1. If you're buying it, you're eating it. You can not afford to waste anything, so it's a good idea to invest in a bottle of balsamic vinegar, bbq sauce, pesto, butter, jam, and anything else that will serve to mask the flavor of something burnt, under seasoned, or particularly northern-swedish.
2. unfortunately, if you bought the stinky fish in a can, there is no masking anything. if you must open it, open the can outside, particularly somewhere far away from flogsta or else everyone in the area will hate you forever. your best bet is to give it to Steffan, the swedish professor from the North of Sweden who loves it.
3. When all else fails, buy something that ends in bullar. kanelbullar, kötbullar... these things have not let me down yet and probably bring me the greatest joy.
4. USE. YOUR. FREEZER. yes, mom did know what she was doing. buy the discount package of 200 chicken breasts, freeze them, and you're set forever.
5. invest in some tupperwear and to-go containers. not only can you take snackies to class, but when you make dinner you can double the recipe, save half and have dinner the next two nights. Clas Ohlosn has some bad ass tupperwears in lovely colours that are microwave AND freezer safe for only about 60 SKR for a pack of three... what a deal!
6. Also, people in europe don't really take things home from restaurants. Yes, this makes the hairs on the back of our american necks stand up, but all you have to do is bring your own to-go container and then you're rocking bonus food at resturaunts, buffets, hostel breakfasts.... i taught this trick to my friends in copenhagen, and now they call "borrowing" butter, cheeze or orange juice from hostel breakfasts "dining american-style"... i can live with this. They thought it was hilarous.
7. Canned foods are awesome. They last forever, and are canned when ripe, and not while they're in a truck on their way to whereever they're going. However, don't try to get yourself into a can of tomatoes after a night out at the nations....
8. My basic strategy at the moment is to alternate between my basic starches: rice, pasta or potatoes, my basic veggies: onions, peppers, tomatoes, leeks, mushrooms, spinach, and my basic meats: kötbullar, chicken, ground beef with whatever sauce i can sort of improvise myself through. So far I've succeeded in a really nice plum and balsamic sauce, mushroom soup sauce, jam?, pesto and jam?, olive oil and lime juice....
9. make friend with ethnic people. i can't stress this enough. you can get some lovely sushi, curry, czech dumplings, and germans always know how to rock a bbq.
10. you will eventually buy too much bread and it will get hard and inedible. but useless? i think not. cut into squares and make croutons, crush up and use it to make crispy chicken, or use it to hammer some nails into the wall to hang your shelves on.
11. have fun. you're on an adventure. buy the fjilmojlk. when you find out that it's a bitter buttermilk-flavored yogurt, just make your friends some rockin pancakes.
xxxx
Em, I'm in the process of learning all of this. You make my life. Just sayin
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