I eagerly awaited the arrival of this book to add to my collection of other BBC Good Food recipe books. I have never had a failure with any of the recipes and this book is no exception.
There are six sections in the book:
Feed the family for less
Weeknight wonders
Entertaining on a budget
Money saving lunches and leftover ideas
Thrifty soups and side dishes
Value cakes, bakes and puddings
There are loads of tips to accompany each recipe and each recipe has its own glossy photograph. All the recipes are designed with economy and healthy choices in mind; today I made good for you bolognese sauce using 1lb of mince, 2 courgettes, 4 carrots, mushrooms and gravy granules - I ended up with at least 6 to 8 portions, perfect for freezing.
The recipes make good use of healthy convenience foods such as tomato pasta sauce, tinned lentils, tinned beans etc. A lot of the recipes use basic ingredients you probably already have in your cupboard and fridge.
Today I made sticky chicken stir fry with sesame seeds - it was a big hit with my teenage children, it was great making a simple stirfry sauce from cupboard ingredients plus carrots, and I followed the recipe's recommendations and used turkey to reduce costs further. As a avid soup maker I am thrilled with the soup sections: how about leek, bacon and potato soup, onion soup, carrot and coriander soup, pumpkin soup, tomato and pesto soup? The tomato soup uses 3 cans of plum tomatoes - not expensive fresh ones.
The bake section is good too; I have made plain unadorned chocolate cake using good old fashioned cocoa, nothing about "use 80% cocoa solids etc". The cake was light, moist and tasty.
