Web offers a feast of frugal meal ideas Internet offers meal ideas as food costs climb

At www.allrecipes.com, traffic to low-budget and quick-and-easy recipes has nearly doubled over the last three months. Www.thriftyfun.com recorded more than 4 million page views in March, almost twice the number than in the same month last year. And www.hillbillyhousewife.com, not known for recipes involving truffle oil or sauteed chanterelles, has more visitors too.

People who get a kick out of saving are eager for ideas.

"We've had more tips than at any other time in our site's history," said Jessica Stewartmaize, editor at ThiftyFun, which began in 1997 as a weekly e-mail newsletter called the Coupon Clipper and evolved into a website two years later.

It's quite a departure from the old days -- a couple of years ago -- when it was "an embarrassment" to talk about being a penny pincher, said Pamela Munro, an actor and ThriftyFun blogger who lives in Hollywood. "You were supposed to spend money, not talk about how to save it."

Now people proudly swap ideas about how to freeze cabbage (it can be done) or make a spam casserole (there are many variations) or make powdered milk taste better (add a dash of vanilla). Food frugality is as in as chateaubriand is out.

"All of a sudden, it's more than acceptable," Munro said. "It's downright trendy."

Trendy enough that Munro thinks she'll have buyers for a book she's writing, tentatively titled "Frugal Fun in Hollywood." (For the record, Munro eschews "dowdy frugality," as she put it. Why make a potholder out of old jeans when you can by a perfectly fine potholder at the 99 Cents Only store? Do you not have something better to do with your old jeans? Or your time, for that matter?)

The average cost of basic groceries, including rice, flour and milk, has been climbing this year at an annual rate of about 5%, according to the Labor Department, the sharpest increase in 18 years.

"I refuse to spend $4 on a loaf of bread," said Andrea Garza, who lives in Sanger, east of Fresno, and feeds her family of five for about $75 a week. "I'm just not going to do it when I can make it for 30 cents."

In fact, Garza makes practically everything -- tortillas, pancake mix, jellies, maple syrup, even laundry soap. She has eight chickens, which solves the egg problem. She doesn't own a cow, so she buys powdered milk, acting on advice she found on HillbillyHousewife.