CHEAP
HEALTHY
EASY
FAST and
DELICIOUS!

Welcome to the very first volume of my CHEF’D Up Series!
A series to help the average person who either doesn’t like to cook, doesn’t have the time, or just doesn’t know how to escape the same three dishes. My goal is to create a weekly menu that shows exactly what I buy and what I make while considering my 5 principles for the recipes (cheap, healthy, easy, fast, and delicious). Now, yes, you’re right, it’s very difficult to achieve ALL 5 of those at the same time in every recipe. And we all want to fulfill some our comfort cravings here and there. So keep in mind it won’t be perfect.
Keep in mind a lot of my tips and tricks are curated for a family of 2-3 people and ideal for 4-5 weeknight dinners. We enjoy treating ourselves out on Fridays and Saturdays.

First, let’s begin with being cost-effective or “Cheap” when building your pantry!

To first keep your wallet from getting nervous at the grocery store, you’ll need to slowly build up the pantry staples that work for YOU in your kitchen. Don’t walk into a grocery not knowing what you’re going to make for the week. Otherwise, you end up purchasing way more than you can realistically handle leading to more food waste. That means, know what type of dishes and cuisines you love to eat. For example, if you want to make Asian food 2-3 times a week, always have soy sauce on hand. Try to avoid obscure ingredients that is not used very often in most dishes. Otherwise, it’ll slowly make it’s way to the dark corners of your fridge and sadly expire. That’s costly ingredients being wasted as well. If you find interesting recipes that you want to try, see if you can find substitutes that you already have …or maybe it is well worth the $10 cardamom spice that you’ve been eyeing for awhile. Either way, try and stick with ingredients you know for sure you’re going to use efficiently.

My staple ingredients that I MUST have and know is usable in many of my dinner dishes are:

Produce: carrots, onions, garlic, sweet potatoes

Sauces: soy sauce, sesame oil, mirin, Japanese sake, pasta sauce, cans of hot chile tomato sauce

Dry: pasta, brown/white/basmati rice, cans of corn

Proteins: chicken thighs, salmon, ground beef, eggs

Bonus!
Back-Up food: instant ramen, tuna cans, sandwich bread

Keep in mind my go to dishes are Asian, Mexican, Italian, and sometime Mediterranean. It’ll look different for anyone. These are my go to ingredients that I must restock on if running low. This eases my mind so I don’t have to think twice about what I need and it’s flexible enough that I can make a wide variety of dishes with these limited ingredients.
I also added a bonus back-up food category. Yes, instant ramen is definitely not the healthiest, but it’s something anyone in my household can make at any time and we rarely have to resort to it knowing it’s for emergencies only. The back-up food plan is great to have ready for those late work nights or unexpected events that put a strain on your cooking time. Because life happens right? I assume that all my dinners take about an hour to make when I’m not having to rush through it. So, if that gets severely pushed back, tuna sandwiches it is!

My overall rule of thumb is, the fridge needs to be as empty as possible before my Sunday grocery shopping. Produce is the first to go bad, so if my fridge drawers are nice and empty, it’s been a successful CHEF’D up week!

Hope you enjoyed the first of many CHEF’D Up tips and tricks!

Now, what’s your go to kitchen staples?




-Emi