I was on another forum (unrelated to frugal living) and one woman said she shuddered at the sight of hillbilly's recipes. I responded that she could modify the ingredients to make it healthier (i.e. using butter instead of margarine). I don't really see how her recipes are unhealthy. For instance, her snickerdoodles consist of flour, salt, b. powder (or soda, I can't remember), cinnamon, sugar, and butter. That's pretty much it. Compare that to a bag of oreos. Sure, there's fat and sugar in it. Some people may be against using white flour (they can probably be used with wheat), but unless you plan to eat the entire batch yourself, they are a simple (*no preservatives*) and tasty snack.

Every once in awhile, she uses shortening, like for pot pie or tortillas, but you can switch that to oil, undoubtedly. And it's sure better than buying the pre-packaged stuff.

I do think that there are a lot of unhealthy frugal recipes, mainly b/c they lack a lot of veggies and other nutrients. But all in all, I think that you can live frugally AND healthfully. (You may not be able to buy organic, however.)

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Michele

Mommy to Jack (06/01/06) &
^Bernadette^ (entered heaven at 37 wks on 10/17/07)

http://myobaby.blogspot.com

I agree, it's probably a lot healthier than the processed make believe stuff at the store, lol.

i would not say they are totally unhealthy like you said you can substitute ingredients to make almost anything healthier... ok tons of recipes are unhealthy alot of the ones in magazine on the front that look so yummy have tons of fat in them...so i guess i tend to think its all in what you make of something.

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I think that woman needs to be thankful that she can afford to be picky about the food she feeds her family. Hillbilly Housewife does have some recipes that would be considered "unhealthy" by the food police but like you said, you can always exchange the margarine for butter or even transfat free spread. I have made some of her recipes and a lot of them use very healthy ingredients like beans and whole grains and veggies. It's all in which ones you choose to make. I mean I'm sure to find a recipe for chocolate cake on the Whole Foods website - just because you use organic ingredients does not make it healthy either.
I would "love" to only buy organic food/milk for my family but it's simply not in our budget. I could make myself crazy with guilt over that or I can stop it and enjoy my non-organic apple and figure that at least I'm not eating chips or candy. I always love to chuckle at the households we visit that are "eating organic" and when you open up their fridge/cupboards all you see are organic PROCESSED foods like cookies, crackers and snacks. Is it better?

I couldn't have said it better myself.

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Michele

Mommy to Jack (06/01/06) &
^Bernadette^ (entered heaven at 37 wks on 10/17/07)

http://myobaby.blogspot.com

I think that there are tons of people who are just so excited to be able to find recipes for cheap meals. I know if I only had $30 or whatever it was on her site, I would be looking to make that stretch as far as possible regardless of whether it was the most healthy thing to eat or not. Yes it may not be as healthy for you, but if it means the family is not going to starve then who cares about how nutritional value. Not to say it would be good to eat like that your entire lifetime. I would definitely use those recipes if I were in a financial pinch.

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SAHM to Jacob Matthew 4/19/03 & Evelyn Grace 2/15/06
Baby #3 due 3/14/09

I guess I don't see that much of a difference between her recipes and "normal" ones. (Her $45 menus are definitely "cheap" though, I agree.) Hmm...maybe that's because I forgot what an "expensive" recipe looks like, LOL. If a recipe calls for a cup of wine, I usually skip it (or substitute for something else) b/c I only open a bottle of wine for guests.

Something I need to eat more of is beans. She has a lot of bean recipes, and they are SO good for you. I use them about once a week, but I could definitely use them more to include more "cheap" protein in our diets.

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Michele

Mommy to Jack (06/01/06) &
^Bernadette^ (entered heaven at 37 wks on 10/17/07)

http://myobaby.blogspot.com

I've never seen the Hillbilly housewife receipes but I have seen other frugal receipe books and they aren't for us. We tend to eat alot more produce and they are normally full of starches.

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A woman is like a teabag. You never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water.-Eleanor Roosevelt

ive never cooked the recipes, but ive seen them, and they normal to me.
Everything in moderation, you have to have variety of foods and recipes,
you can still eat healthy and frugal. my budget is $30 a wk for me and my son.
I buy only on sale items, and my menu is based on that!
I buy veggie/soy faux meats with coupons, or a block of tofu (my son loves!) with frozen veggies and soy sauce. so yummy and cheap. (sure, fresh veggies is better, but...)
if salad is not on sale...guess what...no salad in my menu...
its not that difficult.
***the one thing i noticed is that the simpler the meal, the more frugal it is.
my mom cooks extraordinary! super good! really...but....they are more involved recipes...too many ingredients so they are more expensive.

I usually cook a veggie (whats on sale) and chicken or fish or tofu
rice/pasta are usually free with coupons
all else i buy free/almost free with coupons.

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I don't think they look too bad, but I don't think they would be for me unless I was really in a pinch (I know, that's the point). We also do a lot more vegetables than starches. We actually only eat starches about half the time for supper. It's just not something we're really into.