Not a recipe this time

Tim wandered into the kitchen while I was doing some prep for tonight's dinner. I'm making Chicken Cacciatore, and I was breaking down a whole chicken. I rarely buy chicken parts. I learned to break down a whole chicken when the elder women of the family deemed it safe for me to handle the knife, and I'm very fast and very good at it. So I wait for whole chickens to go on sale ($.69/lb this week), then buy six or seven and keep them in the freezer. *Much* cheaper than buying chicken parts, with the added bonus that the necks, backs and wings go in the freezer bag for stock, the giblets get cooked and fed to my very happy cats, and the fat and some of the skin goes in the freezer bag for schmaltz.

I've gotten into the habit of buying meat, fish and poultry in its cheapest form, usually on sale, then cutting or chopping or grinding for whatever I need, freezing in portions.

Anyway, Tim watched for a minute and we started chatting about what kinds of kitchen skills people can learn in order to save money.

In a household supported mainly by self-employment while raising four kids, we've lived through some *very* lean times. My mother and my grandmothers taught me how to cook from scratch, how to shop, how to eat seasonally. They also taught me how to gut, clean and filet a fish; break down a chicken; make a stock; bake bread; can fruit and vegetables and make jam and jelly; make a roux. They taught me a-thousand-and-one ways to use beans, lentils and grains. They taught me me to be fearless in the kitchen, to dare to succeed, and to cook with love.

So I'm curious. What skills do you consider essential to *your* cooking?