🥂 Where are you sacrificing health & fulfillment...

for convenience? Plus I went into labor the night I recorded this!

Author

Jaclyn Kirby
April 16, 2026

Okay the beginning of this episode of Cheers to Growth is so so special.

I was giving an update from last episode on pregnancy, where I’m at with it, and how things have changed…

You can hear how going into labor before 40 weeks was no where on my radar BUT

I went into labor the very night of this recording!

🩵

I’ll give the whole birth story probably in a future episode.

Later in the conversation, I’m sharing my experience with choosing the less convenient path.

  • Microwaves

  • From scratch cooking

  • From scratch personal care products

  • What you’re willing to buy and have in your home (aka: what I refused to buy for husband and how he reacted)

How I’ve moved my line for what I’m willing to sacrifice, spend, and accept when it comes to my health.

You’re always going to be moving this convenience line.

You’re either spending more money to buy higher quality or you’re spending more time to do it fully right and make it yourself.

Even when you buy the higher quality products, you’re still giving up the highest quality of homemade.

In what areas are you willing to outsource to a brand who you have also spent time researching and trust are doing things right?

And when can you spend even more time making something from scratch, turning it into a natural, common task for you that delivers high feelings of success and accomplishment?

I’m sharing where my line is with all of this and what I see as next steps to move that line even further forward towards a healthier more fulfilling life.

Because the more we outsource to businesses with the main goal of profit, the more we give up. 

You may feel like you spend too much time numbed out, scrolling on your phone. Comparing yourself to other people’s highlights.

But I can promise you that when you start making your own food and products in ways you never thought possible, you won’t have time to care what anyone else is doing. You’ll feel a level of satisfaction that creates the momentum to live your most authentic, beautiful life.

Dinner & a chat

Shepherd’s Pie (the less convenient way)

What you’ll need:

- 1 pound ground beef (from a local farm who raises cows on pasture)

- 2-3 large potatoes (from a local farm or your home garden) **put potatoes skins in a big pot of soil and water daily to grow your own potatoes without buying seeds)

- 1 leek (or sub celery)

- 2 large carrots

- ½ onion

- 3 garlic cloves

(All from a local farm or your home garden)

- ¼ red wine (chemical-free, check out Kermit Lynch if you don’t know how to source chemical-free wine, there everything is safe)

- 1 tbsp tomato paste

- bone broth (homemade is best)

- butter

- parmigiano reggiano

- salt + pepper

Directions:

  1. Cook carrots and onion in a bit of ghee until soft. Add leek and stir. Add garlic, minced or finely chopped.

  2. Add beef and break apart until fully cooked. Season with salt and pepper.

  3. Stir in tomato paste.

  4. Add wine and cook until it’s simmered into the meat, no longer liquidy.

  5. Peel and boil potatoes in a separate pot until a fork easily pierces through.

  6. Drain water and mash. Add bone broth, butter, pepper, and parmesan until desired consistency and taste is achieved.

  7. Fill a cake pan with meat mixture on the bottom. Top with mashed potatoes and smooth down with a fork.

  8. Grate more parm on top if desired, then bake at 350 until the potatoes start to get slightly golden.

🤍🤍 Jaclyn

P.S. I always link to Spotify, but Cheers to Growth is also on Apple Podcasts and YouTube. Listen where you like to!