How To Cook More Meals From Scratch (Even when you don’t like to cook!)

Do you want to make more of your meals from scratch, but have no idea how or where to start? Today I am sharing my favorite tips for cooking from scratch more…even if you don’t like to cook!

I’ll be the first to admit—cooking isn’t my favorite way to spend the day. In fact, I really don’t enjoy it. But I do love feeding my family wholesome, nutritious meals made from scratch. Knowing exactly what ingredients go into our food and how it’s prepared gives me peace of mind. That’s why, despite not loving the process, I’ve learned how to cook more meals from scratch—and even make it a little more enjoyable—over the past 20 years. These simple shifts have made a big difference in my kitchen, and I’m excited to share them with you.

I remember the exact moment I felt the need to start cooking from scratch. I was cleaning out a cabinet in our first little house when I came across a container of breadcrumbs shoved to the back. As I turned it around to check the expiration date, I noticed the ingredient list—and for the first time, I actually read it. It was nearly a paragraph long, filled with words I couldn’t pronounce and ingredients I definitely didn’t have in my pantry.

That small moment sparked a big change. I began checking the labels on everything in our cabinets and was shocked by how many of our foods were filled with additives, preservatives, and ingredients known to have harmful health effects. That was the start of my from-scratch cooking journey. Even though I don’t love to cook, I knew I couldn’t unsee what I had discovered. I wanted better for my family, and learning how to cook more meals from scratch became a non-negotiable part of our home.

Batch Cooking and Big Baking Days

Just about everything we eat can be made at home, and over the last decade and a half, I’ve recreated almost all of it in my kitchen. Noodles, crackers, cheese, bread, spice mixes, and many of the convenience foods we’ve come to rely on. I don’t spend my whole day in the kitchen, even though all of our meals and snacks are prepared from scratch. I’ve learned that having big baking days and batch cooking has tremendously reduced my time in the kitchen. If a recipe calls for a diced onion, I’ll go ahead and dice three or four. I’ll store the others in the freezer, and they’ll be ready for the next time. I also love to double a recipe and utilize the leftovers for lunch the next day. When I learned to batch cook, my time in the kitchen really reduced.

Keep It Simple

Keeping it simple is my life’s goal, but it’s also transformative when you apply it to your meal rotation. The meals I make are ones I can recite to you without ever looking at a recipe card. They’re usually a handful of ingredients, very little prep work, and done within an hour. I know myself now. If the recipe has 20 ingredients, takes 45 minutes to prep, and three hours to cook, I won’t make it. Now is not the season of my life for complicated recipes. It is the season for delicious, healthy nourishing meals, and it is completely possible to make them simply.

Keep the Pantry Stocked

All-purpose flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, oats, beans, spices, sweeteners (we use honey and maple syrup for mostly everything) and good quality oil will pretty much allow you to make most anything from scratch. Bread, pasta, crackers, pie crusts, and pastries are at your fingertips if your pantry is well stocked. Food is really pretty basic, and as you get the hang of making your meals from scratch, you’ll recognize what you do and don’t need to keep stocked. It’s a game changer, though. Having a well stocked pantry makes cooking SO much easier.

A little planning goes a long way

This is true in every aspect of life, but especially in the kitchen. Soup tomorrow? Go ahead and plan to make a batch of saltines while the soup is simmering. Meatloaf on the menu? Make sure you’ve got the meat in the fridge, and you’ve got plenty of oldish bread for crumbs. A few minutes every evening can make a big difference the next day. I don’t exactly “meal plan” in the traditional sense, but I do pull out meat for the week, and have it in the fridge.

Always have meat in the fridge

If you’ve got meat in the fridge, you’ve won half the battle. There’s nothing worse than it being 4:30, kids are hungry, the husband’s on his way home, and you’ve got nothing pulled out for supper. Sunday evening I go shopping in our freezer. I’ll pull out a chicken, a pack of pork chops, and a couple pounds of beef. This way, I have meat thawing in the fridge, and half the battle of “what’s for supper” is won. (If I was going to focus on one type of meat to fill my freezer with it would probably be ground beef. There are simply so many things you can do with it.)

Always be preparing.

Now, I know this sounds like the opposite of not spending my whole day in the kitchen, BUT hear me out. When I spend those little pockets of time I’d use scrolling social media in the kitchen working on the next meal, we all benefit. If I’m making soup for supper, there are veggies I could be chopping. I could whip up a batch of cream of chicken soup for a recipe in just a few minutes. I could make granola in the amount of time I could watch reels on Instagram. Learning how to manage my time, and spread out the cooking tasks during the day, I’ve realized it’s not so daunting. This is why leftovers and batch cooking are so great. It means that somedays, lunch is done without the prep work. Woohoo!

If I could go back and tell myself these things years ago, I think it would’ve saved me a whole lot of frustration. I remember feeling so overwhelmed with everything I felt that I had to replace. I would encourage you to start slowly and simply. Try an easy bread recipe, like my easy Bread with the Stand Mixer. Make a Sourdough Starter. Swap out frozen pizza for homemade. Instead of canned or frozen biscuits, make a batch of your own. You don’t have to replace everything at once. One of my favorite quotes, is “start where you are, use what you have, do what you can.”

My tips for cooking more meals from scratch:

• Utilize batch cooking and prep
• Keep the meals and recipes simple
• Have a well-stocked pantry
• A little planning goes a long way
• Always have meat in the fridge
• Always be working towards the next meal

While these tips I’ve picked up over the years haven’t made me love cooking, they’ve definitely made it easier—and I dread it a whole lot less. 😉 Below, I’ll share a few links to some of my favorite simple from-scratch recipes to help you get started.

Simple Sourdough Recipes

• How to Make a Sourdough Starter
• How to Make Sourdough Sandwich Bread
• How to Make Sourdough Pancakes
• How to Make Sourdough Engish Muffins
• How to Make Simple Sourdough Discard Crackers
• How to Make Super Simple Sourdough Pizza Crust

Other Pantry Staples

• How to Make Simple Healthy Homemade Granola
• How to Make Homemade Saltine Crackers
• How To Make Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup

As always, thank you so much for spending a little bit of your day with me. I’d love to hear what’s been cooking in your kitchen lately.