Recession Strategies: Part I

In the spirit of wishing to pass on some great ways to save money while still providing your family with delicious and nutritious meals, I have decided to devote a weekly post to the idea. Now, more than ever, it is imperative that families from my generation get familiar with their kitchens. Even if you still have a well-paying job and decent benefits, you have no doubt felt the economic pinch somewhere in your life. One of the easiest ways to save money is to prepare your meals at home. I have friends who own restaurants and I believe in supporting locally owned businesses when we can, however, eating out gets expensive real fast. If you are looking to make the transition from take-out to homemade, there are a few tips that can make it easier. I want to focus on time-saving strategies and quick meal ideas as well as recipes using few and commonly found ingredients. I discovered a web site today where the sole purpose is to share recipes that are inexpensive to prepare - cheapcooking.com is a great place to get meal ideas that are guaranteed not to break your bank. Please share your own "recession minded" cooking strategies here as we try not to sacrifice taste, nutrition or family time.