The Thrifty Cook Believes in Layers

The Thrifty Cook: Tasty Budget Recipes (food editors of Farm Journal, edited by Nell B. Nichols, 1974) lived up to its name for me.

As you can see, I got it for just fifty cents! Of course, that's because the cover is, as you can see, not in particularly great shape anymore. Apparently someone really didn't like the look of the bowl of soup(?) on the cover and just tore it right off. Now the salad just has to sit there, lonely, by the trivet.

The book mostly caters to traditional Midwest tastes, putting a (very) little spin on them to make them seem interesting.

Want to liven up the old meat-and-potatoes diet?

Add excitement by making instant mashed potato flake volcanoes erupting with mini meatloaves and Velveeta!

Wish you could stretch out the holiday classic green bean casserole to turn it into the main dish?

Add some potatoes and pork chops and it's a done deal.

And if your family is craving sandwiches and you're not sure what you've got on hand, well...

You can always try making a bologna/ American cheese/ kidney bean bruschetta-type thing.

The editors' favorite question for budget dishes, though, seemed to be "Will it lasagne?" The answer must have nearly always been yes. As long as you can add cheese, veggies, and carbs in layers, you can turn anything into lasagna.

The variation most likely to capture my rice-loving heart:

I always thought the big noodles were slippery and unwieldy anyway, so I can almost see myself trying to transform this one into a modernized vegetarian casserole-for-one version (even as you noodle lovers out there boo).

I'm less enthusiastic at the thought of this contender for a Saturday funny name post:

Company Tunasagne is clearly just tuna casserole with lasagna noodles instead of regular egg noodles, but apparently the slight variation makes this homey waiting-for-our-next-paycheck classic company-worthy.

The last one is more traditional-- tomato sauce! Lasagna noodles! But the protein will save money only as long as the price of eggs is low...

And yes, you might note that the memo to meal planner notes another lasagna variation-- this one much more traditional-- that I didn't even bother to include. The Thrifty Cook really thinks lasagne (lasagna!) is the cure for many budget woes.

So now I'm left trying to imagine other budget "lasagne" dinners the book left out. Maybe layers of kidney beans, cottage cheese, polenta, tomato sauce, and mozzarella? Lentils, lasagna noodles, béchamel, and a whisper of Parmesan? The thrifty cook can lasagnify anything.