How it works
- You pay once.Card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or PayPal. No account to make, no subscription.
- The book opens.A download link comes up straight away, and a copy lands in your email within a minute.
- It stays in your email.Read it on your phone, tablet or computer, or print the page you’re cooking from. Nothing ships.
The math
Seven suppers for two, two ways
Eating them at a diner
- Sunday and Monday suppers, 4 plates at about $15$60
- Tuesday to Thursday, 6 plates at about $15$90
- Friday and Saturday, 4 plates at about $15$60
One trip to the meat case
- The week’s shopping, every item priced$76.40
- Left over for next week (broth, eggs, butter, kraut, bread)$20.89
- Used for 14 plates, about $3.97 a plate$55.51
You keep about
$154 a week
Nobody eats out every night. But cook just one supper for two from the book instead of eating it at a diner once a week, and that’s about $1,100 a year. The book costs $27, once.
The right-hand week is the real costed week on page 14 of the book: pot roast, hot roast beef sandwiches, roast chicken, liver and onions, hash and eggs, chicken salad, pork and sauerkraut. The diner column uses about $15 a plate before tax and tip, an estimate for October 2026. Your prices will differ.
What you were told, and what the counter did instead
“Meat’s too dear to eat every day now.”
One bone-in pork shoulder makes 8 plates at about $1.65 each. p. 22
“Steak is the good cut.”
Chuck, round and shoulder have more flavour. They just want the afternoon. p. 12
“Cooking for one isn’t worth the trouble.”
Every recipe makes 2 plates, with a line for one and what to freeze. p. 9
“A proper breakfast comes out of a box.”
Eggs goldenrod on toast, about $1.25 a plate. p. 48
“Feeding the whole family on Sunday costs a fortune.”
Ten Sunday dishes for six or more, each one costed. p. 228
Real pages from the book
Look inside
What’s inside
| # | Part | Page |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Cheap Cuts. Cheap cuts better than steak, and a costed week | 12 |
| 2 | Lunch-Counter Breakfasts. Forgotten breakfasts from the counter | 40 |
| 3 | Lunch-Counter Sandwiches. The counter’s sandwiches, hot and cold | 64 |
| 4 | Blue-Plate Suppers. The hot-plate board, Monday to Friday fish | 88 |
| 5 | The Slow Cooker and One Pot. Dump it in and walk away | 111 |
| 6 | Eggs, Beans and the Canned-Goods Shelf. Eggs, beans and cans when meat is dear | 135 |
| 7 | The Air Fryer. Air-fryer suppers for one or two | 158 |
| 8 | No-Cook Plates for Tired Days. Full plates with no stove on tired days | 182 |
| 9 | Snacks That Hold You Over. Snacks built on eggs, beans and cheese | 206 |
| 10 | The Sunday Table. Feeding six to twelve on Sunday | 228 |
A few things you’ll find
- The cheap roast that beats steak, if you give it the afternoonp. 19
- Eight plates of pork from one shoulder, about $1.65 eachp. 22
- Why the counter soaked its liver in milk firstp. 36
- Goetta: the pork-and-oats breakfast from downriverp. 50
- City chicken, the wedding dish with no chicken in itp. 93
- A dozen hard-cooked eggs, about 40¢ a platep. 208
- Taking apart a store rotisserie chicken for four platesp. 192
- Pickled eggs the safe way, kept in the fridgep. 212
- Creamed chipped beef on toast, the mill-shift breakfastp. 44
Plus safe temperatures and keeping times, my meat-counter price guide, a printable shopping list and week planner, a cost-per-plate worksheet, a freezer log, an index by what goes into each dish, and an index of the cheapest plates.
Get Pennies a Plate
Pennies a Plate
- 100 recipes in 10 parts, breakfast to Sunday dinner, each with exact amounts, times and the cost of a plate
- One trip to the meat case worked into seven suppers for two, every item priced
- Two plates as written, with a line for one and for a crowd, and what freezes
- My mother’s lunch-counter card beside the old dishes, with what a plate cost her then
- My meat-counter price guide, shopping list, cost worksheet and freezer log, ready to print
- PDF + EPUB, large type, for phone, tablet, computer or e-reader
- Every future edition free
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Coming next: Pennies a Slice, the pies, cobblers and puddings from the counter’s pie case, costed by the slice. Buyers hear first.
How the book was made
Over the store
I grew up over my parents’ grocery in a river town in Ohio. My father cut meat at the back. My mother ran a six-stool lunch counter at the front from 1952 to 1978.
I washed dishes there at ten. In 1975 I took over the meat case, and I ran it for forty years.
My mother kept every dish on a card in a green tin box, with what one plate cost her pencilled in the corner. When prices went up, she crossed it out and wrote the new one.
I went through that box, cut the dishes down to two plates, added the cheap-cut suppers I’ve cooked all my life, and priced every one at today’s store.
Mena Kessler
What this book won’t do
It isn’t fancy.
This is lunch-counter and home food. Some plates are brown on brown, and I say so.
Not every plate is pennies.
Beef is dear now. A chuck roast plate runs about $4. That’s why half the book is chicken, pork, eggs, beans and cans.
Prices move.
I priced everything at ordinary stores in October 2026. Your store and your week will differ, so there’s a worksheet for your own prices.
It’s not a diet book.
Protein here means the meat, eggs, beans and fish a meal is built on. No nutrition figures, no health promises.
The Counter Promise
Cook from it for a few weeks. If it isn’t for you, email me within 30 days and you get every cent back. No questions. Keep the book.
Questions
What exactly do I get?
A cookbook of 100 recipes in 10 parts, as a PDF and an EPUB, plus printable sheets at the back. You download it straight after paying and it’s emailed to you too.
Can I read it on my phone?
Yes. The type is large, and the contents are clickable: tap a recipe and you’re there.
Can I print it?
Yes. Print the whole book or just the page you’re cooking from. The shopping list, worksheet and freezer log are made to fill in with a pencil.
Is there a paper copy?
Not at the moment. It’s a digital book, so you can print as much of it as you like at home or at a print shop.
What happens when the clock runs out?
The $27 price is held for you for 90 minutes from your first visit. After that, the book is $37.
Is this a subscription?
No. You pay once. Nothing renews and nothing ships.
I cook for one. Will it work for me?
Yes. Every recipe makes two plates as written, with a line for one, and it tells you what freezes. The Sunday recipes make six, with a line for two.
Do I need a slow cooker or an air fryer?
No. Those two parts use them, but most recipes need only a stove, an oven, a skillet and a pot. A meat thermometer is the one tool I’d ask you to buy.
Is it safe?
Every recipe gives the USDA safe temperature and keeping times. It’s a home cookbook, not medical, nutritional or dietary advice. If you’re on a special diet, ask your doctor what suits you.
I lost the file. What now?
Search your email for the receipt, which has the download link, or write to contact@menakitchen.com and you’ll get a fresh link.
Cook it the way the counter did.
100 recipes, every one costed by the plate, for one, for two or the whole Sunday table.
Pennies then, and pennies now, done right.