What do these dishes all have in common?
Fish Tacos
Lime Cilantro Rice
Spiced Up Macaroni and Cheese
They all came from The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner: Easy Family Meals for Every Day of the Week, which I borrowed from our library. I’ve shared a couple of recipes here the last few days, including Macaroni and Cheese and Fish Tacos.
I liked the book so much I wrote to the publisher and asked about doing a giveaway here. It’s a great menu planning system plus has tasty and easy to follow recipes.
The Food Nanny (Liz Edmunds) has a fun take on menu planning, which is the key to saving money on your food bill, and that is to have theme nights. Her themes are comfort foods, Italian, Mexican, Meatless/Breakfast for dinner/Fish, pizza, grill night, and traditional Sunday dinners. The book has a nice selection of recipes for each of these themes. You can, of course, make your own themes. I would add an Asian night or an Indian night and maybe a soup and sandwich night (or salad and sandwich in the summer), etc. On Liz’s web site you can print out blank two-week menus or drag and drop themes and recipes onto the menus and then print them.
You can read more about the book here. She also now has a reality TV show where she goes in and helps families make family dinners happen. You can watch some of the shows here.
To enter the book giveaway contest, just enter a comment. I’d love to hear about your menu planning challenges or systems that work for you, but all you really need to do is make sure you enter a comment with a valid email address before Thursday December 16 at midnight Pacific Time. I’ll select a winner after that and the nice folks at the publishing house will send out the book to the winner.
Hi, I am a busy nurse and recently broke my right hand. It will be in a cast until June 2011. I need all the help I can get right now. This Food Nanny book would make my day, week, month and year! Thanks for your efforts putting thos contest together.
I try **TRY** to plan all the meals for the week on sunday before shopping.. but I always make sure to have a few quick go to items.. just in case there is no time for whatever I had planned
I need this book! Anything to help me manage cooking for 4 people who all have different schedules…
Thanks for the really good ideas! The book is onhold at the local library for me to check out!
Just found this site, am very interested in this cookbook, really need to cut my food bill and I love to cook and try new things. I am on a strict budget and need to stick to it, I plan my meals every week and check out store ads to plan them. I would love to own this book, would be very helpful in cutting the costs.
I love the Food Nanny! So many helpful quick and easy recipes for busy families. I would love to have my own copy!
As far as meal planning goes I just make weekly menus. I do those on Monday afternoons for the week and then go grocery shopping on Monday night. So far that’s worked pretty good for us :)! I have a strict budget to stick to and I LOVE the challenge. Would love to win this cookbook :)!!!
I always looking for a meal plan. With working 2 jobs, I never seem to have anything together. I always wanting to find ways to connect with my son. Sometimes all we have is dinner together. I will have to check this book out. Thank you for the offer.
I just checked this book out from the library, too! I would absolutely love a copy for my own home collection, as I have renewed the library copy three times!
I love The Food Nanny. It’s great how she works to bring families together and decrease your grocery bill while increasing healthy foods!
Would love to check out this cookbook whether I win it or not.
This looks like so much fun!
Thanks for the giveaway…I’m always onh the lookout for “usable” cookbooks.
Great site! I don’t like to cook, but the recipes I find at your site has made me want to try again. This cookbook would be wonderful. Thansk for the offer!
Well, I am not familiar with this book or the author, that said, I am always seeking new ideas and new menu plans. I purposely dont seek them out without input from blogs such as this one. It is my passion to “hear” or read of an author of a good cookbook from the everyday persons perspective, and how much they enjoyed the adventure of finding them. I look forward to adding this author to my library of cookbooks, and trying out her new ideas! Thanks for the giveaway and for supporting the purchase of cookbooks.
Wow! This looks like a great cookbook! I have very few cook books and the ones I have are very basic, I’d love to have one like this to spice things up!
My menu planning saves my time and most importantly, my sanity. We have a big freezer, so I buy meats on sale usually plan meals around that. I try to utilize my garden produce and seasonal produce. I plan my meals from Wed. to Wed. rather than Mon. thru Fri. Store flyers come out on Sunday and gives me time to plan, cut coupons and do grocery shopping. I do extra cooking on weekends and utilze planned leftovers during the week. Ex.: Saturday’s roast chicken becomes fajitas or pot pies and a small pot of soup later in the week. Sunday’s leftover pot roast gets shredded in the gravy for hot beef sandwiches. A ham becomes dinner, a section gets cut off and frozen for later use, then warm or cold sandwiches and a soup made with the bone and leftover scraps. In winter, I usually make a pot of soup on weekends too. This gives my menu plan a little flexibility in case I have an unforseen event and limited time. Then I just switch Tuesday’s menu to Thursday or vice versa. So, basically, I make a menu incorporating converted leftovers to save time and have a soup on hand in order to have some flexibility in our menu schedule. It saves time and money. It works very well for us and I never have to worry about what we’re going to have for dinner.
I just love to try new things !!!!!! Thank You
Love your recipes. Thanks for the chance to enter. Merry Christmas!
everyone should browse through cheapcooking.com. So much useful inforamationa nd the recipes are simple
WOW looks like a fantastic book. Love this website. SO full of useful information. thanks
Wow that mac and cheese recipe would be neat for those who like a little spice in their life!
Oooh! Pick me! I love cookbooks!
Never heard of the Food Nanny but I declare that we need her. The baked spaghetti is straight from my best aunt and I do miss her. This brings her back. thankyou…
the fish looks mmmmmmm
I am all about being adventurous with my food.
Simply put, I like to play with my food. But in a good way.
I miss the days of feeding my boys good, healthy meals at home. But they are out on their own, now it’s just me, and I need to be healthy and practical in my food endeavors.
So, I combined the majority of my ‘entertainment’ budget with my ‘food’ budget, because when I cook BIG on weekends, it entertains me. And some of my relatives, too.
I would love to have some of the Cooking Nanny’s Suggestions driving my weekend experiments, and to share with my younger co-workers. We are all looking for a way to provide a varied menu for our families with a budgeted shopping list.
Pick me. oh please, pick me. I want the book!
XOXO Patti
That rice looks really good.
Loved the recipes, simple but good
This looks like an excellent book. Thanks for the chance to receive a copy!
Sounds like an interesting cookbook.
Not much of a cook but due to circumstances now need to be very thrifty with the money, so i am finding this very helpful with different meal ideas and cheap cooking
Thank you for doing a review of a book I might have otherwise just passed right by. Now it’s on my wish list instead!
Cant wait to try! looks yummy and achievable!
I am newly retired and love to cook, however, the finances are tight. I love trying new and inexpnsive menus. I have used many of your ideas and they have been really great. Thank you for putting out such a great newletter (blog).
Thank you for sharing the ideas from the book as well as your Mom’s Spaghetti recipe. I am disabled and the easier things are in the kitchen, the better. I would love to receive the cookbook. Maybe our meals would be less hum-drum! Good luck to all who enterand Meerry Christmas to everyone. Pamela
Hi ,
I’m single mom of two cute kiddos!I’m also the most disorganized person you will ever meet.I’m dream is to be organized,especially with meal planning.
I love cooking! I always spend more than i should at the grocery store!I know if i was more oganized with planning meals, the over spending would not happen!
Thanks a ton for putting out such great blog. Your pics and recipes , look so darn yummy!
Lots of good help and tips!
The Food Nanny, eh? Sounds interesting. I’ll go visit her website now.
Sounds great! I’m always looking for ways to get better nutrition into my 4 daughters!
I’m always struggling with menu planning, especially since I cook for 1 most of the time. Would love to get a copy of this book 🙂 Sounds wonderful!
This sounds like a wonderful book that I would be able to use frequently. I work full-time, and many evenings I am also dashing around chauffering my kids to their activities. I’m ashamed to confess that, when we walk in the pizzeria door, the staff says, “The yooze’?” They know our order without asking. Any help with fast, simple menu planning would be a godsend.
I love cooking cheap! I am teaching some disadvantaged moms how to cook healthy foods for their families and this book sounds perfect!! Hoep I win.
Wow, do we eat well, love the site, our meals are so much more interesting since I started using this site to spice up our oh so boring dinners…thanks so much…a couple of healthy & satisfied Canadians
Love the website and all the great suggestions offered here!
I love your emails; I always find something new and tasty to make.
I have been marrried 39+ yrs. and have cooked many, many meals. l collect cookbooks, and I am always looking for new recipes. My foster son has “Crowned me” the Cassarole Queen. He is grown and on his own now, but still stops by for some of my cooking. I would love this cookbook to add to my collection.
Wow! A problem is solved. My spouse recently was laid off from her job so she has been taking over more household chores. I tend to be the cook and grocery shopper and like many people I have the recipe ingredients and menus in my head, but she would like to cook more and has been doing the shopping. I haven’t been a good teacher. With the Food Nanny downloadable menu planning pages and grocery shopping list she can see exactly how to set things up for our family dinners and we can chart who does what. Simple. Love that.
I *love* your newsletters & value your opinions! I will definitely check this out. Hope to win the book….but the library is a great resource also! Thanks!
I think that we will be having your Mom’s Baked Spaghetti this week!
I meal plan, but it gets a little boring. We eat a lot of the same things over and over.
I do consult the cheapcooking site frequently. Many rave reviews over the dishes I’ve shared! Thanks for keeping the site growing!
Finally a recipe book with simple easy stuff….Thanks a lot.
I have such a hard time planning meals and coming up with new recipes. This would help me out so much.
This is wonderful, Merry Christmas and Blessings in the New Year Ahead!!!!!!!!!!!!
I like this site, the recipes really help since I am retired and on a very limited income.
I love this site very much. I love these ideas and try many things to get my picky greatgrandchildren to eat better. One dish that they all like is bow ties with meat sauce. Jordan(4) told his mother that he had “butterflies” for lunch! Bow Ties of Butterflies, he ate two bowls!!!!! Such a challenge to provide things they like but if they help choose and prepare it is easier.
I would love love love to win this book. Your website and blog have helped me save a tremendous amount of money on groceries while still serving delicious dinners for my family. I hope I win the book!
I’m always ready for a new cook book and this one soulds great. Thanks for all your hard work!
Thank you for the great recipes and Happy Holidays!
Every month, just as i think my budget on food is not going to “make” it…i get my e-mail! Thank you for the clever cooking, delicious recipies you send to me – you are my hero.
Thanks so much for sharing this! One of the biggest headaches is what to make for supper & then once a meat is chosen, then what to have with it. Unfortunately, I’m terrible at it & am usually trying to come up with something a couple of hours before it’s time to sit down. Very frustrating, but can’t seem to get out of this rut! Will definitely look at taking this out of the library, some great ideas in here. Good Luck to whomever wins & Merry Christmas!
His is so exciting. I like to create menus at home and this looks like it will help. Thanks!
Great easy recipes-this has made my life a lot easier-my wife loves the new ideas
you’ve given me!!
Just learning to cook for my husband and myself. What fun to own a book like this tht can maybe help with the tight budget also..
Ohhh meal planning is what I need help with. I love to cook…but fail to plan. Thanks for the chance.
I just love your website just Keep doing what you have been doing because it works
Thank you
We live a frugal lifestyle by choice. We also have many, many friends that are constantly in and out. Your meals are great! They are quick, healthy, very tasty and cheap. Thank you!
Thank you SO much for assisting the mommy’s who does not have the time (or energy) to spend on wondering what’s for dinner! Your ideas are FABULOUS!
What a wonderful book to win, great meals and easily prepared WIN WIN for me and the family, thanks for the opportunity to win : )
I LOVE COOKING. IT IS A PASSION WITH ME. THAT IS WHY I COLLECT COOKBOOKS. I READ THEM, AND THEN PICK A RECIPE TO TRY.
I have no system. That’s why I subscribe to your blog. If I win the book, I will give it to you. Then you can tell me all I need to know in your blog. Thank you so much for sharing with us.
I have never heard of the Food Nanny, living in Australia, but the recipes sound great. I love your blog, your recipes are wonderful, just what I need. There are no hard to obtain or expensive ingredients, and each recipe is suitable for every member of the family (well, those without food allergies at least), and there are no complicated instructions or time consuming ‘fiddly bits’ to contend with. I know without a doubt when I make one of your recipes I am going to have a meal to be proud of, which is reasonably priced, nourishing, enjoyable to eat, and great to share. Most importantly, they are great, comfort food style dishes, even if something I haven’t tried before, I know they will be something I will turn to again and again for inspiration. It’s great to know exactly what is in the meals we are eating, something we don’t always have when including quick fix packets, jars, etc. Thank you so very much.
Wow- those look great!
What a terrific web site! I really love trying out quick, healthy, and delicious recipes.
It all looks really yummy.
I struggle with food planning. I work nights and it’s so easy to order out instead of cooking. Nutritional wise and money wise I need to improve. I’m going to try your marinara sauce tomorrow, my favorite brand just raised to almost $4. Thanks for sharing.
I love this site, I get some really great ideas. I will be looking for this book at the bookstore, this will make a great Christmas present for some people I know. Thanks for sharing.
I really enjoyed watching the Food Nanny’s show. I watched the first episode here, called Money, Money, Money. I was very touch how she help this family. I also learned a few things too. I have always tried to make a lot from scratch because it is better for you. Thank you for sharing this site with me.
I look forward to learning more from her.
I’d love to tell you about my family planning menu system, but the truth is that I don’t have one. I’m not a chef by any means but do value dinner time with my family and try to vary the foods that we eat at dinner. Would love to have a plan that doesn’t include going to the market every single day due to my poor planning. Thanks for letting me know about this book.
I am single and retired and living on a fixed income. These recipes are perfect to save some money and are easy to prepare for a single person with some modifications of course.
Thanks for the info ! Merry Christmas and congrats to whom ever wins !
I do meal plan but I could use improvement!
I’d love to win, very interested to make fish tacos!
Thanks for the chance to win the cookbook. I hope to be a chef or at least a caterer someday!
SO HAPPY I FOUND THIS SITE. I CAN’T WAIT TO TRY THE FISH TACOS AND A LOT OF THESE GREAT SOUNDING RECIPES. IT’S ALWAYS BEEN JUST US TWO BUT THESE RECIPES ARE SO VARIED AND INTERESTING… NO MORE BORING MEALS FOR US.
Wow, that book looks wonderful! If I don’t win, I’ll certainly check our local library to check it out. 🙂
I find planning and making a meal for two hard. For years it was a family and now I cook too much. I get tired of making encore meals and need some new ideas for 2.
I collect cookbooks, and this looks like a great one to add to the collection! I love the diversity of ethnic dishes to try, as well as something as simple as mac & cheese, spiced up a bit.
Love this website! Thanks for all of the great recipes!
Rachel
I love new recipes – thanks for the giveaway! I will have to check out her website. I am a single mom working from home with two 13-year-old daughters I adopted from China. I also homeschool them, so I am often cooking while running back and forth between my computer doing transcription work and answering math questions! We are on a tight budget so I often write down how much each item costs that prepares a particular meal and keep a list of budget meals. I am a master of “pantry-fridge meals,” i.e., coming up with something based on what is in the cupboard and the fridge!
I love preparing menus ahead yet having a variety of dishes. It’s hard to come from work and complete meals but with planning it is absolutely possible. The trick is coming up with a menu so varied that cooking and eating is exciting, a cooking experience and something to look forward to!
She is so adorable on BYU tv. I’m a very good cook and grow lots of my own food but her plan is so much easier than what I have been doing