Friends, I talk about baby steps for a reason. If something seems like it’s going to take too much time, effort or mental energy, I get anxious about it, push it further down on the list, and generally avoid tackling that project until I have to. That may be “never” for some things.
I need manageable bites. Tell me to get an oil change for my van, and I will put it off for a week. Hand me a phone number and tell me to call and schedule an appointment for the oil change, and it’s done within the hour. Easy, baby steps are all I can handle. And one thing at a time, please!
I always had a hunch that a lot of people were like me in that way. Kitchen Stewardship has validated the fact that I’m not the only person who can’t be superwoman, at least not in one impressive leap.
Here are my Top 10 Kitchen Stewardship Habits. These are some of the foundational things that I do in the kitchen. They are a good place to start because they make an impressive difference – most of them positively impact nutrition, budget AND environment. Some of them are simply necessary to survive in a “real food” kitchen (like menu planning). Use the Impact Ratings: 
at each Monday Mission to your advantage.
It’s still important to tackle ONE of them at a time, but this list is less daunting to look at than the 36 Monday Missions I shared for your review this week. Prioritizing is vital to your success! The Top 10 is in order of importance.
Top 10 Kitchen Stewardship Foundational Habits
- Become a label reader: learn to find high fructose corn syrup and trans fats (hydrogenated oils) and do your best to avoid them. Use butter if you don’t already. You can find the money to make up the difference between margarine and butter by doing nos. 3 and 5-9! If you know you’re using too much sugar, you’ll want to study that one and try hard to cut down…
- Plan ahead: meal planning is a must! You will save money by avoiding impulse buys and emergency pizza nights, and you can balance your nutrition between different meats. Planning makes it possible to do things like soak dry beans and use ingredients like chicken stock or fresh spinach twice in a week to streamline your cooking and avoid waste.
- Make homemade when it counts: Make sure your homemade stuff has better nutrition AND less money, AND taste good too. Take notes for a week about what you eat and prioritize your “from scratch” based on what your family eats the most of so your hard work makes the most impact.
- Learn to eat nutrient-dense foods. Read two paradigms of healthy eating: rather than to work hard at doing a zillion new things, figure out what regular old foods you can focus on to be as healthy as you can (like onions and garlic for immunities, EVOO and avocado for healthy fats, for one example). Ask not what you can take out of your food, but what your food can put into you. This takes mental energy but not much physical time or money.
- Make homemade yogurt. I save lots of $ making my own, and the probiotics in yogurt are so very nourishing. When you have a lot of it around, you eat it more often, too. I’m doing some new things with my yogurt making routine – Here’s the update.
- Make traditional bone broth. It’s easy, super frugal, and will boost your immunities and stretch a little bit of meat into really usable protein. Try to find good stock recipes so you can use your stock at least once a week. (But if that’s overwhelming, just make it once and see what happens. You’ll love it!)
- Use dry beans – often! The bean manifesto is a big post, but you’ll learn how to cook dry beans and WHY I think they’re a food that is worth weekly (or even daily) inclusion in your diet. When you feel sad that you can’t afford amazing, organic meat, take a day off for a meatless meal, and the money you’ll save can go toward a pound of “good meat” for the next day. It’s all about balance.
- Use non-toxic, simple cleaners. You can put perfectly nourishing food IN your bodies, but if your indoor air quality is making your family sick, it won’t matter. Don’t use bleach. These are frugal, simple cleaners. Commit to making a change on this one soon.
- Watch your waste – food and trash. How much do you throw away each week? You’re throwing away money if you waste food, and it’s worth a little time to help the environment. Often saving trash will be a frugal move as well, and bringing attention to your material things can help you find places where you can pare down and buy less stuff so you have more time and money for the good stuff. Some ideas:
- bread crumbs, soup veggie bag
- bones into broth
- keep track of your leftovers, portion sizes, ETC. (Freeze stuff!)
- reuse bags, bread bags, jars (spaghetti sauce jars are free storage containers with no BPA!)
- use things twice when you can
- pay attention to the amount of packaging in what you’re buying at the store
(Skip this one if it’s too overwhelming! It’s no. 9 for a reason…)
- Work on your omega 3 vs. 6 balance. Increase omega-3s (walnuts, salmon, extra virgin olive oil, flax) and decrease omega-6s (corn oil, “vegetable” oil, safflower and sunflower oils, soybean oil). This w1ill mean cutting back on processed foods, which can save you the money you’ll need for the EVOO!
*If you need just one thing to tackle no. 10, again study where you’re consuming industrial omega-6 oils most often. Is it salad dressings? Potato chips? Pastries or sweets? Then either make your own using EVOO or butter or cut them out (if they’re snacks or sweets).
Last, but definitely not least, be sure to stay connected in prayer. Do your best and give God the rest. He’ll take good care of you.
Letters from Readers
Here are two messages from readers, both in very different situations, but both looking for a little more direction with their baby steps:
I just found your site and made some of your granola bars. The kids (and I) LOVED them. I’ve enjoyed reading previous posts, but have to admit I’m a little overwhelmed.
We are on a pretty strict budget, and live in an area that has a rather high cost of living. We use white sugar, white flour, bleach and other cleaners, highly processed foods, anti-bacterial soap and a lot of other things that I’m sure we shouldn’t be using. Just beginning to be introduced to the idea of “real foods” and avoiding other things. I mean I try to push veggies/fruits and a “well-balanced” diet, but a lot of your site is news to me. I was just wondering where is the best place to start? If you had to start from the beginning, in what order would you take your “baby steps”
I know that, for monetary reasons, I can’t make all the changes you suggest, nor do I have the energy to implement all of them at once. That’s why I need direction….where to go first, second, third, etc. Thanks and God bless!
from Alex
And another, name withheld:
I’ll TRY to keep this as short as possible! I AM SO OVERWHELMED! It is so scary, frustrating, annoying, etc. that we are all so deceived about what is put into our food in this country!! I don’t even want to eat anything that is in my kitchen right now!!
Here’s my dilemma… I am just about convinced that all of the additives/chemicals in our food are causing all of the illness in our family (and everyone else’s too)… ADD, depression, sinus infections, ear infections… just to name the top ones that OUR family is dealing with. My oldest son is about to start medication for ADD and I am SO worried about the side effects, etc. But his teacher and our pediatrician recommend that he “needs” to be on medication.
I thought he did as well, but now I am wondering if that is really the answer. I am researching info. about changing his (and all of our) diet.
But, we are all so “used to” the taste of the garbage we have been raised on… my husband is not too thrilled about the changes I’m trying to make. And it is SO hard to keep kids from eating the things (or at least wanting them) that other kids eat.. and are served at school and church events.
I’m so sorry to be so overwhelming! HELP! I tried to pray about it this morning, and didn’t even know where to begin except to tell God how overwhelmed I am! I know He understands and I need to be patient… but I just feel like I need some guidance in where to go from here and how NOT to freak out! (and drive my hubby nuts in the process )
How did you get started when you REALLY changed the way you cook and eat? I know there are some things you have always done b/c your mom taught you that way. Some of us aren’t so blessed!
(By the way, I DO already strive for healthy cooking and eating and I LOVE to cook, so I’m not “afraid of” spending lots of time in the kitchen. I just need a manageable plan to get it all done!)
We don’t eat out a lot. The kids don’t get soda and candy (unless it’s from the grandparents!). They (we) are all pretty good eaters as far as vegetables, whole grains, things like that. But I am learning SO much about what all is really bad for our bodies!! The quote I heard in the book on CD I’m listening to was this: “If man made it, don’t eat it!” WOW, that is SO hard to do!
And one other thing, I am a stay at home Mom of 3 kids (ages 9,5 & 10 months)… so I do have time to prepare “from scratch”, etc. I actually did a baking day earlier this week that was so much fun! (pumpkin puree, WW waffles, muffins and cookie dough)
I did reply with a few ideas right away specifically for her medical questions, and you can see that reply here if you’re interested.
What do You Prioritize?
Dear readers, do you have any other advice for these ladies? How did you get started? (My Story starts here.) What to do about husbands? (Keeper of the Home did an excellent job with it this week: Making Healthy Changes When Your Husband Isn’t on Board. Here’s my treatise on How to Feed Husbands Real Food.) How to make it easy for kids to eat healthier when the world throws junk at them? Encouragement on the journey?
If this list still feels too long, don’t despair: Here are the top THREE things you can do to just focus on NUTRITION ALONE without much commitment or spending in order to get a change and make a start (requested by my bachelor friend, Joe).
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If you missed the last Monday Mission, click here.
Kitchen Stewardship is dedicated to balancing God’s gifts of time, health, earth and money. If you feel called to such a mission, read more at Mission, Method, and Mary and Martha Moments.
Please visit Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop and Life as MOM’s Ultimate Recipe Swap: Healthier Foods and Modern Alternative Mama for Healthy News.
Thanks so much to BrittneyBush for the perfect stressed out photo!
I very clearly remember the feeling of being overwhelmed with all the new info I learned about eating healthier. It seemed that more was coming at me by the hour. This is bad, this is good, that will kill you, don’t buy those!
I wrote a similar post to help my readers who are where I was not so long ago:
http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2009/02/overwhelmed-with-eating-healthier-another-random-reader-question.html
Thanks for joining in on Real Food Wednesday, Katie.
.-= Kelly the Kitchen Kop´s last blog ..Real Food Wednesday 11/25/09 =-.
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Katie Reply:
November 25th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
Kelly,
Thanks for providing that link – I had thought at one point of including it in my post, but when I was finishing it up I completely forgot. Baby steps are key! Have a great Thanksgiving…Katie
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I’ve been working on my family’s diet overhaul for just over a year now since my daughter’s cancer diagnosis. Before that time, I would have said that our family ate healthier than most. But after that diagnosis, I really put a lot of effort into it. I would tell someone new to this to #1: absolutely get rid of the HFCS and the veggie oils (except Olive oil) . If they do nothing but this, or if they spend months focusing on this alone, then their family’s diet will automatically be better.
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Katie Reply:
November 25th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Amy,
What a motivation to work on your family’s diet…I’m so thankful you shared this with us. May I ask how your daughter is doing? I can’t imagine working on all this in the midst of a health crisis, but then again, there’s no more important time to do the overhaul. Good for you for taking a look at dietary health as one source of healing for something as monumental as cancer. I’m sure you know more about treating disease via nutrition than I do. One thought popped into my head, and I remembered this fact b/c I read it when I was sharing a meal with a friend with cancer: Sally Fallon in Nourishing Traditions says not to use dishwasher detergent when caring for someone with cancer – to handwash and rinse twice instead. I’m guessing you could also use a natural DW detergent, but I’m not sure. May God bless your family with great inner peace and a focus on the joy of Heaven, as well as healing here on earth.
In Him,
Katie
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Excellent post, Katie! I have been working on changing things over for over 10 years (omitting bad oils, HFCS, etc. and grinding my own wheat) but only came across “Nourishing Traditions” 2 years ago. I felt completely overwhelmed – again! I had to read the book 2 or 3 times in small sections to just get a grasp on it and begin to take those baby steps you mentioned. Finding blogs at the beginning of this year and gleaning all the wonderful information from them has been an absolute livesaver for me. I am sure I would have abandoned the whole process if I hadn’t had this “online support system” Thanks so much to you and the other real food bloggers who break it down for us so well!
Happy Thanksgiving!!
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Katie Reply:
November 25th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Elaine,
Katie
I don’t grind my own wheat yet, but I’m thinking a grain grinder is on my Christmas wish list. Next Monday’s mission is to soak your oatmeal, which I think is a great baby step (b/c it’s ultimately so easy) toward the whole grains issue, which I haven’t really touched here at Kitchen Stewardship. Thanks for the uplifting note!
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Lenetta @ Nettacow Reply:
November 28th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Katie, I’m looking forward to the post on soaking oatmeal. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while . . . but I guess I need to see it in a few places before I get the nerve. :>)
.-= Lenetta @ Nettacow´s last blog ..Link Roundup, Sew, Mama, Sew Scrap Buster Edition =-.
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What a great post. One thing I think about is how this isn’t a ladder straight up, it’s a spiral and a roller coaster. I was doing great for a while – organic meat and veg, no eating out, hardly any sweets, non toxic cleaners – and then life got in the way. I’m crawling my way back out, baby step at a time. This week’s habit – flossing! Next week’s – organic produce!
Thanks for a great post.
.-= Alyss´s last blog ..What to Do with Green Tomatoes? =-.
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the second letter you received raises some great questions yet to me the answers aren’t as simple as I wish they were!
the sad fact is people do get “used to” the taste of “garbage” food, ie. highly processed food that isnt made with real food ingredientsand is instead made with flavor enhancers (msg and worse), trans fats, high fructose corn syrup and food colorants.
i think a lot of moms are scared their children will stop eating if they stopped offering the usual foods they are used to. for a while, like a day or two, a child may not eat much, or anything, if all of a sudden put on a healthier diet.
but if you child is not on the autism spectrum or doesn’t have other neuro/psycho/social issuesor other special needs, chances are they will never starve themselves to the point of any health danger.
kids have a natural, perfect desire to survive and thrive!
try to offer fresh fruits (most kids seem tolike fruit), vegetables, whole-milk dairy products, meats and maybe some 100% whole grain foods and they will soon eat it, so long as nothing crappy is offered. meaning NO soda or sugary drinks, not even juice (at least not every day), as its all empty calories that fill them up so they arent hungry for actual food.
start simple and make a “normal” meal, like hamburgers and home fries using grass fed ground beef, 100% whole grain buns, potatoes fried in coconut oil or tallow or lard and seasoned with sea salt,oregano and paprika. steam broccoli lightly and cover in melted butter and some freshly grated parmisean cheese. let them have a dollop of ketchup (look for one made with no hfcs like whole foods brand) and feel good about feeding your family good, simple food.
.-= emily´s last blog ..Eliza Jane is One Year Old! =-.
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Katie Reply:
November 28th, 2009 at 12:45 am
Emily,
Awesome addition to the tip list. Our family’s favorite summer meal was pretty much what you described – it is made BETTER than standard with all the good ingredients!
Thank you so much,
Katie
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This is such an important topic to discuss, as I think often our posts about all we are doing sounds overwhelming.
I always say to start with what you eat the most of, change that, and then move on down the list.
We started out by switching our milk to grass-fed organic, and eventually to raw.
I was already buying good bread, but I eventually started making my own (but that was NOT one of my first changes) but we do eat a lot of sandwiches so buying good bread (without HFCS and trans fats) was important to me.
I found a source for pastured eggs and chickens and started buying that instead of industrial eggs and chicken at the store. I started making chicken stock and storing it.
We bought a half a cow, grass-fed, locally raised, and stocked our freezer.
Beyond that, I try not to make things with cream of fill-in-the-blank soups. (I used to use them a lot.) I try to buy either local or organic veggies (it’s hard to find veggies that are both).
I use sucanat and honey in baking and try not to buy processed snacks.
It really is a journey, taking it one step at a time is KEY.
.-= Musings of a Housewife´s last blog ..Black Fashion Friday =-.
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Your site is great (I’m fairly new to reading it)….and this post was MOST helpful! I enjoy reading more! Thanks for giving us baby steps ideas along the way!!
.-= Jamie/penguinsandladybugs´s last blog ..Only TWO More… =-.
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Katie Reply:
December 11th, 2009 at 8:28 am
Jamie,
Katie
Welcome! Glad to have you on board!
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Have any of you seen “food, inc”? We used our free $4 amazon movie credit for it…so informative. that’s what actually kicked off our healthier eating move!
.-= Beth Farnsworth´s last blog ..Confessions of the “Good Deal” =-.
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Katie Reply:
January 8th, 2010 at 3:18 am
Beth,
Katie
I hear so much about it…but so haven’t found the time. I would love to see it! Glad to hear another good recommendation, and welcome to KS!
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Eating Healthier « Proverbs 31 Gal // Jan 7, 2010 at 5:51 pm
[...] January 7, 2010 Filed under: Just Because… — proverbs31gal @ 4:44 pm I stumbled on this post over at KitchenStewardship.com. It’s a really great post, with lots of information and tips on [...]
Katie,
I would just like to tell you that your blog is wonderful. It is my favorite ‘nourishing food’ blog. The way you write makes me feel like you are right there in the kitchen with me, helping me figure out just how to tackle all of these changes! I have 7 mo. old twins in cloth diapers who nurse constantly and am still able to make time to soak my beans/grains, make my own bread, etc. (Homemade yogurt & wild sourdough are next!) I just want to let anyone who is overwhelmed know that they can do it!
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Katie Reply:
April 12th, 2010 at 1:17 am
Kate,
You are my new hero! 7mo twins in cloth diapers?? That alone is amazing, and you can spend time in the kitchen, too. Wow. My dear friend has 1yo twins, and she still seems to be juggling so very much. Of course, she also has a 5yo and 3yo, so the household is pretty busy. I am very impressed with you commitment!
Don’t tell anyone, but my dirty little secret is that I never used cloth diapers! Yikes!
Thank you so much for your kind compliments – I’m happy to be invited into your kitchen (I’ll watch the twins for you next time, and you cook dinner. We’ll make the men do the dishes, right?)
Katie
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Oh, thank you SO much for this post. I’m already doing most of these, but it’s going to be my go-to post to refer other people I’m “converting,” into understanding that the small first steps are the ones that will lead to a healthier foundation!
Again, I am just so enamored with all the information you’re providing here! I can feel myself being “realer” already.
.-= Leslie @ crunchybetty.com´s last blog ..Very Important Things – Watch and Do Now! =-.
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Hi
We have had a fair share of health problems in my family lately (a lot of them are mine as well), and I have just been researching on how to better our health. I too feel a little overwhelmed with all the changes I have to make (and with health problems it is sometimes difficult to just do the basics to get by), but this week I bought only basic ingredients and produce, and have been making our bread (and a few batches of cookies as well ;-p) for us all to eat. That is a big thing for me, but I promised myself a week to see how well I could do, and to give a point to start with and ‘tweak’
I can see there has got to be a lot of changes, but I decided to just take it one babystep at a time, and I wrote this post about it:
http://purposefulwomanhood.net/?p=161
I love your blog, and I am sure you will see many more comments from me as I look around and READ, READ, READ! Thank you for giving a true, balanced, healthful and REALISTIC example, and reading this post (and many of the comments also) have made me feel like these small changes at a time will add up to become a BIG change
Warmest blessings,
Angela
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Katie Reply:
April 24th, 2011 at 10:17 pm
Angela,
Katie
I’m already proud of you! I just did some processing and thinking about our food purchases (and budget) after two years of making baby step changes, and I’m telling ya, one thing at a time makes a MASSIVE difference. I can’t even believe how far we’ve come, and in the first year, it made no difference in our budget at all. God bless ALL your efforts!!!
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Olive oil has more omega-6 than omega-3. Canola oil actually has more omega-3′s than olive oil (also more omega-6, but ratio may be similar).
Flaxseed oil is probably the best omega-3 to omega-6 ratio; more 3 than 6, and a lot more 3 than olive and canola.
I think we should be careful with oils, in general though, especially when heating (their chemical structure changes).
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Thanks for the advice. My favourite is No. 3 “make homemade when it counts!” I stopped trying to make sauerkraut since I can get probiotics from kefir, which is a lot easier to make in my opinion, and I still have more important things to change about our diet. Love the picture!
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Hello,
I’m a new follower through email subscription. I am so happy to have found your site. I’m a couponer (NOT extreme), that is discouraged with what I’m saving on. I’m hoping to gain knowledge on how I can stretch my dollar on the healthier side of the grocery store.
We are not very finicky eater and enjoy the taste of healthy food. I am VERY lucky that my DD loves healthy choices. She would much rather have the broccoli rather than the french fries when out in a restaurant and prefers whole grain bread over white. However, we are guilty of having some unhealthy processed foods in the house!
I’m so happy to have found you through “Girls to Grow” Saturday Salutes. I look forward to gaining much knowledge here!
I also would like to invite you to my brand new “Thrifty Peach Blog Hop” (debuted 8/16/11) next Tuesday to share one of your great posts. I think my readers would love to hear from you.
I hope you have a blessed weekend!
Jennifer
[Reply to this comment]
Katie Reply:
August 22nd, 2011 at 2:45 am
Jennifer,
Welcome aboard! You’ll love the Eat Well, Spend Less series.
Thank you for the invite – I just had a baby, though, so my time is very limited!
Katie
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Another one to see that especially talks about foods and what we eat, why we’re sick & getting cancers is Food Matters-both this one and Food Inc. can be watched directly from Netflix. Both are “Must See” & can convince husbands & others into wanting to change their diet pronto!
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This is just what I needed!!! I have been struggling with everything you mentioned. And I become overwhelmed and it all seems to be an insurmountable task. I hope with your encouragement and tips that I too can be on my way to better kitchen stewardship(and in other ways as well!!! Thanks
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Wow, this is a great article, and an important topic to share with friends and family. I think living in this way is often perceived as very difficult, or not worth it, by people who have yet to try it, but when it comes down to it, it only takes a few lifestyle choices to live a healthier, fuller life.
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