Creating a Real Food Kitchen

We all know it. Real food and whole ingredients are good for us. Ultra-processed foods and convenience items are not. However, it’s not easy to make the switch. If you’ve been wanting to “healthify” your kitchen but feel overwhelmed, you’re in the right place. Today I’m giving you several practical, easy-to-follow tips to help you achieve a real food kitchen.

As we move through this guide, keep in mind these things take time. Don’t overwhelm yourself trying to do everything at once. Choose one or two areas to focus on at a time. My suggestion would be as you run out of an item, see if there is a healthier replacement within your budget. This helps you avoid spending a great amount of money all at once while also reducing waste. Plus, it makes it feel much more manageable. And remember - any small change in the right direction is a good change.

For extra help, I have a free pantry staples checklist for you to download. It covers what we will talk about here in a quick reference format. You can check off what you already have and get some ideas of what you might want to add. It’s by no means an authoritative list - just a resource to help you get started.

What is real food?

Before walking through a “real food” pantry, it would probably be best to clarify what I mean by “real food.” By this term I mean food that is close in form to its natural state, with few added ingredients and limited processing. In the ideal world, we would all walk through gardens full of vegetables and markets with fresh meats and cheeses to choose from every day. And don’t forget a from-scratch bakery. Of course, this is not reality. There is no perfect set up, but opting for the more “raw” version of a product helps you stay away from preservatives and keeps you closer to the food’s original source.

Let’s go through a quick example. How about a potato? You can purchase a potato that you choose to bake, mash, fry, roast, or boil. Or you can buy potato chips. Or just-add-water mashed potatoes with sugar (yes sugar!), vegetable oil, and preservatives added to them. Most often, opting for the “unprocessed” version of a food is the better way to go.

I realize this means more work on your end, but I am here to tell you it is worth it. You will feel better now and your long term health will benefit. Plus, these days we have it easier than ever to prepare and store fresh food at home. Between fancy kitchen gadgets, dishwashers, and freezers for long term storage, we have all we need to set ourselves up for success. The extra effort is attainable and totally worth it.

Now let’s take a look through the different food groups and pick out the real stuff.

Dry Goods

I prefer to keep the basic flour, sugar, etc. on hand to make desserts, biscuits, or whatever else we need from scratch versus a variety of baking mixes. This comes down to a matter of preference, however, because really, the baking mixes aren’t that bad when it comes to the ingredients list. There are a few things to consider if you choose the baking mix route. Bleached flour, vegetable oils, and sugar content might be areas of concern for some people. If so, choosing your own ingredients gives you control over what goes into your baked goods.

Let’s talk about grains. It would be my guess that breakfast is a place where many people get their grains in for the day via cereal and granola bars. This can be a hard pill to swallow, but I’ll say it anyway - cereal and granola bars may not be as healthy as you think. Yes, they have vitamins and minerals (added to them) and yes they have (highly processed) grains; but there are alternatives that are much better for you with much less sugar. Oatmeal or baked oatmeal bars and whole grain bread products are good options. Homemade granola, although still high in sugar, is in my opinion better for you than a factory cereal. This breakfast bite recipe is another idea and one we make regularly at our house.

Consider also the different types of grain available to us. Rice, quinoa, corn (yes, corn is in fact a grain, not a vegetable), oats, couscous, and millet to name a few. Fiber, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals all vary according to the grain. Eating a variety of grains not only keeps things interesting but also can give you diversity from a nutritional standpoint. Need some ideas for how to use them? Grains make a great base for a casserole. They can bulk up roasted veggies. And I’ve found that cheese and grains go together quite well most of the time.

You knew we would get here eventually. I’m talking about one of my favorite topics again - bread. I have a full post on the ins and outs of bread. I’ll keep it simple here. Choose whole grain when you can. Opt for the homemade variety when its available. Avoid bleached flour. They may seem like small changes, but they can make a big difference.

Canned Goods

You will notice a difference in this category in a real food pantry compared to others. There may not be many sauces, canned soups, or condiments on hand. Instead, all the ingredients will be there to make them. Sometimes I wonder why I have a whole section of the website dedicated to sauces, but then I remember all the extra ingredients and stabilizers that go into the stuff on the shelf. You can make your own dressings and sauces at home pretty easily and add just the ingredients you need. I realize this is not ideal in some cases and I don’t do it all the time, but it is one way that you can avoid the “fake food.”

It’s not just preservatives and emulsifiers that you can cut out in the canned goods section. When it comes to canned veggies and beans, there is a super easy change you can make. Simply choose the no salt or low sodium option. By sprinkling salt directly on the food yourself, I bet you won’t add 14% of your daily value to a serving of corn like the factory does. It will still taste great, but your health will thank you for normal sodium levels.

The same concept goes for fruit and added sugar. You have the option of fruit canned in heavy syrup, with added sugar, or in fruit juice. Choosing the fruit juice can save you several grams of hidden sugar. Take canned peaches for example. For half a cup of peaches canned in heavy syrup, there are 19 grams of sugar versus 11 grams for those canned in juice. Eight grams of sugar is equivalent to eating a cookie! That is a notable difference for such a small change!

Proteins

There are so many cuts of meat to choose from, but I have found that sticking to a few staples is helpful. Ground beef, whole chicken or chicken breast, and ground sausage are my mainstays. For the reasoning behind these, check out my article here. One thing you will notice is that these choices have minimal additions. No breading, no marinades, no pre-cooked meal. Simply meat. Not only does this allow flexibility in the kitchen - it also helps avoid unwanted ingredients.

Although not typically a food to be transformed by heavy processing, I still want to touch on eggs for a minute. It is always a good idea to have some stocked in fridge. They save the day when supper time rolls around and there is no plan. They are quick to make, offer multiple ways to be prepared, and can save you from running to a fast food option when you’re short on time. Many times “real food” can require more time in the kitchen, but eggs are definitely one that can be prepared quickly while being healthy too.

Fats

Fats have created quite the stir in the last few years as people argue about seed oils and whether or not they are good for you. I’ll tell you my take on it and you can decide from there.

I like to consider the process a food goes through to get to the final product. The fewer the steps the better in most cases. With that being said, butter is a go-to for me. They have been making it forever. A simple skimming of the cream and a good churn gives you butter. I also keep olive, coconut, and avocado oils on hand, which as I found out as I was researching for this article, is a highly debated (and confusing) topic.

Whatever fats and oils you choose, there is an easy win here in the world of fats… Avoid hydrogenated oils. This particular kind of fat has been chemically manipulated to make a product shelf stable. It doesn’t seem to be as common as perhaps it once was, but it can still be found in shortening. So, butter is the answer once again.

Cheese is another easy win. Just buy blocks of cheese to grate yourself rather than purchasing the pre-shredded variety. You’ll avoid the preservatives and anti-caking ingredients AND save money. It’s better all around!

Produce

It seems straightforward - raw veggies and fruit are pretty “real”. There is one thing to keep in mind here. Sometimes fresh is actually not the best choice. It seems counterintuitive, I know. This has to do with the whole eating seasonally thing. If it is not the season for a fruit or veggie, it may be better to buy it frozen or dried. This isn’t a hard and fast rule and it’s not always applicable. Sometimes you just crave that watermelon in January, right? It’s just a concept to keep in mind when considering the nutritional benefits you are getting from your food. Plus, it will save you money, as in-season produce will be cheaper during that time…and taste better too!

The Reality of a Real Food Kitchen

There are still changes I would like to see in my own pantry - but availability, budget, and personal preferences all play a part in what I have actually have stocked. It’s a process. No one has the perfect set-up. It will look different for everyone. And if you don’t have a stash of emergency chocolate on hand, well, you might need to re-evaluate. Because life is too short to have only “real food” all the time.