Better ask your wife if she also has “The joy of Cooking” and “Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook” while you have her thinking about her old cookbooks. Those three cookbooks are the foundation of almost all my scratch cooking. If not, check out the garage sales this summer or used bookstores.
While I think of it I am trying to find a cheap used copy in the English version of a Cuban cookbook called Cocina Criolla by Nitza Villapol. I may have to settle for a Spanish version of the book, since they seem to be cheaper and more readily available. I keep hoping to find a cheap one at a garage sale, but so far no luck.
If anyone on this thread has one, perhaps you would share some of the recipes with us! Cubans use a lot of rice and beans beautifully and really know how to cook cheaper cuts of meat well too, so the recipes would be beneficial to all of us who are cooking frugal menus these days.