Family Feasts for $75 a Week book

After many reviews online at Amazon, I decided that I should check this book out of the library and see what all the fuss was about.  I read the introduction (pre-recipe section) of Family Feasts for $75 a Week: A Penny-wise Mom Shares Her Recipe for Cutting Hundreds from Your Monthly Food Bill by Mary Ostyn which goes through ways that she cuts her food budget for her family of 12- 10 kids and 2 adults. I am glad that I got it out of the library.  I don't think that I like the layout of the begining of the book as much as I like $5 dinner Erin Chase's way to save money at the grocery store in a few simple steps.  However, there is a part in the meal planning section that gives lots of different choices that I hadn't heard before.  I like to  plan and over the last year have loved the calendar filled with the different meals we are going to have each day.  It really gives me a sense of relief because I am not standing in the kitchen at 5 or 6 pm looking for food that I can make into dinner.  I also find that it gives me something to look forward to when I know what we are having.  If I don't think that I am in the mood for the dinner on the menu that night or don't have enough time to make it then I do switch it with another night on the menu.  The book lays out a plan where you have a list of what is going to be for the week (making sure all the stuff is in the house when you are at the grocery store) and each day you pick out what you are in the mood for that night.  They suggest two sheets so that you can switch between the two sheets for two different weeks and use durable paper so that you have a shopping list to reference.  There are some good ideas but at the beginning but I think that the good stuff starts with the recipes.

I made a list of the recipes that I thought that I might make and the list got a little too long for my paper.  Starting with breakfast food of Restaurant Style French Toast and Crepe Style Pancakes.  The lunch options of Easy Pizza Rolls and Crunchy Baked Chimichangas.  On to the casseroles, Spicy Chicken Enchiladas, Baked Ziti, and Chili Corn Pone Pie.  The skillet and stir fry meals includes Mexican Tortilla Soup, Thai Wraps, Jazzy Ramen Stir Fry, and Orange Chicken.  I think that this might be my favorite chapter because I had a huge list to pick from plus I don't often do stir fry so this should be a great place to expand my menu :)  The soup chapter has a taco soup, confetti pepperoni soup and southwest beef chili.  Sides include oven baked breaded zucchini and rice cookier mexican rice.  The salads highlight the Chinese Chicken Salad and the Asian Noodle Salad.  Bread, Muffins and Desserts are always my favorite like buttery garlic cheese biscuits and really big biscuits.  If you think that these recipes sound good, please check out the cookbook at your local library or bookstore (or Amazon).  I am sure that you will see some of the recipes being tried coming up so that you can try them too.  I will let you know how I think about them and most likely how I change them to meet our family needs and taste buds.  The greatest thing is that they really are cost effective recipes that work with a limited grocery budget so that you can stretch to try some things that you normally don't make but used to eat at the restaurants.  I am going to go through and try to figure out what needs to go on the menu for next month.  Let me know what sounds good to you :)