For 11 years through college and most of my 20’s, I cooked little more than toast. Every meal I ate, I ate at the cafeteria and later, once I had a real job, an actual restaurant.

I had many a scrumptious dinner, but I also had an anemic bank account and expanding belly. I realized something had to change.

How do you learn something with zero background? Find the best teacher you can and do exactly what they say. My first was Budget Bytes, an excellent blog that posts simple recipes with very detailed instructions. Every step comes with a photo. If mine looked like hers, it gave me confidence.

Try her Split Pea, Bacon and Potato soup. I fed some to a friend recently and she couldn’t stop raving about it!

Eventually, I was ready for a bigger challenge. Around that time, I discovered Joshua Weissman, whose creative and technically sound recipes inspired me to make things like sourdough bread that I never thought I could do.

His latest video on breakfast burritos just made me glad I wasn’t fasting that day!

The startup costs in cooking for myself were substantial (pots and pans, spices, etc). At first I didn’t think I was saving a dime. But over time, my food spending plummeted.

There was another side effect I never expected. As soon as I quit eating out daily, I immediately lost 30 pounds with no effort at all.

You can make more money, but you can’t easily make more health. I hope these links will help you guys eat well, be healthy, save money, and have fun!