Dear All, What are your favorite cookbooks of frugal food? 

My all-time favorite is out-of-print unfortunately, but you can probably get it through Inter-Library Loan (if your local Library doesn't have it).  It's by Loyta Wooding (former editorial manager of the Betty Crocker Kitchens), & is called SMART SHOPPER'S COOKBOOK (1972).  The pages of mine were so yellowed with age (I had the paperback) that I cut it all up & inserted the recipes I love into the categories of my recipes notebook.

My second favorite is a substitutions book.  So often, an ingredient is too expensive for us -- or maybe we are just out of it, & don't want to assign the cash to shop for it.  Mine is the 3rd edition (1996) of Becky Sue Epstein & Hilary Dole Klein's SUBSTITUTING INGREDIENTS:  AN A TO Z KITCHEN REFERENCE:  DON'T HAVE AN INGREDIENT?  SUBSTITUTE.  DON'T LIKE SOMETHING?  SUBSTITUTE.  CAN'T AFFORD IT?  SUBSTITUTE.  I think that this book, or a comparable one, should be in the hands of all cooks.

Happy thrifty cooking!

At the moment I'm really enjoying the website Pat recommended called www.hillbillyhousewife.com.  I've only just begun looking at her recipes, but they sound great.  I also like www.allrecipes.com for ideas. I agree Deb, most recipes can be adapted for frugality's sake. 

YES!  Hillbillyhousewife is the GREATEST website on frugal food -- no exception.  BUT I prefer the look & feel of bound books, that makes me very old-fashioned....  I can of course print out from websites, hers especially, BUT begrudge the paper & laser-toner expense.  SO, I will continue to shop in thrift stores & Library sales for more frugal books.

 I have over 1400 favorite cookbooks!  lol  Actually Farmer's Home Journal's are my all time favorite.  Second would be the Open Line cookbook series from an old radio show near the Amana Colonies.  I have never came across a recipe that could not be turned into a frugal delight. : )

Wow!  Your favorites are books/magazines that I've never heard of!  Where is Amana by the way?  I've heard of Amana refrigerators, but not of Colonies!

Of your 1,400 favorite cookbooks, LOL, how many are in your personal library? 

I can see how good your personal recipes are, although I cannot afford some of your ingredients like I think you once called for blueberries & for sour cream.  Still, strawberries in season & faux buttermilk (1 T vinegar in 1 cup of milk) or curds (1 T vinegar in 1 cup of plain yoghurt) are quite doable for me.  I quite agree with you that just about any recipe can be made more frugal!

Mennonite Community Cookbook, by Mary Emma Showalter.  There is another one, written from the Mennonite point of view, that is also excellent, but the name totally escapes me now......senior moment!  The recipes in both are usually pretty basic and can be changed to suit your own personal ingredients at the time.  The latter one is includes many recipes from foreign countries where Mennonite missionaries have been and include a lot of legumes prepared in interesting ways.  Darn,I wish I could remember the name of it!  Maybe later.
Patrink
Brianchef, do you have the Farmers Journal cookbook name and author so I can try to find it on Amazon.com?  I used to have an old one that had marvelous farmer food!!!

Do you mean as the Mennonite missionaries book, EXTENDING THE TABLE?  There is a prequel, too, but I too cannot think of its name.

 Hi all,

I'm new here, sorry to jump in unannounced. But is the cookbook Patrink can't remember the More-with-Less Cookbook by Doris Longacre?  This book has been in print continuously since the seventies and is one of my all-time favorites. Lots of frugal and earth-friendly recipes submitted by the Mennonite Community.

Irene 

Patrink, That's the prequel that I couldn't remember.  EXTENDING THE TABLE was based on her recipes, but she had passed away.

 Here is the information about the Amana Colonies:  http://www.amanacolonies.org/

All the cookbooks are my personal library I read them over and over again like great novels.  : )  I think your suggestions for the changes in the muffns are great.