This review is brought to you by popular demand! When I asked for sites to review, this was one of the top requests, so here we go.
You won't often hear the words "recipes" or "food" in frugal circles for very long until someone brings up Miss Maggie, better known as "Hillbilly Housewife."
The site is mainly about cooking - appropriately enough - "hillbilly" food, but it's also about a unique woman and her family. Her opening paragraphs promise a lot and the site delivers a lot in down-home common sense and good food.
Miss Maggie backs up her disclaimer of not being a nutritionist by recommending bacon grease - a by product that made the first no-no list for healthy food. But, she says, bacon grease was what propelled the site to success 'way back when, as she puts it: "At the time society was still in the throes of the low-fat movement, so I got a lot of attention simply because I acknowledged that bacon grease is a usable resource in a frugal kitchen. I didn't think it was such a big deal, but lots of people wrote me about my use of bacon grease, from both sides of the issue, and from there my popularity grew."
Maybe I went when I was hungry, or maybe I'm revealing my hillbilly roots, but just the Recipes home page had me salivating. Every thing you could imagine is covered there, but with a very frugal twist. Barbecued chicken? No problem. Make it with inexpensive leg quarters and homemade barbecue sauce. Make your own corn tortillas, coconut macaroons (made with your own homemade sweetened condensed milk), garlic bread sticks, real southern pinto beans and a lot more.
Recipes is what it's all about, but there are "Other Goodies," too, like my favorite: Hot Dog Ramblings and if you really want to know Miss Maggie, don't miss out on her blog.
What else does Miss Maggie do? She home schools, sews, and is a "big-time science fiction fan." She explains it: "It may seem contrary to be so dedicated to my family and home and then to have this whole other side devoted to futuristic fantasy, but for me at least, it helps me maintain my balance."
She home schools her two boys, who both have ADD, and has a home school web site called Old-Fashioned Education
When I called her "unique," she first said, "It's funny to me that you would call me unique. I hear from so many other people who are relieved when they find my site because at last they feel like they're not alone. So in that sense, I'm not unique at all. There are thousands of people like me who prefer to cook from scratch, enjoy the sport of finding the best bargain and spending the least amount of money, paying off credit cards and saving for a rainy day."
But she then went on to say," At our house we prefer the word eccentric. Our values are not represented by most of society."
Ah, okay. Living frugally is eccentric in a sense, I'll give her that, but Miss Maggie's lifestyle goes beyond that. She is a unique person and I'm not ceding that.
Why I like this site:
Common sense, old fashioned, down home... need I say more?
The most interesting thing I found:
The page about which convenience foods are good buys. To most frugally thinking minds, this borders on heresy, but we know better. Some convenience foods are at least as cheap as "from scratch." Miss Maggie even waxes poetic about them.
What do you think?
How many of her recipes have you tried? What did I miss? What's your favorite page of the site? What do you wish she'd include?
