we are having fish and shrimp for dinner..out of tartar and cocktail..I have made them before but had gotten lazy and been buying them (not recently though)

saw they were $2.25 and up in the store today so I said "self..you have all the stuff to make it"

So just now in about 5 minutes I made both:

Tartar:

mayo, relish. fresh pepper, couple squeezes of lemon or lime whichever you have

Cocktail: A mix of ketchup and horseradish to taste

Sorry I have no exact measurements.

Do you have any sauces you make instead of buying?

Spaghetti sauce.  I'll make a huge vat of it for the initial dinner and future dinners (stuffed peppers, meatball sammiches, pigs in a blanket, etc.).  I freeze what we don't use for the initial dinner.  In the long run, I think it's much less expensive to make it from scratch.

I forgot to add that we make homemade stock for soup most of the time. Chicken stock, ham stock and venison stock, mostly.

Cheese sauce for mac n cheese.  It is a roux sauce so is rather easy to mix up in just a few minutes.  I got a tip to temper an egg and add that in to the sauce before the cheese, it gives the sauce that extra smoothness that just is devine.

 I've made my own spaghetti sauce from tomatoes out of the garden this summer. Very yummy, but the yield wasn't so big so we didn't get as much as I'd like. I love the fresh taste of it so much better than store bought.

 I have a recipe for a Basic White Sauce that I use at least once a week.  I got it from a Weight Watcher leader about 10 yrs ago and no one I've made it for ever realized it was "diet" food.

  2 cups milk, 2 TBS flour, 1 chicken boullion cube or 1 pack of chicken boullion ( I use Goya) . Mix all in a high sided skillet on medium high heat until thick and bubbly, stirring constantly. 

I add 1 TBS Garlic Powder and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese for an Alfredo Sauce.

I mix in a package of Taco Seasoning, and 1/4 c of green chilies, as well as about 1 cup of shredded Mexican style cheese for a spicy cheese sauce good for making your own Mexican style Hamburger helper. Just mix with cooked meat and pasta.

I've made it with different cheeses mixed in at the last minute for a yummy Mac n cheese.

This past week I've used it for a Taco Cheese Chicken pasta bake and it was a huge hit.

I have also stirred in fat free cream of mushroom soup and sliced mushrooms and made a Hamburger Stroganoff, just mixing up with egg noodles and cooked meat.

The total amount of calories, when using 2% milk, for the Basic White Sauce,  is about 300! For the entire pan!

Allows you to control the salt, no preservatives and fat in your recipes,since it doesn't use butter.

frugal mom you are idol for all tips.

Just tonight I improvised a Chinese-style sauce I saw on Rachel Ray---and, OMG--it is good.  It costs just a few pennies and tastes just like take-out.  It sounds wierd, but here's the recipe:

I took about 1/3 cup of orange marmalade and 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and put them in a pan to heat up.  Then I peeled and minced a 1-inch piece of ginger and added that.  Then I added about 2 cups of stock I had on hand.  (I used celery because that's what I had, but she used chicken stock and I am sure you could use bouillion, too).  I simmered it all until it reduced a tad and thickened up.  Honestly, it tastes just like take-out, but is far, far cheaper.  I am serving it tonight with chicken and vegetables over steamed brown rice.  And I can't wait. 

Yum, Stephanie, that sounds really yummy!