About Caroha – Scratch Cooking Made Simple

Caro Jensen from Caroha leaning on her kitchen counter holding a tea cup.

Welcome

Scratch cooking doesn’t have to be complicated!

I’m Caro Jensen, a recipe developer and Mama of 3 kids who’s passionate about reducing processed foods from our diet.

If you’re looking for easy-to-follow scratch recipes that come together quickly, you’ve come to the right place.

Join me as I simplify meal times with efficient meal prep and fuss-free recipes, including easy family dinners, simple sides, and homemade staples.

Thanks for being here!
Caro x

About me

Originally from Germany, I grew up with scratch meals prepared by my Mama, Oma, and Uroma. Their lives were somewhat simpler but by no-means slower with both, my Mama and Oma, working while I was growing up.

Moving to New Zealand in my early 20s, my now kiwi husband and I had busy corporate jobs and scratch cooking took a back seat. When we started a family, I naturally began to reflect on my own upbringing and started to question ALL the packaged and processed foods we were consuming on a daily basis.

I started scratch cooking while on maternity leave—baking bread, churning my own butter, growing tomatoes, and even making my own mozzarella. Proud as punch is an understatement, I felt like I unlocked the good life. But when I had to go back to work, reality hit.

How was I going to feed my family scratch meals without compromising on the ingredients used on such a busy schedule?

The answer was efficient meal prep and super simple recipes.

I really dreaded the idea of eating the same prepped bowls each day that had been sitting in my fridge for 3-4 days. Ingredient prepping combined with simple scratch recipes was the answer.

Over the years, I’ve stuck to my weekly 1hr Ingredient Prep and many quick and easy recipes that are on rotation for my family of now 5 – from easy 20-30 min dinners, to simple sides, and homemade staples.

Subscribe to my newsletter for weekly updates, cooking tips, and behind the scenes snippets. Feel free to send me an email, ask questions, offer suggestions, or share your own cooking experiences. I’d love to connect with you!

PS: Take a peek of my happy place – my kitchen!

aroha means love in Māori. food is my love language

What you’ll find here

Simple dinners: Easy meals designed for minimal time, effort, and cleanup including one-pan meals, assembly-style dinners like tacos, salads, and bowls (perfect for picky eaters), quick pasta dishes, and hands-off recipes such as casseroles and slow cooker recipes.
Homemade staples: You don’t need a homestead to create a homemade pantry. I share many pantry staple recipes from DIY spice blends, easy bread recipes, and my go-to condiments and sauces.
Meal Prep: Efficient prep sessions are the key to quick scratch meals. Check out my ingredient prep method here.

Website tips

Hopefully this site is easy to navigate for you but here are a few helpful tips and features you can find on all my recipes:

Just want the recipe? Use the jump to recipe button at the top of each post.
Select cook mode if you want to prevent your screen from going dark.
All recipes are in the US volume and metric system. You’ll find a toggle between the two next to ingredients.
Cooking for a crowd? You can adjust easily scale my recipes by selected the 1x, 2x or 3x buttons next to the ingredients headline.
If you love a recipe, it would help me a lot if you give it 5 star review in the recipe card.
Spot a mistake? Please let me know and I’ll fix it asap.