about getting it done. 🙂

      Reply

  18. We’re much the same as you!

    Always make my own cakes/sweet biscuits/pasta sauces/vinegarette/white sauces etc etc
    Usually make my own nut bars/pizza (dough and toppings, not the tomato paste)/yoghurt
    Sometimes make our own bread/pasta/ricotta/cordial syrups etc

    What we don’t make from scratch is sourced from farmers markets, independent markets/supermarkets and the like. We get much produce from our garden so it’s a waste if we *don’t* use it!

    Like you say though, some things are too difficult to make at home and/or what we can buy is just as healthy if you know what you’re looking for (plus, we like to support the small guys).

    Reply

    1. Kate–wow, I am impressed that you make your own yogurt! Haven’t tried that yet. Sounds like you’ve found a nice balance. I love supporting the local farmers too. Can’t wait for warmer weather and farmers market season around here.

      Reply

  19. I love this, and I couldn’t agree more with everything you said. I cook for just my husband and I, we don’t have children yet, but I try to make most of what we eat homemade. However, it’s hard to do it all! Sometimes I feel bad for this, but your post definitely just made me feel better. Thanks for sharing. 🙂

    Reply

  20. I love this! When I first started eating more whole foods and cooking and baking I thought I had to do everything myself and got burned out really quickly. Then I ended up eating even more processed foods than usual 😕
    My relationship with healthy eating is a lot less complicated now that I’m okay with buying some things pre-packaged lol

    Reply

  21. I TOTALLY AGREE!! Thank you for this! This whole healthy eating thing is a challenge!

    Reply

  22. Balance! It’s far too easy to lose balance when we’re trying to do everything right. But balance- balance is key. Such an important message, thank you!

    Reply
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  26. You do great Sally! I too have thought about making those Graham Crackers:) but haven’t done it yet.

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  28. Long time lurker here. I think we’re right in there with you–I try to stick with clean eating and from-scratch cooking, but with two working parents, you can only do what you can do. One thing I have let go of is making sandwich bread (which our kids tear through at an alarming rate), but I’m having trouble finding a good replacement.

    What bread do you recommend if you’re shopping at a conventional grocery store (e.g. not Whole Foods or TJs)? I try to find whole wheat bread that doesn’t contain corn syrup, but it’s hard to find a loaf that doesn’t have a lot of additional added ingredients. In this case, I’d be happy to go with the least worst.

    Thank you and thanks for your great “keeping it real” posts!

    Reply

    1. I look for bread with the first ingredient a “whole” grain. I also look for no high fructose corn syrup or added fiber (upsets my stomach). I look for a short ingredient list but honestly, I don’t get too hung up on it. I usually buy the whole wheat bread at ALDI or the Brownberry bread (Health Nut or Oatmeal).

      Reply

  29. What a great post! When I first started to eat healthier and lose weight, I was overwhelmed with the thought that I *had* to make everything from scratch. It seemed like every blog I was reading was practically screaming at me that everything store bought was bad for you. And I really tried! Homemade breads, jams, soups, tortillas, etc. And I was exhausted! I have a job and a home to clean and a family to take care of and still try and make it to the gym… so yeah, I’m gonna buy some already prepared stuff sometimes! 🙂 I agree that balance is definitely key!

    Reply

  30. One day when the kids are grown and out of the house maybe I’ll have time to make everything homemade. Until then, I’ll leave the cracker making to kashi and the pizza crust to trader Joe’s!

    Reply

    1. Jessica–ha! Yes, when I’m retired I’ll be eating all homemade foods while reading all the books I never had time to read and tending my perfectly-cared-for garden. At least I can dream! 🙂

      Reply

  31. Yes! If I made everything from scratch, I would never get to spend time with my kids. Or read. Or clean up after myself! On my “always-from-scratch” list are beans, salad dressing, muffins, granola, fermented veggies, chicken, beef, and soups.

    Sometimes-from-scratch: broths, pasta sauces, macaroni and cheese, Larabars, tortilla chips.

    Never-from-scratch: whole wheat pasta, whole wheat crackers, sprouted grain breads, single-ingredient nut butters, whole plain yogurt, organic and low-sugar jam.

    Reply

    1. Terita–Those are great lists. I’ve never made broth (it’s on my to-do list, always wanted to try it). I’ve made pasta but it’s a once a year project for me right now. Maybe more often when life slows down a bit. 🙂

      Reply
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