This is my first blog so please bare with me people. My intent is to share alot of the things I have learned over the years being a frugal foody. If you happen to spend alot of time at restaurants eating out and that is your style, than all the more power to you. If you would like to know how to cook for literally almost nothing comparativly than stay tuned during the next week while i tweek this site and try to understand about blogging and how it works. I am going to give you a list of some of the basic items you will need here. These items will be a one time purchase for the most part, items such as cook ware etc... Others such as spices and herbs dried for the most part will have to be replenished periodically at a minimal price as these items tend to be used sparingly. Some spices are pricey but go along way, others may be lower quality and that is fine, they do add alot of flavor to dishes. If you have no experience cooking than dont be affraid to experiment. You might ruin a couple dishes here and there, but thats ok. Ok a few items you will need to start.

1.) Frying pan 10" is fine.
2.) Large stock pot (any brand for now is fine)
3.)quart stock pot
4.)basic cooking utensils (spatula, whisk, one good knife is really all you need, I prefer a chef knife for everything., tongs, others you will figure out along the way.)

I assume most folks have such items. If you have more, then all the better. A good source of usable cookware (not awesome, but usable) are Swap meets, Yard sales, second hand stores, Dollar stores for utensils, tjmax, Target, Big Lotts, etc. the point is to keep your eyes open for things on sale you dont have that you can pick up one at a time, eventually you will have quite the collection and over time you will be discarding things you used, for better items. Give the old ones to college students just starting out or somthing. You can also pick up a whole set of pans and utensils if you dont have any at stores like walmart in one big box. Not the best quality, but great for the beginner.

I want to take a min. here to say somthing about shopping. Alot of folks say "Dont buy things you would normally not buy". I tend to disagree with this statement. We are trying to save money correct? We want Meals that are healthy and different every night correct? So in the beginning here is what i suggest you do. Buy what ever you can on sale when you can. If you typically go out to eat all the time and spend 40 bucks for a family of four once a week, cut one night a month out of that schedule in the beginning and use that 40 bucks for all onsale items you can find. Such as Peanut butter. sometimes you can find it for 99cents per one Lb. jar. Dont buy one jar, buy five jars. It aint going to go bad, that stuff is chalk full of preservatives., all canned foods eventually go on sale. Vegis can go for 3 cans for a dollar sometimes, when they do, but ten to twenty of them, mix it up a little. Put them cans in the pantry and pretty soon you will have pretty much everything you need for what ever recipe you need. saves time on gas to be able to walk right to the pantry, check your recipe and see you already have all you need. No wasted trips to the store. This wont happen all at once, you will have to slowly, or quickly your choice stocking up, on whats on sale. Buy what you can when you can. make coffee at home and spend that extra two bucks ya saved not buying a starbucks coffee on possibly two jars of Peanut butter, or eight cans of tomato sauce or four cans of vegis, or two boxes of pasta. you get the point. stuff that will last for awhile , pantry safe stuff you can pull from when ya need it. Even if you cut your eating out time to half of normal, you will save hundreds a month.
Again bare with me on this blog. It will get better. Next time I want to talk about shopping the grocery adds. Its a good way to figure out whats on sale and when and schedule one day a week to do it. You can use the evening that you would spend out eating to go to the grocery store. I want to walk you through the grocery store and take you on a virtual trip to saving money.

God bless; sean