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Economy Gastronomy: Eat Better and Spend Less [Hardcover]

Allegra McEvedy (Author), Paul Merrett (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (121 customer reviews)
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Book Description

Publication Date: 27 Aug 2009 | ISBN-10: 0718155726 | ISBN-13: 978-0718155728

The credit crunch is having a massive impact on what we eat. The average family's annual food bill went up by £1000 last year. As the approaching recession forces us to tighten our belts, are we really going to have to face months of grim news with nothing but grim food to sustain us? The answer is 'no!'

Top chefs Allegra McEvedy and Paul Merrett not only show us how to cut our food bills in half, but how we can eat like royalty at the same time. Economy Gastronomy is about planning ahead, shopping well, spending less and using ingredients ingeniously to create flavour-packed food every day.

The 100 delicious recipes cover breakfasts and lunches, snacks and treats, with chapters to show you how to achieve expensive-looking meals without spending a fortune so you can entertain in style and make something from nothing. Detailed recipes reveal versatile skills you can use in a range of recipes. Form meal planning to seasonal shopping, from loving leftovers to store-cupboard basics, the economy gastronomy system combines traditional skills with restaurant flair.

Frequently Bought Together

Economy Gastronomy: Eat Better and Spend Less + Leon: Ingredients and Recipes + Leon: Naturally Fast Food. Book 2
Price For All Three: £34.80

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Michael Joseph (27 Aug 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0718155726
  • ISBN-13: 978-0718155728
  • Product Dimensions: 19.5 x 3.2 x 25.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (121 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 46,266 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

About the Author

Paul Merrett owns and runs the Victoria Pub and Dining Rooms in Sheen. He has been awarded a Michelin star twice, and is the author of Using the Plot: Tales of an Allotment Chef (2008).He was the presenter of BBC Two's Ever Wondered About Food... series, and co-presented a BBC Two ten-part prime-time series called The Best. Paul is married with two children.

Allegra McEvedy co-founded Leon, the award-winning healthy, fast-food restaurant group. In 2008, she was awarded an MBE for services to the hospitality industry. She is the Resident Chef of the Guardian's G2, and writes a blog column for the Observer Food Monthly. Her second book Allegra McEvedy's Colour Cookbook won the IACP 2007 Cook Book award. She was born and educated in West London, where she still lives.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
165 of 171 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Waste not, want not - "let's get in the kitch!" 12 Aug 2009
By emma who reads a lot TOP 500 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book goes with the TV show on BBC2, which aims to create delicious meals that cost LOADS less. Paul Merrett is a chef I've seen before on TV, very accomplished and knowledgeable about food, but his co-author Allegra McEvedy is my favourite of the two. Tall, blonde, and a bit 'jolly hockey sticks', she shortens all her words, exclaiming "let's get in the kitch!" when she wants to start cooking. She just makes it all seem easy and fun.

There are a hundred recipes in the book, balanced between Merrett's, which are slightly more ambitious and restaurant-y, and McEvedy's which are tasty, tasty, tasty. (I'm not sure macaroni cheese with added artichokes is ever really going to make a truly 'cheap' meal, artichokes are just too pricey, but it tastes amazing.) She is the founding chef of London's LEON restaurant chain which specialise in really cheap delicious 'fast food', so she's great at knowing how to do things.

Most of the money-saving ideas are really good, and I'm impressed by the totting up of how much various households saved switching over to Merrett and McEvedy's system. Totally avoiding food waste is the most important element, with bits and pieces being used up to make stock, flavour soups and so on. And also they are great at sneaking illicit vegetables into dishes for kids who refuse to eat them normally.

This would be an okay book if it just put forward the system, but the recipes from these two fine chefs make it a must-have. Brilliant!

PS you can check out some of the recipes on the Guardian website, google Guardian and Economy Gastronomy and you should get four ways of cooking salmon.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars This book will chain you to the kitchen 26 Sep 2009
By S. Miller
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Some good ideas in this book, which I have tried out, and will continue to try. However, the idea of bedrocks that take literally hours to prepare, both in terms of the bedrock, and then many of the tumble-downs - some of which aren't what you would describe as a "meal", eg.coronation chicken - does not appeal. If, like many busy families, you unfortunately don't have time to all sit down to a meal every night of the week, or plans sometimes change, then the bedrock and tumbledowns are also likely to go off.

Unless you have plenty of time to cook, you sit down every night to a meal (which I know we all should), and you don't mind eating the same thing for a few nights on the trot, then I would avoid this book and stick with your Jamie or Gordon quick and easy's.

And since when was it more cost effective to buy, peel and cook kilos of fresh tomatoes, rather than just buy them in a tin?!
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184 of 206 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars A book for non-cooks 16 Aug 2009
By Henry Turner
Format:Hardcover
There's little to learn here for anyone but the least experienced cooks - except for a clear method that the cooks claim will save you money. Most of the recipes here are real standards that anyone with more than a handful of cookbooks will already have. Most recipes are very time consuming and not devised for people with limited time on their hands. The 'system' that McEvedy and Merrett advocate - creating a 'bedrock' meal then for days afterwards eating 'tumbledown' meals (ie leftovers) seems kind of crazy. Yes, leftovers are good, but what's on offer here is endless themes and variations on mince that you're supposed to consume across a week that would ensure that me and my family quickly gave up the will to live (or, at least, to eat). Some of the recipes just look plain ghastly. Anyone for Hot Dog Hotpot (frankfurters, egg noodles, white cabbage and a few other things)? No, I thought not.

There are plenty of other books anyone with a real interest in food will find far more useful: for ecomomy meals try Delia Smith's Frugal Food, Jocasta Innes's classic The Pauper's Cookbook or 101 One-Pot Dishes or even Fay's Family Food; for seasonal approaches try Delia's Summer and Winter, Jeremy Round's The Independent Cook, Hugh Fearnley Wittingstall's The River Cottage Year or Valentine Warner's new offerings. I'd recommend this book only to people who intend to rigorously stick to the 'system,'. It's not a recipe book to dip into if you already have the odd copy of Delia, Nigella or Jamie on your bookshelf.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Very good. Very quick, Very reliable. Very pleased . Super quick . No fuss. Very competitive price wise. Informed when it was available straight away.
Published 13 days ago by Mr. Alan W. Beckley
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant book, totally changed they way I cook
Fabulous! This book has completely revolutionised the way I approach cooking, I eat better and waste far less without spending any more money. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Neil
4.0 out of 5 stars Book
This was an ideal book for a friend as a present they liked it very much
and are using it most days !
Published 3 months ago by Keith
5.0 out of 5 stars cookery
This item was bought for a friend who thoroughly enjoyes cooking and, having seen the series myself is an ideal gift
Published 3 months ago by Mrs. S. Taylor
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
I bought a few of these books to give to my young family to help them learn how to use left overs and make their money go further
Published 4 months ago by michelle sharp
2.0 out of 5 stars Grim down South
Starts well with good advice about how to organise your kitchen, but quickly lapses into River Cottage territory, winding up with a chapter on "Friends for Supper". Read more
Published 11 months ago by Jon Stevenson
1.0 out of 5 stars Economy! not on your nelly
I don't get it, you can't preface a book with a section about planning your meals and call it an economy cook book. Read more
Published 14 months ago by NLP Mum
4.0 out of 5 stars eat better and cheaper
this book from the TV series has helpful advice on making the best use of food and encouraging you to cook at home (instead of raiding the preprepared meals department of your... Read more
Published 19 months ago by ams
5.0 out of 5 stars Economy cooking
I bought this for my daughter-in-law, she was delighted and we all enjoyed the meals she presented us with (even the grandchildren everything). Read more
Published 20 months ago by Spanish Lady
5.0 out of 5 stars economy gastronomy review
excellent book, our family live out of it. we have modified some recipes, the braised beef one by tripling the recipe and ending up with 6 meals for 3ppl each time. Read more
Published on 9 Sep 2010 by J. R. Green
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