DINNER LADY cookbook. Is it any good?

[Gillian76]

Saw this mentioned on another thread. It has great reviews on Amazon. Just wondering who has it and if it's any good?

I've got it and love it - really good for tasty versions of lots of traditional home cooking

Completely agree with Soapbox - it's a great book

Yes I like it a lot

it is very simple fare though so if you're an experienced cook then it might be a bit dull .. but it does tell you quantities for 4 or 96

it is far superior to the Jamie Oliver book in my view (although he wrote the forward to it)

It's great. Some really sensible, easy and normal every day recipes.

yes
cheap t booke poepl often

WTF was that one cod?

Yes, and it's great if you have to cook for 72 as well!

osrry battery going on cordless keyboard And bad typing

BOok epoeple

cheap t booke poepl often

cheap to book people often

cheap the booke people often

the book is cheap so people often

often people cheat the book

I give up

i lent mine to nursery

aha

Often cheaper from the Book People

second helpings is

Both books (Dinner Lady & Second Helpings) are absolutely fantastic and I use them all the time. Much better than most of the cookbooks I've bought which I've ended up using one or two recipes once and never opened again...

Thanks girls. Just what I wanted to hear!

One quick question... I have a dairy allergic DD. Are there a few dairy free recipes or recipes that I could convert. I know it's hard to think when you're not in that 'mode'!

Anyone know about the dairy aspect? Am about to order from Amazon.

Ooops sorry Gillian had them in front of me a minute ago! (doing the week's planning)

There seems to be a fair amount of stuff without any dairy (sizzling sausage, vegetarian beanburgers, ratatouille pasta) but also there is quite a lot of stuff with a cheese sauce or egg or pastry (with butter - presumably you could sub with marg?) or mash mixed with milk/butter (presumably you could just omit that without difficulty) to mean your choice becomes more limited.

As we don't have to worry about dairy (and practically live off the stuff) I'm not really sure what your substitute options are. Would it be worth popping down to the library or a real bookshop to flip through before spending any money on them to be on the safe side?

Looking through again - if you know you can make pastry without butter (I don't know - does marg count as dairy free?! I'm so ignorant, sorry ) then your options widen considerably as there's things like cornish pasties etc.

From a swift glance through I'd say that Second Helpings might have more flexibility for you than Dinner Lady, but not 100% sure. Although Dinner Lady is a bit more basic fare which I end up using more.

Thanks Georgina. Am going to take the chance and order it. I'm quite good at adapting things tbh

I can make pastry with veg fats, yes

Let us know how you get on