To think Pinch of Nom is not that amazing?

[GallbladderWoes]

Probably an unpopular opinion, but I had 2 PON books for Christmas, and a lot of the recipes aren't great, and a lot are very basic!

Don't get me wrong there's some good ones but the diet cola Chinese chicken takes ages when there's much easier ways to make a tasty, healthy low fat Chinese, and tonight I made the ham and potato cakes as "an easy dinner" and they have basically been a massive faff and all fallen apart.

Gahhhh.

So frustrating when you try a new recipe and it’s rubbish! I’ll give those ham and potato cakes a swerve, thanks for the heads up
I’ve voted YABU though because I’ve loved the PON recipes I’ve tried including the cola chicken - I’m not a great cook though so basic recipes are definitely my limit..!

Completely overrated IMO

I found the majority of the recipes uninspiring, but one of my friends swears by the books. Although the Cheeseburger Pasta Bake looks good.

Much prefer the Hairy Dieters, the recipes make me want to try them.

The 2 or 3 you see advertising the book look great. Then you buy it and realise all the other recipes are pretty crap qnd basic. YANBU OP

I always think a recipe book is worthwhile if you add one new recipe to your collection. I think I got one nice recipe our of the PON book I got last year. Can't remember what it is though

Yanbu. The recipes are full of awful ingredients as well. Like artificial sweeteners etc.

You'll find a lot of the recipes are copied from other blogs, the cheeseburger pasta for example is off slimming eats.

I have all 4 books, I enjoy looking for new ideas but usually stick to the same recipes I know the family enjoy.

Thanks for this. I was looking at this or the slimming foodie. Does anyone know if that's any better?

@Cheeseycheeseycheesecheese

I found the majority of the recipes uninspiring, but one of my friends swears by the books. Although the Cheeseburger Pasta Bake looks good.

Much prefer the Hairy Dieters, the recipes make me want to try them.

Ooooh I need to look at the Hairy Dieters, thank you!

This is going to sound awful but I don’t think it’s a ringing endorsement of their “slimming” recipes that they’re a few books in and still large.

I’m fat myself and there’s nothing wrong with being fat, but it seems a bit disingenuous to claim that your recipes are slimming when you haven’t had much success with them yourself

I liked the blue and green ones, not too keen on the orange one and have only had a quick flick through the new one but nothing particularly caught me eye.

Glad to see I'm not alone!

I like a lot of the recipes and they're on my list of regular meals. I've just ordered the next book so hopefully i will find some nice ones. I do prefer real books too online - especially blogs where you have to read their life story before getting to the ingredients list

I haven't got any of these books so can't comment specifically (except the title makes me want to vomit) but in principle I WANT pretty basic recipes that I can add to my normal repertoire. I don't want stuff with 90 ingredients that takes ages to make, just staples that are quick and easy.

@Needcoffeecoffeecoffee

Thanks for this. I was looking at this or the slimming foodie. Does anyone know if that's any better?

I haven't tried either but I did read an interview with the POM women and they seem to produce these slimming recipes without actually losing any weight themselves so that doesn't seem like a good advert. Unless I'm missing something.

I like the books. DH and I both really like to cook and we throw1 or 2 PON recipes onto the weekly meal plan each week for an easy night as they tend to be fairly light on ingredients and easy to throw together (although your experience sound much like the time I made the veggie burgers). Basically avoid anything you have to squash into a burger shape it seems

Also, I think the portion sizes are massive. We are quite big eaters but even though the recipe says feeds 4, there's usually at least 1-2 portions leftover and that's with feeding 4 of us.

We had their spicy sausage pasta tonight - it's lovely but more or less the same as BBC one. Just tells you to use fewer sausages!
I have never bought the books. I have browsed through them and there are too many pudding and treat recipes for me. As far as I know, all their recipes are on their website but you do have to scroll past lots of adverts.

YANBU. Many of them aren't that tasty and certainly not creative. Also tbh if I try to lose weight, I'd like to follow recipes of someone who was/is on the same journey and is successful or someone who has always looked after their health. Whilst you could see the effort and success for example with HB, I'm not convinced when it comes to PON. I don't like the dishonesty of selling uninventive receipes that don't assist with weight loss wrapped up as something totally opposite.

Hairy Bikers diet beef Madras is the business.

YANBU I made the hunters chicken pie for our dinner this evening. Had to read it several times but they wanted to mix the bacon in with the mashed potato topping… I did it my own way.. it was ok.. but took over an hour to make and then bake in over.. I can’t be bothered to do that after being at work all day too!

I really like slimming foodie - where I have made a lot of recipes and slimming eats also I do have PON books- i don't think they are bad but fewer great recipes for us than the other two. One of the books - the pink one i think really didn't like - the new one has lots of slow cooker recipes that I hope will be good.

I agree, gave my copy away the same day I bought it.

@CatJumperTwat

I haven't got any of these books so can't comment specifically (except the title makes me want to vomit) but in principle I WANT pretty basic recipes that I can add to my normal repertoire. I don't want stuff with 90 ingredients that takes ages to make, just staples that are quick and easy.

Fully recommend the hello fresh recipe book. All recipes are pretty basic, straightforward and nice, they do sometimes lack a bit something something, but they're not hard to change to suit your tastes. Mines covered in notes.