These are some helpful hints that I use and wanted to share with you:
1. When cooking with wine; buy something good enough to drink and you can use to cook as well.
2. If you don't like to chop shallots and garlic; buy it in the jars and keep in the fridge, it tastes the same and you don't get bits of garlic when you bite down.
3. Using canned beans in soups and chilis; it's great to want to make your own dried beans and use them but trust me the canned ones work just as well and are just as inexpensive if you add in time and energy to cook the dried.
4. Buying 3 bunches of Romaine in a bag is a much better deal than the mixed greens (which I love) so I chop up 1 bunch of romaine and I add broccoli or red cabbage or raddicio and save money.
5. Take stale bread or bread that is taking up room in your freezer or fridge and put it in the food processor to make your own bread crumbs and you can add you dried seasongs as needed. (Make sure if the bread is frozen that it is completely thawed and dry before processing).
I hope you can use some of these tips and Happy Cooking!
