I've occasionally referred to the old concept of a 'General Rule' for some foods, with infinite variations. I've also thought about this while watching cooking shows (PBS Saturday morning) and having seen the home ec classes my sisters took go downhill through the years. I, happily, managed to escape them.

The cooking shows are fun, but so recipe-based. Few of the hosts encourage much deviation, although some do. I sometimes fantasize about a cooking show or class that starts with basics and shows how to riff.

Take white sauce. Roux (butter/flour) and milk. Blecch, right? But it's the basis of mac and cheese - mine has the sharpest cheddar I can find, a pinch of dry mustard and some sauteed onion. Yours may differ.

You can also use it to 'cream' veg or meat, sometimes serving it over the base of your choice. Creamed leftover chicken over waffles or biscuits was a staple during the Depression. (It's hard to remember that for the longest time, waffles was just a form of bread and didn't necessarily require syrup.) DH still likes SOS with dried beef, so I make it sometimes even though it's not my personal favorite. Too salty. Fast and cheap, though.

Soufflé, savory or sweet? You start with white sauce. Old cookbooks sometimes just show in the ingredients list 'a cup of white sauce'. Everybody knew what they meant and how to make it. You could actually do more than one show or class with just white sauce. And that's just an example of one ingredient/technique.

develop as cooks. My older son developed the gourmet side, experimenting with different spices and combinations of ingredients. Our younger son seems to lean more towards cooking healthily and economically.

beyond setting up an electric coffee maker and pouring cold cereal into a bowl and adding milk. They just don't do it. They don't know how to do it. Basic cookbooks would help if they considered trying to learn.

One of the best way to stretch money is learning how to cook. This is why having it become a lost art is such a tragedy for so many, never mind that processed food is loaded with salt and preservatives and not very good for us as a steady diet.

I don't have a flavor profile unless it's cayenne. At this altitude, food tastes like airline food unless there's a tiny bit of hot stuff in it.

"cook from scratch". As stated above, it's healthier and certainly more economical.

My daughter and son-in-law are fabulous cooks and are always exchanging recipes and food ideas. Maybe they are rare among the younger crowd.