I was inspired to write this ninety-page booklet in response to the many pitiful stories I have heard of parents not being able to feed their families. It is full of very basic energy and money saving ideas, recipes for meals, from numerous ways to cook an egg and make hearty soups, to quick main courses, puddings and treats. All are costed out down to the last penny. I have worked on the basis of providing three hot meals a day for two adults and two children.
There are weekly plans of meals for three types of week – a lean difficult week, an in between week and a good week, with a fourth week’s menu left blank for the reader to fill in for themselves. For three meals for seven days for four people the leanest week worked out at £26.15. I am painfully aware that prices have already risen dramatically since I wrote this, but hopefully it will provide relative comparison. I have also chosen foods which required the least amount of cooking time to cut down on use of energy.
The meals are as healthy as possible but I have had to sacrifice a lot of healthier options in favour of folk getting something – anything – to eat. Similarly, I haven’t attempted to cater for different diets, although there are a number of vegetarian meals included for the plain and simple reason that meat is so expensive.
Nor have I included a range of recipes for other cultural sections of our modern society – I was brought up simply and my background in the kitchen is largely north-west English and Welsh – but I am making enquiries and hope to find others who might be able to provide similar suggestions for their cultural backgrounds – then we can all swap and share each other’s ideas!
Apart from bringing together some of the cheapest most basic, easy to assemble/prepare/cook meals, there are also lots of simple techniques for making catering for a family easier. For instance, I supply a basic recipe for cake batter from which, with the addition of one or two ingredients, design of baking tin or ways of decoration, you can produce twelve different kinds of cake, plain or festive. There are simple instructions of how to make your own yoghurt and six delicious recipes for desserts in which it can substitute for cream, the healthier and cheaper option.
Importantly, there are ways in which we can come together and share the work and the cost of cooking our food – pooling kitchen resources for equipment or bulk buying/storage which is more economical, filling an oven with several cakes or casseroles for three families and dividing the cost, purchasing a huge pan and using a single element to cook a massive hearty soup or casserole and then dividing it between several households.
We all love our personal space and privacy, but this winter, perhaps we might consider inviting neighbours or other family members to eat with us, taking it in turns to cook for everyone, or even sit with us for an evening so that only one room in one house needs to be heated. The possibilities are endless for community co-operation, the benefits many. These are unprecedented times and call for unprecedented measures. Come on – it could actually be fun!
Main tip of the day, stop using ready prepared foods and meals! Instead, get the family involved in helping to prepare food and if at all possible, eat at least one meal a day together. Those who don’t help/co-operate don’t eat – it’s as simple as that.
This little booklet is my ‘hug on a page’ to everyone out there who is trying to cope and maintain a decent life – it is far from perfect and it doesn’t pretend to have all the answers, but it gives simple ideas and suggestions and with them comes the possibility of practical action and positive hope – and my love.
THIS BOOKLET IS FREELY AVAILABLE ONLINE OR TO DOWNLOAD AND PRINT. To read the booklet, scroll down this page, or to download a print-ready version, please click here. To print it out as a booklet select ‘booklet printing’ in adobe acrobat – instructions here.
It can also be purchased in paper form for the amount which it costs to print from Herbary Books or Amazon
Please… please…. please share this information and link as widely and exhaustively as you can.
This little booklet is my ‘hug on a page’ to everyone out there who is trying to cope and maintain a decent life – it is far from perfect and it doesn’t pretend to have all the answers, but it gives simple ideas and suggestions and with them comes the possibility of practical action and positive hope – and my love.
Making Much of Little in the Kitchen DISTRIBUTABLE
