We've all likely burned a pot of something in our lifetime, but sometimes a ruined dinner may not be so ruined after all. Learn a few tricks of the trade and save yourself some time and money. As more and more families go back to basics and choose to stay home to eat, there is a big interest in the recipe industry and cooking shows. Catching a few episodes of these shows or investing in a new cookbook can certainly help to keep meals at home fresh and interesting. If you make a mistake during your experimentation, don't throw out the food. Use these 5 quick fixes to salvage a good meal.

Soup's too salty?

If you are making homemade soup and get a little excited about the salt, your dinner fare is certainly not ruined. Throw in a peeled, raw potato and let it cook in the soup for 20 minutes. The starch in the potato will absorb the excess salt. Remove the potato and use it to make homemade french fries or mash it up.

Pasta's hardly al dente?

Overcooking your pasta noodles is quite easy to do, especially when you have other things going on around the kitchen. Fear not. Simply run the pasta through cold water to halt the cooking process. Add tomato sauce and reheat. The acid in the sauce will help bring back a firm noodle.

Burned expensive steak?

Meat costs a fortune these days. In the pursuit of making sure meat is cooked fully, we may find that our steak gets a bit too well-done, especially for the kids. Simply slice it up and use it in other ways such as fajitas and stir-fry recipes.

Veggies gone limp?

It happens a lot — you buy fresh vegetables with the best of intentions and promptly forget about them after you've stocked the refrigerator. Limp vegetables can be brought back to life by adding them to a bowl of cold water (no ice) for a few minutes. Rewrap the vegetables in a clean, damp towel and return to the refrigerator.

Fruit going bad?

Wasting fruit is common because if not stored properly, fruit can go bad rather quickly. If you find fruit is always rotten before you get to eat it, make a mental note to stop buying so much fruit at one time or only purchase one or two kinds of fruit in small quantities when you do your shopping. It's better to run out than to throw out. If the fruit that you have isn't passing muster for eating, find some recipes for fruit smoothies and get to blending.

Rolls are stale?

There is nothing like fresh, steaming rolls for dinner but the next day, the fresh and steaming part seems to have left in its place hard, unappetizing pieces of bread. Next time, don't ditch the rolls. Instead, sprinkle them with some water, wrap them in foil and put them in the oven for about 10 minutes. They will be soft and piping hot for another dinner.