Family Feasts for $75 a Week: A Penny-wise Mom Shares Her Recipe for Cutting Hundreds from Your Monthly Food Bill

I bought this after reading all the glowing reviews, and while perhaps they are somewhat warranted, I was still a bit disappointed. The not-so-glowing reviews failed to address WHY they felt disappointed so I'll do so here.First off before I get to it, understand that it IS a good book and is worth the buy because you will find some ideas to shave a few dollars off of your grocery bill. Just know that the average family will very likely never get the cost down to the promised $75 a week. Some can, most probably cannot and here is why:* She tells you that she saves on produce because she has a vegetable garden and an orchard (pg 46, 47). If you have a house and a lot of time this is great, but nothing none of us have not thought of before. If you live in an apartment without a community garden, then you're sunk altogether. She is careful to not say that you SHOULD do this, but this IS part of the $75/wk plan.* Along that same notion, she cans her items too. If I had a garden, I would probably can also. However she did say that you could stock up on in-season items and can those. Just remember to do the math yourself because you may find that the "sale price" coupled with the cost of jars, etc. is no cheaper than buying a can. You really only save well here if you have a garden.* She frequently talks about freezing food and mentions a deep freezer often enough to make you feel that this isn't going to work for you. Granted, she DOES offer tips on freezing for those with space limitations, but to get the full benefit that she describes, a deep freeze is essential. The first example off the top of my head is sales on milk. You can't buy several gallons with only a standard-sized freezer and still keep food in there. That's just one example, another is buying ground beef on sale, she buys 30 pounds of it and there is no way that will fit in a standard-sized freezer.* She promises you that you don't have to be a slave in the kitchen by not taking shortcuts (not using canned soups, etc.), but remember that all of that does add time. I'm not one to complain because I prefer to do mine the old way anyway, it's just that she has a lot of kids who can help her. We don't! I cannot assign one child to chop onions, one to separate, peel and mince garlic and so forth. In fact, with teens most of mine aren't even home until after dinner is done. Having multiple kids does reap benefits, having only a few can be a hindrance.* She pretty much feeds her family 3 oz servings of meat (pg 24), or less, per meal. While this is definitely the healthy way, it is also less practical for some. This would mean an average 2-lb (precooked) meat loaf - as mentioned below - would feed 10 to 12 people in her house, but it would NOT in my house. Just keep that in mind as a tip.* A lot of her tips are good, but nothing I've not thought of before. Are we really in an age where we don't think about how to save money? Do we have to rely on books to tell us what is common sense? That sounds terribly cynical, I know, but it appears to be true. Granted, there ARE some good tips in there of things I've not yet thought of, but those are fewer than the number that I already did know.* She recommends going to 4 or 5 different stores to shop for sale prices. Again, most of us have probably thought about this but it is entirely unrealistic for working moms. SAHMs could do this, but not working moms.So now that I've complained enough, let me tell you what I do love about it to prove why I said it was worth the buy. There are some great tips, tricks and recipes. Some examples are:* If for no other reason, the recipes are fantastic (so far). Granted, I've not tried them all but her meatloaf (as just one example) is just amazing. It tastes just like my Mother's recipe that I've (for whatever odd reason) never been able to duplicate. I swear she was leaving something out! ;)* None of the recipes call for cream of *insert type here* soup. They're all adapted to do it yourself without you even realizing it. That alone was mentioned in a review (over on a money saving blog I frequent), which made me buy the book. I am in the process of replacing all my recipes with this very thing. Excellent notion.* She has an innovative idea for making oatmeal; use a rice cooker, if you have one of course. It inspired me to Google "rice cooker recipes" and to my surprise, there is a whole world of those out there. Very cool!* She lays out her shopping rules and the max she will spend on certain items. I love this idea and I myself have never done that. I've always bought when on sale, but I never had a rule that I will NOT buy something unless it is less than X number of dollars.* She does offer tips on everything from baby food to even toilet paper. Just remember that a lot of this is probably stuff you've heard before. Not all of course, but most. Still, if you learn only a few things, then it's worth the cost of the book.She does have some excellent advice. I just feel the need to once again stress that you have to understand you will very likely not feed your family for $75 a week as promised on the cover. You'll cut costs, surely, but not get it that low unless you start/use a garden, a deep freeze and can your own food.

I have read Owlhaven off and on for years and it was Mary's cookbook that finally got me to leave a comment on her blog. The book is an excellent primer on how to cook economically for a family. Really and truly excellent.I've been reading frugal cookbooks for a few months now and this is the best one I've found. Lets take it chapter by chapter, at least for the first 4 chapters, shall we?Before we start, I want to point out each chapter ends with a checklist of action items that gives you organized marching orders.Family Feasts is not messing around and will truly help you get serious about saving money on groceries.Chapter 1 sets the rationale and asks what you would do with an extra $100. To which I say, Mary, I need an extra $500 a month, but I guess we all have to start somewhere. There's a quiz at the end of the first chapter that will help you identify your frugal strengths and weaknesses. The score also tells you which parts of the book will likely be the most helpful for you--which is kind of neat and provides a customized reading experience tailored to your needs.Chapter 2 is full of basic shopping information. Even though I know most of it, the lists are great in this chapter. There's a pantry list and a list of seasonal veggies and fruits. Each aisle of the grocery store is broken down and dissected until you know exactly where to save money. This would be an excellent chapter for someone out on their own for the first time.Chapter 3 introduces what Mary calls 'Guerilla Shopping'. Here she gets into the nitty gritty of keeping a price book, sales and coupons. Her gradual approach on the price book is appreciated because I've been avoiding this chore for a long time, overwhelmed by the sheer size of the task. I also like her stance on coupons which is, they aren't all that great unless you like to eat highly processed food full of sugar and fat. Whole foods don't usually have coupons so health conscious eaters shouldn't worry too much about coupons.Chapter 4 delves into meal planning and the logistics of food prep. There is a hold-your-hand process for meal planning in this chapter. If you are lost when it comes to making a menu, this chapter will help you beyond your wildest dreams.After the fourth chapter we get into recipes and my only criticism of the book, which is the use of lemon/lime soda in a handful of recipes as well as the use of corn syrup. Those particular recipes can be easily modified or avoided, but I was a little surprised to see such chemically laden bad-for-you items serving as base ingredients in a recipe. Also, pictures of each recipe would have been great.On the positive, Mary includes a world of flavors in her recipes. There's Korean and Ethiopian food alongside American favorites.I happen to really like Ethiopian food and look forward to trying some of those recipes.Here are some of the recipes I want to try after reading this book.Mary's granolaCream cheese PinwheelsChicken and Apple sandwiches with melted cheeseSpicy Chicken EnchiladasPork Chops with Apricot SauceSpinach FrittataKorean Barbecued BeefSpicy Ethiopian Beef in Green PepperEthiopian Sloppy JoesOrange ChickenChicken CacciatoreSlow cooker white chicken chiliSouthwest Beef ChiliChinese chicken saladThai beef saladSouthern Style Fresh Cabbage Salad6 week bran muffinsSoft rich browniesBaked chicken KievStuffed French Toast StrataGinger and orange glazed baby carrotsAsian Ginger DressingSlow cooker white bean, sage, sausage soup

Found this cookbook in my daughters kitchen in Misissippi,USA, and had to have one ,has many great recipes and well worth the price i paid for it.

If you use only a couple of the tips/recipes in this book you will save enough money to easily cover the cost of the book. I would buy this book agian. I like alot of the recipes. The first part of the book have great tips and advice to save money on food cost all year round.

Love this book, I kept taking it out from the library - so I broke down and bought it!

gives some goodsuggestions