Economy Gastronomy - new budget cookery programme; BBC

foxgloves

Yes, I do remember the Sophie Grigson programme. I also borrowed the book from the library when it first came out and I still make the carrot & garlic chutney. It makes loads....about 10 jars, I think, and although I prefer my other chutney recipes, this is the one my husband always goes on about. He was dolloping it on curries, salads, having it in sandwiches, on cheese on toast, you name it, somehow he'd be incorporating it! She also did an earlier programme which we both liked called 'Grow your own, eat your own'. You know, with all the renewed interest in home veg growing, I don't know why one of the channels doesn't show this programme again.

foxgloves

Sorry, me again! Just wanted to add that I have seen both these books in 2nd hand bookshops. The Oxfam 2nd hand bookshops which only sell books, CDs, DVDs, etc, are often brilliant for finding this sort of stuff. I can't resist looking through all the old cookery books!

sandraroffey

charity shops and cook books go hand in hand. i collect cookery books and always buy them in the charity shops. i have over 300

sandraroffey

quick PS to my previous post. ebay has lots of the sophie grigson book on starting at around 1.99

zippychick

purpleivy wrote: »

I plan to put blobs on a magic carpet and open freeze, then bake them when I need them.

Is this cockney rhyming slang?:rotfl:

Sorry, what is the magic carpet thing?

thriftlady_2

valk_scot wrote: »

Anyone else remember the program and cookery book from 1999 by Sophie Grigson, called "Feasts for a Fiver"? .

Yes, I remember this one and the book is good too. The emphasis was much more on her cooking for and with the families and not on examining their spending habits. It was just 'Here I am at so and so's house and we're going to make a meal to suit this family' and that's what she did -no 'reality element' to it. Much more to my taste.

The menus in the book are arranged seasonally and there are some lovely combinations. I regularly make the orange, cardamom and rhubarb jellies.

rosieben

I'd like to know what a magic carpet is, too

jaytin

I bought a cookbook a couple of years ago called The Kitchen Revolution, some of the ideas in the book were very similar to the Economy Gastronomy ideas, making one big meal which then gave ingredients for other meals particularly. Every week you had a Big Meal from Scratch, (usually sunday) Something for Nothing 1 and Something for Nothing 2, (using big meal leftovers) A Seasonal Supper (quick seasonal mid-week meal), Larder Feast, (using store-cupboard ingredients) Two for One (makes two portions, one frozen for the following week) Lazy day Supper (uses the preceding week's leftover Two for One meal) There were some good recipes in it, but some had expensive ingredients and some of the Something for Nothing meals needed an added ingredient such as mackerel fillets which meant it wasn't really something for nothing. Also I spent a lot more time in the kitchen because the recipes were unfamiliar, but it did teach me a few new recipes which we still use.The system was very similar to the one they now use in Economy Gastronomy.

thriftlady_2

rosieben wrote: »

I'd like to know what a magic carpet is, too

I think it is that reusable baking liner stuff you can get at Lakeland. It's jolly useful;)

helyg

valk_scot wrote: »

Anyone else remember the program and cookery book from 1999 by Sophie Grigson, called "Feasts for a Fiver"? Each week in the program she'd make a two or three course meal for four (or a posh meal for two) that cost only £5. It was a long series and she got round a lot of different households ranging from students to single parents to 2+2 families that didn't know how to cook at all.

The book emphasised...yup, planning, good shopping and cooking from scratch, plus cutting down on wastage. The meals would probably cost more than £5 now, of course. but the ethos was on making the best of high quality ingredients rather than going for the cheapest possible meals. Sound familiar? There's nothing new under the sun, really, just more fashionable chefs.

There's extra home baking and preserving recipes in the book, btw. I'm going to be using the banana teacake recipe today as it happens, given that I've got six over-ripe bananas sitting in the bowl. I've used that book regularly for the last ten years. Definately a recommended buy...it's out of print, but it pops up in the charity shops quite regularly.

I don't remember that one (think I was living in a student flat without a TV in 1999) but I do think that the bedrock recipes on Economy Gastronomy are very similar to the "Family Tree" idea in Jamie's Dinners (2004) where he took one recipe idea and then made a Family tree of things that you could make it into.

Jamie's Dinners is one of my favourite cookbooks actually, it is one that I keep coming back to as there are lots of things in it which are cheap, quick and simple to make and that kids will eat.