Stan Kletkewicz couldn't believe it. When he and his wife, Lisa, added up what they averaged each month on restaurant dinners and take-out meals, the total was upward of $1,000.

"Like everyone else, we wanted to look for ways to cut back on our food bill," said Kletkewicz, a recent retiree living in Mount Laurel. "We were spending an ungodly amount of money on dining out. It was time for a change."

For these two, and many others around the region, the change meant getting reacquainted with their kitchen by signing up for cooking classes.

Indeed, enrollment is on the rise at many area cooking classes, with aspiring chefs hoping to improve their skills to save money on their food budgets.

"When we started, people were taking classes for fun, to entertain at home," said Charlotte Ann Albertson, who started her cooking school in Broomall more than 35 years ago. "Now, I'm hearing that people want to make their food dollars count. Knowing how to cut up a whole chicken and make a lot of dishes from that one chicken saves money," she said. "Our fundamentals classes are consistently doing well."

Cooking classes vary in price, in the $40 to $70 range for each class, but there are lots of grocery stores, such as Wegman's, Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, that offer free cooking demonstrations and recipe coaching for shoppers. And while the regular chef-taught classes at Foster's Urban Homeware are $50 a pop, the cooking demonstrations that take place every Saturday at 2 p.m. are priced to beat the economic blues: they're free.

Carol Saraullo, cooking class coordinator at Kitchen Kapers, can't swear that her full class roster is due to the downturn in the economy, but she does believe it's a factor. Although the store's retail numbers are down from last year, the cooking classes are outselling both 2008 and 2007 numbers to date: "Our ethnic cuisine classes are all full," she said. "Our four-part Kitchen Boot Camp series has already sold out for the upcoming morning session."

David Grear, executive chef for Dechert L.L.P. law firm, is one of Albertson's regular instructors, teaching classes in knife skills and basic techniques, including poaching, braising and roasting.

"Where we were getting eight to 10 students, we're now getting 20 and 22," he said. "It reminds me of the saying, 'Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day, teach him to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime.'

"I want to help people take home practical skills they can really use every day," Grear said. "It doesn't matter where you work or what your income is. What's going on out there is affecting everybody. And who doesn't like the idea of getting more bang for your food dollar?"

Anything that takes the mystery out of cooking is a good thing, said Grear. "Sure, people save money by eating at home. But I want them to have fun, too. When you're having fun, everything tastes better."

For Doylestown resident Jason Zielonka, his commitment to taking cooking classes at Albertson's is nothing new. The Johnson & Johnson employee regularly drives from his office in Titusville, N.J., to Albertson's demonstration kitchen in Broomall. But the father of two teenagers is finding himself eating out less frequently and spending less for better meals at home.

"When I cook, I can control the quality and purity of ingredients better than when I eat at a restaurant," he said.

Chef Kathy Gold has noticed a definite spike in her hands-on core curriculum classes held at In the Kitchen Cooking School in Haddonfield, and her students have told her they are interested in preparing better food at home to save money. "I've had two sold-out classes back-to-back recently," she said. "We start with knife skills and learn sauce-making, braising, sautéing, grilling, and we finish up with sweets, desserts, and plating."

One of Gold's students, Michael Bartorelli of Haddon Heights, didn't sign up to cut back on his restaurant bill. But it's turned out that's what happened. "I'm separated and have my three teenagers with me three times a week," he said. "I used to help my wife in the kitchen, but I never made meals from start to finish before."

Now that he's more comfortable cooking, Bartorelli finds he can offer more healthful options to the kids.

"I'm not big on fast food. And cooking at home works better for juggling their busy schedules. I really enjoy it."

The Kletkewiczes signed up for a four-part class, "A Tour of Italy," at Kitchen Kapers, taught by consulting chef Karen Docimo.

"It was $175 for each of us, but each class included the meal we prepared, so it was still cheaper than going out to a restaurant," Kletkewicz said. "And we got to work with a really awesome chef."

In fact, coupled with a nutrition program they've been taking at Cooper Hospital, the cooking classes have ushered in a real change for the better, both for their pocketbooks and their overall well-being.