Online Cooking Videos: A Recession Food Budget Doesn't Have to Mean Boring Meals

The recession is here, and that means less eating out for everyone. And if your family is already tired of frozen dinners and macaroni and cheese from the box, it might also mean that its time for a few quick internet cooking lessons. If you know where to look, there are lots of free internet cooking video sites out there that give easy-to-follow lessons, great recipe ideas, and tutorials on common cooking techniques. And while the cooking video recipes range from beginner to expert, all of them offer visual aids which make them much easier to tackle than anything in a cookbook (sorry mom).

Rouxbe.com
One of my favorite cooking video sites, Rouxbe has a lot to offer. Their cooking videos focus on tasty dishes that highlight the quality of their ingredients, and are relatively easy to make. They also accept submissions from users. Once they receive enough votes, they are turned into cooking videos. These videos are broken into sections, so you can re-watch each step as often as you want without having to rewind the whole thing. And, linked to each video are Drill-Downs which give you additional information about certain cooking techniques. Best of all, the site is free but you do have to sign up for a free account.

FoodTube.com
This awesome site hosts nearly every user-uploaded and cooking show affiliated cooking video on the web! There are thousands of videos to choose from with recipes from all over the world. However, their search engine is not the best that I've encountered. I recommend checking this site out on the weekend (or during your downtime at work), and browsing through what they have to offer by category. They have a lot to offer if you can find what you're looking for.

Cookstr.com
While Rouxbe focuses on user-friendly recipes, Cookstr offers a little more razzle dazzle for the, at least moderately, experienced cook. This online cooking site focuses on recipes from popular chefs and cookbook authors. Included on the site is information about the participating chefs, their restaurants and cookbooks to help you on your way to becoming a true foodie. Their powerful search engine allows you to search by chef, ingredients, or recipe to find the perfect meal that will delight your family and dinner guests alike. And one of my favorite things is the Surprise Me button which pulls up recipes at random (a big help for the indecisive).

LookandTaste.com
I like this site because it offers printable versions of each recipe as well as their list of ingredients, cook and prep time. It saves you from having to watch the cooking video three or four times to make sure that you haven't forgotten to write anything down before you head for the store. And each recipe comes with a Health Factor rating from 1 to 10 so you have a better idea of what's good for your family. Although their list of categories is a bit limited: Asian, Bread, Desserts, Everything Else. Their ingredients list is pretty specific and pulls up nice recipes with varying levels of difficulty and preparation times. Their featured recipes of the day section also consistently offers a few nice meal choices.