As much as I love to cook, I absolutely despise when I have ingredients all over the fridge and freezer but don’t know what to do to get them together for a real meal. Now, I don’t mean my usual staple ingredients, like chopped onion, canned tomatoes, or even frozen chicken breasts; I mean those ones that seem to come into my life through some great clearance at my local store. Items like yellow peppers(we are a green/red pepper family), skate fish on deep discount, or a cut of beef that we’ve never had but was a total steal.
As a frugal shopper, I know I can’t pass up deals on fresh meats, produce, or some new ingredient that we’ve never even heard of, even if I have no idea what to do with it. Why do I do this to myself? Because in this day and age, we have the INTERNET!! What a wonderful invention. Better yet, as an avid cook, I love the internet when it comes to food. And that brings me to Super Cook.
I was introduced to this lovely site by the awesome ladies over on the MSN message boards and I still love to use it to this day. I’ve now made a point of not passing up any new and interesting item I can get from the store( or relatives that love to hunt and fish) because I know that I’ll be able to find a great recipe to pair up with it. For example, this week on the meal plan we are trying bluefish for the first time. I’ve heard of it once or twice, and was told is was a very “fishy” fish and it needed to be cooked a certain way. By putting bluefish into the search engine, I was bombarded with great recipes. I’m now armed to try out this interesting fish.
The reason I bring this up is because it’s sometimes difficult to be frugal and healthy when you are first starting out because you aren’t used to using certain items. The best way to start on this adventure is to use your resources to the best of your ability. Ask frugalites that have been at it for a while, find a message board or chat room that’s geared toward frugality, or use those search engines to find sites that can specifically answer your questions, culinary or not. So, if your are trying to cook new and different meals for your homestead but aren’t sure where to start, start here.
Thank you so much for posting about this site! It used to be my go to cooking site about a year ago. It was a favorite in the laptop my son spilled a drink on!Thereby destroying it and my favorites. I have tried to find it many times since. I could not remember the name of it for the life of me. you just made my week. Thank you,thank you,thank you!
FYI, smoked blue fish is a very economical alternative to smoked salmon (i.e. lox). It’s an ingredient in many a kosher recipe.
This website is awesome! I have found some great new recipes to try. I’m excited!
Great post! I love yellow peppers (and r ed or orange, too!) – I use them just like any other pepper.
Yellow , green and red peppers along with firm tofu, marinated in soy, hoisin and chilli sauces makes the best stir fry to eat with brown rice. The yellow pepper is much sweeter than the red or the green ones.
thanks for the replies, all!
Anon, glad U could refresh your memory.
Alex, if I could smoke a fish, that would be an interesting way to go. For now, I’ll just stick with the recipe I found lol.
Liz, glad you found some recipes!
chicago and anon, if I can find a yellow pepper at a dirt cheap price, I try NOT to use it the same old way. It’s like a once in a blue moon thing here. Thanks for the reminders though.
MoneyObedience, supercook actually brings up recipes from both of those sites, thus searching within the other searchable recipe sites lol. I don’t know, I thought that was pretty cool :o)
There are other websites that generate recipes based on ingredients. I know two of them: http://www.epicurious.com/ and http://www.recipematcher.com/