When you're casually shopping the chocolate aisle, it's easy to presume that everything on the shelf in fancy packaging is high quality, but that's not always the case. Just like wine, fancy packaging doesn't always mean what's inside is something you want. However, understanding the product description every bar can be complicated though if you don't know what you're looking for.

Cheap beer gets a bad rap, but I've been choosing it over the fancy stuff more and more these days. Unlike heavy IPAs, generic lagers don't compete with food or give me a hangover, and they're an absolute joy to cook with.

Molasses is an important ingredient in all sorts of foods, from spicy gingerbread to homemade barbecue sauce, but not all molasses is suitable for baking and BBQ-ing. Though blackstrap molasses is prized for it's mineral content, it doesn't touch true molasses in terms of flavour or bake-ability.

It's hard to find good chilli con carne that is readily available in Australia, so your may want to consider making it yourself at home. Whether you like your chilli con carne with beans or without, these secret ingredients can take your favourite chilli recipe to the next level.

Having dependable recipes that you can make any night of the week is an important factor in eating at home, but it can get a little monotonous. To mix it up without creating too much work for yourself, swap out "standard" ingredients for those that feel just a bit fancier.

Even if two ingredients seem similar, you shouldn't always swap them out, but if you know the difference you can better decide which one to use. For example, crimini and portobello mushrooms are two ingredients that seem similar, and in fact, the main difference is age.