What is a Traditional Foods Kitchen? You Might Be Surprised!

What is a Traditional Foods Kitchen? You Might Be Surprised!

What is a Traditional Foods Kitchen? You might be surprised by my answer! Come join me in this video where I discuss what it means to transition from a processed foods kitchen to a Traditional Foods Kitchen and why we should all be on this journey.

What is a Processed Foods Kitchen?

Before we start talking about a Traditional Foods Kitchen, we need to clarify what exactly I mean when I use the term processed foods kitchen.

The definition is actually quite simple. A processed foods kitchen is one in which most of the foods you bring into your kitchen and store in your pantry are foods that have already been prepared for you. As a matter of fact, my mother has always referred to processed foods as prepared foods!

What Are Processed Foods?

Processed or prepared foods are basically anything you can buy from the grocery store that you could instead make homemade with healthier ingredients and for less money.

Now, I know what you are thinking. You may want to cut back on buying so many processed or prepared foods. However, you may feel that you can’t because you don’t have the time to make all these foods homemade.

Time-Saving Tips to Make Food Homemade

I hear you! And that’s why I always have plenty of time-saving tips for you. The recipes that I share with you are quick and easy to make, including:

• Slice and bake crackers
• One-minute mayonnaise, and
• One-pot meals, such as Praised Chicken

I have been a busy working woman, a wife, and a mother throughout my adult life, so I know how time can get away from all of us. Therefore, I am never going to burden you with time-consuming and difficult recipes.

Plus, I am the queen of substitutions! So if you don’t have a particular ingredient in your pantry, don’t worry. I always recommend plenty of substitutions for most of the recipes that I share with you.

What is a Traditional Foods Kitchen?

A Traditional Foods Kitchen is one where you make as much food as you can homemade. Does having a Traditional Foods Kitchen mean you need to make everything homemade? Definitely not!

This is where my answer to the question in the title of this post and in my video is going to surprise you! Your Traditional Foods Kitchen may look very different than mine. For example, you might make bread with yeast and not have yet graduated to sourdough. Furthermore, you may never want to make sourdough bread. And that’s OK.

Traditional foods you can make homemade consist of:

• Familiar foods, such as yeasted bread, salad dressings, and cereals
• Nutrient-Dense foods, such as bone broth and sourdough bread

If you only make familiar foods in your traditional foods kitchen, I’m fine with that. I’m glad that you’re making recipes homemade for good nutrition and to save money.

However, traditional foods encompass a lot more. As you gain more confidence in preparing familiar traditional foods, you may want to progress further in your traditional foods journey by exploring more of the world of traditional “nutrient-dense” foods. These nutrient-dense foods are the best of the best for homemade recipes, including bone broth and sourdough bread.

Traditional Foods Journey

But don’t feel you have to jump in and learn how to make nutrient-dense foods overnight. It is—as I am fond of saying—a journey. It takes time, patience, and persistence to learn how to make nutrient-dense foods successfully.

That is why I always tell you to:

• Start slow
• Take your time
• Don’t rush the process
• Go easy on yourself

No one expects you to be perfect. This journey can easily take a year or longer to master. I have been cooking traditional nutrient-dense foods for half my life now, and I still learn something new every day!

A Traditional Foods Kitchen for Everyone

So, it may surprise some, if you are new here, to learn that I am not a purist or a zealot when it comes to making traditional foods.

I am not going to tell you that you have to make everything homemade or that everything you make has to be a traditional nutrient-dense food. That can be way too overwhelming to so many people, especially if you are also learning how to cook.

I want you to succeed in creating your traditional foods kitchen, so learn to make those foods that best fit your life. In time, I am confident you will find yourself making more and more food homemade and expanding your repertoire to include nutrient-dense foods too!

Transitioning to a Traditional Foods Kitchen

As you begin to transition from a processed foods kitchen to a Traditional Foods Kitchen, I am here to help you. As you progress on your traditional foods journey, I have a series of 15 mastering the basics videos that walk you through how to make traditional “nutrient-dense” foods, including:

• Bone broth
• Cultured dairy
• Ferments
• Sourdough starter and sourdough bread
• Soaked and sprouted grains
• Sprouted flour
• And more!

But as I shared above, does this mean that you need to start making all these foods right away? No way! You can begin by simply learning how to make a super soft loaf of sandwich bread—with commercial yeast—to replace the bread you might be buying in that plastic packaging.

Easy Homemade Sandwich Bread Recipes

For a simple recipe to get started with making familiar traditional food homemade, I show you how easy it is to make your own No-Knead Sandwich Bread with yeast. I am confident you, your family, and your friends will love this bread so much that you will never buy sandwich bread at the grocery store ever again!

If you prefer no-knead whole wheat sandwich bread, it’s just as easy to make as the sandwich bread with all-purpose flour.

Just Start with a Roast Chicken

In addition to learning how to make sandwich bread, I often tell people that the best place to start when it comes to making the transition to a Traditional Foods Kitchen is simply by learning how to make a roast chicken.

In my how to make a simple roast chicken video, I go over the variety of chickens that you can buy at the grocery store for every budget. If you can afford an organic chicken, that’s great, but I am not going to be a stickler and tell you that you must buy an organic, pasture-raised chicken.

I am fine with you buying any chicken you can afford. Spending money that is beyond your food budget will only cause you stress. And as far as I am concerned, it doesn’t matter what food you eat if you put yourself under unnecessary stress by spending more money than you can afford.

In time, as you begin to make more homemade foods and eat out less, you will find that you have more money available to you to spend on better quality ingredients. So don’t overspend! Simply allocate your funds toward improving the foods you can buy as your budget allows.

So go ahead and buy the chicken you can afford, roast that chicken, serve it with love, sit down at the table, and give thanks for the food in front of you. No matter how it was raised, this chicken is going to offer you more nutrition than any fast food meal that you can pick up from a drive-thru!

More Chicken Recipes

Want to learn how to roast a chicken in a cast-iron frying pan just like the pioneers? It’s one of the easiest and tastiest one-pot meals you’ll ever make. And clean-up is a breeze!

Praised chicken is another simple chicken recipe you can make on the stovetop. Nigella Lawson created this classic recipe, and I show you how to make it in the following video. So be prepared to enjoy some of the most tender and flavorful chicken you have ever had!

Learn to Make What You Can Homemade

Want to get started stocking your pantry with easy-to-make homemade items today? I’ve got you covered with a whole host of pantry staples in the following recipe videos.

And this is just a start! Be sure to visit the Traditional Foods Pantry Playlist on my YouTube channel, where I show you how to make over 60 familiar homemade foods!

Two Nutrient-Dense Traditional Food Recipes

Ready to make a nutrient-dense traditional food recipe? Try out these beef bone broth and no knead sourdough bread recipes.

I never want you to feel overwhelmed, especially as you start incorporating nutrient-dense foods into your repertoire. So if you find the leap to sourdough too challenging, I share a little secret sourdough shortcut that’s perfect for beginners.

How to Create a Prepper Pantry

While you’re transitioning from a processed foods kitchen to a Traditional Foods Kitchen, be sure to create your Prepper Pantry. After everything we have been through over the last 18 months, never let yourself be unprepared again! I show you how easy it is to start your Prepper Pantry and how to stock your Prepper Pantry on as little as $5.00 per week.

Download Your Free 36-Page Pantry List

As you venture on your Traditional Foods Kitchen journey, I am here to help you with my FREE 36-Page Essential Traditional Foods Pantry List. This list will help you identify those foods you should consider adding to your Four Corners Pantry, which consists of your:

• The Main Working Pantry (what you access every day)
• The Refrigerator
• The Freezer
• The Extended or Prepper Pantry (where you store your backup supplies)

More “What is” Introductory Videos

If you are new to the world of traditional nutrient-dense foods, I am confident that you will enjoy the videos below, where I discuss various nutrient-dense topics in detail. The first conversational video talks about the rebirth of traditional foods cooking as promoted in the book Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon.

Have you ever wondered what is the difference between broth, stock, and bone broth? In the following video, I walk you through the details of each as well as how to make them.

It’s easy to get confused when surveying all the varieties of wheat berries. In my Wheat Berries FAQ video, I explain the differences between modern wheats and ancient grains, so you will know exactly which ones you want to add to your pantry.

When it comes to grains, Kamut might have a funny name, but it is very nutritious and certainly worth learning more about!

Kitchen Academy Videos

In the following members-only video, I talk about the Surprising Differences Between Mainstream and Traditional Super Foods.

Trending Posts on Mary’s Nest

Stay in Touch with Mary’s Nest

1. Subscribe to My YouTube Channel for Traditional Foods Videos (Free) - When you subscribe, be sure to click on the notification bell that will let you know each time I upload a new video.
2. Subscribe to Mary’s Traditional Foods Newsletter (Free) - Get a free 36-page eBook for signing up: How to Stock Your Essential Traditional Foods Four-Corners Pantry.
3. Join the Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy - For more detailed videos and exclusive members-only perks, join my YouTube membership community.
4. Order The Modern Pioneer Cookbook - Get a hardcover book of Mary's nourishing recipes from a Traditional Foods Kitchen. This bestselling cookbook is published by Penguin Random House with their DK imprint.
5. Preorder The Modern Pioneer Pantry - Be one of the first to get Mary's hardcover book about preserving food and making delicious meals from your Four Corners Pantry. Mary's second cookbook is also published by Penguin Random House.

I look forward to having you join me in my Texas Hill Country Kitchen!

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Shop for items used in this blog post or video

Favorite Kitchen Supplies

• Favorite Aprons
• Whisk
• Silica Gel Packets (Helps keep moisture from building up in your mix)
• Cast Iron Dutch Oven
• 8-Quart Slow-Cooker
• Fat Separator (Clever kitchen device to help you decant bone broth)
• Flour Sack Towels

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• Masontops Fermentation Kit

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• Mockmill Grain Grinder and Whole Grains (including Einkorn, Emmer, and Spelt)

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• Visit Mary’s Nest Amazon Shop
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