Cooking the basics
There are some foundational recipes that are used in many others
There are some recipes that you can master easily and later use as a base for others, for example a good caldo de pollo (chicken broth) can be used for cooking rice or beans, and the chicken used in the process will make great tostadas, or tacos dorados.
Of course, there are always store bought alternatives for most of these recipes, so you decide how deep you want to go with your cooking projects.
Truly from scratch
where do you want to start your recipe from?
When deciding what will I cook over the weekend, I have to decide the starting point of the recipe: Will I buy some of the ingredients already made? Or will I truly start from scratch?
For example, I can buy corn-flour for tortillas, tortillas or maize and do the whole process.
Of course, I seldom make tortillas starting from maize, but it is a fun project for every once in a while.