The Frugal Housewife
The Frugal Housewife was the first American cookbook to replace Amelia Simmons’s American Cookery, still in use since publication in 1796, and it was also the first to emphasize the themes of thrift and economy in the kitchen.
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 19th century emphasized frugality in the kitchen and self-reliance in the household—making this work wildly popular in its day. It had over 35 printings, and much of the content is relevant in modern times. Frugal Housewife was the first American cookbook to replace Amelia Simmons’s American Cookery, still in use since publication in 1796, and it was also the first to emphasize the themes of thrift and economy in the kitchen.
Considered a “must-read” for every new bride in the 19th century, 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, plus numerous practical, Yankee-straightforward tips for saving money. Not just a collection for antiquarians, The Frugal Housewife is a fascinating work by a prolific author 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.
Born in 1802 in Massachusetts, Lydia Maria Child was an American writer and journalist, and she was widely known as a social reformer. In 1833 she authored An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans, which was the first anti-slavery work published in the United States. Besides her abolitionist reform, Child was also an activist for women’s rights and Indian rights. She wrote the Thanksgiving poem “Over the River and Through the Wood,” which is still recited today, as well as the works Hobomok: A Tale of Early Times, The Mother’s Book, and An Appeal for the Indians. Child died in 1880 at the age of 78.
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