Does anyone use the "Kitchen Revolution" book?

[UndercoverMother]

I absolutely love it - no need to think about what to cook, or stress about making the shopping list, no leftovers, yummy food, interesting recipes, a full freezer....I could go on.

HOWEVER, I am not convinced that it is saving me money. Please can someone who also uses it assure me that I am also quids in so that I can enjoy all the pluses listed above AND feel smug that I am saving money too.

Thanks

[lucysmam]

i don't use it & have never heard of it but would be interested to know who it's by/where you got it/how much if you don't mind

[UndercoverMother]

of course...www.thekitchenrevolution.co.uk

I think it is £25 but I got it a bit cheaper off Amazon.

Basically it is a mega menu planner. I read a review by a Guardian writer and couldn't resist it.

[lucysmam]

thanks UnderCoverMother, will have a look at that now, sounds like a good idea

[lucysmam]

UndercoverMother, do you stick to their meal-plans or do you slot your own stuff in too. I think I may be investing in a copy of it as it would save me a lot of hassle food-wise

[UndercoverMother]

I vary - some weeks I stick to it religiously (it does totally work), other weeks I might miss out a meal (normally the larder one cos you don't actually need to buy that much stuff for it anyway, and if you do buy it but don't use it it will be there for another day anyway). On occasion (when broke), and where I think it will work, I have replaced chicken / meat with the same volume of veg.

There are six meals listed for each week so one day a week you can go freestyle, eat out, or in theory eat something from the freezer that you made double of in a previous week.

This week I have LOADS of marrows / corgettes from the garden so I have looked through all the weeks and used them up using receipes but not necessarily from this week.

I know I sounds like I have been brainwashed by a cult but I have hundreds of recipe books and with this one I think I have already recouped the cost the amount have used it.

[lucysmam]

lol, it sounds like a good idea to me. we'd probably find that some of the meals in their quantities would double up for another day so would probably save us some money. it looks like an interesting book, if not to stick to the plans then just for the variety of meals included in it

[bloss]

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[UndercoverMother]

Good luck! I'm sure you will love it. It has totally got me out of the rut of cooking the same old meals time and time again.

Let me know what you think on the saving money side of things once you've got going, I would be really interested to hear if you think it does help.

[littlefrog]

I got it too! We've done one 'bit' of a week once, and thought it was great; however for us using it all the time would probably double our food budget, as it uses LOTS of meat and fish (which we currently have only once a week or so). I also find the cooking quite rich, for day after day.
But I completely agree that it's great for getting you out of a rut. We're going to choose a week to do while we're on holiday (self catering cottage) so we don't have to think, but will eat really nice food.

[UndercoverMother]

Bloss - currently I cook the meals for adults only so can't comment on how they go down with children. DD is only 9 months so while I do often save bits and pieces from dinner the night before for her lunch, she isn't totally Kitchen Revolution-ised as yet (although maybe in a few years!)

I can see that some of the recipes might seem a bit spicy, rich etc, but I haven't seen anything totally outrageous on the menus as yet so maybe your children might go for it if you like the look of the meals?

[lucysmam]

bloss, my lo will try anything at the mo, i'm sure she'll get more picky as she gets older!

I think I'll be asking for it for xmas tbh, but will definately use the website for the mo as inspiration although maybe not sticking exactly to the recipes as I don't think we could afford the variety of different meat/fish it looks like you'd be buying week in week out. Suppose using value brands may cut down a bit though on some costs

[UndercoverMother]

littlefrog - hello! So pleased to meet another convert!

Interesting what you say about the cost, it is such lovely food but sadly I think I have to agree - you do have to pay more for it.

[UndercoverMother]

lucysmam - that sounds like a great plan, it would be a great xmas present I think

[bloss]

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[UndercoverMother]

bloss - they are all for four people (except there is one meal a week where you cook for 8 and freeze half - they call it the "2 for 1" recipe)

In the preamble in the book the authors say that all the recipes will still work if you decrease / increase everything according to your family size

[knat]

just looked at it and quite liked the look of it although there seemed to be an awful lot of ingredients for some of the recipes - can it be cost effective?

[penjo]

I've got this book but haven't 'converted' to their way of cooking 😃
Way back I did add a few different weeks' worth of ingredients to sainsburys online basket (leaving out the obvious storecupboard staples) and it was about 1.5 x the cost of my weekly food shop... and that's just dinners, not allowing for lunch or breakfast. So that put me off majorly.

However I really like the idea behind the book... I struggle with inspiration for weekday dinners so having meals planned out for me, is ideal and the added bonus of seasonal ingredients / using up similar ingredients within the week. Maybe I should give it a chance again...