I need to mention a few things before I get down to the food shopping and cooking.

There are many different levels of fixed incomes. Food budgets are one of those things that are dependent on other living expenses. I can’t even guess what an individual’s circumstances might be. What I’ll being doing in this blog is tell you what I do to make ends meet and maybe it will be something useful to you.

Other than that, the recipes and handy hints I share will hopefully be affordable for you in your situation. Even if they’re a bit of a stretch financially, they’ll be delicious and easy to do.

Also, I have some appliances, cookware and utensils that I have had for a while and to buy them would be expensive for the first outlay. I will highlight those. They are not necessary but nice to haves and make cooking easier. They can range between $10 to $100. I save up a little at a time until I have enough to buy them. However, I do research for the best price and I check out what other users have to say about them. America’s Test kitchen is a great site when trying to decide if you want to spend money on a new faddish appliance that once you have it you may not ever use it again. As a general rule, stay away from kitschy or single-function gadgets. They are money wasters.

If I use something specifically designed for a certain task I will tell you the price I paid for it, how often I use it and the results.

Must haves: A working stove, a couple of sizes of iron skillets, a 2-quart sauce pan, a large stew pot, and several sizes of mixing bowls. A set of wooden spoons, a couple of spatulas, a mandolin for slicing, and sharp knives.  And of course, measuring cups and spoons.

Nice to haves: A rice cooker, an oven safe enamel coated iron pan with lid for the oven, a hand held blender, a crock pot, deep fryer, a sous vide, an outside grill, and an offset spatula often called a fish spatula. The two I find that get used the most are a rice cooker and the sous vide.

It is my hope that you will enjoy my posts and my food pictures.

Until next time have a wonderful day.