Things to Learn

Learn to make and do some basic things. Not only will your food taste better, but you will also save money!

Make your own pie crusts. I avoided this for the longest time then finally decided I was tired of spending money on the premade ones and never having one defrosted when I needed it. Practice makes perfect. If you have a good mixer or food processor, it does most of the hard work for you. But you can use a cheap pastry blender if you don't have a good mixer.

Basic white sauce. Learn this and you'll open up a lot of doors! It's used in pot pies, macaroni and cheese (by adding cheese), and so many other things.

Cutting up a chicken. Compare the prices per pound for whole chickens versus parts. Even if you throw out the bones and wings (instead of making broth, which is in the cookbook you can download), you will usually come out ahead. If you take out the innards before you freeze a whole chicken, you can then pop it right into the crockpot in the morning.

Make soup. Soup can feed a crowd and keep your budget on track. Make your own broth and the cost goes down considerably.