Si, your abuela knows it best... she knows how to stretch a dollar and turn a meal that's seemingly meant for two into a small feast fit to feed you, your siblings, your aunts, your parents and a few of the primos.

The ability to produce great quality from very little comes from a history-long tradition of knowing how to make things work, even when money is tight.

During the holiday season, it's no different. The abuela still knows the benefit of testing the flexibility of a dollar bill, and making food in abundance. She still knows how to maximize the serving size of a pot of sopa de cebolla, and she still knows how to make sure that spiced corn makes it onto every plate. This is a practice that your great-grandmother, your grandmother and your mother before you understand well. And you, a millennial, understand this, and the cost of preparing a large meal and the intrinsic value of preparing a large meal for your family.

Go for ingredients that are in season, as it'll likely be cheaper to pick up fresh herbs than use the dried sort. Rely heavily on what's already in your pantry and fridge, i.e. bay leaves, salt, bread, pepper, cider vinegar, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, olive oil, vegetable oil, bouillon cubes, milk and all-purpose flour. Also, remember that potlucks never go out of style: it saves you time and money in the kitchen, and it allows someone else to show off their unique culinary skills. When shopping, find deals (preferably in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving) using weekly circulations and coupons. Also, don't be shy about buying generic items; there's no shame in it.

Nonetheless, begin with the basics. After all, the staples used within most Latin dishes, numerous traditional holiday dishes and everyday Americano dishes overlap, so there's really only a finite number of ingredients that are essential add-ins for holiday grocery shopping (i.e. turkey, greens and macaroni for U.S. tradition and lechòn, plantain and yucca for Latin tradition).

Garlic, tomatoes, onions, cheese, beans, plantain, rice, flour, potatoes, sweet potatoes/yams, pumpkin, pepper, ham and corn are quintessential across the board. From those ingredients all things are possible. And restricting your purchases, so that you purchase just the essentials or one or two more items guarantees that you don't spend too much money at the grocery store. And it challenges you to be as creative as possible.

Pavochòn and pernil are main course dishes in Latin homes that can be crowded with sides crafted from the 15 intercultural ingredients.

Onion, garlic, green plantains and peppers can be used when making Mofongo Stuffing. Cuban Fufu, a similar dish, can be made using bacon, onion, garlic and gently mashed sweet plantains.

Rather than mashed potatoes, many Puerto Rican families include the simple and delicious dish Arroz con Gandules (Rice with Pigeon Peas) on their dinner tables, which utilizes sofrito, chopped ham, rice, sazon and pigeon peas. Mashed Sweet Potato can be made using sweet potatoes and spare ingredients, such as orange, bananas, chicken stock, sugar, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Bread Stuffing can be made using chicken broth, butter, celery, day-old white bread and sage seasoning. Rich Turkey Gravy can be easily made using water, all-purpose flour, turkey drippings and bouillon cubes. And Spiced Maple Pumpkin Seeds can be made using nutmeg, raw pumpkin seeds, ground cinnamon, maple syrup and ground nutmeg.

If you have a bunch of random, but tasty ingredients in your possession, pay a visit to AllRecipes.com. The website has an incredible input tool where you can list up to four ingredients that you have and up to four ingredients that you don't have, and the website will produce a recipe that you can then execute at home.

Learning how to make things work with what you got will surely make your abuela proud.

Related