Sandra Lee »
Sandra Lee’s Money Saving Meals: FNH Review
Published on: May 11, 2009 – 8:12 pm by Jillian Madison 
Comment
The Food Network has been billing Sandra Lee’s Money Saving Meals as a show that will help viewers save time and money by offering “unique ideas for savvy supermarket shopping.” Sounds great in theory, but did it deliver? We don’t think so.
In this weekend’s premiere episode, the advice dispensed was neither “unique” nor “savvy.” Instead, Sandy delivered obvious, generic money-saving tips that most of you probably picked up from your parents when you were 8 years old. Let’s briefly revisit Sandy’s groundbreaking tips from the premiere episode:
TIP #1. BUY STALE BREAD, because stale bread is cheaper (as we all said in the 80s, “NO DUH”)
TIP #2. BUY IN SEASON (how revolutionary!)
TIP #3. USE LEFTOVER INGREDIENTS THE NEXT DAY (who’da thunk it!)
TIP #4. BUY STORE BRANDS, they are cheaper (no way!)
Wait, what’s going on? Why is Sandra Lee suddenly promoting store brands? Did she really expect us all to forget that she’s been dissing them for years? She practically built her Semi-Homemade career by convincing people to avoid store brands because they’re of a “lesser quality” than premium brands. And let’s not forget that her Semi-Homemade magazine has been blurring the lines between advertising and editorial since it hit the newsstands earlier this year! I’ll take hypocrisy for $500 please, Alex.
The Good: The show isn’t all bad. The Money Saving Meals set is light and bright, and thankfully, isn’t cluttered with Dollar Store knickknacks like the Semi-Homemade set. Sandra Lee doesn’t excitedly scream the word “russsssipies” every 7 seconds, there are no tablescapes to speak of, and the meals she prepared actually looked… edible. She’s coming across as far less annoying, and looks quite comfortable in front of the camera. The show itself is glossy and well done, but shouldn’t it be for all the money the Food Network is dumping into it?
The Bad: Sandra’s obvious tips were not very unique. For a show that is supposedly solely about saving the viewer time and money, they’re going to have to do better than “buy stale bread” and “buy store brands.” Also, the loud, tacky disco background music has got to go. (And is it me, or does the intro theme song sound exactly like “Good Times” by Kool and the Gang – yet somehow different enough to spare the Food Network from having to pay royalties?)
The Ugly: The whole Money Saving Meals concept seems inherently gimmicky. At the end of the day, the show is basically just a re-branded version of Semi-Homemade, with incessant VH1 Pop-Up Video messages and dollar signs splattered all over the place. When the show ended, we felt tremendously underwhelmed – but will stick around to see if the show finds its groove. What did you think? Will you watch again?
Other posts on Food Network Humor:
---Top 10 Money Saving Tips From Sandra Lee---Sandra Lee’s Money Saving Tips O’ The Week
---The Ten Commandments Of Money Saving Meals
---SANDRA’S MONEY SAVING MEALS: Coming Soon
---More Dumb Advice From Sandra Lee
I didn’t see anything very exciting about the episode. AND stale bread is only good for French Toast – won’t be very good for a sandwich! And is it me, or was she looking oddly Mystic-Tanned? As in, radioactive Cheeto colored?
*yawns*
Had much the same reaction – not many tips I didn’t know about already. But I’m not blowing off the show entirely after one episode – I’ll see what else Aunt Sandy has up her sleeve.
The show and the recipes were a bit of a snore, but Sandy used more real food in this segment than any 5 of Semi-Ho’s, and that is not a bad thing. However, not counting the cost of a some of the ingredients because they were “pantry items” is misleading, and the number-crunching wasn’t really accurate either. But at least, with this show, TFN is trying to respond with something of interest to the viewing public instead of another inane reality show.
I have to say that Sandra Lee did not look well at all. She was scrawny-skinny to the point of emaciation. Even her boobs were gone. Has she been ill?
I’m just happy there are no tablescapes. That stuff really got under my skin. I’m going to keep watching but I was not really impressed with the first show.
I bet one of her next “tips” is to use coupons and watch for sale items.
Tatiana: I too noticed that Sandra Lee looked ill–however I think her dependence on preservative loaded foodstuffs might have something to do with her appearance. It looks a lot like withdrawal symptoms to me.
It was horrid! Did you catch Aunt Sandy’s claim of $1.66 to make homemade pie crust? I about passed out from laughing so hard at her claim. Put down the cocktail and pick up a calculator!
@Tatiana: I noted that as well.
After watching about 5 minutes of this stupid show, I turned it off. I got the same creepy feeling watching this show as I did with Semi-ho. My impression is that FN is sinking to the lowest common denominator. There is no value in this and about 95 percent of all the other shows they air. So here is my money saving tip: turn this crappy show off and save 30 minutes of electricty.
OMG, I just noticed actual _fresh fruit_ on the counter behind her.
I watched, and will watch again, but after the lunacy of the Semi-Ho show, this is pretty tame stuff.
Very lame indeed. She crowed about how much money she saved, but did anyone check the nutritional content of that bruckfist? Yikes. And with the variance in prices around the country, the whole thing of showing the “savings” is ridiculous. And next episode she’s going green? That ought to be good.
Didn’t even watch it and had a feeling it would blow. Good ol’ Aunt Sandy clawing at her scraps of fame. :|
in my opinion, sandra is an honest person with many new ideas. no. i have not tried all of her recipes, but i feel that the people who write such scathing comments are either jealous or have nothing better to do. if you do not like her or her show — why do you watch??
Marie, that’s the most unoriginal comment in the book. Just because people don’t like someone doesn’t mean they are jealous. It means they have an opinion, which they are entitled to.
I am of the opinion that Sandra Lee’s new show is wretched, with ridiculous ideas that are simply common sense to people with an IQ above 27.
Well, watching Sandra Lee is like watching the SNL’s Samurai Deli or the Muppet’s Swedish Chef – it’s hysterically silly. And, like the others, you don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s about real cooking or real food.
Marie, you sound like an inexperienced cook. That is the only reason I can come up with for your thinking Sandra’s ideas are new or even particularly sound cooking science (because they are not).
you ladies (?) all need to ‘get a grip’. don’t watch something that you do not enjoy.. .. as for your assumption that i am an inexperienced cook, you are totally wrong. please do not be such a bunch of ‘negative nancys’ !!!
Marie, you obviously opened the wrong door…Food Network Sycophants is 2 doors down and on the left, just past the vending machines…this is Food Network Humor, dear, where snarky observations are served up hot n’ fresh 24/7…please don’t attempt to fuck with this recipe as it’s a winner…toodle-oo, “Morose Marie”
She MAJORLY looks positively EQUINE with that HORRIBLY UGLY HORSE FACE!!!!!
He whose name must not be spoken and Jillian Madison said it best thank you very much.
The show works for me. Regardless of the fact that her tips aren’t unique and savings may not be exact, her recipes work for me. I am a 23 y/o INEXPERIENCED cook, dont like to spend alot of time in the kitchen, and I dont like a thousand crazy foods in my recipes. This show(and semi-ho) is corny but its great if you’re like me and love the 49 cent mac and cheese from the box. If you’re anything other, then I agree, its not for you. Im just glad they have a show (Thank you Rachel Ray and Sandra Lee) for people like me who would rather spend 40 bucks for groceries in a week rather than 100 and still get something thats easy and tastes pretty damn good!!!
Oh, and I dont give a shit if its fresh!
Hofmeister, Sandra DOES put a thousand crazy foods INto her russipees; just watch the crazy bitch.