After living on our off grid homestead over a decade, our saying here is……..We are living the pioneer life in the 21st century. We wanted to live a similar way as the pioneers did of the 1800s. We wanted to get closer to our food and be more involved in the process so we knew how and what went into our growing of food. We discovered that many of the produce items we were buying at the store travel hundreds and even thousands of miles to get to the market. By growing our own produce, it would make for better tasting food along with higher nutritional values. Most produce loses 30% of its nutrients within three days after picking. We also wanted to grow organically without the use of herbicides or pesticides. Doug and I decided to take charge of our health and nourish our bodies with the best foods possible and change how and what we were eating. We especially wanted to cook at home and not eat out as much as we used to because we wanted to take the best care of ourselves as we could and know exactly how it was prepared and what went in it.
In our spare time, we would watch old westerns and learn about the old ways of doing things and implement them in our daily life on the farm. We noticed that preparation and cooking was what dominated most of the woman’s day. Most everything was raised, grown, and prepared on the homestead. We quickly found a new and exciting relationship with our food. By going through the process of growing, harvesting, preparing and storing, we really appreciated what we were eating. For the first time in our life, we both were grateful for our meals.
Food is fuel for energy, for your mind, and your hormones. You truly are what you eat! Cooking from scratch isn’t just about making your own food. It has to do with a relationship with the food. It is easy to see how people migrated to restaurants, fast food windows, and boxes of processed food from the grocery store. These convenience foods are high in preservatives, additives, dyes, and unhealthy oils. However, convenience is killing us. Our food should bring us life and vitality, not sickness and disease. We have a vested interest with our food to keep us healthy. Cooking at home is not hard. It is actually very rewarding. You know that feeling you get after cutting the grass……..well, it is the same after preparing a delicious meal! Eat food that is closest to the way nature made it. For example, cooking a grass fed steak, baked sweet potato, and tossing a big salad from the garden with homemade salad dressing (most store-bought dressings are loaded with rancid oils and preservatives.) This meal will be bursting with flavor, nutrition, and is not complicated to make. Sometimes the simplest recipes are the best.
Meal planning was so helpful in our home. Without planning, we never knew what to make. If you have a plan in whatever you do, it always works out. Planning ahead one week at a time works the best for us. Doug is not a big fan of eating leftovers. I just needed to change up what we ate and not eat the same thing two days in a row. Deciding to double and triple certain foods in our recipes helped to make three or four other meals for the week. I would cook 2-3 pounds of hamburger meat with onions, garlic, and seasonings to use for 4 separate meals. With that meat, I would use it as:
- A topping for a hamburger sourdough pizza
- Sloppy Joes with homemade sauce
- Taco night with lots of fresh veggies
- Hamburger stuffed butternut squash with tahini sauce.
Of course, there will be days when you won’t know what to make. Breakfast for dinner is always a hit especially when you have an infinite amount of chicken, turkey, and duck eggs! If ever you are in a pinch, sourdough French toast, quiche, potatoes, and eggs are something everyone agrees upon.
The main and biggest meal of the day in the 1800s was what they called “dinner”. This meal was eaten in the early afternoon. The Amish of today still practice this. It was not the large evening meal that many of us are accustomed to. Doug and I call it “linner” (combination of lunch and dinner.) We found that when we ate our biggest meal “linner” in the early afternoon, we felt much better. We even had better digestion. If we were hungry late in the day, we would eat a small snack. There is an old food adage saying, “Eat lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper.” Remember, food is energy. If we eat a huge meal at night and sit or lay down on the couch, we are not using energy. That food can cause oxidative stress or damage to the body. So try eating your meals during daylight hours or within an eight hour window during the day.
Cooking from scratch seems like a lost art these days. It is our job to bring it back alive. Today is the day for a cooking from scratch challenge. Try 30 days to start and notice if your health and vitality changes for the better. Get friends and family involved with you to start cooking at home. Come back and leave a comment on your progress. I can’t wait to hear about it. Turn up some music and start cooking. The more you cook, the easier and better you will get. Did you know I have just finished writing a cookbook? Yes, I know, it took me three years but the wait is over. The good news is this cookbook is loaded with simple, healthful recipes from chocolate stuffed medjool dates, chicken chili, Armenian rice pilaf, arugula beet salad, zucchini boats, homemade yogurt, sourdough bread and flatbreads, bone broth, kombucha, and Stacy’s spicy sauerkraut. Now get cookin!!!!!
Click here to order your copy of “Stacy’s Cooking with a Smile Cookbook.”
Love it! Congrats! Can’t wait to get my cookbook and get scratch cookin’ with a smile!
Cannot wait to try fermenting and box gardening in Texas! Thanks for all the information you share. It is so helpful for city folks trying to
Be more offgrid!
Hello Joyce my name is Joy and I am in Texas too. Howdy neighbor!
Congratulations on getting your site up and going. Alot of conversation to be had for sure.
How long does it take to receive the cookbook? I ordered it a few days after it was posted for order and it hasn’t arrived yet.
Does your cookbook have pictutes.
Love your show! Learned so
much about cooking.
I do a decent job of cooking from scratch so I will try to do more meal planning. Love all the knowledge you both share & I am learning a lot. Thanks for all you do.
Hello Joy and Joyce, I’m your Texas neighbor also.
We really need to get better about eating during the daytime and switching the big meal out to lunch time. That would be a huge change but it makes a lot of sense.
I’m starting this challenge today! I absolutley LOVE your cookbook!!! Thank you for sharing your knowledge and lifestyle with us.
Is there an online version of the book?
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!!!! I can’t wait to get started!! It is always my goal to cook all our meals from scratch and then just like that… I am bringing Chinese home after a long day at work. Ugh! I am excited for the challenge to help keep me accountable and on track!!!
Challenge accepted! I’m from Nebraska so, it is still dinner big noon meal; and supper small evening meal for us.
Hi doug an staceys!! Love you an thank you for all you do for others 💖
Can not wait to get the book. I was looking for a cookbook from scratch, my brother recommended you guys. I watch alot of videos about home growning.
Hey Joyce, Joy a. Stacy and all other Texans out there. I’m a Texan also and just getting started with the fermenting kit. Bought a dehydrator and have some stuff put back. I’m a widow so obviously I won’t need as much food and prep items as most of you. But I’m trying to get enough put back so I will be okay if it gets bad. Just ordered some Redmond salt and seasonings and looking forward to using them. I love Doug and Stacy. Stacy reminds me a lot of my daughter in law, Regina. Love watching them and am cataloging their ideas as I go. I’m west of Ft. Worth.
Sorry, I know Stacy isn’t a Texas. My bad. But excited to see other Texans following you all.
Re: tortuk
I’m making some right now… in your video it you don’t remove the skin. Was wondering what the finished product is like. Does the vinegar break down the skins? What about the clove root, they hard and sometimes sharp/pointed.
I’ve ordered your book. Am awaiting its arrival. We cook in a similar fashion. I’m a Certified Nutritionist. My daughter was born in 1979, at 2 she got Diabetes and was born with Anemia. I received certification in 1981 and was re-certified in 2019.
Challenge accepted and can hardly wait for my cookbook to arrive.
Love your blogs! How is the cabin coming along?
Don’t have a website but love this new site and your vides. Keep up the good work.
I’ve always called your linner lundin.
Can’t wait for the book. I have only been waiting since the 2019 heirloom seed festival in Santa Rosa. Didn’t know you had been working on the the cookbook.
Sounds wonderful and exciting
Doug, Stacy, Already won the cook it from scratch challenge, been doing it the past 35 years of married life. The kids can cook and my wife, well she’s a housing professional and is easily confused in the kitchen! Eats well and pays the bills. I’ll buy a book as soon as you ship to the UK. Our problem is we eat late, a throwback from when we both had proper jobs. What we never lost, though was meals from scratch and everyone around the table at the end of the day when it was finally ready. Regards Stephen.
Sounds wonderful!
I started making a weekly menu; it’s been a life changer. No more ‘what’s for dinner’. 🙂
Still need to up my garden game. But, for now, the menu makes grocery shopping easier. Just make the menu; make the grocery list. Making Loaded Ham n Potato soup tonight with ham from our own raised pig, onions we grew, chicken broth from roasted chicken we did a few days ago. Baby steps.
Donna, Good! Regards Stephen.
Great advice! We are trying to cook more and more from scratch! Thanks for all you do!
I so love what you’re doing. My nephew in Maine is off grid and trying. I’ve tried to get my husband on board but the garden is about it for him oh and he has 8 chickens lol. Id love to get a few goats. I wish we lived closer so he’d see first hand how rewarding z life youre living. Thank you for your vision, knowledge and feels like a friendship for years.
I don’t cook but I will try to get my wife to try some things.
Do you have a standard video sharing for each week or is it whenever you have time.
Most of our meals are cooked at home from scratch, but my husband and I usually go out to eat once a week for either a lunch date or a date night. Yesterday he suggested that we start cooking a meal together for our date night instead of eating out. I loved this idea, so we are planning to cook lasagna together (from scratch!!) on Thursday night!
Wonderful! Thx for sharing so much with all of us. Love y’all vlogs.
Peace and blessings from chilly beautiful Idaho
Hello fellow Idahoan! Also find myself blessed by all that Doug & Stacy do! Not too many seem to really be drawn actively in my area to this way of life, even in the rural area we’re in, though I could be wrong. Love to know there’s others out there! It is a slow work in progress for us too honestly. Would love to connect more locally but until then grateful for those such as Doug & Stacy!
yall are awesome!
I love this post. I enjoy gardening, and cooking “from scratch”. I love to cook. Also, my grandmother (on my father’s side) was a little girl when her family moved to Oregon in a covered wagon via what we now call the Oregon trail. So pioneer life is dear to me. I wish I had more land, but my backyard garden will have to do for now. Love you guys. Thank you for a glimpse into your life!
Love the web site and can’t wait to see what y’all put on it.
What a beautiful project! and a blessed life, which you both are so willing to share. Very appreciated!💓 God Bless you
Love your utube!
I grew up cooking from scratch and still do most of the time. i have a tresured box of recipes from my great grandmother, early 1900s. need to learn new healthy options too.
I love watching your vlog, Always learning something new and interesting. I have ordered your cookbook still waiting for it to arrive I had ordered it January 15th I hope it hasn’t got lost in the mail. Thank you guys for all the meal ideas and such I will try to put theses ideas in place for myself and see how it goes.
I guess I’m lucky my hubby loves leftovers. Cooking is fun and besides I like staying home and eat our food we have put up.
Have a great day 😁
We will take the challenge this last year we have been doing more of that as we set up our homestead on the last 3 acres of the old family farm.
This was the year we started to go back to how I always wanted to live – foraging and living so simply, that if things ever got bad, we could sustain our home without outside services. No, we don’t have water catchment yet, though we have some barrels, and no, we didn’t get chickens yet, though hubby built the coop, and because work sent me home last March we started a modest garden, but we put in a wood stove and because it’s just two people in late middle age, we know we could get by on foraging, hunting and fishing, growing food, and living without utilities if we had to. I’ve lived off-grid without a massive investment into solar panels and all the bells and whistles we normally think of as necessary to live. I learned from my Depression-era grandparents how to live and I also scoured the wisdom of pioneer ways for methods to live. Less is more. The simpler the better. We grow the amount we need and can store over winter now either dried, root cellared, or canned in case of electrical failure and the loss of the freezer. We grow only the plants we really want to eat and simplified our diet so we don’t have to have a garden that’s more than we can handle. We eat tons of wild greens and fruit which means I can garden a lot less anyway. This makes meals super simple to make and plan. I hope more people learn the skills you have learned in case they ever need them or to make a dream of being a pioneer come true.
Ok you guys are awesome.
Great site! Thanks for all the work you guys do getting info out to true homesteaders.
I’m taking the challenge
You guys are the best! I learn something new every time you post so thank you!
I have followed you for 4 years now. At first just irregular because I was recovering my health physically from a motorcycle accident in which I lost my love, my husband. We did get our dream house but without him I could not stay. Miss it badly. Down sizing to manageble homesteading in city is not off grid, but at 67 and partially disabled, I still am growing majority of food. Add chicken’s eggs and get farm raised goat milk for cheese, etc. You are both inspiration for many!
You sound pretty amazing too!
Very nice,I cook & bake healthy
Thank you for this new website. I enjoy the information you shared. Is always fun to watch you cooking with your grandchildren. Doug is fun too don’t think I forgot you. Thank you for sharing your daily videos. I enjoy them very much.
Lovely start to your new website!
As we become more attached to our land and our food, we notice how we appreciate it more. It wasn’t possible for me to work all day AND prepare proper meals at home.
All the money spent on restaurants and store purchased food ate up my salary!
We are a long way from where we want to be, but now I have enough seeds to plant for over 50% of our food this coming year.
You are inspiring me more Stacy and Doug!
Love cooking from scratch. We try to cook enough for a week so after work we just warm something up. Sometimes we make a huge pot of a second item just to alternate. During garden season; we live off what has came in. We plan to make a batch of sauerkraut this week.
Excited to get the cookbook. New to you guys but love all the awesome information shared. Thank you. Have a beautiful day.
Thank you Stacy for your cooking words of wisdom! After being diagnosed with celiac disease 11 years ago, I started making all my meals from scratch. And Yes I dis start feeling better. I will be doing your challenge!
Good jobs! You guys are inspiring. We are in our 60’s and aren’t going to live off grid, but we are hoping for a garden this year. We just moved to west central MO the day before Thanksgiving. From Ohio. We bought a 5.3 acre project with 4 out buildings. Lots to do!
Do you know when the cookbooks will ship? I ordered mine on January 15th and have not heard anything.
Doug said in a recent Vlog that they would start shipping the cookbooks in mid February. I hope that helps you.
Great article Doug and Stacy!! I already ordered your new cookbook and l am looking forward to trying the recipes. You both have inspired me to homestead where I am and look forward to having acreage in the near future.
Hi Stacy, I just ordered a copy of your cookbook for my wife Stephanie.We have watched you since the beginning when the house was going up. Would you please sign it for her? She doesn’t know yet. This will thrill her. We started raising our own vegetables and canning because of you. I had to build raised bed as well. Thank you for all you and Doug have taught us about off grid. We are still on electric and propane but pulling off grid within the next two years up here in Michigan. We own 6 1/2 acres of valley woodland so we have plenty of firewood. You guys gave us the courage to believe we could so we are!
I love your lifestyle. I wish I could like like that. But don’t have funds for a plot of land it’s very expensive where I live in North Carolina. I do a lot of shopping at local farmer’s markets when I can. I have always lived in the country and we raised chickens and pigs and a beef cow. But now I live in a subdivision. I’m a consulting forester and I’m always looking for land. And advise would be appreciated.
Ordered mine already! We are making ferments now, too, thanks to you!
What is the delivery timeframe, please? Just excited!!
I love your stories and how tos keep them coming. Can’t wait to see the finished Mom House
Will the Cook Book be in any stores to buy. My IPad will not allow me to order on line? Love you two and been watching for several years. God Bless !
Hello congrats on the book can’t wait to see it been packing getting ready to move this spring going off bring but my mom’s getting to move next to me but she will be on grind but at least I’ll be to do critters again and keep gardening mabye one day I’ll write a cook book lol ole mountain recipes. Good luck Stacy.
Love ya! Keep it up!!!
This is so good Stacy. I love it and I’m going to share it! Beautiful pictures! ❤
I love to bake and trying new recipes so I’ll accept this challenge.
I’ve had a saying for years that we need to be able to provide for ourselves from our land. I always thought I needed a partner and as I’m approaching 50 so I want this life more now than ever. I’ll take your challenge. I’m type 2 diabetic and overweight so getting healthy is a huge goal for me. I love your channel and I get so many ideas for you both. I appreciate you both so much. I also need to order Stacy’s cookbook.
Could you give the recipe index, or table of content, or a list of recipe names?
Hi there Stacy!
I ordered your cookbook about a month ago — it was some sort of pre-order thing that you guys sent out. Any idea when I might be getting it? I’m so excited about it. I watch ALL of your cooking videos and have learned so much from you.
Doug said in a recent Vlog that they would start mailing out the cookbooks in mid February. I hope that helps you.
I don’t eat out much because I, too, prefer fresh cooked meals from scratch. I love your videos & enjoy when you have recipes you share. I love learning new things about food & the benefits of different veggies. You 2 are such a hoot- really enjoy watching & being “part of your lives”.
Blessings on your day,
I used to cook all the time, but got out of the habit when the kids grew up. It was too easy to just go out to eat when it’s just my husband and I. But I’m trying to get back in the habit of cooking from scratch. I know it is so much healthier! Thanks for the inspiring blog post!
Thank you for the challenge… I have already ordered Stacy’s Cookbook, just after the first of the year, can’t wait for it to get to me. God Bless You and Yours Always and in All Ways!! Love in Christ! Glenn Sr.
I can’t wait to get your cookbook Stacy! We do pretty well with cooking from scratch but I need to focus on eating more fresh greens instead of canned veggies. That’s my “scratch” cooking goal for 2021! You always so full of tips and knowledge, great blog post!
When do i get my book? Paid months ago
Great challenge and accepted for Daryl and myself !!
Hello from the Florence’s. Stay warm
Cooking from scratch is not only healthier, since you have control of what goes in your food, it’s also generally cheaper. And your not paying for foreign ingredients that you can’t even pronounce.
Love you guys! Can hardly wait to get your cookbook! Love the website to!
I am up for the challenge!!!
30 days of cooking from scratch with a smile!! We are always so let down by the food we order out. Nothing tastes or feels like homemade!!
Thanks for the push ❤
I pre-ordered your cookbook on the first day!!
We have to be gluten and dairy free, would this cookbook be worth getting with these restrictions?
Love this new site! I will be checking in often.
I’m up for the challenge. We ate out 3 times in January. Ready to go the entire 30 days.
Mine is ordered. Can’t wait! 😁
Greetings from Idaho, Congratulations on your website. Looking forward to your future postings. Have been a cooking from scratch cook over 55 years.
I’ll take your challenge to make weekly menus using a basic theme for several meals. Have always done this but put extras in freezer. It was my family’s custom to have pancakes and soups on Thursdays , crockpot meals on weekends. Off grid could use sun oven
Looking forward to using your new cookbook.
Great article. I really enjoy your food preparation ideas and instructions.
👩🌾Hey YouToo ,ordered my cookbook a few weeks ago can’t wait to get it and can’t wait to get Cooking With Stacy!💚
My gg, sId it was dinner and then supper
Hi folks, congrats on another baby. Glad you found the lamb before it was to late!!!!! Do take care. (Fl.)
Congrats on finding the lost lamb in time to save him.
I love cookbooks and own over 50. However, I use very few of the recipes due my personal food allergies and severe intolerances. Most notably: onions, garlic, all bell peppers, black pepper, chili and other hot peppers, arugula, etc. Unfortunately, I also have allergies to plants, animals, chemicals, medicines.
I enjoy watching your posts.
I cook most of my food from scratch already. It’s just easier all around.
Your posts remind me of my Mom’s family. She grew up on a family farm in SE Idaho where they measure water by the drop. Cattle, potatoes and wheat gave them cash. Oats and alfalfa fed the cattle and the horses they used. They had their huge gas tank up on stilts for the cars, trucks, tractors, combine, etc. Lots of good memories.
This is so exciting! We’ve ordered your cookbook and can’t wait. I’m making fermented veggies, (with pickle pipes & glass weights just like yours) got our sun oven & got some sourdough starter from King Arthur. Here we go!
Hi folks, congrats on another baby. Gkad tiy fiybd tge kamt before it was to late!!!!! Do take care. (Fl.)
AWESOME !! You guys are our inspiration to homestead and go semi off grid. Thank you for all you do for us. We love ya !!
Great write up. Looking forward to learning more from you guys. We are looking for some property in Missouri and hopefully within the next 4-5 years we will be totally self sufficient. Love your channel. Keep up the good work.
I have been cooking from scratch since August 2019. That is when I started following Torah and eating clean.
Love your homestead and lifestyle. Shalom.
I love what y’all are doing! Good work!
I have cooked from scratch nearly every meal since we married 39 years ago. However, we’ve been vegetarian and vegan most of that time. During the pandemic panic, I didn’t need to buy much at all. I have all the beans, grains, and preserved veggies I need, with the addition of greens grown in what used to be my dining room. This will change somewhat now that we bought 26 acres in a much different place in the country. Instead of mild winters, we’ll be up near Canada. We’re going to build a tiny cabin and a huge garden. Thanks for the inspiration and encouragement. I’m excited to be more self-sustaining and live more like the pioneers up there.
I’m glad you have a website now. I no longer use YouTube. Thanks for all the informative videos.
I’m far from being a homesteaders but I do love to garden and we keep chickens. We do our best to eat from scratch and stay away from premade/processed food
I so enjoy watching both of you and envy your journey. I grew up on a large dairy farm in northern Vermont. We woke at four , did chores before school. We also had a maple sugar operation. We had a large garden and canned everything. We grew up with great respect for our animals, land and most of all family. We lived very similar to you.
Thanks for sharing some of all you do. Its a job toting a camera and trying to farm but it has helped a lot of folks along.
Love all your your ideas for meals, I am WIDOWER so left overs are also there.
Congratulations!!!
Im looking forward to more of you posts. Love following and learning from you both. All the best.
Thank you Stacy and Doug ❤️
I’ve been living this challenge most of my life, very rarely buy processed foods except for some frozen veg and canned tomatoes. I really enjoy your videos and just ordered your cookbook can’t wait to try some of your recipes. My husband and I are new home owners for the first time, we are 69 and 71, took us long enough, Ha. Had to start from scratch to make my garden, raised beds and deer fence, we live in the woods 11/2 acres woods and 1 acre yard where my garden is. Lots of local small farm markets so if I can’t grow it I can buy it from small family farms, love this area. I look forward to more videos I always learn something, your positive energy is inspiring thank you🙏❤
I accept the challenge!
It is great to see people go back to the “old ways”, so to say. I am a professional chef and an avid collector of old cookbooks. Some of my favorite cookbooks are from the depression era. So much creativity with very little.
Congratulations guys.
Have been watching for a few years now, have appreciated the teaching. I am 74 years old, learning. We have chickens and 2 greenhouses my husband built {77 yr) I would love to order your book, but I can’t order online So, would like to be able to send a check.
You are such an example to us. many thanks ellen
With our nation and economy in a stressful situation, we are so glad to have a large garden and beef and pork in our 2 freezers. Thank you for inspiring us to be more homegrown in all we do. (Insight to gluten free sourdough would be great!)
God bless you and your endeavors!
Cindy Schuder
I was probably one of the first ones to order your cookbook. It was just great timing. I watch all your and Doug’s videos over and over.
I’ve started fermenting veggies, made the ketchup and mustard and just love them. I ordered several booklets from Lehman’s to learn more about Berries, breads and Teas.
Learning about Bees and more about gardening. I cook most of our meals from scratch and LOVE to cook anything and everything! Thanks to Doug too for all his carpentry tips. I share those with my hubby.
Excited for your new site now!
God Bless!
Wow, looks great. Too bad being on a Keto/Carnivore diet, I cannot have anything that has carbs or I gain wait unfortunately. So far I am down 70# since Dec 2019 eating Carnivore and since I started dieting in October 2017 it has been 100#. I feel better and have more energy. Had I not lost weight I would not have been able to fix up the Single Wide we have here in N. Nevada (our home base). Love watching you and all the things you are doing there.
I plan on taking this challenge. We already eat at home and kinda healthy but I know we can do MUCH better. Being a mom of 10 kids (8 still home) it’s easy to just throw in the towel sometimes and feed them something convenient and fast. (Soooo bad for them and me too) I am thrilled to start this challenge and already ordered the cookbook when I first heard about it because I’ve been waiting. I’m so glad that……’the cookbook is here, the cookbook is here, the cookbook is here! 😆
My son who lives 5 minutes from me in Tennessee text me today to remind me I volunteered to help with a garden. Said be prepared next week. I told him they had to be raised, I’m 71 and don’t do the stooping over with a hoe anymore! My other son in Oklahoma told me to be ready in the fall to help him with the canning! He said he sure wished he’d have paid more attention when he was younger!
I just love both of you so very much I can’t wait until your beautiful cook book arrives
I am so excited you decided to do a website. I love your content! I am teaching my ladies group at church some of the pioneer ways….and cooking of course is one of those.
Can’t wait to see your upcoming video’s and new info on your website. Thanks for all the information you share. It truly is invaluable.
I admire what you all do. I’m a 70-year-old single woman living in rural WV. The only time I ever eat out is on trips to town that take longer than expected and a quarterly lunch date (back when restaurants were open) with an old friend. Cooking from scratch isn’t a challenge for me, it’s a fact of life. I raise a garden, can and dehydrate what I grow, and supplement what I can’t grow from my local grocery. I have chickens for eggs (no butchering here). I’m not vegetarian but probably could be without too much adjustment. I am fond of fish, but when I cook, I generally look at meat as a side dish, perhaps even a seasoning. I enjoy your videos and will keep watching.
So happy to see tht new website up and running. My boyfriend and I have been watching you and Doug on You Tube for years, love you both. I cook from scratch all the time, so it isn’t much of a challenge for me. We garden and can nearly everything we eat, I pressure can most of our meats as well. It really does make a difference knowing where the food came from and what went into it. I am also working on a cookbook, mainly for my sons and their wives, as well as the grandchildren. My mother and grandmother never wrote anything down, so I have had to try and duplicate all the favorites I ate growing up. I really want to pass that knowledge along. Good luck to you and Doug in your future ventures, we will be following along.
Imagine how much happier people in the world would be if they all cooked and/or raised their own food…💜
Hey congrats! Wish I had a website. I did not read most of this site yet but I will. I’m hoping your cookbook is low carb. I’m trying to reverse diabetic. I was told I’m type 1. I do t like listening to doctors. I tried fermenting sourcraut . My mother used to do it in the crock pot I tried the jars like you but the ferment ouzzed out and no liquid left. I tried 3 times..thinking of going back to my mothers way. Sorry my spelling is bad. Can you tell me what I’m doing wrong?
Are you burping it everyday? Is your brine too high?
I’m using the masontops fermentation kit. Maybe I had to much brine🤔🥴. But would that cause it all to drain out?
I can’t wait for your cookbook to be delivered; hoping to get lots of homemade recipe ideas. I’d really like to cook more meals at home.
I love this post and I will be taking the challenge!
Happy to be here!
I also make most of my food from scratch and garden, so I’m already doing the challenge! Meal planning was huge for me, especially when you work full time, garden, and take care of a family. It’s easy to pull out convenience foods or eat out when you are tired and have no idea what to make for supper. Love that more people are taking charge of their health and food security by gardening! Thank you Doug and Stacy!
Hi to you both. I ordered a cookbook. Just wondering what delivery time is expected?!
Thnx much!
Doug said in a recent V!oh that in mid February they will begin shipping them out. I hope that helps you.
Love your cooking and gardening tips. Looking forward to using the cookbook!
Cooking from scratch is a way of life for us. We garden and preserve what we grow, we have chickens that give us eggs and meat. We are hoping to add dairy goats and rabbits this year, maybe even a couple pigs. This lifestyle allowed us to not be caught with our panties down, so to speak, when all the shut downs occured. Actually, the shutdowns didn’t affect us that much. We are used to staying home tending to one chore or another. With what this administration is doing, we are so very grateful for our little farmette and our wood burning stove. Our woodburning stove allows us to heat and cook with out gas or electricity, although we are still on the grid we are pretty well set up to go off grid. Love your vlog and this site is wonderful! God bless you both for all you do.
I love how you live off the land. Hubby and I are in the city, but we do grow much of our own food and cook everything from scratch. One day I’d love to get outta the city and onto a homestead of our own. 🌷
Thank you for all the wonderful ideas
Challenge excepted. Thank you for your inspiration. Looking forward to your cook book. Thank you both!!!
HI! It’s good so many are now cooking from the garden or freshly cooked meals! I would like to challenge Doug to do a cook off with you using your cookbook! And video it.
Blessings!
I’ve been watching your you tube channel and subscribed. I also order your book.. I cant wait untill I get it. I am sooo excited. When I was younger we lived on farm. I loved every minute. And I am hoping to buy a home soon. As long as some cashout people let me have a chance to buy a home. And what every yard it has. I’ll definitely make sure I’ll be using some of your hints and tricks for growing. Thank you both so much . Bless you..
Hello Stacy and Doug
Challenge accepted 👍
I hate to be a bother. But I did order and pay for your cookbook already. Yet I have not received it yet. My worry is that shipping was not included in the price. So not sure if it will come at all. What to do , what to do ?
Doug said in a recent Vlog that they will start being shipped in mid February. I hope that helps.
Can’t wait for my cookbook to come! Thanks for all the great info you always share!
Great challenge! Looking forward to more articles. Thanks and shalom!
Thank you Stacy and Doug for all the great information and motivating encouragement. I have been following for about a year and have learned so much from you both. We live in a very wet old growth rain forest about an hour outside of Vancouver BC on 4 acres, about 1 acre is our garden. I have lots of ideas from you videos and hope to add to and improve our garden. I cook mostly from scratch and stay away from processed food but intend to try more of your ferments and recipes. When can we order a cookbook to be sent to us in Canada? Love you guys and am so happy you are sharing your life with us.
Challenge accepted! Love your new website, Facebook page & enjoy your videos on YouTube. I have learned a lot from Stacy over the years. Love your cooking & gardening videos. This year we started fermenting, we did turnips, radishes & jalapenos(my fav). My husband enjoys Doug & Dr. Leo’s videos. You all have inspired him to take up beekeeping as well.
Love this new site! Wife and I started eating organic/non-GMO as much as possible when I retired 7 years ago. Within the first year, I had lost 40 pounds and felt much better. A year ago, I was told I had developed type 2 diabetes. By watching carbs, within 6 months I managed to get down to pre-diabetes diagnosis and lost another 10 pounds. My wife lets me do most of the cooking – I love to experiment and try new recipes. I will continue to follow this lifestyle change for the rest of our lives. So I am already more or less doing the challenge, but I will strive to do better! Thanks for the inspiration!
This is amazing, so glad you have your own site now! I’d love to take this challenge!
Love you guys and I thank you for all of your knowledge that you share with all of us. I can’t wait to get your first book and encourage you guys to write more books about your amazing homesteading lifestyle.
Enjoyed reading your post! You both are inspiring. Thank you for sharing so much goodness. Been watching and gleaning ideas from your Youtubes since last January 2020. Blessings!
Hello Guys,
I can not tell yall how much Ive grown to love you both,And how I lookforward to each post.Im thankful for the human ,,WONDERFUL HUMANS YOUR FAMILY ARE IN THIS DAY AN AGE.Started out watching one post ,to watching three days later every dang Episode Doug put out.I mean from lunch time when the hubby was gone for 2 weeks on a job..I LEARNED AFTER 3 episodios That I truely loved yall,Who yall are..ANYWAYS Wanted to sat thank you from depths of my Soul On all advice you guys share.I had been educating myself on the needs, and donts,of living off grid for bout 4 years now.Out of all the great you tube TUBERS POSTING Helpful ideals I got to say HANDS DOWN YOU GUYS ARE BEST ON ALL AROUND EDUCATIONAL,To laughs,to Awwwwww moments,TO My favorites things shared like When Doug surprised Stacey’ at her Aunts for There Anniversary .WHICH WAS ALL MEMORIES Of pics and all of your first date to trips on Harley to children being born.TEAR JERKER GUYZ LET ME TELL YOU I CRIED SO HARD WATCHING THATMy Grand children were saying its ok nanna Dont cry .lololololololol.Ive made memories as many of us has with yall .Thank you guys.Watching how Stacey already a happy woman TO A WOMAN THAT SHOWS NOW from inside out has become healthy minded body an soul.Wow.That song what a man What a man What a mighty good man comes in my head each time I LOOK AND LISTEN TO STACEY As well as how I watch Doug in first year of videos had a gutt to fit an trim now Like when they first met.THIS ONE is my FAV i asked Question on post when I first started watching TO DOUG ABOUT NATIONALITYlololol lol Thiz is A Inside jokd between me N them but His Answer was the icing on the cake.Do you remember Doug .? My brown crayon ???? Peps lololol YEA THAT SEALED DEAL FOR ME .AND I BECAMEA STACEY AN DOUG PEPS FOR LIFE.And I still feel same.Congrats STACEY YOU ARE ONE TALENTED WOMAN ,,,BRAVO GIRL ,BRAVO,,,On core on next book to help us gals out!!??.Maybe how to handle off grid stress ? Oh wait THERE IS NONE HAHAHAHAHha….,
I have been a fan early in your channel. I use many of your tips and recipes. You guys are a blessing to me and my husband.
I heard that snow is a good fertilizer because it has a lot of nitrogen is that true or folklore
Our farmer friend explained that it is a head start to growing in the Spring when the snow melt has moistened the fields. Too much and they can’t get the equipment into the fields to plant. That is all I know about it.
We are in our 80’s been married over 60 of them. We always have our main meal around 1 pm. Live in the UK. Great following your life away from the city.. Your doing a fine job building a lot cabin for your mum. Will follow the build till the end. Thank You.
Cant wait to start trying out some recipes from your cookbook
Love you guys. I live in south africa so looking forward to seeing your recipe book in ebook format. Is that a possibility? I was diagnosed with cancer in 2019. i am trying to heal holistically with homegrown food, medical cannibis and prayer. So far so good, i’m still here😜
Thank you Doug and Stacy for being great examples in the New World of Pioneer Life in the 21st Century! You guys sharing your lifestyle and countless tips is a tremendous blessing to us all! 😁 💕
I do love to cook! My mom had me cooking meals on our farm when I was 10. I’m 61 now, and still love to be in the kitchen. However…..we do eat out a lot. that is going to stop!!! I know better! And my health and weight show it. So…wish me luck. We love watching ya’ll and following you on your channel. Better than any show on tv. LOL
Looking forward to receiving your cookbook! Your videos have been a life changer for us, you were my teacher to learn fermenting, making honey garlic, raised bed gardening and so much more. Tony likes watching Doug working around the homestead, especially the cabin for mom build. Love you guys and all you are doing to help people learn. It is extra nice knowing you too love Torah, it’s like having cake with ice cream❤️ Thank You
I love what you all have been doing. I grew up a farm kid so I had an early, first hand education in how to homestead. As I grew older and moved away from home, I became more reliant on purchased products. In the past two years, my wife and I bought a house in the country and we have been growing our own vegetables, fruits, harvesting our own animals and we have a few bee hives. I cook as much as I can at home and life seems to be great. You and Doug have a been a huge inspiration for me to get back into that lifestyle. I started watching your videos a few years ago and it really reminded me of my childhood. I missed walking through the fields and eating fresh vegetables. The taste and quality is far better than any bought foods. I think you and Doug are doing a wonderful job and I still watch your videos to this day. Homesteading is becoming a popular thing and I hope to see many more people be inspired by your videos. Keep up the good work and happy homesteading!
I think I ordered your cook book, did you send them out yet? Ty eagerly waiting!
Stacy, I thank God He allowed me to find y’all on YouTube last year💞I’ve been sick the last 5 1/2 years with a gut disease that has ravaged my body & strength💞I decided this past spring/ summer to experiment with a small container garden & I love it💞To me it’s mental & physical therapy 💞I enjoy all the great ideas y’all share with us & this year I’m making a bigger garden with a medicinal garden so prayerfully I & my husband can get off this man made medicine that is truthfully hurting our bodies 💞Love you guys & pray daily for y’all 💞Love in Christ, Mona😊💞
Love cooking at home. Challenge accepted. Thanks for all you share.
I don’t remember how I first found your videos on you tube but so thankful I did. I’ve gone to your oldest to newest playlist and am trying to watch them all. I’m up to 340. With 629 in this playlist I’m over half way. I have a spiral tablet that I take notes from almost every video called Doug and Stacy info. Thank you both for sharing your hard earned knowledge. God bless you.
Okay! I’ll try! Absolutely HATE cooking – for real. 😒 BUT… I’ve ordered the cookbook. Love my garden and veggies, so am gonna make this happen, Captain.
Love the blog. Can’t afford to order the cookbook today, but it is definitely on my list for a future reward purchase. Keep up the good work.
It all looks YUMMY, Staaaaaaaacy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You have inspired me to make many changes. Thank you for taking the time to teach what you know. Can’t wait to get your cook book.
Unfortunately I am not sure how my husband and I can take this challenge. We are a team that drive a semi truck east to west hauling dry good for America. We are able to stop at a Wal-Mart 1 to 2 times a week. We cook occasionally when we have time on the load. My challenge is to make sure I have a small portion at every meal because I do not burn many calories.
My hope is to sell my house in three years and homestead on our property in Florida. I have a collection of seeds and books ready and I am doing research on how to growing, ferment, and look forward to making my flour to make bread. Mostly looking to eat healthy and getting exercise tending a garden. Praying my dream will happen soon.
Thank you for making a cookbook for us!
Have always cooked from scratch. Learned from my Mama and Daddy. I need to take your advise and do meal planning tho. I think it would help me to write down a food meal plan. Love your posts.
I was wondering… I bought your book last month and have not gotten it yet. How much longer is it going to take?
Thanks,
Maggie
Doug said about the middle of February on a Vlog recently.
I stopped using boxed foods 30 years ago and my granddaughters say the food is always good at Grandma’s house. I just wish they all cooked from scratch.
Been cooking from scratch a long time. I like to cook. It is fun.
I love being able to prepare all of our meals from scratch and have been doing so now for quite a good many years. The taste of garden fresh is unbeatable in my book. Also eating meat we process or buying grass fed beef as we don’t have the property to grow one out just yet. Keep up the great job you guys. Love watching whats happening on your videos. Have learned a lot about fermenting foods from watching you.
I FINALLY got my stove installed. I haven’t had a working stove/oven since before Thanksgiving. I am so very happy to be able to cook my own food again. It was such a nightmare trying to get such a simple thing completed.
I ordered your cookbook and can hardly wait to get it!!!!! I love watching your YouTube videos and attending the Homesteading Life Conferences.
Take care and God Bless!
Carmen
WELLLLL……MAZEL TOV you 2! 😉 great blog entry Stacy and you look beautiful as always. May you and Doug continue to be in good health, have peace and laugh often! Think of you 2 often – believe it or not! 🙂
Blessings ~ Pam
Stacy, I have been gardening for 3 yrs now, and most of the tips I have learned came from you. I have invested in books on foraging, and thanks to you can actually know when a lot of weeds are edible. I planted sweet potatoes for the first time from slips from the sweet potato in the jar. Then you introduced your sweet potato leaves recipe and I am addicted. I have also started fermenting because of your instructions. I can’t wait to get my copy of the cookbook so I can try some more of your recipes. Did I mention I am eating flowers now? Blessings to you and Doug
HI Guys grt name Lanky Larry——Should be Fat Harry Larry!! HA !!
Congratulations!! So exciting and I love to watch each new step you guys take! May you continue to be blessed and be a blessing to others, which you already are!`
Hey Stacy loved meeting u and Doug at the homestead conference last August . I’ve been cooking from scratch since I was 3 years old let’s see I think that’s about 42 years . we raised our children off grid and grew all our own food and canned and froze and dehydrated all of it. Now my daughter has a child and she is carrying on the tradition and so is my son’s wife. We love all homade foods and always looking for more recipes . looking forward to getting your cookbook.
Thanks for inspiring me to healthier cooking! I stopped because it was just me. Planting a larger garden this year with different veggies I’ve not tried before. I support my local organic farmers for eggs, honey and maple syrup. ! I have several recipes on paper that I wrote while watching the videos. Looking forward to trying new recipes in your cookbook! Blessings!
I will try Stacy! I have been cooking a lot more from scratch since this Covid crisis has happened. Lately I have gotten lazier because I’m getting tired of it. Because of Doug saying buy your seeds now we did that. The only problem is a large order of most of our seeds got lost in the mail ($150 worth)! I think it will be easier to cook when I have fresher ingredients. I’m hoping our seeds will be found! We have layers so no shortage of eggs so I made breakfast for dinner last night. I’m waiting for your cookbook that should help me with meals. We raised our own pigs so I still have pork in the freezer. I made pork chops this week and will make a pork shoulder roast on Saturday in my crockpot. We eat pretty good but it will be much better with fresh vegetables. We do have bought noodles and store bought spaghetti every week. That is my ” night” off of cooking. I got that fermentation book written by Katz so I can do more with our harvest this year. I’m trying to scale up this little hobby farm we have. My kids like living on a farm. You guys have got me thinking of trying to get back ups for things. Luckily our old farmhouse has 2 woodstoves on the main level! Nothing to cook on but we can at least keep ourselves warm without power. Have to figure out about water. We have a well with electric pump. We have an electric range, refrigerator, freezers etc. vulnerable to power outages. You guys are so impressive living off grid! We have plenty of wood to harvest for our stoves. Growing more trees all the time. Getting more recipes will help us plan our meals better. We always plan our meals ahead by a week. Thanks for all your help. I’ve learned a lot from your channel.
I love watching you and Doug on the video’s you produce. I ordered your cookbook and can’t wait to use it. Thanks for all your educational infomation.
Challenge accepted! Cooking more from scratch and closer to fresh /raw state. Also growing more of my food.
Challenge accepted. Our goal this year is to be as self sustaining as possible, live simply and be grateful for everything especially while cooking and beauty of the food we are blessed with and to focus on nourishment and not just cramming something in when hungry in front of the tv. You guys are awesome and an amazing inspiration – thank you for sharing. Blessings,
After going threw 2020, it is refreshing to know that your book will ship soon, plus I am looking forwarder to the new website. I have enjoyed some if the recipes I have seen in your video. Trying new recipes is always fun, and now knowing that its going to improve my health is even better. Our goal for 2021 is eating all that we can from our garden, and local meats raised organically.
I never used to like cooking or making meals. So my husband and I would eat out alot and I would make convenience meals out of a box. But a few years ago when I started our garden, I noticed that I enjoyed making and preserving the foods that I had grown. Not only did the produce out of the garden taste better, but something about all the hard work that went into growing the food that made cooking it enjoyable! Its so satisfying knowing what is, and isn’t, in our food. Very much looking forward to getting your cookbook Stacy and all the yummy recipes! 😁
I have been “scratch” cooker from the ’70’s for economic reasons and have continued because of convenience-keep the basics on hand, just change the ratio.
Greetings from south Texas! I enjoy watching your you tube channel and it has been so encouraging. I have been trying to cook more from scratch and plan meals ahead from fresh foods and vegetables so I welcome some new recipes and am looking forward to your new cookbook.
Congrats on your new cookbook!
It was because of YOU, stacy, that I finally started to ferment foods. . . I started easy, with saurkraut, and my husband loves it so much, he suggested I start doing just plain veggies, so he would have some snacks to munch in the evenings when he gets his cravings. I did 5 jars, and they all went bad. . I did something wrong, but not sure what, since I followed your directions to a T. . . any suggestions would be amazing! 🙂 Thanks you two, for ALL YOU DO!
waiting for shipments to Canada
I want to start meal planning and eating healthier. Planning a huge spring/summer garden this year so we’ll see how it goes. Thanks for all of the inspiration.
So anxious to start reading your book!!!!!
I have not received my cook book, it said it was support to be here on the 23th of Feb, it is the 26th and still in Transit, I have been tracking it, but no up-dates after the 23 the of Feb. Doug and Stacy, can you help me lease, I really want to get your cook book…..thanks
I am not one to eat out a lot so the 30 day challenge is pretty easy I find restaurant food is not held to high enough standards for me. Here in SE Missouri we don’t have many other than chain establishment. The locals use canned products it seems.
I just ordered Cookbook, First time watching you guys on YouTube.
I am SO ENJOYING your cookbook!!!! Love the stories, the tips, and the YUMMY food from your recipes. I am doing your 30 day cooking at home challenge. It is much easier now that I have my new gas stove.
Thanks again for all you both do.
God Bless!
Carmen
Got your cookbook just a couple days ago!!
Now I need to find a source to purchase organic canned goods from a local garden.
Any suggestions on how to find fresh canned vegetables. Not too many farmers markets near me. I wonder if there is maybe a mail order Amish or other good source to buy healthy nutritional organic food that has been put up in jars?
Love learning homesteading, gardening, and cooking techniques from both of you; and especially appreciate your happy and kind attitudes. The blogs and videos are not only entertaining, but educational. I’m so anxious to get to planting, just waiting for the weather to break. Thank you for sharing your journey.
Love you thoughts and ideas on food and eating at the best times! I find it difficult to plan ahead so appreciate your suggestions on planning ahead. Thanks!
Stumbled upon your videos and love them. Learning so much.
Stacy, you are the neighbor/sister I wish I had. We have recently retired and moved from the home where we raised 4 children, often on little income, into my childhood suburban home. My children claim they were raised on grass and weeds and that I could make “tasty things” out of nothing. Nothing went to waste! I am in the process to switching to “edible landscaping” as I did in our family home. Thank you for all your inspiration and for educating good people into being self-sufficient and creative. I have never before heard to use only edible items on your skin. As a nurse, this makes so much sense. Thank you for your mission. We always have something new to learn.
Hi Stacy, I want to order your cookbook, do you ship to Norway? In my country we eat “middag” (dinner mid-day) Usually at 5pm, right after work. I cook everything from scratch, well I admit, we do the odd frozen pizza days, when I am tired and cant get myself to be inventive, when I´m tired after work. (Working hours here are 8am to 4pm normally.) Batch cooking would simplify my life.
Hi, Doug & Stacy! I began working on self-sufficiency years ago in preparation for a retirement where I would be living on 1/4 of my previous income. I knew it would be hard but began buying canning, gardening, dehydrating equipment a little each month as I have heard Doug suggest many times. I am so glad I did! It is still not easy after nearly 3 years into retirement but I am so much happier & healthier! I have lost 50 pounds since retiring & am on vitamins but no prescription medications, Praise Jesus! I have come to love our little farmstead life and do cook almost everything from scratch. I started watching you several years ago & like others, have learned so very much from you both that is helping us in our homesteading journey. I have watched a number of homesteading vloggers but yours is the absolute best because you have actually been living it for a significant number of years!
I recently moved to west Texas to be with my oldest son & his family. We have a 3-acre farmstead with chickens, a few Dexter milk/meat cows, a family garden, and several hogs that we raised for the freezer. I salt cured a 25-lb ham, which I cut up & packaged the other day. Now I am ready to can the bone broth from the bone that I cut out of it. I so appreciate your hearts to help those of us who are starting out. Thank you so much for caring & for all you both do. God bless you guys & all of us trying to become more self-reliant.
Eat your Rose of Sharon.
😉
We just moved away from the city and are trying off grid for over a year now. It’s been challenging because we don’t have lots of money and it’s been a slow process but we thank the Lord for everything and people like you that really are encouraging and I need to cook heal for sure. I can’t wait till we have a kitchen to cook in 😊 God Bless!!