My Favorite Budget Cookbooks
Lost Recipes : Meals to Share with Friends and Family by Marion Cunningham. While it doesn’t purport to be a budget cookbook, the ingredients are all common and there isn’t any processed/prepared foods. I find myself becoming more and more fond of all of Cunningham’s cookbooks that I try. I’ve used the The Fannie Farmer Cookbook for years and it’s still a favorite. Now she has been writing these wonderful smaller cookbooks, such as Lost Recipes, The Breakfast Book, and The Supper Book. This one is focused on cooking simple, easy, inexpensive dishes with fresh ingredients, the old-fashioned way of cooking perhaps. No canned cream soups in here!
Brother Juniper’s Bread Book Bread making is money-saving and soul enhancing. I still like to make bread by hand, even though I own a bread machine. And this book helped me make truly delicious French bread. Just wonderful! The reading is also good for your soul.
Cheap. Fast. Good! is put out by the same women who wrote my favorite Desperation Dinners. This is another great collection of fairly quick recipes, well-written, and very tasty. This is not a super-low-budget cookbook but it is a budget cookbook and has some great information on ways to save money when you’re shopping.
Feed Your Family Fast, Healthy Meals on $10 a Day Linda West Eckhardt has written many good cookbooks, so you know the recipes are good while still being frugal. Lots of fish recipes, good shopping and menu-planning tips, and some great recipes.
More with Less Cookbook This is oriented towards not only saving money but using food in an earth-friendly way, to get more out of our limited resources. The collection of recipes and tips comes from around the world. There is a religious slant to it (Mennonite) but it is not overdone. One of my favorites.
Not Just Beans: 50 Years of Frugal of Family Favorites This is a fun recipe book, full of old family favorites. It includes gift and craft recipe ideas, as well as down-to-earth money savings tips and recipes.