Mrs Hartley's Scratch Kitchen book cover

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Mrs Hartley · ebook · 101 recipes · 281 pages

Everyone says make it from scratch. I did the maths.

I took 101 things you keep buying at the grocery store, priced every one against the cost of making it at home, and wrote down an honest verdict: make it, buy it, or it depends. It's all in one big-print, printable book.

✓67 things that really are cheaper at home, from bread and seasoned salt to takeout fried rice, each with the store price and the homemade price side by side.
✓13 things you should just buy, and why. No wasting an afternoon to save four cents.
✓Four real $50 weeks of suppers for two, with the full shopping lists, plus 23 meals that put the recipes together.

~~$54~~$27Half price this launch week

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From the Mrs Hartley's Kitchen channel on YouTube

Let's do the maths

What you pay at the store, and what it costs to make

Every recipe in the book opens with a little ledger like this one. Here are a few, straight from the pages:

Item	Store	Homemade	Verdict
Seasoned salt, 8 oz shaker	$3.12	$0.32	MAKE IT
Frozen chicken fried rice, 20 oz	$6.92	$1.43	MAKE IT
Iced coffee, 48 fl oz bottle	$5.98	$1.40	MAKE IT
Sliced sourdough loaf	$3.62	$0.89	MAKE IT
Coleslaw dressing, 16 oz	$3.42	$0.76	MAKE IT
Burger & hot dog buns	$1.58	$1.85	BUY IT
Fresh butter	$1.15	$2.41	BUY IT
Twenty-minute marinara	$1.97	$1.87	DEPENDS

Prices from Walmart.com, October 2026, for the same amount the recipe makes. Yours will vary a little by where you live; the gap between the two columns is what matters.

Notice the red ones. I won't pretend everything is worth making. When the store wins, I'll tell you so, and you can spend that afternoon on something better.

What's in the book

Everything inside, spelled out

✓Bread (13): an everyday sandwich loaf, sourdough, soft rolls, tortillas, biscuits, and which ones the store does cheaper.
✓Dairy (8): ricotta, condensed milk, whipped cream, yogurt, and an honest word on homemade butter.
✓Sauces (11): teriyaki, BBQ, enchilada, marinara, gravy without a packet.
✓Dressings & dips (12): ranch, coleslaw dressing, honey mustard, hummus, queso.
✓Mixes & seasonings (8): seasoned salt, taco and ranch mix, hot cocoa, pancake mix in a jar.
✓Takeout at home (16): fried rice, orange chicken, pizza night, cold brew, freezer breakfast burritos.

✓Breakfast & lunch (10), the Old Larder (14 + 4 guides) and Sweets (9): granola, cinnamon crunch cereal, pickles, jam, pies and puddings.
✓Shop Smarter: the $40 basket, store tricks old cooks never fell for, and a 30-day grocery tracker.
✓Keep It Fresh: storage times, the freezer guide, what date labels really mean, and a Use-It-Up list.
✓The Thrifty Kitchen: four real $50 weeks, cook-once-eat-three-times, and 20 leftover rescues.
✓Put It Together: 23 complete meals built from the recipes, with page numbers.
✓Big print, made to print: every recipe on a two-page spread so the book lies open while you cook, with tick boxes and room for your notes.

Read the opening pages

Welcome to My Kitchen

Hello, love, and thank you for picking up this book.

A homemade loaf of bread on a wooden board — Bread was never bought below stairs. It was made.

In the great English country houses, the kitchen 'below stairs' (the servants' kitchen, down in the basement) fed a whole household on a strict budget, and it ran on four simple rules. Make the staples yourself. Write down every penny. Waste nothing. Keep a well-stocked larder. Bread, stock, dressings, a good pie crust, a jar of pickles: these were never bought. They were made, cheaply and well, from a few plain things. I call it the Below-Stairs Method, and this whole book is built on it.

Somewhere along the way we started paying for all of it. A carton of broth, a tube of biscuits, a bottle of dressing, a bag of croutons. Each one only costs a few dollars, so it doesn't feel like much. Add them up over a year and it's a great deal of money for things you can make in minutes.

But I won't pretend everything is worth making. Some things are cheaper to buy, and I'll tell you so.

Ready when you are. It lands in your email the minute you order.

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Your order

What you get for $27

✓Mrs Hartley's Scratch Kitchen: 281 pages, 101 recipes, every one priced store vs homemade with an honest verdict
✓The Price List and the Worth It chart: all 101 at a glance, so you know what to make first
✓Four real $50 weeks with shopping lists, plus 23 put-it-together meals
✓Printable pages: 30-day grocery tracker, savings tracker, pantry stock list, freezer inventory

~~$54~~$27one payment · yours to keep

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Right then, love.

A note from Mrs Hartley

"I'd rather you knew the numbers than took my word for it."

Everyone tells you homemade is cheaper. Hardly anyone shows you the sums. So I sat down with a pencil and the grocery prices and did it properly: the store version, the homemade version, the same amount, side by side.

Most of the time homemade wins, sometimes by a mile. Sometimes it doesn't, and I'd be no use to you if I pretended otherwise. That's why there's a BUY IT stamp in this book, and I'm not shy with it.

The recipes are plain and the print is big. Tick them off, write in the margins, and keep a note of what you save. It adds up faster than you'd think.

Mrs Hartley

Before you order

Straight answers

Is a paper book coming in the mail?

No. It's a digital book (a PDF). The moment you pay, it lands in your email, and you can read it on your phone, tablet or computer, or print it at home.

I'm not good with computers. Will I manage?

If you can open an email, you can read this book. Tap the link in your receipt and the book opens. Nothing to install, no account to make.

Can I print it?

Yes. It's laid out in big print to print cleanly at home, the whole thing or just the recipes you're using.

Will the prices match my store?

Not to the penny. The prices come from Walmart.com in October 2026 and vary a little by area. What stays the same is the gap between store-bought and homemade, and that's what the verdicts are built on.

Do I need special equipment?

No. An ordinary kitchen does it: a pan, a pot, a baking sheet, a mixing bowl. Where a blender or food processor helps, the recipe says so up front.

Is this a subscription?

No. One payment, yours to keep. We never charge you again.

What if I lose the file?

Reply to your receipt or write to support@mrshartleyskitchen.store and we'll send it again, free, as many times as you need.

What if it isn't for me?

You have a full 7 days. Reply to your receipt, say it wasn't for you, and you get every penny back. No forms, no questions.