10 Things Everyone Should Know How To Cook For Themselves

For the past few months, Lauren’s and my schedules have been somewhat dominated by the writing/designing/photographing/laying-outing of the TFD book. It’s an exciting and extremely creative process, and it’s inarguably awesome to do something so far outside of our day-to-day comfort zone (not unlike creating the TFD shop was for Lauren), but it’s also a huge drain on our time and resources. We love it, but it’s tough — as almost anything worth doing is, of course. (And for those who have been asking, the book is currently set to come out around September 2017, which is far away, we know, but will be worth it!)

Anyway, the point is, while working on something so consuming and intimidating, it’s been important to find the most buoyant parts of the job, and for us, the most fun part of book-ing so far has been the food chapter. The TFD book is lush, full-color and full of design, which means our chapter on all things frugal food is the most beautiful and has been the most fun to work on. Testing recipes, shooting finished products, poring over layout and recipe design options — it’s all been extremely fun. And it’s not just a chapter thrown in for our personal enjoyment: how one eats, and what one spends on food, is often the biggest determinator of overall budget, after direct living costs like rent. We have always believed that a savvy and resourceful home cook is someone who is already way ahead on the “saving money while living well” train, and if TFD has one real mantra, it’s definitely something along those lines.

To that end, we decided to make this week’s video all about the recipes one must learn to always be able to whip something up on a dime. It’s a video that echoes a lot of what we’re doing with the food chapter, and though it’s by no means a complete primer on how to be a home cook or how to navigate the grocery store (things we get into in much more detail in the book), it’s a good start and full of links to some of our favorites in each recipe category. Everything from a good quiche to a hearty bean soup should be a staple in your home cooking arsenal, because to not have those basic templates, you’re almost always guaranteed to be scrambling for something in your kitchen (or ordering in, yet again).

So, without further ado, this week’s video, featuring 10 things you should definitely know how to cook for yourself!

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