Molly Makes $5 Dinners and $3 Desserts

Almost eleven years ago, I left my full time job to be a stay-at-home mom with my newborn son. It was a decision that was not taken lightly. My husband and I believed that the Lord wanted me to be home with our son and any more children that we might have in the future. But our decision did not make sense to many people, because quitting my job meant losing over two-thirds of our income.

Obviously, drastic cuts in income meant drastic changes in the household budget. We had tried to live mainly on my husband’s income for our day-to-day expenses while I was still working, hoping that one day I would leave the workforce. However, it is entirely different to completely live on one income, because you have not only the day-to-day expenses, but the additional expenses that tend to arise periodically.

One of the major categories where we had to cut expenses was food. Working full-time didn’t allow me a lot of time to shop sales, clip coupons, or cook from scratch. With so much less money to spend on food, I needed a major paradigm shift about what meals would look like in our house. It became my "job" to explore every possible way to save money on food and other household expenses.

Now, eleven years and three additional children later, we are still living on one income. Recently, the news has been full of ideas for making it through the economic crisis that our nation is currently facing. I listened for new ideas to save money, but then discovered that no one was telling me anything new. We were already doing all the things that they were suggesting to save money, and unfortunately, still not managing to stay within the food budget.

When I agreed to review the new e-book, Molly Makes $5 Dinners and $3 Desserts, I was cautiously optimistic that I would find some new ideas to help me to feed my family for less money. What I found was a collection of widely varying, inexpensive recipes submitted from all over the United States. I went through the book and divided the recipes into categories. There are:

• 11 chicken meals
• 21 vegetarian meals
• 12 beef meals
• 6 pork meals
• 2 fish meals
• 18 desserts

That’s a lot of new ideas for dinner! Each of these recipes is broken down by ingredient cost, so you can compare to your own local prices. The recipes are not complicated. There is a good mixture of things that are ready quick, and things that take a little more simmering time. I have also found a good mixture of recipes that use some inexpensive "convenience" foods, and those that are made entirely from "scratch".

Molly Makes $5 Dinners and $3 Desserts does NOT contain recipes with unusual, hard-to-find, or expensive ingredients, or complicated, gourmet recipes requiring hours in the kitchen. That is not to say that there aren’t any recipes that you could serve guests. These are good, wholesome, simple meals designed to feed your family.

I recommend Molly Makes $5 Dinners and $3 Desserts to anyone desiring new ideas for frugal meals. It will be available soon through The Old Schoolhouse Store. For more money-saving tips, be sure to check Molly’s website Econobusters.com.