The Secret to Perfectly Reheated Pasta Is a Bit of Water

When the Epi team started brainstorming ideas for #EpiLunchWeek, we first delved deep into our own lunchtime quandries. Photo editor Chelsea Kyle’s first question: “How do I revive a day-old portion of pasta?”

The most obvious answer: don’t. Start with a pasta dish that’s as good cold as it is served fresh from the kitchen (perhaps packed into a jar).

But if it’s piping hot noodles enrobed in rich sauce you’re after, the answer isn’t so clear.

Source: How to Revive Leftover Pasta at Work

For something creamy, like Alfredo or mac and cheese, substitute milk for the water.

Keep Weekday Meals Simple to Encourage Cooking at Home

…as far as expending Frugalwoods bucks on restaurant meals, we’ve clocked in at a grand total of $51.26 for the year—once for Mr. FW’s 31st birthday and once for our 7th anniversary.

This wasn’t accidental kismet, but rather a concerted alignment with our year of extreme frugality (which, by the way, continues on). Pre-homestead and early retirement aspirations, we ate out fairly often—on average, once a week, which now seems unthinkable to us. But at the time, it was what we were accustomed to.

Source: How We Broke Our Eating Out Habit In 9 Steps

So far, I’ve been doing pretty well. I’ve only “eaten out” for two meals, both the other day, and both were in the hospital cafeteria as we were waiting for a friend having surgery, so I don’t feel too guilty about that. Two meals out of 40 possible so far is a huge improvement for me.