Post contributed by Alfredo Gaines

Thinking back on the time before I knew how to cook makes me wonder how I survived all those years on Ramen noodles. I mean, I was just your typical young adult but those things don’t really have much nutrition and sometimes I literally went whole weeks where that’s all I was eating. Now that I’m old enough to afford, you know, pots and pans and DIRECT TV Deals I spend a lot of time watching Food Network and polishing my sautéing skills and things like that. It actually doesn’t take that much money to eat well but it’s something you have to work at – buying local and is half the battle because when you have good stuff to start with it’s really hard to screw it up. For example, I made a pasta dish the other day that only had a few fresh veggies and things like that, nothing extra, and it was one of the best things I’ve ever cooked to be honest with you! I love being a good cook.