More with less cookbook

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Hi wasbrokegettingbetter,

I'll merge your thread in with the other More With Less thread, as it helps to keep all the opinions together.

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angelatgraceland

I have just bought the "Eat more for less" cookbook which is a Menonite cookbook. Recipes look good but the measurements are confusing. There is T, t,c I am thinking, tablespoon, teaspoon and cup? Can anyone enlighten me please?

tinselfairy

It's a good book isn't it.

In my version on page 17 there is a list of what the abbreviations mean.

c is cup

t is teaspoon

T is tablespoon

thriftlady_2

Yep, Tinselfairy is right. I think T and t is a good way of writing tablespoon and teaspoon.

The cup measure is a standard US one holding 8 fl oz.

Don't forget that a quart is 2 pints (a quarter of a gallon), and a US pint is 16 fl oz. So a quart is 32 fl oz or just over 1 and a half UK pints. It's also almost the same as a litre

angelatgraceland

So my "guesses" were correct. Thanks to all though for verifying-now I will look at page 17-so much stuff to read in there!

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Hi angelatgraceland,

Now that you have the answers I'm going to merge this thread with the More With Less cookbook thread as it may help others who have bought this book.

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eryn_kathleen

From an amazon.co.uk review:

I love cookbooks, and as someone who likes saving money too I was keen to purchase a copy of this book. I have to say that I'm a little disappointed with it. It has some good recipes in it - cakes and biscuits particularly, but on the whole I can't see that it's *that* useful a book to use as a money saving device unless you live in a rural area and are able to grow, kill and preserve your own food.

I can see the reasoning behind lots of the recipes - they are written by and for people who may be in situations where 'common' ingredients may not be available - but that doesn't change the fact that many of the recipes in here are, quite simply, home-made junk food, made using canned and preserved food rather than fresh ingredients. Pesonally I'd rather spend a few pence more and use fresh or canned tomatoes in a recipe than use condensed tomato soup. As someone who has studied food and nutrition, I would also add that there is a fairly urgent need for some of the misleading nutritional information in the book to be updated. All of the recipes I've tried are oversalted and oversugared, as well as being underseasoned. Yes, you can change this but the recipes in this book aren't quite as healthy as they're made out to be. Equally, many of the money-saving tips are fairly useless unless you actually do live in the rural mid-west of the USA - I honestly can't think of anywhere in the UK that I could actually buy fresh wheat to grind to make breakfast cereal.

I don't mean to be critical of a book which does have some good ideas, recipes and theology in it - certainly the message to consume less and be more responsible about how we live is incredibly important, and if this book manages to get that message across then it's worth it just for that. This isn't a *bad* book at all, but I wouldn't feed my family exclusively from its recipes.

This is a review by GINGERNUT on amazon.co.uk, and even though all the other reviews are positive this one is putting me off a little bit. What do all of you think?

thriftlady_2

Funny you should mention this review, I've just read it too. At first I was a bit miffed (I posted a review too ), but actually it is a very fair review. The recipes can be over-sugared but you can use less, and they are definitely on the bland side.There is a reliance on cheese and mince and baked goods. There are very few fish recipes. Let's not forget the book was written in the 70s and our tastes have become more adventurous and our knowledge about nutrition has advanced.

The comment about using canned soup is unfair though, as the book makes a strong case for making your own basic white sauces (to which you add flavourings) instead of using canned soups. There are also many recipes for cereal that don't require you to grind your own wheat.

The reviewer agrees with the book's important message about consuming less.
I must say the introduction is my favourite part of the book and the part that has influenced me most. I've used a lot of the recipes as I said in my review, but I do find myself using them less. I still think it is an excellent little book.

thriftlady_2

Out of interest is Gingernut a fellow poster on this forum ?:)

Gingernutmeg

*sticks head very gingerly over the parapet and waits for the bullets*

That review was written by me ... I didn't intend for it to offend people at all, I just wanted to offer my opinion of the book. Like I said, I didn't mean it to be a criticism of the book per se, just that recipe-wise I was a bit disappointed. I personally can't ever see myself using as the 'bible' the way that a lot of reviewers seem to. I bought it intending to use it as a cookery book, but I found that while I loved the introduction from an 'anthropological' point of view - finding out about the Mennonite lifestyle was very interesting, it's a very 'American' book and I wholeheartedly agree with the 'More with Less' message - the recipes just don't do it for me. Like I say in the review, it's a great book for cakes, bread and biscuits but the vegetable and meat dishes are a bit disappointing. I accept that this was written a good few years ago but I'd hoped that the later edition would have been more thoroughly updated. What I'd love to see is a totally new edition of this book, updated and aimed more at what I'm sure is a more common kind of lifestyle both here and in the US, that of trying to live more frugally in cities and suburbs, and a book that is a bit more nutritionally sound ... now that would be a book I'd give five stars to!! The book just feels a bit like a museum piece, if you see what I mean ... I read it in the same way that I read my copy of Mrs Beeton - it's interesting, I learn a few things from it, but I wouldn't really use any of the recipes.

Maybe I was a bit harsh about the soup However, cans of condensed soup in everything was my over-riding memory of the book and often it seemed to be the only vegetable content in the meat dishes especially. As I said, I'd really worry if someone was basing their diet on this book believing it to be an example of nutritionally sound practices.

Money-saving wise, a lot of the tips really aren't that great if you live, like I do, in the suburban UK - they really are aimed at mid-west Americans with easy access to farms etc. Again, it's interesting to read but of little practical use for me personally. I know that I'm not the target audience for this book but I just think I was a little misled by the rave reviews this book gets - 'change your life' etc etc ... well ... not really. It's an interesting book and a good addition to any cookery bookshelf but it's just not one of my favourites recipe wise, although I often read the introduction. I just wouldn't recommend it to someone who maybe isn't an experienced cook or is just starting to search for ways to cook and live more cheaply.

Anyway, I hope I've not offended anyone I love cook books and I'm always on the lookout for something new so any suggestions are welcome!