Reviewing Dining on a Dime by Tawra Jean Kellam and Jill Cooper

Are you living from the drive through window? Wondering how it is that you're gaining pounds and losing dollars? This book will help you give less of your hard earned money to the fast food giants, and keep more of it your pocket, while making wholesome, home cooked meals for your family.

Dining on a Dime is a great cookbook written by Tawra Kellam and Jill Cooper. It contains frugal, back to basics recipe that your family will love. This book is packed full of ways to make your grocery dollar stretch. I have found it extremely useful in my menu planning, and cook from it several times a week.

The authors begin with an extremely enlightening chart of How it adds up. This chart details how the typical American family, just by cutting out certain luxury food items, could save over $10,000 on their grocery bill. The authors then walk you through the basics of frugal cooking, tons of meal ideas for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

The book contains many meals from simple, basic ingredients. It contains recipes to help use meat as an ingredient, instead of as the focus of your meal saving money and lowering cholesterol. It focuses on frugal, easy to find ingredients such as beans, rice, chicken, and ground beef no fancy or difficult to pronounce ingredients. It also contains many tips and how to's that are useful for the beginning cook, and a handy reference for the more experienced.

Dining on a Dime includes insightful quotes throughout, as well as tons of hints, tips, and ideas to help you in the kitchen. From how to clean your kitchen, to how to cook rice, it's all here! My favorite section of the book, which is also available on the authors' website (www.livingonadime.com) is called Dirty Dishes Cause Debt. It details how letting dishes pile up in the sink ends up nickel and diming you to death!

The book also contains a section of mix in a jar recipes perfect frugal gifts at holiday time. Mix together a few dry ingredients in a mason jar, add a pretty fabric topper, and you're finished! Great gift ideas, without costing a fortune. This section is followed up by a section of frugal beauty tips for making your own products, entitled Pretty for Pennies.

So, if you're interested in cooking healthy meals, without breaking the bank, I would highly recommend this book. It's earned a place of honor on my bookshelf, and I use it often.