Review: Dining on a Dime Cook Book

I don't know if I can even call this a review, because I can't be impartial. I LOVE this book.

"Dining on a Dime Cook Book" by Tawra Kellam and Jill Cooper teaches you how to eat better and spend less. Their book explains how to shop smarter and cook simpler meals.

The 478-page book is loaded with frugal recipes for feeding your family. It also includes recipes for homemade cleaners, health and beauty items (like lip balm), kids activities (like tub crayons), and gift ideas.

What I love the most about Dining on a Dime, is that there are loads of money and time saving tips at the beginning of each chapter. These authors are real people with real families, and they understand that people don't have a lot of time.

I was afraid when I bought this book, it would be a rehash of a lot of the tips on frugal cooking that I've read and recipes on 70 ways to make beans. But that wasn't the case at all. The book inspired me to try a few new things - such as cutting back on the amount of meat in my recipes. I typically buy family packs of 6 pounds of ground beef. I then re-package them and freeze them in individual one-pound packages. If I packaged them by 3/4 of a pound instead of 1 pound, I could get two extra meals out of a family pack of ground beef. Over the course of a year, that could save a lot of money. It would also be good for my family's health.

The recipes are yummy: Hawaiian Chicken Wings, Stacked Enchiladas, French Onion Soup, and more. Many of the recipes include additional tips, such has adding a tablespoon of sugar to a recipe that is too spicy for your taste.

I highly recommend this book and think it would make a great gift for a new bride or even an accomplished frugalite. The recipes are simple and inexpensive to make and the information is extremely useful.