I understand that struggle. I spend few hours to search for clay in several seeds. Then after finally finding it in 4 seed i noticed like 4 more in return trip, the closest one was like 50 blocks from my camp. I think the hard part is If I'm new player I don't know what to look for, similar i couldn't find flint or most crops and need to check every stone and flower. After a while I can notice them easily.
What i did on my 4th seed was just typing /time stop, check around my vicinity if i have all basic resources with no rush, then returning to spawn and typing /time resume. It's very hard at the beginning when you need to check every recipe, have no idea what you need next and you have time limit to night etc.