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Welcome. If you bake bread, read labels, buy eggs from a neighbour, or just want to know where your food comes from and who decides, you’re in the right kitchen. War on Food is a library of practical, from-scratch guides, written warmly and backed by real sources.

Here’s how we’d work through it. Pick the path that matches what’s on your counter right now.

If you want to bake

Sourdough is the gateway skill for a lot of us: a little flour, water, patience and a jar.

1. Make a sourdough starter from scratch. A day-by-day plan, including what’s normal when it looks dead.
2. Feed your starter. Ratios, schedules, and how to tell when it’s ready.
3. Sourdough for beginners. Your first loaf, start to finish.
4. Sourdough discard recipes. Never pour it down the sink again.

If you’re cleaning up the pantry

Start with the shelf, not with fear. Small swaps you’ll actually keep beat a total overhaul.

1. The from-scratch pantry staples checklist. Printable.
2. Ultra-processed foods list. How to spot them, and why “perfect” isn’t the goal.
3. Seed oils: what they are and what the evidence says. The full list, the arguments and the research.
4. Is Red 40 bad for you? What the studies show, and where it’s hiding.

If you want to buy from farms

Knowing your farmer is the most practical thing you can do for a local food system, and often the tastiest.

1. How to buy food direct from farms. Where to look and what to ask.
2. How much is half a cow? With a calculator that uses your farm’s own prices.
3. Pasture-raised vs. free-range eggs. What the labels really promise.

If you want to grow and keep

1. Homesteading for beginners. Start where you are, even in an apartment.
2. How to save tomato seeds. The easiest seed-saving project there is.
3. How to can tomatoes. Safely, by the tested method.

If you want the bigger picture

Why do egg prices jump? Why does a local mill or meat processor matter? Who writes the rules?

1. What is food sovereignty? And how it differs from food security.
2. How food supply chains break. And what a household can do about it.
3. Where your food really comes from. Pictures of industrial farming: feedlots, canola oil plants, caged chickens, pig farms and french fry factories.

How we handle the hard topics

On contested subjects like seed oils, dyes and raw milk, every guide includes a box called The evidence, plainly. It sets out what we know, what’s still debated and what isn’t supported. We take your questions seriously, and we won’t scare you into anything. Read our editorial standards.