{31 Days} Intentional Living – Day 5

You can find the rest of my {31 Days} Intentional Living series here.


Slowing down is a big part of intentional living for me.  I think that is because when I am busy, or have a lot of different commitments, I can’t concentrate on the things that are important to me.  I miss huge parts of the day because I am too tired, or because I am preparing for the next outing.  Now, I am not saying that I should be a hermit in order to be intentional, but I do think there is something good about slowing down.

One of the things I do that helps me to slow down is to cook my food from scratch.  You would think that would make my life busier, and that definitely happens on some days, but overall I think I have to slow down in order to cook from scratch.

In the morning, I have to be present of mind enough to start making bread if we want bread for lunch.  I am definitely old fashioned in the aspect that I knead the dough by hand, let it rise, punch it down.  It is methodical, and it puts me in a great mood.  Not to mention it gives me a chance to get out some energy while kneading the dough.  I know that I have to soak beans the night before if we want to have beans during the week, and then I cook them for a couple of hours to have them ready.

These are very small things, but they make me slow down.  It makes me feel more connected to be cooking from scratch for my family, and it allows me the time to talk to my kids and have them help me – as much as they can at 4 and 2!

A great aspect of cooking from scratch is knowing what ingredients you are using.  Wouldn’t you rather have chocolate chip cookies that have flour/sugar/butter/chocolate chips, rather than something with 50 different ingredients, half of which you can’t pronounce?  I know that by being intentional about my cooking at home allows me to feed my family better foods.  Is it always easy?  No.  Do I still order take out?  Yes.  But, if the majority of the time I am cooking food at home, I feel better about it and our health.

Now, I think that cooking from scratch definitely does not work for everyone.  If you don’t know how to cook (like my hubby), you certainly aren’t going to immediately make huge elaborate meals from scratch.  A lot of people have serious time constraints due to work.  But, I have to say that you can start from any point!  I have always loved cooking, but I didn’t really start making a lot of “from scratch” foods until I moved into my current home about 7 years ago.  I use my slow cooker, I make a lot of soups and one pot meals.  It doesn’t have to be elaborate when you are cooking from scratch, and it often can’t be if you want to have a life out of the kitchen!

I think practice is going to be a central theme to my Intentional Living series.  It is hard to get up early every day, unless you continue to practice getting up early every day.  It is hard to cook from scratch at home every day, unless you continue to practice it every day.

Do you think cooking more food at home fits in with intentional living?  Or is it less of a concern compared to another aspect of your life?