$3 Meals: Feed Your Family Delicious, Healthy Meals for Less than the Cost of a Gallon of Milk Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This book does a brief overview of how to save money at the grocery store (nothing really new). It goes on to present a major money saving strategy -- making every sauce, stock, dressing, and marinade from scratch. From there, the author presents recipes for main dishes. She finishes with recipes for baking breads and muffins from scratch.
The recipes are sound, and I have no doubt that they will produce reasonably healthy and tasty results. But...
#1 -- there is no reason to make every sauce from scratch. With sound couponing and savy shopping, I can get a bottle of bbq sauce for free (same for salad dressing, bottles of marinade, etc). If I make those things from scratch (and I frequently do), it is a question of quality, not cost.
#2 -- the main dishes presented are not complete meals. Most of them require additional side dishes (vegetable, fruit, and/or starch) to complete the meal. Beyond a passing mention of a crispy salad and fresh bread, the author does not provide any assistance in how to complete the meal and stay under budget. No ideas for inexpensive sides are provided.
#3 -- many of the recipes are not make-able for the advertised $3 pricetag. Unless I were to catch the fish myself, I simply do not see how I could make a dish calling for a pound and a half of bass or cod for a total cost of under $3. Nor could I make a dish that calls for 2 bulbs of fennel along with a pound of chicken and come in at that price.
#4 -- the serving sizes are a bit unrealistic. Most recipes call for 1 to 1.5 pounds of protein (beef, fish, chicken, or pork) and will serve 4 to 6 people. For six people, that's a 4 ounce portion of protein. Admittedly that is the recommended serving for many, but it is not enough for some men-folk and growing boys.
#5 -- virtually none of the sauces/marinades/dressings presented in the beginning of the book are used in the remaining recipes. so what are they for?
I think this book does have some good points, and a lot of good basic recipes. It presents some of the information and tools needed to control grocery budgets, but not all of them. If the author intended to present meals that were under $3 per serving, she succeeds. However, her book implies that it is $3 for SIX people... an unrealistic and unrealized promise. If I caught all of the ingredients on sale at their lowest price of the year, I could conceivably make most of them for under $6 each. If I were shopping on an average day, many of them would come closer to $10.

Click Here to see more reviews about: $3 Meals: Feed Your Family Delicious, Healthy Meals for Less than the Cost of a Gallon of Milk

Get 60% OFF

Click here for more information about $3 Meals: Feed Your Family Delicious, Healthy Meals for Less than the Cost of a Gallon of Milk

Read More...

Better Homes and Gardens Budget-Friendly Meals (Better Homes & Gardens) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I got this cookbook a few months ago at a rock bottom price and I must say that it is great! There are a lot of great recipes that aren't just inexpensive, but easy and quick to make. Every cook should have this book! It is a great investment with fresh recipes and easy on your wallet. I highly recommend it :)

Click Here to see more reviews about: Better Homes and Gardens Budget-Friendly Meals (Better Homes & Gardens)

A family-friendly collection of delicious recipes using just five ingredients

Between shopping, prep work, and cooking, making dinner for the whole family takes time and money. Better Homes and Gardens® Budget-Friendly Meals offers a simple solution with 300 inexpensive, simple recipes that shorten your shopping lists, cut your prep time, and put dinner on the table quickly and affordably.

You'll find helpful information and tips to make cooking on a budget easier than ever, including where and how to find the best ingredients for the best price. There are hundreds of tasty budget meals for every occasion, including beef, pork, poultry, and seafood favorites, hearty vegetarian dishes, and entire chapters dedicated to affordable sides and desserts.

Many of these meals make enough to enjoy twice, making it easier and more affordable than ever to cook simply and deliciously
Includes 300 recipes that will feed you family without deflating your wallet
All recipes use just five ingredients, keeping shopping simple and minimizing prep time

For busy families, keeping everyone fed without spending big can be a challenge. Better Homes and Gardens® Budget-Friendly Meals makes it easy!

Get 15% OFF

Click here for more information about Better Homes and Gardens Budget-Friendly Meals (Better Homes & Gardens)

Read More...

The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook: 200 Recipes for Quick, Delicious, and Nourishing Meals That Are Easy on the Budget and a Snap to Prepare Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)When I became interested in saving money on my grocery bill, I purchased both this book and Mary Ostyn's book, and have read them both thoroughly. Honestly, you will be better off just getting Mary's instead.
Before I get to the negatives, I'd like to state the few positives. I give props to Erin first for recognizing that Americans eat too much, and second for working vegetables into every meal. The reviewer who said that this book is overall unhealthy is exaggerating a little. Yes, she uses regular ground beef, but processed foods are in only a few recipes and frozen vegetables are still vegetables (and she does encourage growing your own). Both Erin and Mary emphasize eating less meat and offer vegetarian meal options. Erin does mention the use of a price book, but Mary does to a MUCH more thorough extent.
Now the other stuff...
The tips in this book are all commons sense-stock up when it's on sale, match coupons to sales. You don't need a book to tell you that. Every positive aspect of this book can be found in Mary Ostyn's book Family Feasts for $75 a Week, and you'll find lots of other information as well. Erin gives an ingredient by ingredient price breakdown in every recipe, which is a good concept, but the problem is that price can vary largely depending on where you are. There are some items that she's apparently been able to find at prices that I've never, ever seen anywhere I've been, and I'm a very price-conscious shopper. So, a lot of her "$5 meals" I would not be able to make for $5. Also, she groups the side dishes right in with the main course, including the price tag, so if you want to change up some of the main course-side dish combos, you're going to alter the price (and if you're not eyeballing the price, there's no reason to buy this book at all). Speaking of side dishes, this book has a lot of "bare" vegetables, so if you have taste buds and like to put a little salt or butter on your veggies, that's going to affect the price.
Some people have expressed concern over the portion sizes in this book for a family of four. Erin has two children, and they are both very, very young, and thus probably consume much less than a teenager or adult. If your two kids are teenagers, most of these recipes will have to be adjusted quite a bit, and thus make the final price much higher than $5 dollars. For that reason, I don't like the concept of putting a dollar value on the meal as a whole, but rather a dollar value on a "per plate" basis. Mary states that she rarely spends more than $1 "per plate."
Mary and Erin differ greatly on their view of coupons. Erin swears by them, and devotes most of the non-recipe section of the book to them. Mary, however, outright says that she rarely uses them. Her reasons are that most food coupons are for highly processed brand name foods that are either unhealthy or have much cheaper generic counterparts. Honestly, most generic foods taste the same. Instead of focusing on coupons, Mary utilizes foods that are inherently a better value to begin with.
Erin does offer some homemade items, such as basic sauces and salad dressings, but you'll find a much larger section on such items in Mary's book. One other thing you will not find in Erin's book is desserts. I believe desserts have their place at the dinner table on occasion, especially if you have children.
As for the recipes themselves, I tried a few of Erin's, and they were just ok. Most of these recipes you could probably come up with yourself or find online, really. There were some I didn't even have to try because I knew how'd they turn out (I cook a lot), and I have a hard time believing kids will eat a few of these. Ziti pasta with plain white sauce and no spices? No thanks. I've tried several of Mary's recipes, and all but one have been really good.Long story short...everything in this book that's worthwhile can be found in Mary's.

Click Here to see more reviews about: The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook: 200 Recipes for Quick, Delicious, and Nourishing Meals That Are Easy on the Budget and a Snap to Prepare

Get 34% OFF

Click here for more information about The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook: 200 Recipes for Quick, Delicious, and Nourishing Meals That Are Easy on the Budget and a Snap to Prepare

Read More...

$3 Meals in Minutes: Delicious, Low-Cost Dishes for Your Family That Can Be Prepared in No Time Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)The premise of this book is great. The economy is tough and food prices seem determined to outpace unemployment numbers. However this book fails to deliver on several important points:
1.It's not really $3 a meal. It's $3 a serving and even then I'm not sure it really averages out to be that low in some cases.
2.The 'ways to save money' portions of the book are very general and superficial. The book 'hesitates' to recommend specific coupon websites for fear they might become defunct. God forbid we get a bad link! I mean, seriously? Further, aside from being told to use coupons, there is no specific insider advice beyond that. Nor any mention of Angel Food ministries. They are a non profit that offers meat at approximately a 50% savings. (Here's more info:[...])
Essentially,all the cost saving 'advice' is the same generic stuff you've already heard before. There's nothing new or fresh in this section of the book. We're even reminded to avoid grocery shopping while hungry. Like no one hasn't heard that one at least a dozen times!
3.I knew I was in trouble with this book when the basic roast chicken recipe calls for 3 different fresh herbs. If I were to purchase these at the store, it would easily be $6 in herbs alone. Ironically, I don't recall seeing any 'tips' about growing my own herbs as a way to save money.
4.There's big detour into 'knife skills' and other cooking expertise tidbits that I found kind of odd. This is meant to be an economizing cookbook. We don't go in depth on coupons, but chopping food gets a couple pages? Really?
5.There's no mention of cost on the recipes. I understand prices change, but it would be helpful to know if I'm looking at approximately $10 in ingredients or $20. Some barometer of recipe cost would have been helpful and made this cookbook more relevant.
Overall, this is a generic cookbook that falls short of delivering on its premise. However, the recipes seem competent and there's no question the author knows how to cook. I'm not sure they author really knows how to be frugal, though.
M


Click Here to see more reviews about: $3 Meals in Minutes: Delicious, Low-Cost Dishes for Your Family That Can Be Prepared in No Time

Get 60% OFF

Click here for more information about $3 Meals in Minutes: Delicious, Low-Cost Dishes for Your Family That Can Be Prepared in No Time

Read More...

Healthy Meals for Less: Great-Tasting Simple Recipes Under $1 a Serving Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I have used this book for several recipes this past week and my picky family has enjoyed every dish. I like how it has the price break down although I have not verified them yet. The dishes are healthy, flavorful and inexpensive. I feel as though my arsenal of meals to make for my family within budget has multiplied. I am a person that likes to try new things but hate cookbooks that call for ingredients I don't have in my kitchen. The reason why I have not verified price is because I had all the ingredients in my kitchen already. No special trips to the store. This book is a must for every mom who would like to make from scratch, healthy, inexpensive meals

Click Here to see more reviews about: Healthy Meals for Less: Great-Tasting Simple Recipes Under $1 a Serving

In this easy-to-use, make-it-from-scratch cookbook, Jonni McCoy, the original Miserly Mom, demonstrates that inexpensive meals can be both nutritious and mouth-watering.She offers proof that living well without spending is doable.Originally published as Miserly Meals, every recipe includes the price per serving and a nutritional analysis.Kitchen tips are an added bonus with every recipe.Simple soups, slow-cook dishes, breakfast ideas, vegetarian options, snacks, gifts from the kitchen, and more will make this the busy mom's most-used cookbook.

Get 37% OFF

Click here for more information about Healthy Meals for Less: Great-Tasting Simple Recipes Under $1 a Serving

Read More...

Cheap Eats: Simple, Sumptuous Meals for Four You Can Make for Under $10 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I taught myself to cook with this cookbook. The fact that it is organized by the seasons, removed the stress of an inexperienced cook looking for something seasonal, like asparagus, at the wrong time of year. The fact that it was in menu format taught me how to put a nice meal together. The recipes use basic ingredients and not prepackaged mixes which helped me understand what tastes go with other taste, and that also keeps the cost down. Simple secrets, like using lime juice to flavor the chicken in fajitas, came to me as I methodically went through cooking nearly every recipe. This cookbook changed the way I keep my pantry stocked and how I feed myself. I had Amazon find me a copy for a friend who is struggling to learn how to cook. It should be reprinted.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Cheap Eats: Simple, Sumptuous Meals for Four You Can Make for Under $10

From the creators of the bestselling 365 Ways cookbook series comes an exciting new cookbook with 49 fast, imaginative, and healthful three-course meals for four--all for under $10.00. Aware of today's eating habits and dietary trends, the authors present a mix of American and easy international dishes. Spiral-bound.

Click here for more information about Cheap Eats: Simple, Sumptuous Meals for Four You Can Make for Under $10

Read More...