A collection of recipes, household hints, and thrifty tips that paints a fascinating portrait of American home life nearly two centuries ago.
Published in 1829 in Boston, The Frugal Housewife was written by one of the foremost female writers and social reformers of her time, Lydia Maria Child. The charming collection of recipes and tips for homemakers of the early nineteenth century emphasized frugality in the kitchen and self-reliance in the household—making this work wildly popular in its day, with more than thirty-five printings.
Much of the content is still relevant today in the first American cookbook to emphasize the themes of thrift and economy in the kitchen. Considered a "must-read" for every new bride in its time, The Frugal Housewife offered simple recipes such as Apple Pie, Corned Beef, Gingerbread, Indian Cakes, and Pie Crust, but also included advice on parenting, cleaning, and medical problems, and numerous practical, Yankee-straightforward tips for saving money. Not just a collection for antiquarians, The Frugal Housewife is a fascinating work that will delight modern-day readers with its quaint but still usable recipes and tips.
This edition of The Frugal Housewife was reproduced by permission from the volume in the collection of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1812 by Isaiah Thomas, a Revolutionary War patriot and successful printer and publisher, the society is a research library documenting the lives of Americans from the colonial era through 1876. The society collects, preserves, and makes available as complete a record as possible of the printed materials from the early American experience. The cookbook collection comprises approximately 1,100 volumes
