Miserly Meals: Healthy, Tasty Recipes Under 75 Cents Per Serving

Author: Jonni McCoy
List Price: $12.99
Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price
ISBN: 0764226134
Publisher: Bethany House (August, 2002)
Sales Rank: 20,656
Average Customer Rating: 3.73 out of 5

Customer Reviews

Rating: 4 out of 5
It's worth having
Some of what other reviewers say is true - there ARE ingredients in these recipes your family may not eat - like the Tabasco sauce. However, what I really appreciate about Jonni's book is that it's a good transition for Mom's trying to get their budgets under control. The fact that she has included Nutrition Information (many of the recipes are low in fat for those of us watching our waistlines as well as our budgets) as well as a 'cost per serving' is very helpful. There may be many readers who are already "pros" at low-cost meal planning but I wasn't one of them. I also appreciate the fact that recipes don't take 2 years to prepare and cook. I, too, am a homeschooling Mom and I found her 2 books - Miserly Moms and Miserly Meals - a real help to get my mind going in the right direction. From these two books, I took 15 recipes for dinners to get started - things my family WILL eat - many of them crock meals which will take only a few minutes to set up and forget about. I look at these 2 books as my springing-off point -- incorporating her principles by looking for new recipes on the Internet etc. I know I am saving money and once I get used to this, I'll refine it further but I would have been knocked out if I had to spend 2 hours a day cooking with homeschooling. For those reviewers who were not very understanding about her shakes and such, Jonni herself said in Miserly Moms she didn't want to live like a pauper but enjoy things at a lower cost, not feeling cheap. If you are going from eating Steak & Elaborate Desserts to Miserly Cooking you are going to feel deprived without a few nice recipes that add variety. One of the biggest challenges I have found as a busy homeschooling Mom is finding good-tasting, lowfat recipes that are quick. Jonni has you do much of the prep in advance that saves you money (mixes etc) and then you kind of throw things together - not a ton of steps. I do like the book and if you are overwhelmed and want someone to just "spell it out for you" go with Jonni. If you are a seasoned bargain shopper and meal preparer, you might want something more advanced.

Rating: 3 out of 5
BASIC book...not for more seasoned frugal cooks.
Sorry, no pun was intended! This book is not meant for someone who is resourceful and has read other stuff. Jonni's recipes aren't all that frugal. So it depends on what your idea of saving money is. She is also a bit of a whiner in her books thus missing the mark on the issues. However, the meals offered here are not odd, nor does she seem to be a complusive saver at the expense of her family. This book is a good START to saving money in the kitchen.

Rating: 4 out of 5
OK, but not great (I agree)
I think the author's list of "pantry basics" for the "miserly kitchen" is great. I can match 80-90% of what I have on the shelves with the foods she lists. But I'm doubtful that I would come up with the same results from the same ingredients.

For instance, why do so many recipes in this book call for Tobasco sauce? And sorry but I can't foresee my family would ever accept ground turkey, or anything containing tofu or lentils. And we LIKE butter!

And what's this innovative stuff called "broth powder"? What happened to the good old fashioned (and cheap) method of simply saving the water you cooked the meat in?

The book opens with a chapter of beverages, but I can't help but wonder how they can be called "miserly"? Wouldn't drinking plain water be a whole lot cheaper than some concoction from the blender?

Good points about this book: The desserts look delicious. And each recipe in the book is followed by a helpful "kitchen tip." The tips themselves make pretty good reading.

However, instead of this book, I would recommend an older (and harder to find) book, called _ Good Recipes for Hard Times_ by Louise Newton.

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