I would like to acknowledge however that the concept of this show is in direct conflict with her Semi-Homemade show. On Semi-Homemade, Sandra's philosophy was to save time with store-bought ingredients. This usually meant canned, pre-packaged, processed goods. Frankly, sometimes the recipes were a turnoff b/c of all of the processed goods loaded into the dishes. This includes special holiday dishes! On Money-Saving Meals, it's pretty much the polar opposite. I just watched the Thanksgiving episode, and if I remember correctly, everything was fresh with the exception of spice. Her Round 2 recipes (the second half of the show) using leftovers from the 1st dishes only contained pre-shredded cheese as a previously processed item.
She also does a per serving breakdown for each dish to show how much money you are spending/saving, which is fine, but those bits aren't as relevant to me b/c we all have our own tastes and preferred brands, so it may not be as cheap as her dishes.
She still makes cocktails, so that part hasn't changed, but it's difficult to reconcile this show with the Semi-Homemade one b/c her reasoning is completely different.
She also does a per serving breakdown for each dish to show how much money you are spending/saving, which is fine, but those bits aren't as relevant to me b/c we all have our own tastes and preferred brands, so it may not be as cheap as her dishes.
She still makes cocktails, so that part hasn't changed, but it's difficult to reconcile this show with the Semi-Homemade one b/c her reasoning is completely different.
