We’re “starting fresh” this January, completing 22 mini-challenges in 22 days for a cleaner, fresher and healthier kitchen and grocery budget. Just joining us? Read about the what’s and why’s on the mini-challenges, as well as the previous days tasks, and jump right on in!
When it comes to eating healthy, real food, there’s pretty much one thing everyone can agree on: pre-packaged mixes, boxes and meals are bad.
Either bad for you nutritionally, or bad for you financially.
What if you found a way around both?
Day 15 – Make Something From Scratch
The challenge at hand is to take something you would ordinarily buy in a box or package, nearly ready to eat – pizza, sandwiches, cake mix, brownies, baking mixes (i.e. Bisquick), boxed dinners, etc. – and make it from scratch. Anything whose directions look like this…
1. preheat oven
2. remove outer wrapper
3. bake for xx minutes
4. careful contents will be hot
5. serve warm and enjoy
… are targeted and considered fair game.
This may take some trial and error. It’s ok if you don’t master a recipe in the first try. However, you won’t know how great the dish could be if you never considered making it yourself.
Even dishes you normally order when dining out are fair game too. Orange chicken? Lemongrass vegetables? Yep, start digging up some recipes and get cracking! Those restaurant dishes are not necessarily better than boxes.
What’s the point of this challenge?
Because even the “good” convenience items (Kashi, Annie Chung, etc.) still have stuff added to the box so that the food won’t spoil while making the transition from the factory to your home… among the various shipping trucks, loading and unloading pallets and store shelves.
If we don’t HAVE to ingest these additives and preservatives whose long-term side affect is unknown, then why do it? For convenience?
Are we seriously willing to use our hard-earned money to PAY for these added chemicals? Have we really become that lazy?!
Yes, as a society, we have. It is easier to open that box for dinner. It is very convenient to not have to think about what spices go with what meats, or to ponder if $7.99/lb is good for organic chicken breasts (which it isn’t by the way, when you can buy a whole chicken and cut it up yourself).
But we real food foodies don’t fit in with the rest of society anyway. We don’t eat trans fat, purposely eat animal fat and avoid fat-free foods like the plague.
Shoot, if we’re going to be looked at as crazy, might as well act the part! 
I know there are more than a few of you who are probably thinking, “That sounds great Tiff, and I’d love to make my own food completely from scratch. I just have no clue where to start!”
I have a solution for you too.
Katie from Kitchen Stewardship has put together another AWESOME ebook – “Better than a Box.” Her book is filled with over 200 pages of ways we can transform family favorite recipes (that include processed food) into whole food favorites.
- Like velveeta? Covered.
- Cream of mushroom soup? Done.
- Cheeseburger Helper? Oh yeah baby.
200 pages peeps! That covers a lot of food!!
I call this book awesome because there’s one quality of Katie’s that’s hard to come by: she never does anything partway. She covers every single base imaginable in her books and leaves no stone unturned. “Better than a Box” is no exception. This book is the third I’ve read of hers and just like the others, it will become a staple in my kitchen (or Kindle, since it’s an ebook ).
- If your family hasn’t boarded the real food train, you need this book.
- If you want to eat more nourishing food without giving up family favorites, you need this book.
- Got $2 worth of change in your sofa? You need this book!
That’s right! Today is the launch of “Better than a Box” and for the next three days you have two ways to snag an awesome deal on this awesome book:
1. Buy the PDF version for only $1.99 (includes some cool freebies like Kindle and Nook files, recipe cards and a few printables).
2. Buy the Kindle version on Amazon for 99¢.
If only for the recipes alone, this book is worth $2. But as I mentioned, there’s no holding back in this book. The recipes are only a portion of the book – the rest is the brains behind how these recipes came to fruition. Basically this book teaches you how to take any of your own recipes, laden with boxed and processed foods, and turn them into real food recipes your family will love.
You will NOT be disappointed!
Day 14 Update
Most of my updates were included in my post yesterday, but I wanted to share a funny story with you guys.
Mr. Crumbs and The Boy (5) went for a bike ride yesterday. Their plan was to ride their bikes to church (approximately 8 miles) and then ride home with me and The Girl (3) after service.
The boys left and started their normal route, which involves a couple hills and street crossings. The boy crossed the first street and started down the second hill of the trip. Reaching speeds topping 15mph, The Boy was flying down this hill when he ran head on into a stop sign. The bike stopped in its tracks while The Boy kept going… over the handlebars and into the pavement. Who in their right mind puts a stop sign right in the middle of a sidewalk?!
Needless to say, the stop sign won.
The Boy was scraped up and shaken pretty badly, but Daddy still felt really bad about the fall. He made a trip to the local grocery store for dessert to end the night on a positive note. Before he bought any ice cream, he read all the ingredients! He knew to avoid the low-fat varieties and to stay away from trans fat and HFCS. Two thumbs up for Daddy and ice cream!
What about you? What do you plan to make from scratch?
A few years ago I made cream of celery soup out of necessity (needed it for a recipe, didn’t have any.) It turned out so delicious that I won’t even consider buying it anymore. I have to say, that (super-easy) soup and bread have had the biggest “wow” response for homemade vs. store-bought. I did make yogurt this weekend, though. That was a learning experience, and the product was ok, but next time will be a little (hopefully a LOT) smoother.
How did your yogurt turn out lumpy? Did you wisk the starter in REALLY well?
My family agrees with you on the soup and bread!!
Oh, and I just bought the book! ^
Thanks!
I’ve started making “cream of ___” soups from scratch, as well. Yesterday, I made cinnamon applesauce and apple butter. We’re in the process of converting to only homemade breads including sandwich bread (my 14 yr-old is my worst critic for this one.) I’ve also quit buying coffee “creamers” after your post on them. I was horrified when I read the ingredients. Thanks so much for all the wonderful info you provide on your blog!
Mmmm…. we’re headed to the farmer’s market Friday for apples to make more apple butter. I’m happy to hear you quit the creamer habit. I cringe when I see others drink it. Thanks Amy!!
Well, I am having trouble with salad dressings. I cant bring myself to eat any store bought ones with all the chemicals and sugar in them, and have never made any myself. I am on a lifestyle change with my food, and right now am on a 10 day full sugar fast (no bread, pasta, sweets, ect.) I am diabetic and need to start somewhere, anyways, I want to eat salads and dont like them without something on them. So I am determined to make this work, and now with your encouragement I am going to attempt to make Ranch dressing! We will see how it goes. I just mostly wanted to tell you how much I love your site and all the info you give is astounding!! Another thing I just noticed above is Amy says something about coffee creamers, ugh, I will have to check that out, I cant drink coffee with out them! Right now its my only vice and downfall with this sugar fast.
Correna,
Bailey’s coffee creamers are actually made with cream (GASP-unbelievable, right?) I still try and make my own but I figure these are better than most. They do contain sugar so I’m not sure how they would work for you. Hope this helps!
Also, don’t give up if the first Ranch dressing you try isn’t what you want. I probably tried 3 or 4 different ones before I found one that was more suited to my tastes. There are a ton of different recipes out there for homemade Ranch.
Amy’s right about the dressings. Try halving or even quartering a batch before going full force. And remember that you can always add more spices, but they’re pretty sneaky to remove.
YOU CAN DO IT!!
Thank you for your wonderful encouragement Correna! I’m thrilled to have you as a reader – good luck on your sugar fast (I’d be a gonner before it even started).
I’ve been thinking about this one. I would like to know how to make my own greek yogurt and panko bread crumbs and pudding mix. Well I can make my own pudding,but I like putting it in my cakes so I would like to see if that can be done-haven’t googled it yet. I also would like to attempt my own buttermilk although it would seem that milk and vinegar do the trick for most things. Those are the top things I still buy,but would be healthier if I made them. Oh and my son would much prefer the cute little snack pack of pudding over my homemade pudding. What can I say he falls for the packaging! Oh and graham crackers as my son loves those things and I tried my own and it didn’t work out so hot,but will try again,but it’s hard wasting money on failed attempts.
Gina,
Greek yogurt is SO easy. Make the homemade version (check out the DIY post), chill for a day and then strain it over a fine mesh strainer. If you don’t have fine mesh, use a coffee filter and a regular strainer. I do 1cup portions (or so) and let it sit for about an hour. Scoop it into a new container, repeat with more yogurt. I then use the whey to ferment something else (cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving) or in place of coconut water in smoothies.
I would imagine you could use your own pudding in cakes. Can’t see why not! Panko bread crumbs are just the insides of bread. If you have any extra bread, remove the crusts and lightly toast slices. Put in a food processor (or blender) and pulse until the right consistency. The vinegar/milk trick works well for most buttermilk recipes. Maybe a small package of cute reusable containers would bring smiles to your son? It would be $5 or so upfront, but financial and nutritional savings in the long run. Maybe a Valentine’s gift?
The elusive graham cracker! I stopped buying them, but haven’t tried my own yet. Annie’s bunnies come in graham flavor if you must have that flavor cracker, otherwise I’ve found that once the kids realize the crackers are gone (and not coming back anytime soon), they gravitate towards healthier options. Some types of crackers that are made to accompany cheese don’t have gross stuff, so that’s an option too. Salt & pepper flavors are plainish, but the kids have fun topping them with peanut butter and raisins or bananas!
I understand the failed attempts. Before I try anything new, I decide if there’s a different option first. If not, I start with a half-batch for both ingredient cost and taste experimentation. If it doesn’t taste good, I try to repurpose to not waste the money (bad crackers to bread crumbs for baked chicken). If it’s a winner, see if there’s a way to make the same things with more frugal ingredients. It can definitely be a process, but it can truly pay off in the end!
Thank you Those are all good suggestions. I will definitely be trying my own greek yogurt very soon! For the pudding I meant I put the dry mix in so I don’t know how I’d make a dry mix for it because I make pudding with milk and make it fresh. That’s a good idea to make partial batches in the beginning and find a reuse for it if possible. In fact it kinda rings a bell-is it possible you mentioned something like this before and I wasn’t listening-ha!=)
You’re welcome! Thanks for the pudding explanation – I thought you meant made and ready to eat! (Which, by the way, nearly sent me rushing to the kitchen to bake a cake, lol!)
What’s the purpose of the pudding – for moisture in the end? I thought I heard yogurt instead can do that, and sour cream too. Or organic powdered milk?
Thank you for your submission on Nourishing Treasures’ Make Your Own! Monday link-up.
Check back tomorrow when the new link-up is running to see if you were one of the top 3 featured posts!