Budget Meals - Eight Weeks Of Delicious Dinner & Dessert Recipes

Kimberly Saunders' book Budget Meals - Eight Weeks of Delicious Dinner & Dessert Recipes is not just another cookbook. Saunders goes beyond the traditional cookbooks that only list the ingredients you need to make the dishes found within the pages - she provides 8 weeks worth of meal plans that will not make you broke buying specialty ingredients you will only use once. Each meal plan is broken into one week stretches - complete with a shopping list. The shopping lists are organized conveniently into sections that are similar to the departments found in your local grocery store.

The introduction to the book includes helpful tips on how to stay on budget when you go shopping. Saunders advises to stay away from deals that are too good to be true because they usually are and to double-check your cart before you pay - be ruthless with yourself and take out anything that was not on your list.

You are not left hanging when you are done the 8 weeks worth of meal planning, realistic advice is given to create your own meal plans and you can always mix and match days from different weeks for endless meal variations.

Saunders points out that most of us miss budgeting and planning for breakfast, lunch, and snacks. She suggests that this crucial part of meal planning and budgeting can help you save money and get healthier by skipping the vending machine and the corner coffee store breakfast of coffee and a muffin. Making your own bread is another avenue suggested for saving money, but sometimes convenience has to win out over cost.

The simplicity of the recipes is refreshing and can be executed by novice chefs, making this book a perfect gift for someone venturing out on their own for the first time or busy households. If you use a slow cooker, most weeks have at least 1 or 2 meals with instructions to convert the recipe. For instance, in Week 6 there are 3 days you can choose to use a slow cooker for meals like Mild Mexican Chicken, Italian Sausage Casserole, or Pork Steaks with potatoes, carrots, and parsnips.

Kimberly Saunders' has written a cookbook with 56 days worth of home-cooked dinners and sound advice for meal planning. And don't forget to end dinner with a dessert, a recipe is provided for each day of the meal plan. Finish off family meals with Glazed Apple Cream Tarts, Rhubarb Crumble, or German Chocolate Cake. Like the dinner recipes, the desserts are simple, wholesome, and delicious.