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5 Minutes for Books: Family Feasts for $75 a Week

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Like books? Check out our wide variety of reviews at 5 Minutes for Books. Better yet — check out our current giveaways where you can not only discover a new book, but enter to win it!

This book title sums it up well. Family Feasts for $75 a Week: A Penny-wise Mom Shares Her Recipe for Cutting Hundreds from Your Monthly Food Bill is not just a book of cost-cutting methods (in fact, she doesn’t even use coupons!). In aiding the reader to save on her monthly “food bill,” Mary Ostyn challenges the reader to look at all places were money is spent on food, including trips to the coffee shop, fast food, and eating out.

familyfeastsThe book is 1/3 narrative about her money-saving habits, and 2/3 recipes, since cooking — and cooking from scratch for the most part — is the primary way to realize significant savings on food.

Mary Ostyn asserts that she is confident that most people could save $100 a month by making most of the changes she suggests, but she challenges each reader to set her own goal, and to make changes gradually so that they will stick.

If you don’t like to cook, or don’t feel like you can cook well, don’t be intimidated by these recipes. Although most are from scratch — not using expensive and over-processed products — they are fairly accessible to even a beginner cook.

Some people might balk at some of the international recipes that she shares, but she encourages you to give them a try, since these recipes generally rely on things other than meat to give them flavor. While the recipes included are not typically “kids’ fare,” they are healthy and the kind of thing that could appeal to most children’s palates after a few exposures.

I’ve tested three of the recipes so far: the Spinach Fritatta, Grandma’s Mushroom Chicken, and Chili Corn Pone Pie. They were all a hit! My 11-year-old daughter balked at the spinach, but ate it anyway. I made the second two dishes when my sister-in-law was visiting, and she and I could have eaten a vat of the delicious mushroom gravy that was featured in the chicken dish. Better yet, her 4-year-old daughter enjoyed them both as well.

I have tried a lot of recipes in my lifetime and generally know when one will succeed, or if it’s not something that is easy enough to make on a regular basis, and the other recipes that I marked to try soon are sure to be a success as well.

This book would be a terrific gift for a new bride or anyone looking to get more familiar with cooking, an art that has been lost by many. Do you want to treat your family to Family Feasts for $75 a Week? Buy Mary Ostyn’s book now.

A bit about the author: Many of you may know Mary Ostyn from her blog Owlhaven.net, where one of her frequent and popular topics is feeding her large family on a budget. Speaking of large families, she also wrote A Sane Woman’s Guide to Raising a Large Family (linked to my review). And in the interest of full disclosure, she was my roommate on the trip to the Dominican Republic that we took last November with Compassion Bloggers. It’s been my privilege to feature these books, and because I’ve enjoyed them each so much, I’ll gladly review any book she writes without reservation (or bias if I can manage it!).

But wait — FIVE of you won’t need to buy it (actually, I’d buy it anyway and give it to a friend if you win it). Just leave a comment here now as your entry, and I’ll announce the winners in next week’s book column.

The two winners of Sue Monk Kidd’s Traveling with Pomegranates are #50 Karen K. (@yahoo) and #69 Shawna F. (@hotmail).


Contributing editor Jennifer Donovan manages 5 Minutes for Books and contributes to 5 Minutes for Giveaways. She blogs at Snapshot.

Reader Interactions


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109 Comments

  1. I will in fact buy these books. My next stop will be Amazon.
    I think the ideas from these books sound so perfectly sensible that they are worth exploring.

    Reply

  8. I recently requested this book from our public library. It is a great book! I almost can’t bring myself to take it back!LOL! We are a family of 4(2 adults, 1teen and 1 tween) I have used several of the recipes here and they are YUM! They don’t take a lot of exotic foods! Though there are some ethnic cuisine that I am trying to get my picky family to try. All in all, Great book that would be good for a beginner as well as any seasoned cook!

    Reply

  12. I’m a mom to a 9 month old infant son, a wife to a stay at home dad, a student trying to get my MA in early childhood education to be a school teacher, and we all live with my mother. As the sole provider in the house, this book would be treasured and greatly appreciated because just last night I was coming home from school and crying at how we are living paycheck to paycheck and we cannot even afford to get our own place. These are the sacrifices I make to ensure my son has the best, like daddy staying home and not having a stranger watch my son while mommy’s at work.

    Reply

  17. This sounds like a great book! I’m not a wonderful cook, and often go for convenience because I’m not too sure of my own skills. But I’d love to teach myself how to do more in the kitchen. Thanks for the chance to enter!

    Reply

  20. I could use some suggestions on cooking meals and on saving money as my hubby has just been laid off. I’m sure many have the same story.

    Anyway, enter me in the contest! Thanks

    Reply

  21. I know I have been needing a change in this avenue for awhile…and a book to tell me how would be great! Thanks!

    Reply

  22. I have 2 boys, 13 & 16, and boy can they eat. They are eating us out of house and home! Our grocery bill has been steadily rising.

    Reply

  27. I think Mary is great, and I’ve been waiting for this book to be released. She’s such an inspiration!

    Reply

  30. I could really use the money saving and cooking tips. My husband just got layed off yesterday so we need to learn to get by on less for the time being anyway.

    Reply

  32. I could use this book! I have so much trouble sticking to a food budget, and thinking of interesting (and inexpensive!) things to cook!

    Reply

  35. This sounds great for me…I’m pretty frugal, with my family of 6…but we’re jumping to a family of 8 in January, and losing my income in the mix…I can use all of the advice I can get!

    Reply

  36. I would love this cookbook. It would suit my frugal lifestyle especially when my budget is so tight right now.

    shopgurl101 at gmail dot com

    Reply

  40. I would love this book! I spend well over $100 a week for a family of 4 (2 adults, an 11 year old, and a 1 year old). I could reallylearn from this book! thanks for the opportunity to win it.
    lovemykidsandbooks at gmail dot com

    Reply

  51. I’d love to win a copy of this book. I’m a single parent with a child on college now *gulp* and I need all the help I can get trimming my budget! Thanks for the giveaway.

    Reply

  53. This sounds like a great book! Having a family of 5, we’re trying to find ways to eat healthy but not spend an arm & a leg on groceries! Thanks for the chance to win a copy of the book!

    Reply

  55. Oh, how awesome! I am constantly looking to reduce our monthly food bill, especially with #3 coming the the spring! I try so hard t obe frugal…I’d love to win this book! Thanks! 🙂

    Reply

  70. Although I think we do pretty good in the grocery budget area (about $100/week for our family of 9) I’d love to find out more ways I can save and still provide healthy meals for my family.

    Reply

  74. This book sounds awesome! Thanks for this giveaway.Please enter me 🙂

    Thanks,

    fitz12383(at)hotmail(dot)com

    Reply

  75. I would love to check this book out and see how it would work for our family! Thanks for the contest!
    Staciele(at)netins(dot)net

    Reply

  99. I want this one…not just because I’m a fan of Mary at Owlhaven and her family, but because living overseas means I need recipe books that don’t rely on processed foods only available in the US.

    Reply

  104. I’d love to win this! I’m always looking for new books with ways to save money and great recipes from scratch!

    Reply

  105. I know that we spend way too much money on food and that is where I primarily blow any kind of budget. Sounds like I need this book!

    Reply

  106. Mary is a huge inspiration – her family & adoption stories are so wonderful. I was lucky enough to have met her last summer at BlogHer and have been a big fan ever since.

    Reply