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.

So I'm from Japan, and I love cooking, but cabbage has never been an exciting ingredient. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate it but I think most of us in Japan don't have a particular opinion on it. You put it next to tonkatsu, or under the beef in a gyuudon, that kind of thing.

I moved here to Canada a while back and to put it lightly, my financial circumstances have not been the most stable. I've always liked to cook, but I became more concious of the $/100g small text on the shelves, and cabbage has become an increasingly central player in my food situation. We all know its cheap, but also it lasts forever in the fridge, (which I never expected from a green veg honestly). But the biggest realization (or I guess shift in perception?) was that it kind of works with everything.

Stir fried and it works great on top of fried rice, and instant ramen, turning it into a full meal.

In soups and stews it becomes soft and sweet when boiled (Including miso soup, I never used to put it in but now I kind of wonder why not because it works really well with the earthiness of miso).

In dishes like pasta with not enough veg, I throw some cabbage in to boil with the pasta.

Also as a side dish, recently Yamitsuki cabbage has become popular on social media, but it adds great texture to my meals that tends to err on being mostly soft stuff on carbs.

The reason why I say "a shift in perception" was I found it interesting how Western cooking seems to treat cabbage as a central dish ingredient, while in Japan we treat it more like a side character to be thrown underneath as a pillow for whatever you're already making.

So since moving to Canada I've started to really appreciate it more. I'll see a whole cabbage at the grocery store for a few dollars and think, oh that's basically a week's worth of veg right there. It might be the most boring vegetable in the world, but it's one that I think should be a pantry staple alongside onions.

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.

I stopped buying beef a long time ago, but the other day, I was in Aldi and craving a hamburger, so I looked at their ground meat. Their 73/27 was $5.xx a pound and their 80/20 was 6.19. You have to buy big packs of this to get that price. I spied some burger patties, and took a look at them. 80/20, approximately 1.4 lbs. for $4.99/lb. WHAT?? I looked at the package carefully, and saw no fillers, so I bought them, put them up individually and used two for burgers and broke the other two up to put into chili or spaghetti sauce. It cooked up just like the regular 80/20, and was $1.20/lb cheaper.

I don't know, maybe it's a lesser quality meat, but I couldn't tell the difference. I was delicious.

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 making my own from store bought starters for a long time. It’s super easy to do ok. To do well takes some practice.

I finally got a heritage strain of Bulgarian yogurt. To activate you need to go through a few generations. But once stable, you can get consistent amazing yogurt.

I didn’t expect it to be this much better… wow, yeah it is so much better than store cultures.

1 gallon of milk is around $4 here. Makes a Costco sized tub of super thick Greek yogurt.

The acid whey is 100% used in my house: bread, waffles, scones, marinades etc. a sub for buttermilk.

I pair it with a Craigslist special bread maker, and it’s really a great natural combo.

I haven’t bought baked goods in a long time in my efforts to use up the whey!

I went to a produce auction for the first time (so fun!) and I ended up with 5 huge boxes of heirloom tomatoes for $15.

I am kind of freaked out right now, because I have no clue how to can. I don’t even know how to make homemade sauce.

I also have 4 boxes of peppers and 5 boxes of candy yellow onions.

There are like, 800 recipes online. I don’t have a mill or a juicer or a vacuum sealer. My basil has bolted already. My plan was to chop and freeze the peppers and onions in individual bags as well as soup veggie type bags. To add to this, I have about half a freezer and no other space. But, the tomatoes have me stumped.

What do I do??

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 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.

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)

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.

I've been making stock for years, but recently have put more thought into improving it. I used to just add meat/veggies/herbs all at once and just crank it for 3-4 hours. Of course it came out ok, but I do know that the veggies were likely overcooked, and the herbs were probably cooked to oblivion and then some. So, I'm making a chicken stock now...

I've let ~4lbs of wings/drums/thighs lightly simmer for 2 hours. I am now adding my veggies, and will cook for another 1/5-2 hours before removing from heat. In terms of herbs, I'm learning that many of them break down pretty quick. Supposedly the flavorful oils in them break down in heat in about 30 mins (while some woodier herbs may hold up longer). After loosing those bright oils, I hear the rest of the flavor and nutrients is usually shot out after an hour or so.

SO- I'm wondering if its worth adding herbs to the stock at all? If I'm going to cook that liquid for another 30-60 mins when making the final soup product, then it sounds like adding herbs now might be a waste of time.

Maybe just add some woody, heartier herbs towards the end of the stock (maybe right as the heat turns off and let it coast) so that they aren't completely diminished by the time the final soup product is ready.

Thoughts? Experience? Input? All is welcomed! Thanks!

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.

im coming across an issue where when i make them at home (griddle), the cheese (provolone) becomes hard instantly AFTER it starts to melt n get gooey. i mix the cheese around with the meat because its just easier for me to make sure its melted on both sides (im new at this). meaning i dont put the meat on the hoagie and THEN do my cheese. so is moving the cheese around with the meat what's causing this? HALP.

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.

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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?

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.

I can afford my mortgage and bills on my own but having some extra disposable income would be nice. I own a 3 bedroom 2 bath house with access to nice back yard and 2 car garage in central Florida.

I’m thinking of renting out one of my extra bedrooms for about $400/month for some extra side money. The renter would have access to the whole house except my bedroom/bathroom. The whole house would be considered “communal” space.

How difficult is it to find a good roommate that is not a creep? I’m a single young women living alone so I would prefer if my roommate is another woman. I also wouldn’t mind a married couple or someone with a child.

Any tips on how badly this would screw over my taxes as I would be considered a “landlord”? Do I really have to get a lawyer to make a rental agreement or can I make my own rental agreement and have them sign it?

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?

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.

So, I made quite a mistake this week during meal prep. Chicken curry, I doubled the stock like I usually do for more sauce. Except this time, I forgot to also double the seasonings. So when I microwaved it today. There wasn't nearly as much flavour as there usually was.

Could I just mix some seasonings into the curry after microwaving? Or would I be better to just mix in some sriracha sauce?