The success of a meal plan can only be judged by the percentage of it that’s consumed. It may sound obvious, but the execution of a good meal plan requires planning meals you are excited to eat. Picking the right proteins, vegetables and sides is important, but picking the right condiments — I’m talking sauces, marinades and pickled things — is even more so.

Peak-season tomatoes need nothing more than salt, pepper, and maybe a drizzle of olive oil to really shine. Why then, do fresh tomato sauce recipes have you peel, core, seed, and otherwise maul such a beautiful ingredient?

Blue cheese dressing is bigger than salad. Sure, it’s an integral part of a wedge salad, but it’s also the only wing dipper that matters, and it makes a sad veggie platter bearable. Store-bought is fine, but you can make truly bomb blue cheese dressing yourself with just three ingredients.

When it comes to burgers, I prefer to keep things simple. A thin, smashed patty; a good melty cheese; maybe a little onion, tomato and pickles. I don’t need fried eggs, avocado or super thick bacon. I am, however, very into the idea of cheese mayonnaise, which frankly streamlines my already simple burger even further.

In this age of "instant" appliances and meal kits, recipes that take more than an hour are often optimised and streamlined, or ignored completely. But flavour extraction can take time, and this intense, prawn-packed sauce base is worth every minute.

Liquid smoke, an additive that imparts a charred wood flavour to food without using a smoker, has been dismissed as both "cheating" and "nasty" but, if used with a delicate hand, it can produce some tasty results.. I love liquid smoke in my apartment-approved, smoke-free, sous vide ribs, but it has other clever uses, none of which have anything to do with meat.

It's no secret that Rick and Morty fans are obsessed with McDonald's "Szechuan Sauce", a limited edition Mcnugget dipping sauce that came out in 1998 to promote the Disney film Mulan. If you want to find out what all the fuss is about, this DIY recipe is pretty damn delicious.

The recipe for McDonald's Big Mac sauce was allegedly leaked online last year. It is - as most mass-produced sauces are - a long list of oil, corn syrup, stabilisers, emulsifiers, flavourings and preservatives. It's (kind of) interesting, but not exactly helpful for those who want to replicate the sweet and tangy special sauce for their burgers at home.

In terms of savoury no-cook sauces, it's hard to beat pesto. You can spread it on bread, toss it with grilled vegetables, drizzle it on fish, or use it as a pasta sauce. Though it's usually made with fresh basil, it can actually be made with almost any green thing, including kitchen scraps.

I know that none of you ever leave a bottle of wine anything less than completely drained, but sometimes people make mistakes, and a bit of "extra" wine may oxidize. But even if you can't drink it, this now-vinegary, fermented grape juice doesn't need to be tossed.

Leftover pasta, while rare, never seems to have the same flavour and consistency as it did before refrigerating. The sauce has congealed, the noodles are tough, and nuking it in the microwave doesn't help much. But this quick and easy fix will make it taste like new.

I'm a pretty big fan of dipping sauces, and believe they have many uses beyond dipping. Sweet chilli sauce and the like are obviously fantastic on their intended dippers, but next time you order takeaway, ask for a couple extras and set them aside for later use in sandwich spreads, dressings and marinades.

A roux by any other name is still a roux, but maybe that other name should be "fat and flour paste thickener", because the fancy French name seems to put people off.

Eggs Benedict is the undisputed star of brunch, but that tricky Hollandaise sauce can frustrate even experienced home cooks. Luckily, we've found two super easy ways to make the silky sauce, neither of which requires a double boiler or a ton of whisking.

Marinara and other tomato based pasta sauces aren't too difficult to make on your own, but sometimes you don't have the time. This super simple trick can make a jar of the store-bought stuff taste like you've been working on it all day.

Fancy plating may seem frivolous, but these super easy tips will make your home-cooked meal look and feel like it came out of a fancy restaurant.

Normally, you would never refrigerate or freeze tomatoes, since it changes their texture. However, if you can't can them but still want fresh tomato sauce in the off season, it's okay to pop them in the freezer. You'll still be able to make fresh-tasting, delicious tomato sauce come winter.

Anyone can grab a bottle of tomato sauce from the grocery store, but with just a little bit of extra work you can easily make your own condiments that are infinitely more tasty (and impressive) than any of the store-bought staples. Here are five mouthwatering condiment recipes to wow your guests and endear yourself to hosts.

Bechamel is a simple white sauce that can serve as a base for cheesy macaroni, creamy queso dip, white lasagna and all sorts of gratins. It's deceptively easy to make, and the above video can walk you through it.