Customer Reviews

Eat Healthy for $50 a Week: Feed Your Family Nutritious, Delicious Meals for Less

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This was sad. It was impossible not to like the author of this book, or believe that she sincerely wanted to make shopping easier for busy people. Therefore I feel guilty in reporting that I found this book very thin and unhelpful, with few recipes and advice that I can't believe I paid for, like "subscribe to the Sunday paper for coupons". If you need to buy this book to know you should use coupons to save money at the grocery store you are in more trouble than this woman can get you out of! I commend her on supporting 4 kids when her husband's an artist and she's a musician and now homemaker, but I hope she plans on sending me some supplimentary recipes, because I feel cheated out of 9 bucks after buying her book! (just think of all the food I could've bought with that!)

While Rhonda's book is much healthier than her book that is similar than this one (Eat Well instead of Eat Healthy) I found some of her recipes leaned toward the sweet end of tastes. I had never heard of using ketchup in a pizza sauce before and really felt that there could have been a better recipe that did not use the ketchup, or the additional added sugar that is stated in the recipe. In addition, I am not a Miracle Whip fan. I prefer real mayonnaise, I guess that is my own personal taste. I also felt that she could have been a little more creative in some of her ideas instead of quoting dozens of other resources. I bought her book thinking it was her ideas, not other books or newsletters. Oh well, I guess I'll have to buy some of those others since they seem to be mentioned frequently.

This book was not worth [what] I paid for it. The ideas are old ones -- nothing new here. Also, she gives sample shopping lists and the meals she feeds her family from them. It's not hard to feed a family on $50 a week with no meat -- but strangely, although no meat appears on her grocery list (total $48.32) that next week she manages to prepare a roast beef dinner and a baked chicken. I found the grocery lists unrealistic for the meals she apparently provided from them -- some ingredients simply weren't there.

I can appreciate the fact that she is honestly trying to show people how to manage on a fixed income. I think it's commendable that she has managed to do so for her own four children -- but the book lacked a lot. She also seems to buy a lot of pre-made stuff -- ie., Miracle Whip, bottled salad dressing, whipped topping, muffin mix -- not to mention the 60 penny candies and pound of M&Ms. If you're going to write a book on [inexpensive], HEALTHY eating, I'm not sure I would include these things.

Barfield shares her personal system for providing nutritious, tasty meals for her family of six, complete with sample menus, shopping lists, and recipes. This book is chock full of painless, practical tactics to slash your grocery bill -- even if you have a sweet tooth, a pile of kids, and not a lot of time.

I use many of the recipes in this book each week. It has saved me money and time over and over again. My son loves the mom-whiches and the sweet and sour meatballs. My entire family loves the cinnamon raisin bread. I have used that recipe weekly for over a year and my family never gets tired of it. For the first time I actually made bagels and my kids enjoyed them. I do shop carefully, buy meat on sale and keep a stocked pantry. This book can keep your grocery budget down. Other great recipes include the french bread, popovers, potato chowder, and the simple pudding. I think your family will enjoy this book if you actually try the recipes. To save money shop the sales in your area instead of just shopping with a weekly list and keep your pantry stocked.

I found this book to be wonderful. I received many ideas that have helped me a lot. The 90 minute bread recipe is wonderful! I found her ideas easy to incorporate in my lifestyle. I loved the recipes for the homemade mixes. I thought it was an awesome book, I am here to buy it after reading it from the library. I cant say enough good things about this book, I thought it was great, its well worth the money!! Thanks Rhonda!

I have to say I am writing this review because I thought that the book was very well written, though ten years later the price of food has gone up but I still can feed a family of 6 for around $80 bucks a week. We shop two weeks at a time.

I have to address the two bad reviews though: firstly the author does not advocate coupon savings instead she recommends shopping at Aldi or SaveaLot for warehouse prices. She address coupons to mention the time involved to clip sort etc. Also I must address the honesty in this book, so she mentions buying M&M's once and penny candy once in a while. The reason she addresses this is that her family had cut down their sugar intake but not eliminated it totally. Our family would do the same thing with eating 6 M&M's a piece to satisfy our sweet tooth. I doubt that the small mention of this is enough to rate a bad review??

Now eating smaller meals and cutting down the meat from our Americanized over-meat-filled meals IS something she addresses and brings to the forefront in her book. Years later it is still relevant! Again the protein requirements in her weekly menus is adequate for the number in her family. Please read the book carefully to see exactly where protein can be found in foods you wouldn't think that contained protein.

I used this book and tried some of the recipes. I was able to modify our $285 two week spending down to $160-$170 for two weeks without feeling like we were eating Ramen Noodles everyday.

I have never reviewed a product on Amazon, negative or otherwise, but I could not get past the shopping list on the 4th page.
The title of the book is "Eat HEALTHY for $50 a Week."
I realize it was written in the mid-90s (before the big movement to bring awareness to the dangers of high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils) but come on, even I knew then (as a 16 year old) that canned fruit, fruit loops, white sugar/flour, boxed mac and cheese, and lemonade mix (um, basically more white sugar) barely qualifies as actual "food" let alone healthy food.
Such a sad read.
We eat well on a pretty tight budget but I was hoping for a few more tools, or new ideas.
Save your money, skip the book, and eat lots of brown rice and beans for meals and nuts and fresh fruit and vegetables as snacks instead of expensive, packaged white flour snacks and both your body and your wallet will be better off.

This book is a great resource for the beginning cook. If you are a seasoned homaker,you might be dissapointed.

I have found it to be a great tool at figuring out how much a dinner/week of dinners will cost. Of course, the prices you pay will vary from the book. Use it as an example or planner.

I loved Barfield's book "Eat Well for $50 a Week" but this book is even better with it's emphasis on eating healthy. This is a great resource that will really teach you how to cut corners off your food budget! Thanks, Rhonda!