" How to Feed Your Whole Family a Healthy Balanced Diet, with Very Little Money and Hardly Any Time, Even If You Have a Tiny Kitchen, Only Three Saucepans ... - Unless You Count the Garlic Crusher... "

[treacletart]

How to Feed Your Whole Family a Healthy Balanced Diet, with Very Little Money and Hardly Any Time, Even If You Have a Tiny Kitchen, Only Three Saucepans ... - Unless You Count the Garlic Crusher... (Paperback) by Gill Holcombe

Has anyone read this? I'd be intersted to know if it's genuinely useful to families that cook from scratch anyway. Hoping it'll be full of genius ideas, but worried it might just be full of the bleedin' obvious... What do you reckon?

I'm going to order it from the library, it sounds really good. It only costs 65p to reserve a book at my local library, so I try before I buy.

the excerpt looks pretty good to me, we cook from scratch but rarely get more adventurous than porridge for breakfast so the reminders that you can have other stuff, while not earth shattering, are useful all the same. and my 2 would be delighted to discover that cake counts as breakfast even when you're not camping

i use very few recipe books but this looks like one that i might, and could be worth waving under dps nose too.

when i cook which is almost everyday, sometimes 3 times a day, everything is from scratch, just more economical and always been that way, im sure you ladies who do the same know all the tricks and tips anyways, maybe we should write a book!

really like the look of it

Used to liek cooking but time pressures mean I am a lazy cook now...

i think there's a big difference between knowing the tricks and either remembering or having time to do them. a little prompting every now and again can't go amiss.

Doubt there'd be anything in it that you wouldn't get from a MN thread tbh.
Some brilliant tips on Food topic.

Treacletart, I have read this book - well actually I wrote it - and all I can say is, one person's genius idea is someone else's same old same old...

You know how it is. Something that seems obvious to you may not be quite so obvious to someone else - that mum on the recent Jamie Oliver programme who was eating 10 bags of crisps every night, for instance. (Imagine the mouth ulcers that went with that.)

What I was trying to do when I wrote the book (apart from making lots of money, obviously)was to pass on what I knew, i.e. meals my own mum cooked, things I've picked up along the way, stuff I'd worked out for myself - and most importantly, tips that were relevant to mums like me and recipes that really do work.

I think the problem most of us have - apart from shortage of money and time - is lack of inspiration. No matter how much you know or how good a cook you are, there will always be times when your brain just freezes and you can't think beyond cheese on toast or spaghetti Bolognese... again.

So back to your original question - is the book really useful or full of the bleedin' obvious? I don't know. But still, I claim to be the inventor of homemade pasta bake sauce (tomato juice, cream cheese and herbs basically) and the first person to thicken soup with instant mashed potato. Or does anyone else know better?!

I've always used mashed potato/butternut squash/sweet potato to thicken soups and stews .

I was going to buy your book last weekend but our local Waterstones didn't have it in stock and I couldn't remember your name or anything about the title other than 'garlic' .

Will be ordering it off amazon.

Just to add to this, I bought the book when India Knight recommended it in the Sunday Times. I cook everything from scratch anyway, but thought it might be useful to remind me of (cheap) ideas for meals and meal planning.

And, it is very useful especially if you want to cook things that don't involve large lumps of meat - there is a lot of meat in it, but not always great big lumps of steak. chicken fillet etc, so it works out cheaper. It is great for reminding me of things I like to eat that don't cost a fortune, or involve a trip to the deli, or 4 pans and the oven and grill on as well. I've cooked a couple of the cake recipes already (yum, especially the spiced apple cake) and have flagged a lot of the other savoury ones to use when menu planning this week.

So, excellent for basic cookery and for ideas for family food and cakes. And doesn't cost £25 unlike most of the rest of my cookery books.

The honest answer is I'm not sure if I get paid the same amount when a book sells for half price... all I know is I make about 30p per book sold and shops work on a buy-in/send-back basis, meaning they have the right to return unsold copies within a 12 month period. And I only learnt all that last Friday when I met my publishers for a quick lesson on the strange workings of the book trade!

As for thickening soups with mashed potato/butternut squash, etc... doesn't it go lumpy when you whisk it in, or is this something that only works for blended soups? The thing I like about the instant mash is it works for any kind of soup - spicy bean is the one I use it in most - and you can see exactly where you are with it so there's no danger of going over the top and thickening it too much.

Ah. I missed the instant bit.

What's actually in instant mashed potato? (other than the obvious ) I've never used it.

Yes sometimes adding mash makes it go abit lumpy. I blend or just stir it well.

table of contents might be worth a look to see if the recipes inspire you?

Rockface I've just read your book and I really liked it - and was particulary pleased to see that someone else shared my opinion that cake is a valid breakfast( I've been telling DH for years that if he can have jam and buttered toast for brekkie then I can have swiss roll).
I'm a 'cook everyday nearly all from scratch in a hurry before the kids find the biscuits ' sort of gal btw but think this book has cross over appeal. It's got something for people who already peel their own spuds and is definitely of use to anyone trying to move away from a prepacked diet. I've a lot of cookbooks that I like to drool over but I only cook from a select, faff free, few - this book is now one of them.

Thanks very much, I'm really glad you liked the book...

Oggsfrog, I've got no idea what exactly is in instant mashed potato, but it works for me and I'm guessing there's nothing too dangerous....
just looked at the packet in my kitchen; 98% potato, 2% stabilisers and emulsifiers, which sounds about right - and no worse than M&S organic mash in a pot. On the other hand, not for the domestic goddesses among us! (which sadly, is something I'll never be.)

Well I'm willing to give it a bash.

I cook most things from scratch but we get snowed in every winter so it's good to have some new store cupboard essentials to fall back on.

Have ordered book

I needed some inspiration, I think I will put it on my xmas list .

I was annoyed with Jamie olivers ministry of food veg curry this weekend, loads of veg to chop but recipe says to use food processor to chop it all up, which I don't have space for in my kitchen .

OOh that book looks really interesting, think it is on my wavelength. I have always used instant potato to thicken soups..I thought everybody done that ...what other way do you save the soup if it is too watery???.

Rockcake do believe this thread is gonna make you even more sales

rockcake - I've just earn't you another 30p!

I've ordered it as well, looks really good, thank you.

Thanks ladies, looks like I may have made another 30p x 3!

Another way to thicken soups is to mix a lump of butter (say about 1oz/25g) with a heaped tbsp of flour - and some herbs if you like - by mashing them together in a small bowl until smooth, then stirring into the soup over a low heat to avoid lumps. (properly known as a beurre meniere - but doubt that's the right spelling). Could also stir in some gravy granules and add a couple of tbsps tomato puree...

Can't believe someone else thought of the instant mash thickener before me!!!!!!!!

Absolutely love your book and think that you have done a far better job than Jamie Oliver at planning realistic, economical and delicious meals. Congratulations, this is a great achievement.

Ordered it!Sounds really good.Thankyou.

aha! been considering ever since india knight mentioned it in her (otherwise quite annoying) article....wasn't sure but really liked the title But now that i know its been written by 'one of our own' i'm going to add it to my birthday (pre-xmas ) wishlist and make sure i mention it to dh! well done rockcake!!

You're all stars.

Now, has anyone ever had any success with oxtail soup? I've only made it twice and wasn't happy either time; my two boys (15 & 18) ate the lot, but that could have been because they were starving at the time - and the second time I was very heavy handed with the sherry! Any ideas?