Meet your stove

The typical Canadian family spends over $2,000 a year dining out. If you have better uses for that money, skip the fast food and learn how to cook. With a bit of practice, you’ll actually look forward to dining at home, says Elizabeth Baird, executive food editor at Canadian Living. Start with these three steps: Step 1: Invest in a good cookbook, preferably one loaded with dinner recipes. You can’t go wrong with The Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer; Martha Stewart’s Cooking School by Martha Stewart; How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman; or Baird’s The Complete Canadian Living Cookbook. Step 2: Choose seven easy recipes from the cookbook that you think your family might enjoy. Make one a night. Some recipes won’t pan out, but that’s okay. At least two or three will be hits at the dinner table. Add them to your own personal recipe book. Pretty soon you’ll have a dozen or more dishes you can whip up on any given night. Step 3: While you’re learning to cook like a pro, don’t forget to shop like a pro. The secret to no-hassle cooking at home, says Baird, is to make a list of your meals for the week, then buy all the ingredients at once. “A lot of people don’t cook because they don’t shop to cook,” she says. “There’s not much you can prepare with a can of tuna and a Coke from the fridge.”