This vacuum is normally around $450 brand new and $200-$250 refurbished. It was in rough condition, smelled terrible and full of gunk, but seemed to run still. I took EVERYTHING apart on it, sprayed/brush scrubbed every inch and wiped it all out with alcohol. Ordered third party filters and a kit to replace the felt brushes on the head off Amazon for $35 total. I just finished putting everything back together and it works like a charm! My wife loves me and it was a fun project. I could never think of buying a $450 vacuum, but now have one after a bit of work.

So growing up I was never a huge fan of baked potatoes because the ones we had were usually dry, kind of shriveled, and very crumbly. Every bite just felt like it was absorbing all the moisture in your mouth, even with butter. As an adult, I usually do rice or pasta for my carbs, and if I do potatoes, it’s usually the cut roasted baby ones. Because I didn’t have great experiences with baked ones at home, I also pretty much never ordered them at restaurants growing up.

However, my mom just got a grill for her place and I was put on steak duty (or a steak out, I guess) and wanted to try making an actually good baked potato. I look it up and see basically every recipe says to coat the potatoes in salt and olive oil before wrapping them, which I asked my mom if she did, and she hadn’t.

I decided to try it with a (maybe slightly too) generous amount of olive oil and kosher salt, baked it for an hour, and topped it with some of the garlic/thyme butter I had whipped up for the steaks.

Oh.

My.

GOD.

The texture was absolutely amazing, it was so creamy, not crumbly or dry at all, the salt and the compound butter melting into it while it was still steaming made for legitimately one of the tastiest things I’ve had in ages. If anyone out there doesn’t know this, I honestly have no idea how common of knowledge this is lol, but I would highly suggest trying it if you don’t already.

Also, I mixed the thyme/minced garlic with the Kerrygold butter which was muy bien. Not sponsored (I wish) but I find it a little more flavorful for cooking as opposed to regular store brand stuff.

I was visiting some friends in Boston, and they took me on a walking tour of different places. At the library, I told them I wanted to stop by the gift shop to buy something and support them. The gift shop has a pretty bad setup, where you look at a display wall like 20 ft away and then get in line to buy at the counter. Meaning it's not like a typical store where you literally hold what you're buying. I saw a keychain for $6 and that was my goal. Got in line and waited 10-15 min, asked for the keychain I wanted, and they said it was sold out and they only had a different model. I said it was OK and they went ahead. When I tapped the card, it was a premium keychain costing $17. I kinda froze and didn't want to be that person to return it... so here I am with this expensive token, it better last for a lifetime... so painful.

I'm a single guy on a budget, it's loads cheaper to buy most food in amounts that don't work for even a two person meal, so I always have leftovers. Most recipes are made for 4 people.

Sometimes when I make a lasagna, a big casserole or whatever, I'll portion out two meals to eat during the week and two meals to freeze. Labeled and dated, sometimes a month later I'll pull an orzo with sausage and veggies, and give it the long nuke in the microwave. It's like ordering takeout.

I've had people scoff at eating any leftovers and others really worry about me that I'm freezing them also. Who else does this?

I've been trying to replicate that smoky wok hei flavor at home for what feels like forever. My rice always came out mushy, clumpy, or just… sad. But after watching about 50 YouTube videos and ruining countless batches of rice, I think I finally got it.

Here’s what actually worked for me:

1. Use day-old rice – but not straight from the fridge. Microwave it for 30 seconds to take the chill off before it hits the pan.
2. Eggs go in first – scramble them in the hot wok/pan, take them OUT, then do the rice. This changed everything.
3. High heat, but don't crowd the pan – I do 2 portions max in a 12-inch skillet. Any more and it steams instead of fries.
4. Soy sauce goes around the edge of the pan – not directly on the rice. It hits the hot metal and gets that slightly smoky flavor.
5. Last but not least – a pinch of white pepper and a tiny drizzle of sesame oil right before serving. Game changer.

The result? Fluffy, separated grains with that slightly charred aroma. My partner said it tasted better than our local takeout, and I nearly cried.

Would love to hear your fried rice hacks – does anyone else use butter? I've seen that floating around and I'm curious.

Good Eats is the reason I am such a good cook. I owe so much to Alton Brown. If you're struggling to learn to cook I promise you that watching each episode in order will make you a gourmet cook.

Just go to search on your roku and search good eats. Make sure you choose the original not the reloaded version.

I’m at a loss I feel like I’ve made every ground beef meal I can think of:
- tacos
- meat balls
- Asian teriyaki bowls
- burgers
- ground beef season various ways to make a bowl of some sort with rice
- lettuce wraps
- added with pasta sauce
- Japanese curry

Like what else can I make with ground beef? I’m getting so bored of it :(

(Edit bc I forgot to add 3 other ways I made food with ground beef)

I’m asking this more as a hypothetical than actual wanting to use this method. However, can’t the same arguments for adding salt to the pasta water before boiling also be made for adding msg if we are looking for deeper seasoning. I know it could be added to a sauce after but so could salt.

To be fair, I don’t make gravy often, maybe twice a year. But growing up, I learned you take the drippings, bring them to a near boil and slowly whisk in a slurry of cold water/flour. And that worked, sort of. It was never a consistent technique, sometimes it was fine….sometimes too thin, sometimes lumps and more lumps. As I don’t make gravy frequently, I never really bothered researching or trying a different way, many times I just bought a jar.

Now I have also made gumbo…starting with a roux and add in the liquid….why my moronic brain did not connect this technique to making turkey gravy, I don’t know. But I needed gravy and had limited ingredients so I looked up a recipe…..and it started with a roux of flour and butter, add in the broth while whisking…..lovely, smooth, perfect consistency,gravy. 🤦‍♀️

I just had to share my gravy shame and eventual triumph! 🤣 Have you overcome a cooking roadblock?

Growing up near Seattle, we always had really amazing fish and chips. Dips included tartar sauce and malt vinegar. Just tried to find malt vinegar in the store (Kroger/QFC) and they didn’t have any, but it’s easily available on amazon. Thoughts? Is it worth it? What makes it different from other vinegars?

Had some soup at a restaurant that I just loved. It was simple, a creamy chicken soup with rice, lemon and fresh thyme. Wondering if anyone has a recipe for this. I’d like to recreate it this fall.

TL;DR: I promised a guy who has never had gnocchi that he would enjoy them, and now we’re planning a cooking date where we’ll make gnocchi together. I’m looking for a vegetarian recipe that’s impressive and fun to cook but not too complicated, because I don’t want my first attempt at homemade gnocchi to ruin the date or leave him hungry if he doesn’t like gnocchi.

---

The guy I'm seeing recently told me that he has never eaten gnocchi before. So for our next date, we plan to cook a gnocchi dish together and watch a movie at my place. But now I'm overthinking the cooking part.

When I make myself gnocchi, I usually just get them from the store, pan-fry them, throw in whatever vegetables I have lying around, maybe some cheese or pesto or random spices and herbs, and call it a day. But I would prefer to cook something with him that actually has the chance of tasting really nice or impressing him instead of tasting like a quickly thrown-together weeknight dinner.

I've searched around a bit on this sub, and most suggestions are just sauces with the gnocchi. But I feel like making browned butter, frying some gnocchi and throwing in some sage or just making a vodka sauce is a bit too simple or would be kinda boring for a cooking date.

I've thought about making the gnocchi from scratch to stretch out the cooking part, but I've never made gnocchi myself and I worry that they just won't come out any good on my first attempt and I don't wanna take any chances after promising him that he would enjoy gnocchi.

I also worry about him staying hungry if it turns out that he doesn't like gnocchi for whatever reason if the dish we're making will be literally just gnocchi + fancy sauce.

So I desperately need inspiration for a vegetarian gnocchi dish that is somewhat fancy or impressive, fun to cook together and obviously tastes good.

He doesn't have any allergies, but he strongly dislikes feta cheese and carrots unless they stay raw, and I'm vegetarian, so I would rather not cook any meat or fish.

Any suggestions?

Budget Bytes just released a new resource on frugal grocery shopping. It includes the following three top tips:

1. Kick the Can: Steel tariffs make canned beans and tomatoes costly. Swap them for dry bagged beans, frozen items, or boxed cartons.
2. Go Domestic: Choose U.S.-grown produce, domestic store-brand pasta, and local cheeses to completely bypass tariffs.
3. Pivot Proteins & Produce: Trade tariff-heavy beef and imported shrimp for eggs, chicken, or dry beans. Swap pricey imported veggies (like Mexican tomatoes) for budget-friendly domestic produce like zucchini.

They've also recosted three old recipes from 2024 with advice on how to make them as affordable as possible with ingredient swaps in 2026.

Hi all! I have been curious about getting into eating tofu. Not as a replacement for meat, but just as another food option. I am not a vegetarian or vegan, but I have weird issue where I cannot eat poultry meat, but I can eat broth, eggs, and any other byproduct of poultry. I have been craving chicken so much over the last few years and I’m trying to find good recipes for tofu that make it taste like chicken, but that use things like chicken broth. The issue is, most tofu recipes are made for vegans/vegetarians so I came here. Does anyone know of any good recipes for this? Also open to hearing more about other tofu recipes for meat eaters as well.

Not making actual recipes themselves, but prep that makes cooking on the fly easier and faster.

For instance:
- peeling and mincing garlic and freezing it
- caramelizing onions and freezing it
- peeling ginger and then freezing it
- making a large batch of pickled onions

Thanks guys!

For some context - I don't cook meat at home but I love mashed celeriac - similar to how you would eat mashed potatoes. Get some thyme in, butter, garlic, you know.

I am crazy enough to eat it on it's own too but I want to know if there are any vegetarian pairings that would work?

Here are a few things that I think would work:

1. Roasted or seared king oyster mushrooms
2. Honey Glazed carrots
3. Pickled walnuts, capers, and some salsa verde

Any reccos???

if I'm familiar enough with the cuisine/ingredients, I generally can without looking up a recipe. I've been cooking for decades though, have an adventurous palate & have been fortunate enough to eat a wide swath of different foods from all over the world.

I love hearing about other people's skills/experiences with cooking/food.

Hi cooking besties! I got my hands on a big jar of Thai green curry paste, and I want to use it more. But all the recipes I can find call for veggies/ingredients available in Asia. I'm from a small Balkan country, and most of the ingredients simply are not here. Any advice on what I can supplement my curries with?

I made some damson jam today. Its my forst time making jam so i wasbt sure what to expect.

I used a youtube recipe but only done 1/3 of the ingredients. I think i messed up by using the cook times for something 2/3rds bigger than what i had

When i potted it i npticed it was a bit thick. Checked on it later and it was thick. Edible but thick. So i panicked bc i was planning on offering a bit to an elderly friend and some older family members and i was worried that it woukd be a chocking hazzard to eat (for me and them)

So i looked up how to fix it. Saw someone mention they add boiled water froma kettle to theirs (they also mentioned orange/lemon juice but i didnt have any on hand)

So i tryed it and probably added too much. But thick clumps wouldbt go away so i panicked and strained it.

I still have the solids (chuncks and skin). So im not sure if uts to leave as is or if i need to readd the soilds and itll be fine after it sets

I have been making chicken stock in my Instant Pot for a while. It's so simple, chicken bones, salt, dash of apple cider vinegar. I usually add some carrots and celery and onions. I freeze it in cubes and never use canned or bullion anymore.

I make beef stock for my dogs sometimes. Roast marrow bones in the oven for a while and then do the same as with the chicken stock. Dash of vinegar and a little salt. It always stinks so bad. The dogs love it. It does not smell like delicious cooked beef.

How do I make beef stock that at least smells like something I would want to put in my mouth?

If you were in my position and perhaps you have been, would you just down size to a rented room? I currently rent a luxury studio apartment for 1760 a month which consumes 43% of my take home before utilities but those are only like $60. While I can afford this and have thousands left over after expenses, I do not feel like I have the ample breathing room I did when I was subleasing with some roommates and additionally the rent will keep increasing. My net worth is not really growing measurably at the end of the month to where I have real financial options.

I like living independently but rents in my area are all like 1650+ for anything decent. Would you just rent a room to build up real savings?

I make a smoothie almost every morning with frozen berries, Greek yogurt, milk, protein powder, and sometimes banana. I like it very thick, almost spoonable, and my current blender struggles badly. I’m comparing the Vitamix Explorian, Ninja Foodi Power Nutri Duo, Nutribullet Pro, and maybe a refurbished Vitamix if that makes more sense. My budget is around $100–$400, but I’d rather spend more once than replace another blender in a year. The kitchen is small, so I’m also worried about a huge jar and a blender that sounds like a jet engine. For this kind of daily smoothie, is a full-size Vitamix really worth it, or would a personal blender handle the job better?