£30 to spend on cook books what do i buy?

Bitsy_Beans

beemuzed wrote: »

I'd check out those recommended above in your local library and then choose a couple you really like and think you'd use - I think cookery books are quite a personal thing! My own favourites include Good Housekeeping, and almost anything by Delia. I have several shelves full - because I love reading them!

I second this. I've nosed at loads of cook books before I buy them......most of the time I don't bother in the end. I borrowed Delia's Frugal Food and wasn't really that impressed with it so in the end never bothered to purchase it.

I tend to keep a spiral bound notebook for all my receipes that I either print off the internet or here or I copy them out of books from the library.
I do love Nigella's books though Should really use them a bit more

lil_me

Libary and internet is all you really need as every recipe in a book is pretty much available, spend some of the money on a good folder/seperating sections etc and make your own recipe book/file of the ones you actaully do like. Then I would spend the rest on a good herbs/spices collection to make the meals with, this can cost a lot to start with. If you are going to buy them I would get them second hand. I got Delia Smith's Christmas for about 20p I think it was in a charity shop, always loads of cookery books in them.

grimerking

I'd really recommend Mary Berry's Complete Cookbook.

It is very extensive and easy to use.

Amazon have it for £15 including delivery. You might be able to pick it up cheaper elsewhere.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mary-Berrys-Complete-Cookbook-Berry/dp/0751364401/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262572047&sr=8-1

bigcheese2001

As another poster pointed out WH Smith having a sale on cook books and whatnot, up to 75% off, might be worth a look anyway - amazon etc is great but nowt like browsing through first..

KT1985

The only cookbooks I really use are the River Cottage Family cookbook and another book called 'the beginners cookbook'.

thriftlady_2

These are my favourites for really thrifty cooking I think several have been mentioned on this thread.

angeltreats

Years ago I got this book in a charity shop:

Survival Guide to Cooking in the Student Kitchen

It's only the size of a small paperback novel but is full of very thrifty recipes, I think it's a great little book and have made lots of the recipes which have all turned out well.

Butterfly_Brain

I love the economy gastronomy cook book and Jamies Ministry of food I would also recommend the dinner lady and I have a lot of Sainsbury's cookbooks (from the 80's) I always keep my eyes out for them in chariyty shops.
Another fav of mine is Pru Leiths step by step cookery an oldie but goodie

thriftlady_2

Avocet wrote: »

I would endorse "The Pauper's Cookbook" by Jocasta Innes, mentioned in the original post (£4.96 at Amazon at the moment for the current version). I have the previous two versions -- the first is superb, and the second OK, but I can't comment on this current one. Might be worth seeking out the first incarnation on the second-hand market? The current one is best described as a combination of the first two. I recommend it heartily and use it often. Gingered pork meatballs with peas, potato, bacon and onion hotpot, Alsatian onion tart, herring roes and peas, hummus, Venetian liver and onions, keema curry -all delicious. Bad indexing though.

I'd also get "Cheap and Easy" by Rose Eliot if it is still in print -- vegetarian, but also generally useful, and worth looking out for. Amazon seems to have several second-hand copies at £0.01 plus postage £2.75. What happened to my copy? Another excellent book.

"Economy Gastronomy" is good but, in a straight competition, I might prefer to recommend my most recent enthusiasm -- Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's latest offering, "River Cottage Everyday" (£11.25 at Amazon, but I have seen it lower elsewhere). Varied and interesting, with a range of recipes suitable both for family meals and for entertaining. Try looking at both in a bookshop to see which you prefer, before going home and ordering online to get the best price. I much preferred River Cottage Everyday too. Favourite recipes - drop scones, flatbreads, pizza, tomato, chipolata and potato lunch box with mustardy vinaigrette, leftover stew pasties, parsley and pumpkin seed pesto, parsley, two-root slaw, roast fish fillets with roast potatoes, pea pur!e, tupperware Mexican chorizo, sticky glazed spare ribs, chunky fig, date and prune cake, ten minute chocolate chip cookies, lemon sponge pudding.

Then I would get the "More with Less" cookbook by Doris Janzen Longacre, at £9.70 from Amazon -- American through and through, but hiding many priceless gems within its cup measures and vaguely unfamiliar combinations of ingredients. One of my favourites (see my sig) not just for the recipes but the philosophy too. I use this one a lot, cup measures are easy and the recipes are really straightforward and adaptable. Recipes I use include granola, biscuits (US style sconelike biscuits), baked lentils, ham, potatoes and peas, honey-baked chicken, easy fruit cobbler, quick chow mein, roasted sunflower seeds, (bean)sprouts salad, greens, peas and cheese salad.

Which would leave you with £1.33 change, which I would either save towards my next cookbook splurge, or add a further £2.64 of my own to buy "Fresh Bread from your Bread Machine Every Morning" by Annette Yates (which was available for less than £2 when I bought it, but now seems to have rocketed in price at Amazon). Of course, you would need to own a bread machine for that to be a worthwhile investment!

These books would give you a vast range of recipe repertoire, mostly for basic family fare but with flexibility for fancier occasions, and would also give you lots to read (which is what I like best in a recipe book).

Have fun spending the cookery book budget! My New Year's Resolution is to avoid buying any cookery books for the whole year (despite vigorous cutting back and charity shop donation, I still own several hundred). 3 days down, and only 362 to go! :-) That was my resolution last year! If you're anything like me (and we seem to like the same cookbooks so chances are you are like me) then it won't be easy. I weeded some out but let some new ones in too.

By the way I have reviewed most of these books (River Cottage Everyday, The Pauper's Cokbook and More With Less) on amazon under the name a.
Getoka.

Another one I reviewed is Feed Your Family For £5 by Bernardine Lawrence. It is shown in the picture in my post above. Now unfortunately out of print and quite sort after meaning second hand copies are about £7 rather than £0.01. Well worth finding.

hamish222

I love economy gastronomy and Jamies ministry food for really quick midweek dinners. Got racheal Allan home cooking for xmas and really like it. I also got Ballymaloe Cookery Course for 9.99 from book people and it looks fab. huge book with tons recipes. It is 18.52 on Amazon.