Frugal Feasts

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

To be included in this collection, a recipe had to pass several tests.
First, it had to be cheap—no expensive, hard-to-find ingredients.
Next, it had to serve just one person. And finally, it had to be fast to
make (20 minutes or less) without requiring the use of appliances such
as blenders and food processors. Ross imposed these boundaries in order
to aim the work at students, seniors, and others who live alone and lack
the time and/or budget and/or expertise and/or facilities to cook
more-elaborate meals.

Costs are kept down by frequent use of staples such as potatoes, beans,
bread, rice, and pasta. Eggs and cheese often replace meat (but not
entirely). Desserts are not even mentioned.

To ensure that cheap doesn’t mean boring, a “subplot” of
international cuisine runs throughout the book, with each recipe
identified by country of origin.

The recipes require no complicated procedures, and all could be
successfully prepared by a novice cook working in the shared kitchen of
a rooming house.

This is a practical cookbook for students on their own for the first
time, and for bachelors and widowers. Think of it as 101 alternatives to
another peanut-butter sandwich.