SALT LAKE CITY — A clip of the TLC reality show "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" is leaving foodies intrigued and disgusted by an "old family recipe" loosely resembling spaghetti — but even more viewers are saddened by and appalled at this glimpse into a cash-strapped family's meager methods of providing food.

The clip shows "Mama June" Thompson preparing dinner with 7-year-old Alana, also known as "Honey Boo Boo." June talks about feeding a large family when money is tight, then shares her "old family recipe" for a dish they call "sketti." The ingredients: cooked spaghetti noodles, margarine and ketchup.

Though the dish is reportedly one of the family's favorites, many viewers of the clip are initially appalled at not only the "sketti" meal iteself but the family's diet in general: Though June says she tries to cook for her family every day, resources are tight and they are saddened by the lack of meat they usually eat from removing deer carcases off the side of the road.

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As Alana quietly noted in the clip, "It's been awhile since I done had road kill in my belly."

"The sketti recipe symbolizes the problems many people have with food in tight economic conditions — not realizing it is often cheaper to eat healthy food than it is to eat unhealthy food," writes Michael DeGroote for the Deseret News. He cites a number of bloggers reacting to the clip with dismay at the lack of knowledge about eating healthy and the reluctance to cook wholesome food.

"Making better food takes some effort and time — effort and time people are reluctant to engage in."

Frugal living blogger Kerry Taylor was among those affected by the clip. "But no matter how hard I tried — and I really did try — I could not stop thinking about this so-called cheap recipe," she writes on squawkfox.com.

So Taylor set out to see if she could make a recipe that was not only healthier but cheaper. Though she lives on an organic farm and grows her own produce, she went to Walmart for her recipe in an effort to level the playing field with the Thompsons'.

Taylor's recipe includes a can of diced tomatoes, olive oil, whole wheat spaghetti, garlic, basil, salt, pepper and chili pepper flakes. While it takes a bit more time and effort than Mama June's "sketti," the pros of Taylor's "Squawketti" are pointedly clear: Sketti has 807 calories and cost 76 cents per serving, while Squawketti has 367 calories and costs just 67 cents.

"Eating cheaply doesn’t mean you have to eat poorly," Taylor said. "Sure, you need to watch your food budget and aim to stock up on staples when they’re on sale. But adding foods with higher nutritional value and preparing more wholesome meals on a tight budget is easy if you use your dang noodle."

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