Not that financial hardship warms my heart, but it does make me glad to read an article like the one Marian Burros has in today’s New York Times: From Dining Out to Cold Turkey.

It’s about damn time people started cooking again. There are some smart, enterprising people quoted in the article (love the woman who put up more than 700 jars of canned goods from her garden), and overall the outlook is positive, even in the face of tough economic times.

But then there’s the woman who, even though she knows how to cook and her own parents were caterers, lets her kids make her feel bad about cooking instead of going out to restaurants. Eating canned ravioli and whining when their mom makes pot roast? Somebody get those little brats in line!

Now I sound like a total I-survived-the-Depression crank, but can I say honestly? Cooking and feeding myself at home has been one of the most consistently rewarding things I’ve done with my life. And damn, but it has also saved me a ton of cash.

It is such a life-changing thing, in fact, that I’m borderline evangelical about it–I almost want to go around knocking on people’s doors, asking if I can help them get their kitchen set up (and maybe asking if their refrigerator’s running, while I’m at it).

That’s why I’ll be starting a new, more structured website dedicated to home cooking, and how to get better at it–look for it in the new year, especially if your resolution is to save a little money by not eating out so much.