It's time to go where you've never gone before: your pantry or that cupboard that's filled with dry goods that you haven't touched since you moved in. Tonight you are not going to eat out. You're going to make a meal from what you've got on hand -- and it's going to be good.
Recession Wire has 10 tips on how to cook from scratch, designed to help you save money and learn to cook the basics. The tip that makes the most sense is to begin most of your savory dishes by sauteing freshly chopped onion and garlic in olive oil.
A few simple recipes and a working freezer means you won't starve when
the chicken you're attempting to bake fails to turn from pink to
edible. Sauces frozen
in a Ziploc bag are well worth it. All you have to do is thaw the sauce
and boil some pasta -- which is not really cooking, more reheating.
And here's great news -- everybody can make chili.
All it takes is the time to chop up the ingredients and then you just
let everything simmer for a few hours. Sometimes you'll make a great
batch, other times it will only be good -- but you'll enjoy it every
time. And chili is one of the few leftovers where the taste can improve
after hiding in the back of your fridge for a week.
Just make one dish. Whether it's eggs or pasta, it doesn't matter. And
once you've perfected that dish, you can either hang up your kitchen
towel or move on to the next one.
[Image via Flickr: Dru Bloomfield]
