I feel very lucky to often sit at the table of good restaurant and enjoy a meal without having to be scared about the bill, BUT when it comes to my kitchen I try to be as frugal as a squirrel before the winter.

I grew up with immigrant grandparents that lived through WWII and ended up in a country where they didn’t have much and seriously Italians were not very welcome after the war in France. But from that was born a generation of genius cooks, the one that knew how to make a wonderful meal with a potato and sometimes nothing else. As I grew, thought I was raised in a well off family in Paris, I was still a witness of those hard times through my grandmother’s cooking. First she would never let me peel the potatoes because she use to say: You don’t peel it, you slice it, look there is enough on this skin to feed a pig! Yes, yes, she would with her 35 year Opinel (buy the way a family thing, I always use mine) a peel that was so thin that you could almost see through it.

As I grew up I try to make the best out of her teaching. It’s important to me that in my kitchen all my ingredients are fresh, if it comes out of the freezer or a can it’s because I made it! Then, I try to make the best out of the the ingredients. I never throw away leftovers and always try to use them in something else. This is to me how you can see a great cook! It’s easy to make great food with expensive ingredients, but make something great with a leftover of mashed potatoes that’s a different story!

Stocks: The first thing I would recommend, it’s to always have celery, carrots, onions, garlic and  parsley in your kitchen, these ingredients will be mostly used during the week, in salads, stew, sauces, or side dishes and at the end of the week when there getting a bit tired, just throw them in one pot and make a stock. When I buy chicken breast I always get it on the bone, because I cut the breast out myself and freeze the bones until one rainy afternoon, I have a sad carrot and a couple branch of celery in my fridge and I make chicken stock. Stocks are the best way to get rid of those herbes, like parsley, thyme, chive that are not so crispy anymore. Can your stock or freeze it, you’ll never buy one of those full of sodium thing in the store! You’re going to say but it’s time consuming, and I will, not really put it on the back burner and do you stuff , watch your movie, give a bath to your kids, do your work on your computer. It doesn’t need to be baby-sited and it’s so worth it. 

Bones: Be friend with your butcher, he can help you save some money! Last time, mine gave me the barding fat for my paté. Ask him for bones and bits that he doesn’t sell those are great for all sorts of soups! Keep the bones from roasted chicken, leg of lamb, ribs, shanks, turkey, really anything and you can use it in a stock or make a demi-glaze with it. Note: same thing with fish! keep the heads of your shrimps or the left over of your grilled fish and male a fish stock.

Bread: Never throw a piece of bread!!!! Have one of those Ziploc bag in your freezer and just throw in the small pieces of bread you’re about to throw in the garbage. When the bag is full, just put the content on a cookie sheet, and in the oven for an hour at about 250°, until the bread is all dry and throw it in a food processor with a bit of salt and pepper. You will never have to buy bread crumbs again and you will start enjoying more bread crumb crusted fish or rack of lamb.

Meat: Same thing with the meat, you cooked a pork shoulder and you have leftovers, or a beef roast, even steak. Grind it up and use it in your Bolognese sauce or any type of Ragú. If you want to make it a bit more official, make a Pork roast on Sunday and then you’ll have a wonderful Fetuccine with Pork ragú on Monday or Tuesday.

Potatoes: When I have a leftover of roasted potatoes you can be sure that you’ll see a nice frittata or Tortilla con patatas coming, for breakfast lunch or with a nice salad for dinner! If it’s some of those young fingerling potatoes, I will add them to my salad the next day with a couple of anchovy filet. Mashed potatoes are my favorite. Mix your leftover with some young spring onion, and gruyere cheese, a bit of sour cream, put it in the oven and you’ll have a surprisingly good gratin. Or, once your potato mash has cooled off in the fridge all night, take a small amount in your hand and roll it in a ball a bit smaller than a walnut and then dip it in a egg wash and bread crumbs a couple of times and deep fry it a few seconds. It’s called Pomme Dauphine, it’s labor intensive but soooo worth it!

Make sure you always use everything in your kitchen and in your fridge. For example every time I am thinking of what to make for dinner, I always take a look at what I have available in my fridge: leftover parsley, or a couple carrots, some piece of celery root, meat, sour cream, anything really and try to incorporate it into the new recipe. You’ll be amazed how much can be re-used from your fridge. And please I am not talking about rotten thing or thing already breeding new sorts of lives!!

And as often as I can, I will can and freeze. Especially in winter, I usually make big pots of soups and stews and I can them (just a couple cans in my pressure cooker). You can’t imagine how happy you will be when coming home from work, you’ll just have to open a can and have a wonderful Boeuf Bourguignon or blanquette de veau, choucroute, Cassoulet or just a nice cup of tomato soup.

Go to your fridge people and be creative. I hope all those will help a few of you save a few bucks!