I have an income that is several multiples of that, and my wife makes that much, yet we’re still frugal. We want our house paid off soonest, both cars paid off (one down, one to go), our student loans paid off, and want to save up a decent amount for our kids’ college (we do need to pop a few out first, but we want to be ready).

I have become more familiar with my crockpot recently. The local Kroger has had some great sales on various meat. I picked up three chuck roasts a few weeks ago and turned one into Chicago Style “Italian Beef.” Last week pork ribs were 99 cents a pound. After defatting five pounds I was left with 4.6 pounds of pork and ribs. Into the crockpot with some generic barbecue sauce, a can of chunky tomato sauce, some apple cider vinegar, worcestershire sauce, shoyu, and garlic, paprika, a little chili powder, and some cumin. One hour on high, and 8 hours on low. Most of the meat fell off the bone, so I put that (3.6 pounds!) in a separate dish and put the bones in a bag. I saved most of the liquid and refrigerated it.

We have dinner meat for a week. Total cost, maybe 6 bucks.

The numbers don’t lie.

i know it says to slice the potatoes into cold water then drain them- this is so they won’t turn that weird grey color from the air

but instead i just have the white sauce already in the baking dishes (i never can fit this all in one dish) and put the potatoes in the white sauce and stir it up, then slice more potatoes, stir them in, etc. so they’re never sitting around long enough to turn color. then i put in the onions and put it all in the oven for 15 minutes like the recipe says.

i’ve never done it w/ the cold water like you’re supposed to- just thought i’d share that.

A couple of other points – any cook should carefully read each recipe before starting – you could discover that it uses an ingredient you’re missing, a procedure you don’t have the equipment for/don’t feel comfortable doing or even is a badly written recipe that doesn’t mention all ingredients, is ambiguous or misses something else important that will leave you guessing and perhaps jeopardising the end result.

Also, this is by no means a must for any cook, beginning or otherwise, but I really enjoyed a book called “The Science of Cooking” by Peter Barham – he describes several cooking and food preparation processes from a scientific perspective, troubleshooting for common problems that can arise etc. I found this book gave me a bit more confidence when I tried to break free from specific recipes and helped me to improvise with a good idea of what would work and what wouldn’t.

One last point is to jot down any changes you make to your recipe and how it worked (do this in pencil if, like me, you have a big problem writing in books). Whatever the reason for the change the first time round – missing ingredient, urge to experiment or a serendipitous mistake – you want to have a note of how it turned out for next time, or for future generations who will find your recipe collection all the more precious for it.

I could barely cook when I arrived, but without the array of easy-to-use meat substitutes I was used to, I started getting more interested in how to cook. And I discovered… I can actually do it! I have some basic dishes, which are hard to mess up (except for mistaking the chili powder packet for paprika – that was ‘interesting’ potato goulash!). I’m now trying to learn how to organise “my” kitchen and pantry so eating at 10pm isn’t the norm. Not easy when we tend to get home at 8pm!

My tip: I have a recipe folder of recipes printed from the net and photocopied from books. They’re in plastic pockets which get hung on the knife rack while I’m cooking, and I scribble notes on them (“make *sure* it’s not chili!”) as needed – often measurement conversions, sometimes time or quantity adjustments.

But I found that for a lot of things, there just is no recipe – or it’s one that’s just told and remembered, not written down. I’ve found that listing those things in my folder is a great source of inspiration when I’m hungry and can’t decide what to eat.

So, less than 2 years from “I can’t cook, don’t want to!” to helping a friend learn… not bad, I’d say. :) My (Czceh) boyfriend has even said I now do some traditional Czech things better than his mum and grandmother!

Just toss them in unsoaked and let them go, then drain after cooking.
You’ll want to season the water.

The crockpot is only good for things you want to taste all like one thing, like soups. Distinct flavors don’t happen over all day. (and whomever pointed out the browning first is 100% correct.)

1) Scramble or fry eggs in a nonstick pan (or I’ve heard cast-iron is great, too) with additional lubricant (such as butter or spray oil). Otherwise it may take you many sessions of soaking and scrubbing to get that stupid pan clean.

2) You do not have to dirty up every dish in the kitchen to bake. First get a big plastic bowl and melt your butter in the microwave in that. Then add the liquid ingredients and mix well. Then add your flour (don’t mix it in yet) and put the other ingredients on top of the flour. Then mix the dry ingredients as well as you can without dipping your stirring implement into the liquid part. The goal is to spread out the baking soda and baking powder so they don’t end up all clumped in one part of your batter. Then quickly mix it all together until just barely mixed and continue from there.

3) If you grate the whole block of cheese at once, you only have to clean the grater once per blog of cheese. But grated cheese gets moldy more quickly than ungrated cheese. But it stores well in the freezer.

4) When flipping pancakes, going more slowly trying to be careful does not help. Quickly slide the spatula under the pancakes. Psych yourself for a moment if necessary, then quickly flip the pancake. (It’s the same as with a bike—trying to ride slowly and carefully makes it much harder to keep your balance.)

5) Ask your relatives to share their recipes for your favorite foods or let you watch them cook. Try to remember to do this before they die or go senile—it always seems like you have plenty of time, and you do, until one day you don’t. Also ask for recipes at potlucks. Some people won’t give you their recipe (but giving out your favorite recipes is great insurance in case you lose them and so that sometimes you can eat your favorite food without having to cook them first). Also some people either accidentally or deliberately don’t give you the recipe they actually use, but generally it’s really nice to start with a recipe of something you already know you will like.

6) Similarly, volunteer to help people in the kitchen or at least keep them company while cooking. Ask them questions about what they’re doing and why. Learn from roommates while you still have some.

7) Take notes on your recipes. Write if you liked it or, if not, what was wrong, and maybe recommendations of what to try next time. If you do try the recommendations, write down whether they worked or not. You can use sticky notes if you don’t actually want to write in your book or on your note card. (I am still learning this tip. It’s so hard to remember to pull the cookbook back out after I’ve eaten the thing I cooked.)

As for “spectacular” I would have to agree that cooking with sharp knives is spectacularly better than cooking with dull knives. Yes, I learned to cook at camp. I’ve used a knife that was so dull it was sharper on the back than on the front. I have also used knives that have been used to open cans.

To Craig, I find that if I eat my own cooking then my laziness helps cancel out my love of eating so that I am able to stay at my proper weight. The time I gained the most weight was when I had all the free food I wanted and didn’t have to cook it or do the dishes (I was a summer camp counselor).

The easiest way to cook rice is again, stick to the two to one ratio, but put it in bakeware. I use a Corningware set, and bake it in the oven. Jasmine for some reason is a little faster than plain rice, it takes about 30 minutes. I just dump in 1 cup rice, two cups liquid (sometimes using stock for flavor) put it in the bakeware, cover it with a lid and 30 minutes later, perfect. No waiting for water to boil, easy cheesey. If you arent sure of the time, just check it to see if all the water is absorbed. If so, its done.

my roommate just picked up a HUGE (like 32 oz.)jar of minced garlic from the store for around $5. It saves so much time from chopping, and adding a spoonful of garlic to the pan before you start cooking makes a world of difference in flavor. You can’t go overboard, and almost everyone loves a garlicky flavor.

And good heavens, YES you can overseason a dish! And I am not talking salt. I am talking garlic, onions, rosemary etc. all of which when used with a heavy hand turn a good dish into one I simply won’t eat.

Ditto everyone’s cautions about salt.

I’ve learned to wing it pretty well in the kitchen. I try to take notes, though, just in case something is SO great (or SO bad) that I want to remember it in future.

Finally: keep inventories of your freezer & cupboards posted where you can easily consult them. I’ve fallen off that wagon but vow to get back on it.

One of the best books I ever found to help the utter novice turn into a pro was “How to Cook without a Book.” The author broke down basic proportions and showed people how to adapt them to almost any situation.

Re: deglazing: depending on your recipe, try deglazing with liquor, wine, or balsamic vinegar. Even coffee/tea. It’s just a couple of tablespoons of liquid but can really expand the flavor profile.

Re: browning: I only brown lamb or beef before slow cooking. Most pork roasts and turkey breast don’t have enough fat to caramelize, so you’ll just accelerate drying out the meat if you brown it first.

Re: overseasoning: just as a counter-comment, if something *does* get overseasoned, the easy workaround is to add starch or dairy. But I never add salt to a meat dish until it’s finished and tasted. Usually, it doesn’t need any salt.

My suggestion for a missing spectacular tip (y’all, it’s Trent’s blog, he can use whatever words he wants) is, if you want to start from zero with cooking, start in a class or with a tolerant friend who has a well-stocked kitchen. Not everyone likes the same flavors and it’s easy to overinvest in spices, especially, that you may not like.

Finally (!) if you are getting more confident in the kitchen and want to try new flavors, World Market has become a great source of exotic ingredients, including spices, much less expensive than major grocery stores and a wider range.

When making a stock like this, I’ve even added my old egg shells. You don’t taste them, they just add nutrition!