Economy Gastronomy - has anyone got the book?

[McDreamy]

Is it any good? I watched the tv programme this week and they talked about a "system" which I have clearly missed by not watching every week. Is it worth investing in a copy?

[McDreamy]

Anyone?

[MadameCastafiore]

Yep - we have been doing it for a week or so - haven't saved anything though as we are pretty good with only buying what we need and not wasting stuff.

Recipes in there are lovely and really not hard.

[GoldenSnitch]

I like the idea but not sure I could live with it long term.

You have one "bedrock" recipe that you make far too much of (the economy being in the scale I believe), then you recreate it into 2 or 3 further meals later on in the week.

The week they had one family eating salmon for 4 different meals really put me off TBH. I could get really sick of salmon if I had to eat like that.

They had beef week too and as we try to eat red meat only occasionally in our house, that wouldn't work for us either.

Have been looking at the recipe book and wondering of it is any good though....

[kathyis6incheshigh]

The consensus on MN seemed to tbe that it makes far more sense to cook something you could freeze and bung the extra portions in the freezer!

[MinkyBorage]

also, the ones I've watched, the family were spending something like £400 per week on food, and using the economy gastronmy system they managed to cut it to something like £150! I spend too much on food, probably less than £150 pw though, and am staggered that they could not have cut the spend by significantly more. From what I can gather it's basically about meal planning. The recipes in the programme don't look that fab.
I bought 'The Kitchen Revolution' which is the same sort of thing, which I like, but haven't really got into it yet. I suspect it's better than EG though.......................................um, after all that, in answer to your op, no I haven't seen the book so have no idea

[TheDMshouldbeRivened]

they never seem to do recipes that are veggie and can be used for several meals.

[kathyis6incheshigh]

You know I'm almost wondering if they originally planned it just as a bog-standard 'Allegra McEvedy teaches people to cook' show but then realised that in the present climate there was a market for shows about cooking cheaply so they decided to put an economy spin on it.... hence said economy spin not being entirely convincing!

[muggglewump]

I missed last night's show, but after the first one, I thought I'd maybe buy the book at some point.
As the second and third shows panned out, I realised that no way in hell would I buy that when on a budget.
FFS last week's show had pernod in a recipe.
I never cook with alcohol. If I can afford it, I want to drink, not eat it, but I could get wine in a few recipes, but Pernod?

Yes, like folks on a budget have that lying around.

The show is a crock of (expensive) shit.

[madameDefarge]

I have to agree with mugglewump. There are so many other ways to cut costs, introduce new foods, this is just nonsense. I have a friend (A SAHD) who feeds his three kids on £35 pounds a week. All fresh veggies, pulses etc. now, I like a bit of meat from time to time, so totally veggie would not make me happy. So I would perhaps push that up to $45.

But I also remember being in a shared house, where we all put a certain amount into the kitty each week, each of us cooked, and it worked.

So maybe a programme about real economy gastronomy? with no rubbish like having pernod in the cupboard.

[kathyis6incheshigh]

mind you the students last night probably would have had pernod in the cupboard, or been able to borrow it from that girl next door, if they had needed it

[madameDefarge]

That poor girl! Or rather, that girl next door smugly thinking what a bunch of twats! I thought she was fab.

[FaintlyMacabre]

I hate this 'how to save money' stuff, which is full of tips like not buying coffee in Starbucks everyday, only having fortnightly manicures, just the one Mercedes etc etc.

Having said that I liked the freezer biscuits idea and may well be trying them.

[McDreamy]

Yes I was liking the frozen cookie dough idea.

[FaintlyMacabre]

The recipe is on the BBC website (along with all the others from the series), so no need to shell out for the book!

[peachygirl]

I've been watching and thought I would pull the recipes I wanted off the website. Some are dishes I would never cook and some look really tasty. Some were really obvious too like the mince recipes in the first programme. I agree I would probably try to cook a bit more and then freeze.

I'm a bit sad there has been no mention of using something like a slow cooker which can help a lot with budget meals. I always manage to freeze at least one portion if not two when I use mine.

We will be definatly be trying the cookies

[GoldenSnitch]

Cookies?

Typically, I seem to have missed the one good recipe!