News Reviews for Dining on A Dime

AtHomeParent.com

Several years ago, I became acquainted with Tawra Kellam and her mother, Jill Cooper, through online articles and shared interests in frugal living. I reviewed their first cookbook, titled "Not Just Beans". I loved that book - my sons both know which book I'm asking for when I send them to the cookbook shelf - it's well used, food splattered and has all sorts of my personal notations in it.

Now, Tawra Kellam and Jill Cooper have a new book, a revised version of their already awesome book, titled "Dining On A Dime". The new book has 268 new recipes and tips and two whole new chapters.

I've had the new cookbook about two weeks now and I'm constantly thumbing through it, looking for something new to do with the same-old food I find in my pantry and fridge. What's great about "Dining On A Dime" is that most of the recipes use typical ingredients. Only occasionally will you find an item that requires something not normally in your fridge or pantry. So, while I can keep buying the "same-old stuff" at the grocery store, I can always find something new to do with it in "Dining On A Dime."

Tips in the book include ideas for things for the kids to do, "mixes" to give as gifts, even a recipe for laundry stain pre-treatment, bath oils and perfumed lotions! So, while it's a cookbook, it's much more than simply a "cook" book.

Here is one of my favorite pages from the book - Flavored Butters. Who says you have to go to a restaurant or spend a lot of extra money at the grocery for something a little "different"?

Flavored Butters
Mix one of the following in 1/4 cup softened butter or margarine to
flavor your plain vegetables.
. 1 tsp. basil, fresh chopped or 1/2 tsp. dried
. 2 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese, grated
. 1 Tbsp. chives, chopped and 1 Tbsp. parsley, chopped
. 1/2 clove garlic, crushed, or 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
. 1 Tbsp. prepared horseradish
. 1 Tbsp. lemon peel, grated and 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
. 1/4tsp. dry mustard and 1 tsp. fresh dill or 1/4 tsp. dried dill

-By Wendy Lomano
www.AtHomeParent.com

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI)

This book was first called Not Just Beans: 50 Years of Frugal Family Favorites, in response to the vast number of people who think budget dining has to be "just beans." It's in its third printing now, spiral-bound in a nice hard glossy cover that can be wiped off, and has been renamed to make its purpose even more clear.

By the way, before I go on to tell you about the contents, you should know that the fifty years in the original title refer to Kellam's mom, who raised two kids on a limited income as a single mom, and did it without making her kids think life was grim or uncomfortable, too! However, Kellam herself has been using her mom's methods (along with some original ideas) for over twenty years to help her family of five eat and live not only well, but within their means.

The book starts out with "Basics of Frugal Cooking" and a familiar saying: Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without. This section covers a lot in a few pages: ideas for frugal eating and shopping, meal planning, menu ideas (including ones for quick dinners and picky eaters), using herbs frugally, making your own baby food, freezing food, snack and lunch ideas, and time-saving tips for making the most of your time in the kitchen.

The rest of the book is divided into sections such as Beverages, Breads, Meats and Main Dishes, and (a really nice one for frugal gift-giving) Mixes, Gift Baskets & Jars. One of my favorite chapters is Kids, where Kellam gives recipes for such fun things as Tub Crayons, Sidewalk Chalk, and Easy-Bake Oven (TM) mixes. Where was this book when my kids were little? I can't wait to use her ideas with my grandchildren someday!

The book also contains more than just recipes; interspersed throughout are cooking tips, substitution charts, instructions on how to set a table, cleaning hints, inspiring quotes, and other interesting stuff. It even has a chapter called "Pretty for Pennies" that contains recipes for such treats as Almond Lotion, Chocolate Lip Balm, and Bath Bombs.

If you're moving into your first apartment, getting married on a shoestring, or trying to live within your means, invest in this cookbook. It also makes a great gift. Actually, no matter what your circumstances are, you may want to buy and use Dining on a Dime. After all, you can always think of something else fun to do with the money it saves you!

One of my favorite recipes:

Sidewalk Chalk

2 qts. plaster of Paris
water
food colors

Mix plaster of Paris with 1 quart water. Mix in desired color. Pour into paper towel or toilet paper tubes (about 3 inches high). Let dry thoroughly (This may take several days). Remove from tubes and let the kids draw away.

-James A. Cox
Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review

The Spokesman Review (Spokane, WA)

Being frugal is a constant challenge for many people, but it is a way of life for some.

A shining example of frugality in the Inland Northwest is Tawra Jean Kellam of Nezperce, Idaho. This 27-year-old wife and mother of two children says that watching your pennies doesn't mean eating beans all the time.

She's named her recently published cookbook just that: "Not Just Beans: 50 Years of Frugal Family Favorites." This soft-cover, spiral-bound cookbook is a bargain, too, containing 540 recipes and 400 tips on reducing food costs.

"You don't have to live on beans," says Kellam, who spends about $125 a month on food for her family of four. The secret, she says, is variety and using meat as a side dish instead of a main course, adding it to sauces and pasta.

Kellam excels in her frugal lifestyle both at home and on the Internet, where she participates in discussion groups about simple living and advises people regularly on saving money. She learned from her mother, who raised two teenagers on a monthly income of $500.

The recipes in her book, from Kellam, her mother and grandmother, are easy to follow. Recently my family sampled Kellam's Scalloped Potatoes, Stewed Tomato Pasta and Apple Crisp. Kellam also recommends the Bean Goulash and Hot Fudge Cake.

A most interesting kids' section includes recipes for snack foods, Christmas ornaments, play dough and "slime," a particular favorite of Kellam's.

Humor is a delightful part of this cookbook, too, with many anecdotes and funny caricatures.

-Merri Lou Bailey Dobler
Correspondent, The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington
January 19, 2000

It's not always easy to find truly great frugal cookbooks, but I can safely say that Not Just Beans: 50 Years of Frugal Favorites by Tawra Kellam is one of the best frugal cookbooks I have ever read. Jam-packed with over 500 recipes and scores of helpful hints and tips, this cookbook is more than a collection of recipes- it's a guide to getting started on the road to frugality.

And why not start your journey of frugality in the kitchen? Tawra Kellam has incorporated a lifetime of frugal cooking into the pages of this unique and useful cookbook. Many of these recipes were handed down from her mother, a veteran tightwad who raised two teenagers on a monthly income of $500 a month. I was thrilled to find a vast collection of recipes ranging from basic soups and sauces, to gift mixes and kids crafts. Personally, I think I gained 10 pounds reading through the candies section, which includes homemade turtles and chocolate truffles! Yum!

What I love most about Not Just Beans is the incredible array of frugal tips and lists for everything from frugal lunch ideas, to freezing meals, to saving money on herbs. The tips are clever, well-organized, and easy to read. The book really drew me in with the helpful hints on how to save more at the grocery store and how to plan meals, and I especially enjoyed the ideas on gift baskets. Some of the tips are old favorites that I've done for years, but I also found tons of new ideas in Tawra's book.

I'd recommend this cookbook to anyone who would like to save money in the kitchen while still eating delicious, easy meals. If you like the Tightwad Gazette Books, you'll love Not Just Beans. Tawra's book is fun, helpful and encouraging. I plan on using many of her recipes in my future once a month cooking sessions here at home, and I'm so glad that I don't have to go all the way to Tawra's home in Idaho to try these great recipes!

This is a delightful, easy-to-use collection of more than 540 family recipes handed down from three generations of the Kellam family. A must for the cook who desires to have a resource of frugal recipes at her fingertips. Lots of good information!

Great inspiration, more than 400 clever and helpful tips and techniques and a good dose of humor go along with these "down home" recipes.

Tawra Kellam explains how to tighten your food budget and shares her secrets of how she spends $125 per month feeding her family of four.

This is the first cookbook I have read that made me chuckle from cover-to-cover -- starting with the cute picture on the front!

When people kept asking Tawra Jean Kellam how she could successfully feed a family of four on $125 a month, she responded by writing a cookbook to prove her point.

Titled "Not Just Beans: 50 Years of Frugal Family Favorites," the 268-page spiral-bound, soft cover cookbook is a collection of frugal recipes and tips from the cooking expertise of three generations of Kellam's family.

"I've always been frugal," Kellam explained during a telephone interview Feb. 19. "My mom raised my brother and myself on $500 a month after my father left She was good at making things stretch, but not making us feel deprived. Most of the recipes in the book came from her and my grandmother.

Kellam lives in the tiny farming town of Nezperce, located on the Prairie between Lewiston and Grangeville, She and husband, Michael Kellam, have two small children. Her mother, Jill Cooper, lives across the street and is helping market the self-published cookbook that came out in October.

The 27-year-old Kellam was born in Colorado and raised in Kansas. When the couple decided to pull up roots, they "put their fingers on a map" and decided, "we're coming to Idaho." We had friends and family in Craigmont, so it's worked out well," she said.

Mike Kellam, a video producer at Washington State University, was recently laid off from his job in Pullman. Its helped having a wife who knows how to stretch a buck.

'In addition to cooking, I enjoy the challenge of developing new ways to save money and reduce personal debt," Kellam said. "In the last five years, my husband and I have paid off $20,000 worth of medical and credit card debts on an average income of $22,000 per year. Through my book, I show some of the ways we did it."

"Not Just Beans" includes more than 540 recipes and 400 tips such as how to creatively use leftovers, how to save more at the grocery store, planning meals, and lunch and snack ideas.

"When we purchase anything we try to do it on sale," said Kellam, who does most of her food shopping at Lewiston, and more specifically at Rosauer's. "I try to never spend more than 99-cents per pound for meat. We eat a lot of round steak, pork chops and roasts."

Kellam, who suffers from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), is not always as careful as she could be because she's physically not capable of running down bargains at a variety of stores.

Kellam's food budget doesn't allow for snack or convenience foods. Instead, she makes lots of things like cookies and brownies for her family.

"I'm into substituting cheap ingredients for expensive ones," Kellam said. For example, she buys up solid chocolate hearts, Easter eggs, and Santas after the respective holidays, grates them up, and uses instead of chocolate chips.

"I also often use meat as an ingredient rather than a main part of a dish such as in beef stroganoff or stews," she said. "Many of the recipes in the cookbook are adaptations from other recipes I've tried to make frugal."

Kellam attended a vocational-tech school with plans to become a horticulturist. Although she decided against that career, she still likes to garden.

"I plan on starting one (garden) this year and hopefully our food bill will go down even more," she boasted.

Because of CFS, Kellam was forced to complete bed rest before the births of her children.

That's when I came up with the idea for the cookbook," she said. "I was spending a lot of time on the Internet's frugal living board and people kept asking how I kept my grocery bill so low.

Kellam's family laughed when she told them of her plans, reminding her she was a gardener, not a cook.

"I knew I was qualified to write a frugal cookbook," she said. "My goal has always been to cut back on things like groceries so we can spend it on other things like, going out to eat once or twice a month and not having to charge it.

Kellam and her mother are planning on doing seminars to teach people how to shop and cook frugally without feeling deprived. "It's a lost art with this generation," she said.

Kellam is pleased with her first-time efforts as an author, especially since sales are increasing after hawking her cookbook on the Internet, and receiving a couple of good reviews in Colorado newspapers.

"Not Just Beans' recipes are very simple to make and just good down home cooking," she said.

-Vera White
Cookbook Corner Correspondent, Moscow-Pullman Daily News
Moscow, Idaho/Pullman, Washington
March 4&5, 2000

Several weeks ago I was given the opportunity to review a new book. Generally I like to do this sort of thing because I am given the book for free and my only responsibility is to read it. However this day I was exhausted and didn't see myself with any reading time so I turned down the offer.

A couple of weeks later I needed a free book for a project I'm working on and she was generous enough to agree to send one along with one for my review.

I have to say I have never been so excited over a cookbook. This book has recipes on breakfast, bread, soups, candies, desserts and lots more. Included in the book are tips galore! In every section she has ways of doing things better. Her ideas range from leftovers, snack ideas, how to make your own Easter egg dyes and how to make your own copper polish.

Whether you are a novice in the kitchen or have lived in it for thirty years you will find things that will lighten the load of running your kitchen.

My husband and I sat outside the night after we received it and read some of it together and even he was amazed by some of her tips.

Unless you don't spend any time in the kitchen I would highly suggest the purchase of this book.

The best recipes are those that have been time tested. From 50 years of frugal family favorites comes this 270-page cookbook. I guesstimate that this book contains about 500 different recipes along with a good index and numerous tips on saving money, shopping, freezing, and getting your family to cooperate. It is designed so that the book opens completely when lying on a kitchen table. It appears to be self-published and is very well thought out from start to finish.

While I did not have time to cook anything, I will take Tawra's word for it. 50 years of testing and perfecting has got to be good.

-Rick Doble
Editor, $avvy Discount$ Newsletter
Smyrna, North Carolina
February/April 2000

(Not Just Beans) is a combination cookbook/tips collection. It contains over 500 recipes and 400 tips and is the best source I've seen for make-it-yourself foods, simply because of the incredible variety included in the book. The tips for saving time and money are good. Though some are basic, many are unusual, while remaining practical.

I suggest this book as a Christmas gift for young people, married or single, just starting out, or for couples who will be dropping or losing an income, or ANYONE who could use some real inspiration to save money. If you plan to make a New Year's Resolution to save money, the author suggests this book will help you keep it. She's right!

Former Estes Park resident Tawra Jean Kellam feeds a family of four on a monthly grocery tab of just $125 and still manages to cook up a good meal.

In her new endeavor, a cookbook called "Not Just Beans: 50 Years of Frugal Family Favorites," Kellam said she seeks to show others how to do the same.

'I've always been extremely frugal with saving money, but not being cheap about doing it or depriving myself," said Kellam, now of Idaho. "There are cookbooks out there and then there are books on how to save money, but there wasn't a combination of both, so I thought I'd put them together."

Kellam and her husband have two (toddlers) and live on a family income of $22,000 a year. She has made a science out of how to save enough money to be able to stay at home and raise her children.

The idea that there was a need for the book came to fruition in a place most people would least likely trust as the source - the Internet.

While zany chatrooms get the most ink nowadays, most don't know there are places in cyberspace for people who are looking for money-saving tips. Kellam met up with people from frugal-living bulletin boards and chatrooms.

"The one question I kept getting was, "How do I save on my grocery bill?" she said.

Her book lists ways to save more at the grocery store, how to plan meals, how to save on herbs and how long to keep certain foods. It has recipes ranging from simple tacos and fajitas to basic croissants and crepes. Deviled eggs and Hawaiian chicken wings also are among its pickings. Other recipes are included for pickles and dressings, desserts, beverages and soups. A chapter of "Misc. recipes" comes with recipes for jams and marmalades, potpourri and bath salts.

Some of the recipes in the "Kids" chapter are for things such as microwave candy and edible play dough.

The book also includes a recipe for a happy marriage: a cup of consideration, some flattery, a cup of blindness to the other's faults and a dash of cooperation among its ingredients.

Many of the book's recipes were passed down from Kellam's grandmother, through her mother to her, she said.

Lavonne Applewhite, 33, of Reno, Nev., met Kellam on a bulletin board in parentsplace.com more than a year ago.

"She has absolutely saved our lives from drab dinners and scary leftovers," said Applewhite , who has since bought the book. "Everybody's a lot happier around here."

She said the book includes such tips as saving carrot and onion shavings a certain way, which later make for finishing touches to meals. She also said the recipes, are " what real people can do."

Applewhite said the book helped her family to cut $50 off the monthly grocery bill.

"It's very easy inexpensive foods that really appeal to everybody," said Linda Campbell, 50, of Metamora, Mich., who also met Kellam in frugal living cyberspace. "It uses foods you can buy readily anywhere with no unusual ingredients."

Kellam, 27, claims a creed rightfully deserved by anyone who has ever written "homemaker" where they are asked to state their profession.

She likes to say she has a master's in domestic engineering with an emphasis in economics and pediatrics. It's a motto that helped to serve as the basis for her book.

"I don't like being called a stay-at-home mom," she said. "It sounds like my only job is to sit at home. I work really hard raising kids and saving money so I can stay at home with the kids."

"It doesn't always pay, to have two incomes," she said. "I actually 'earn' more by staying home than if I were to actually go out and get a job. Even if I earn $10 an hour, I would spend more in daycare, commuting expenses, clothing expenses and the exhaustion of not being able to be there for my family."

And the pediatrics part? "I say, that just because I'm chasing the kids all day long," she said.

Kellam was born in Boulder and raised in Kansas. She moved to Estes Park for two years before relocating to Nezperce, Idaho.

Kellam doesn't claim to be the best cook, she said, "but all these recipes I can do and they always turn out well.

"I was getting tired of trying all these recipes that are really difficult," she said.

This started out of just basic ingredients and foods that are on sale most of the time."

-Anna Maria Basquez
Reporter, Fort Collins Coloradoan
Fort Collins, Colorado
February 16, 2000

Lewiston Morning Tribune
(This article was a review of three different cookbooks. We have edited it to include only the information about Not Just Beans.)

(Not Just Beans) focuses on ways to cut expenses in your food budget. It's tempting to pigeonhole this volume as one to save until January when the bills start arriving. But it would be a mistake.

Kellam seems to have mastered the art of taking simple foods and turning them into something special. Kellam does her grocery shopping in the area, giving her an accurate sense of what is available around here at low cost.

Each section is sprinkled with money-saving ideas. One of my favorites is where she shows how different splurges -- such as take-out pizza and gourmet coffee -- gnaw into your pocketbook. Ordering one take-out pizza a week, for example, costs $1040 a year. I'm thinking of taping this to our refrigerator.

Finding simples ways to spruce up vegetables without adding lots of cheese is difficult. This recipe turns peas into a special dish. (Halved, the recipe) produced four generous side dishes. Following Kellam's advice, I used store brand peas to save money. I couldn't tell the difference between them and a name brand...

-Elaine Williams
Reporter, Lewiston Morning Tribune
Lewiston, Idaho
December 15, 1999

Tawra Jean Kellam's self-published cookbook "Not Just Beans" is surprisingly good. I say surprising because many self-published works come to me as Editor, but few are worth passing on. Likewise I have read many books on living on one income and money saving tips, but find few new frugal ideas that are not greatly recycled and rehashed. "Not Just Beans" is a fresh voice in a much explored topic.

-Cynthia Edmonds
Editor, The Parenting Pages Newsletter
East Peoria, Illinois
Winter 1999

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