Meet Food and Lifestyle Blogger, Rachel Mansfield

Being a food blogger is no easy task, yet Rachel Mansfield made it her full-time job one year ago, and her brand is taking off. She’ll be taking over our Snapchat this week (SpoonTV), and we chatted with her beforehand to give you a glimpse into the life of Rachel Mansfield.

Food bloggers know how to relate to their audience — they’re authentic, passionate, and genuinely enjoy what they do. Mansfield got into food blogging because of her love for oatmeal. Okay, maybe not just oatmeal — but it’s where the idea to share recipes blossomed into a full-time blog. It began when she told her husband that she wanted to sell overnight oats in a jar, and he gave her the idea to post the recipe on a blog (less hassle than providing a product). It took off from there.

But one doesn’t become a full-time food blogger overnight. There’s a lot of risk and reward that go into it. Mansfield was juggling a corporate job, plus trying to keep up with building her blog and Instagram. Eventually, the blog won, and she was able to develop her passion into something big. She currently has 161,000 followers on Instagram and counting.

The goal of Mansfield’s blog is to make food that is deliciously clean — so that you don’t feel guilty eating it. She doesn’t cook with white flour or white sugar, and instead uses products such as oat flour, coconut oil, and honey. A few recipes that reflect her goal are: quinoa chocolate crunch bars, chocolate chip flaxseed waffles, and flourless grapefruit yogurt bread. Her signature recipe — banana bread. She has about 10 different recipes for banana bread on her blog. Yum.

Mansfield aims to create about 3-4 recipes a week, and told us her inspiration comes from her cravings. Yet, she also revealed to us that she comes up with most of her recipe ideas while in fitness classes. Makes sense — it’s hard not to think about your next meal while working out. Ten more push-ups and you’ll be back in the kitchen making oatmeal cookies in no time.

Food bloggers often struggle with being associated with one thing — food. Mansfield wants to show people that there are other aspects to her life besides cooking, so she added a Lifestyle category to her blog where she talks about beauty, hair, and fitness. Balancing food and lifestyle gives her a unique edge among the sea of other food bloggers.