Cooking Basics: Make a Meal from What’s on Hand is available for free online, guiding home chefs through creative ways to use the foods they have on hand to make many of their favorite dishes.
When supplies are low in the pantry, common recipes can be used as “road 
maps” for making meals. Just as there are alternate roads on a map to arrive at a specific destination, there are alternate options to complete that recipe.
The publication promotes the concept of grouping ingredients into categories:
- Proteins, including various meats, eggs, fish, seafood, nuts and legume-type beans.
- Vegetables, fresh, frozen or canned.
- Starch, including pasta, rice and potatoes.
- Liquid, including broths, tomato juice and milk.
- Sauce, including various soups, diced tomatoes with juice and gravy made with corn starch and water.
- Flavors, which could be combinations of chopped vegetables, dried or fresh herbs, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and salt and pepper.
With those groupings, it’s much easier to combine ingredients to make stir fry, skillet meals, casseroles, soups, salad, pizza and more.
Have fun making new and original favorite recipes for you and your family!
By: Ashley Svaty
Pumpkin spice. Two words that start to take over this time of year. Everywhere you look there is pumpkin spice flavored everything, but make sure you check out the nutrition facts label before you indulge in your favorite pumpkin flavored treats!