Become friends with your computer and its budgeting potential.
Use a spreadsheet or dedicated finance program. ("Quicken")
Budget EVERYTHING... mortgage, insurance, fuel, utilities, necessities... and a few luxuries.
Keep receipts - well organized. (Useful when tax time rolls around)
. . .
If you don't know how to cook, learn. . . ASAP.
Eating out, or eating prepared / processed food is a budget killer.
You can spend $18 on a pizza that you could make for as little as $0.75.
(For those masters of frugality, who buy bulk wheat and mill fresh flour, make homemade sauce from bulk No. 10 cans of crushed tomatoes, bulk purchase of mozzarella cheese, yeast, etc, etc)
. . .
There are some foods that one may need special equipment or exotic ingredients, but for the vast majority of cuisine, you can DIY and live the champagne life on a beer budget.
. . .
Cookware:
Avoid non-stick coated aluminum pans. Cheap crap. Won't last. Coating peels off into your food. Even the expensive non-stick coated aluminum pots (Calphalon) eventually peel, despite gentle treatment and hand washing.
Avoid enamel / ceramic coatings - they chip, craze or crack.
>> Most durable :
cast iron - skillets, griddles, dutch ovens, etc. (need seasoning - built up coating of carbon which makes them black and non-stick)
(1) 10" - 12" fry pan + (1) dutch oven should cover the gamut.
(Special note : dutch ovens come in two varieties - kitchen and campfire. The campfire version has little legs and a lid designed for holding hot coals - for baking.)
>>Next :
high carbon steel (restaurant grade) - great for searing meats - but they need seasoning like cast iron. "Good" pans are nice and dark after use. (Don't expect great sear with cast iron - takes longer to heat up - and cast iron does not evenly distribute the heat, so you get hot spots. You can sear beef stew chunks in a dutch oven, but you won't get consistent results with large cuts of meat.)
(1) 8" - 12" pan (depending on family size and portions)
(May substitute heavy aluminum - restaurant grade - go to restaurant supply store or order online)
>> Generic
stainless steel pot set - Revereware (copper bottom), for example - fairly thin compared to the "older series" [made in USA] - but decent for lightweight cooking chores. Get an uncoated skillet - avoid non-stick coatings.
[] Tramontina (Wal-Mart) has some nice sets with medium grade st.steel (18-8), with even heat distribution base (18-10).
Tramontina 12-Piece Gourmet Tri-Ply Base Cookware Set, Stainless Steel - Walmart.com
Tramontina | Cookware, Cutlery & Kitchen Accessories
(St. Steel is tricky. . . and sticky. Most advise using med to low heat, and don't try to sear meat in them. Great for cooking vegetables, acid foods - tomatoes, boiling and steaming.)
St.Steel pots can multitask as mixing bowls, etc, because they don't impart flavors.
(If you want another reason to avoid non-stick coated pans - boil some water in an old non-stick pan, after it cools down, try a taste - blech!)
>> Stainless steel pressure cooker (4, 6, or 8 qt).
( I still have my 6 qt Presto, bought in 1977, and use it often )
Presto 8-Quart Stainless Steel Pressure Cooker - Walmart.com
( You could probably process a whole 10 lb bag of cheap chicken quarters into delectable stewed chicken, and stock. Save the bones, and make more stock, later. In fact, you can gnaw on pressure cooked chicken bones - knuckle first... while making caveman grunts.)
( If you like the flavor of Campbell's condensed soups, you're enjoying that pressure cooked flavor)
>> "Exotic" pans : __ egg poacher (or insert) __ Paella pan __ Wok (this is tricky - for wok hee, you need very high heat - more than most residential ranges can put out. Best traditional woks are high carbon steel and need seasoning. Avoid electric woks, especially non-stick. Blech.) __ Turkey fryer (special propane burner can be retasked for doing Wok cooking outdoors) + seafood boiler.
Watch "Good Eats" (Food Channel, or YouTube), for inspiration.
Years ago, I would have recommended "Joy of Cooking" cookbook, but it is no longer the best source nor is it an accurate reference.
You can find a zillion variations here:
http://www.cooks.com/
If I was "starting from scratch" I would get the Tramontina gourmet pot set, 1 cast iron skillet (pick a size that can use a lid from the Tramontina set), and the stainless steel pressure cooker. The rest, I would budget for later.
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