The Virtues of Culinary Frugality

It’s almost the end of the year and it seemed like a good time to talk about the value of being frugal. This may not be a sexy topic, but it is one that those of you who have cooked with me in the past know I am passionate about.
Frugal does not mean cheap, nor does it mean lacking in any way. To me, being frugal in the kitchen is a virtue, like being efficient, being clean. It makes cooking easier, more satisfying, less stressful, and usually, more delicious.

Being frugal in the kitchen means using up every bit of a good ingredient, not wasting food thoughtlessly, and eking out maximum flavor with minimum effort. It means planning your cooking ahead so you can achieve all these goals.
So this week, we recorded a few “frugal” recipes for you, just in time for the holidays, when most of us are likely to be busier than usual and this philosophy can only streamline things for us.

Let me explain what I mean by "frugal" recipes.

I buy beets with the stems and leaves attached whenever possible—meaning, whenever the leaves are perky and the stems are firm. I know most people are familiar with roasting the beet bulbs, but I have found many people are stumped when it comes to using the leaves and stems, and usually ask the store clerk to trim and discard them. Hence, our how-to of using every part of the beet, top to tail; we love the stems and leaves and hope you will too.

Frugal cooking at its best: easy, streamlined, and never wasteful.
And speaking of best: we wish you and your loved ones all the best in 2021. Let’s hope the new year brings us all joy, health, happiness, and togetherness.

Micol and Dino

P.S. A Few Tips for Using our Video Lessons

TIP 1: Each video lesson has a recipe associated with it. We provide the recipe as a text under the video, as well as a pdf. Depending on your screen size or orientation, you might need to scroll down to see the information under the video!

TIP 2: You can enlarge the video to full screen by clicking on the icon at the bottom right (4 arrows pointing outwards).

TIP 3: You can quickly skip to the key steps by clicking on the yellow dots on the video timeline. You can see all the steps by clicking on the icon that looks like a list (3 dots and 3 horizontal lines). 

You will find more tips - such as using bookmarks, writing notes on the recipes and more in the section called "Your Video Membership"