Which cookery writer?

[KurriKawari]

Am a single mum working full time. I seem to cook the same meals every week. I tried Gousto but it's just too expensive. Want to try to meal plan and try some new recipes. Nothing that requires hard to find ingredients that you only use once or food that takes ages to cook. I've bought some Joe Wicks books and I'm really interested in Jack Monroe recipes. Any others people would recommend?

Nigel Slater's "Real Fast Food" is full of interesting ideas, with alternatives for ingredients also. It covers snacks as well as meals, and is ideal for someone who doesn't want to slave over a hot stove. Worth getting from the library if you are on a tight budget, to read for inspiration while you are doing your meal plan.

Living Dead Cakes

Vegan/gluten free

www.livingdeadcakes.co.uk

Delia. She's ace, and provided your oven works is impossible to fuck up.

Can't cook for toffee, but her chicken liver pate won me 2nd prize at the country fair.

I swear by the BBC Good Food website. Thousands of recipes but easy to filter. They have big sections of family meals/one-pot meals etc. which might be a good starting point.

I should add that I probably have over a hundred cookery books but still find myself going back to good old BBC.

This might be of interest to you, OP:

www.thriftylesley.com/what-this-site-is-about/

She's been there, done it all. Full of practical ideas & tips.

And yes to Nigel Slater.

I was coming on to suggest Nigel Slater, his books are just lovely reads, almost like a novel with gorgeous recipes every so often.

I also love Nigella's old school books; have a look in local bookshops and charity shops, they're usually really cheap and her recipes are always gorgeous. I've been making her gnocchi for years and the DC never tire of it.

Online there are lots of Jamie Oliver recipes I use for cooking with the DC and his recipes are always child-friendly. Good Food online is brilliant, too.

I like Lorraine Pascals recipes. I don't know if she's got a book though or just a tv show.

Really unpopular here but I've never had a Jamie Oliver recipe fail .. his Ministry of Food book was great.

You have to be careful- some recipe books you have to be able to cook first! If you can, Nigel Slater is fab. I think for family cooking, Jamie is good- you just have to remember that whenever he mentions a time, double it. I like the 5 ingredients one.

For good ideas Nigellas “Kitchen” worked for me. She has chapters on food she does her families including quick teas and family favourites.

So instead of using mince for burgers which I do weekly ( pork mince with tarragon is a good change up) she does a homemade smokey barbecue sauce in a bun.

I rate Mary Berry’s Complete Cookery book for how to cook and bake everything. Easy to navigate too.

I'm a big fan of Nigel Slater. Interesting takes on classic food.

I learned to cook with one of the Jamie Oliver books and some of those recipes, although simple, I still make today.

For something a little more unusual I also like Ottolenghi.

Old Nigel Slater - the Real Fast Food and the 30 Minute Cook.

Newer Nigel Slater he goes all food writery, everything takes longer to cook, ingredients are more expensive and he starts imagining everyone has a herb garden or some leftover duck in their fridge.

Delia online. No need to buy a book - loads of recipes on her website, they all work, and she is far, far better than Mary Berry.

I enjoy Donal Skehan's recipes. He has quite a few on his website, so you don't necessarily need to buy his books.

His most recent books, though, focus on quick, easy, healthy meals.

I've also bought the Pinch of Nom book and we cook from that most weeks, so would definitely recommend it.

Thank you great recommendations! DD11 is really keen to learn to cook and I get her to help as much as I can, it'd be great for her to learn some recipes too.
Donal does some great recipes on youtube which are worth a watch.

Totally agree re: the BBC Good Food website - you can filter by chef (including Mary Berry, Delia etc) / diet / time to cook.

I have loads of cookery books, but end up searching the website for recipes all the time (more often than cracking open the books). It is a free resource too (well, paid by the license fee I guess) which is fantastic.

You need to buy a subscription, by the NYTimes Cookery section is amazing. The recipes are well tested and there are lots of helpful reviews.

Also, it has a really diverse range of recipes. DD8 has a couple of favourites including North African Meatballs and Harissa spiced chicken.

My favourite go tos:
Delia Smith
Jamie Oliver
Mary Berry
Nadiya Hussain
Nigella Lawson
BBC Food
Tesco - yes, that's right. They have some great recipes online.