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For anyone who cooks, fresh herbs are in constant demand. But buying fresh herbs can be expensive. At the grocery store, herbs go for a couple dollars a bunch, and usually don’t store very well… sometimes not even long enough to use in another recipe.

The solution? Growing your own herbs. Many herbs, like basil, oregano and thyme are very easy to grow from seed. Parsley is also easy to grow, but needs a deeper pot and is prone to aphid attacks. Packets of seeds cost a couple dollars each, and will last your for years.

To stretch your growing season, start the seeds indoors in the early spring. They can be moved outdoors once the risk of frost is over (think Victoria day to be safe), of if you have a sunny windowsill, that will work too.

If you don’t have a green thumb, an easier solution is to buy plants from a garden centre. Not quite a cheap as growing from seed, but arguably easier. But for slower-growing herbs (like rosemary and sage), this is definitely the way to go.

By growing a variety of your own herbs, you ensure that you always have fresh herbs on hand… fresher than anything you could buy at a store, and nothing goes to waste.

The benefits of consuming olive oil are well known. Olive oil contains a high proportion of monounsaturated fats, which is linked with lower risk of coronary heart disease. It also has a pleasant flavour, which acts as a great base for most dishes. This is why most recipes start with extra virgin olive oil.

Extra virgin olive oil is the top grade of olive oil. It is the least acidic, and has the most pronounced flavour. Top grade, however, also means most expensive. For salad dressings, bread dipping, or other recipes where it’s a central ingredient, definitely stick with extra virgin.

But in general cooking, I switch to pure olive oil. Pure olive oil is a combination of refined olive oil and virgin or extra virgin olive oil.

Heat destroys part of the flavour profile of extra virgin olive oil, and deep within a recipe, you’ll never discern the difference anyway. So why pay for top quality olive oil when you’ll never know the difference?

Keep a small bottle of quality extra virgin olive oil on hand for salads and dipping. But for cooking, decant lower quality olive oil from a larger bulk bottle. You’ll save quite a bit.

I’ve recently discovered the joy of drinking cocktails at home. There are only a few hard liquors that I can drink straight, but a good cocktail is smooth and easy to drink.

Cocktails give you great variety. With a decently-stocked home bar, you can make dozens of drinks. Depending on your mood, you can go fruity, sour, spicy, botanical, etc.

Considering the cost of liquor, cocktails are also less expensive than wine and many beers (in terms of alcohol equivalence).

Most liquors can be purchased for $30-$40 for a 1.14L bottle. That’s $1.20-$1.60 per 1.5 ounce shot. Wine is at least $10-$15, or $2-$3 per drink. And import beers tend to start at $1.50 per can/bottle (a cheaper beer, in my opinion, is not worth drinking).

You’ll have to spend a couple hundred dollars to initially stock your bar, but that will last a long time. What you need depends on your taste, but these spirits and liqueurs will give you a good base: vodka, gin, whiskey, brandy, rum, triple sec and vermouth. You’ll also want to keep lemon and lime juice in the fridge. Many drinks also call for Angostura bitters, so stock that too (from the grocery store, with the drink mixes near the pop).

In terms of hardware, you don’t need much more than a cocktail shaker (assuming you already have an ice tray in the freezer).

Once you have your bar stocked (or beforehand if you need some inspiration), check out Drink Boy. It’s a great resource for cocktail recipes and articles.

Here are some of the cocktails I’ve recently enjoyed: Manhattan, Jasmine, Sidecar.

Cheers!

I have had my Paderno stainless steel pots and pans for 2 years, and absolutely love them. Far too often, I see people buying non-stick coated pots and pans, and it breaks my heart. They’re making a mistake.

Non-stick pots and pans are definitely handy. But they’re delicate. No metal utensils and no hard scrubbing, because you’ll scratch the coating. Scratches grow deeper, and eventually the coating starts chipping away. And while I have no issues cooking on Teflon, it’s not something I want flaking into my food. A scratched pan is garbage. (Non-stick pans also don’t brown foods as nicely as stainless steel pans.)

(In all fairness, I do keep a non-stick frying pan in addition to my stainless steel pans. Eggs and pancakes are about the only thing I use it for.)

For anyone doing even moderate cooking, investing in quality stainless steel pots is a wise move. They’re virtually indestructible, so they’ll last decades, if not longer. Consider a heavily-used non-stick pan will get scratched within a few years, you can see how the stainless steel pots will pay for themselves over time.

I am personally a huge fan of the Paderno pots and pans. They don’t have fancy lids or handles; they’re pure utility. (Well, they do have some product lines with fancy details, but I don’t like those.) They have a thick aluminum bottom pad for even heat transfer, and welded handles that eliminate rivets on the inside of the pot. They have a 25 year warranty, and as a bonus, they’re made in PEI.

They cost more than your typical department store pots and pans, but they are constantly running special discounts on their website (or sign up for their newsletter to learn about specials). With a little patience, you’ll find a set of pots and pans on sale for 50-70% off. Combine that with the longevity of stainless steel pots, and you have a deal that you can’t beat.

I’ve owned a slow cooker for the last 6 years, but I’ve only recently started using it. My parents never used a slow cooker, so when I won it as a prize, I never really knew what to do with it.

But I recently brought it out, and I’ve been using it once a week for the last month, to give myself a break from cooking one night a week. (Well, to tell the truth, the recipes I’ve been doing are not completely hands-off, but oh-so delicious.)

The great thing about slow cooking, is that it takes cheap pieces of meat, and makes them fabulous. Meats that are tasty, but are chewy or tough when cooked by other methods.

My favourite: pork shoulder. They’re sold in 2-4lb bone-in roasts which will make 3-6 meals, and cost $5-$8. When slow roasted, the meat falls off the bone, is succulently tender, and loaded with flavour.

Place a few peeled carrots, cut in half width-wise, in the slow cooker. Add a peeled, quartered onion, a few cloves of crushed garlic, a few whole cloves (the spice), some sprigs of fresh thyme, and a bay leaf.

If the roast comes with a strip of skin, cut that off before cooking. Rub all sides generously with kosher salt and pepper. Heat a frying pan on med-high heat, and when quite hot, cook the roast on one side for 2-3 minutes to develop a nice golden crust. Repeat on all the other sides. This searing is the key to extra flavour when slow cooking. (Skip this step if you’re in a rush.)

Place the roast in the bottom of the slow cooker. (Push aside the vegetables, so the roast sits flat.)

Deglaze the hot pan with 2 cups of chicken stock, to which you add 2 Tbsp of tomato paste. Bring the liquid to a simmer, and scrape off any bits of pork. Pour the liquid into the slow cooker. Cover, and cook on low for 8-10 hours.

The roast is now ready, but if you have some spare time, you can make a fabulous jus from the cooking liquid.

Remove the roast from the slow cooker, and cover to keep warm. (I find the roast cools down very quickly, so I place it in a covered sauce pan in the oven at 200°F.) Pour the liquid into a small sauce pan, and bring to a boil. Let it reduce for a good half-hour.

To the broth mixture, add 2 Tbsp of brandy or whiskey (optional) and 1 tsp mustard. Separately, mix 2 Tbsp sour cream or plain yogurt with 2 Tbsp flour in a small bowl. Add a little of the broth mixture to the sour cream mixture to warm up, then return the yogurt to the broth. Continue simmering until it thickens slightly.

Serve the jus over the meat and mashed potatoes. Add a vegetable of your choice, and enjoy! A restaurant-worthy mouth-watering meal, for a few dollars per serving.

Tim Hortons and Starbucks are everywhere. Restaurants offer free coffee refills. What do these statements have in common? They suggest there’s huge margin in brewed coffee, and that you’d be better off making your own coffee at home.

Let’s say you’re buying a Starbucks coffee every weekday before work. At $3-$4 for a latte, you’re easily spending $1,000 per year on coffee. Even if you’re only getting Tim Hortons coffee, you’re probably spending $350-$400 per year. (These estimates are only counting 1 coffee per work day. I don’t know any coffee addict who can survive on that. So these are conservative estimates.)

For less than half that Starbucks bill you can prepare a great latte at home and buy the equipment. All you need is a stovetop espresso maker, a milk frother, and the coffee and milk. The ubiquitous aluminum Bialetti espresso maker can be purchased online for less than $30, but I prefer these stainless steel versions. (I have both the 6- and 12-cup Vespress Black.) The 6-cup makers will make 2 small lattes or 1 large latte; the 12-cup maker will make 4 small lattes or 2 large lattes.

For the steamed milk, use this simple milk frother. Simply pour milk (from skim to homogenized, it’s your choice), pump it to incorporate air, then microwave it to warm the milk, and set the foam. (For large batches, you can use a microwave-safe French press. It’s virtually the same thing.)

Brewing coffee at home allows you to splurge a little on the coffee beans. Starbucks beans sell for about $15 for a 1lb bag, which should last a single person 3-4 weeks. Throw in the milk and that’s only $250-$300 per year. Starbucks everyday for less than the price of Timmy’s.

(Costco members can cut that price in half. Costco sells Kirkland-branded whole coffee beans roasted by Starbucks for only $12 for 2lb bags. That price alone is worth getting a Costco membership.)

If you want an even more authentic experience, get yourself a coffee grinder, and use freshly ground coffee every morning. I use a KitchenAid A-9 coffee grinder I found on eBay, but Espresso Planet stocks many other options. Avoid blade grinders, because you can’t control the grind level. Only use a burr grinder.

So for a minimal investment—you don’t need one of those fancy expensive espresso machines unless you’re trying to impress someone—you can start making lattes at home that will rival any coffee chop.

If you still need convincing, consider this interesting article about a “Tim Hortons Savings Plan”. It shows that if cut out 15 Tim Hortons coffees per week (or about 5 Starbucks coffees) and invest that money at a 5% interest rate for 10 years, you’ll have accumulated almost $12,000. If that doesn’t make you think twice, I’m not sure what will.