Step One: The Basics

Before I dive into recipes and conceptualized dinner parties on a budget, I want to set a base down.

When you're young (or old) and starting out on your own it can be hard to set up a kitchen with all the things you need to throw together cheap meals in the future. However, this basis of supplies is necessary for the type of cooking my friends and I will be conquering.

Take a look at the following list of basic kitchen supplies you should always have on hand:

Olive Oil
Vegetable Oil
Butter
Eggs
Flour
Sugar
Brown Sugar
Hot Sauce (I prefer Cholula)
Mustard
Mayo
Parmesan Cheese
Garlic
Soy Sauce
Pam
Baking Powder
Baking Soda
Salt & Fresh Ground Pepper
Spices (a good starter is a spice rack from someplace like target)
-Cinnamon
-Garlic Salt
-Lawry's Seasoning Salt
-Herbs de Provence

This seems like a lot, right? The good news is that most of these items are cheap- especially if you buy the store brand. A good place to start is at a Target or Wal-Mart that has a grocery section.  These stores tend to charge WAY less for everyday items like these.

DON'T go buy all of these at once. I have two strategies for making these purchases more bearable...

1. Buy as you need. When you need flour for a recipe buy it, but not the little one. Spend the extra $2 and buy the huge one (and store left overs in your fridge). It'll add $2 to your grocery bill today but the 15 times you use flour after that you won't spend a dime! 

2. Buy on rhythm. Most people grocery shop once a week. On that grocery trip, along with the items you have to buy, buy one thing you don't need off the list above. Maybe you don't need baking soda this week but by adding the $1 expense to your normal groceries, you'll have it when you do need it, without feeling like your spending a lot of money at one time. This is also a great tool with purchasing spices, which can be very expensive. 

All good foodies know that it's not just about the food you make but how you make it. It is important to have the proper tools to do what you need to do. These items can get expensive too, but keep in mind that at Target, Wal-Mart, Ross, Marshall's and Kohl's you can get any basic kitchen counter top appliance for under $20 and the rules above work for these items too! Keep your eye out at garage sales too! Don't make that face! Just because an item is cheap does not mean that it does not work as well as others. My boyfriend and I bought a new slow cooker for $25 at Target recently and it works like magic!

The moral of the story is don't get frustrated because of your lack of finances, let it inspire you instead to do things creatively. Alton Brown says that a kitchen tool is a wasted tool unless it can multi-task and save you money!