Kitchen revolution - meal plans for a whole year!

Wee_Bargain_Hunter

I was wondering the exact same thing yesterday! There was a thread about this book a few months ago for people to post to win it and then report back if they were lucky. Can't find it though.

Pink.

Hi morganlefay,

There is an earlier Old Style thread on the book, so I'll add your thread to that one later.

Kitchen revolution - meal plans for a whole year!

As wee Bargain Hunter has said there was a competion on MSE to win the book and a review thread was started after the competition was closed:

The Kitchen Revolution book giveaway. Did you get one? What's it like?

Pink

thriftlady_2

I had a good look at the website and at the book in Waterstones. My overwhelming impression was that I'd end up spending way more money than I usually do on a week's food if I followed the plans.

I just don't believe this is the way to encourage people to cook and shop economically. To be told to go out an buy a whole list of ingredients when you probably have a cupboard and fridge full of food seems mad to me. Where is the book that tells you what you can make with what you've got and how you can use up the leftovers?

I've just checked the shopping list for this month and it is really prescriptive-what if you can't find chicory, chives or banana shallots? Why baby carrots, what's wrong with cheaper ordinary carrots? What do you do with the rest of the cream when you only need 100ml?
I suppose if you don't want to think for yourself it would be great, but it isn't for me.

Larumbelle

I've got it - I won it on the MSE competition. IMHO it is all too expensive, and too much faffing about/too many time consuming recipes. The ingredients are often expensive, hard-to-find and not to everybodies' taste. Also, I may be missing something, but they make a big fuss about their 'something from nothing' days, but actually they just tell you to buy twice as much of the main ingredient in the first place! How on earth is that moneysaving?!

I didn't post this in the original thread because I didn't want to seem so ungrateful, but in all honesty if I'd paid so much as £2 in the charity shop for this book I'd have felt overcharged.

Do you know what I think? Have you ever had a friend who announces she's going to stop wasting money, then goes out and spends a fortune on 'money-saving' items?! You know, the one for whom 'but it'll save me money in the long term' is just an excuse to carry on spending recklessly? No? Well, I do, and I reckon this is who the Kitchen Revolution book is aimed at :rotfl:

4pudding

Hello,

I bought this book, didn't win it. I started following it this year after eating up what we already had in the freezer/fridge.

I'm really enjoying it and it's saving me money. I use mysupermarket.com to place an order at the start of each week. The recipes are delicious so far, and I'm really enjoying cooking without having to think about what to make. I have a toddler who takes up most of my day, so I'm actually finding the cooking in the evening quite relaxing! Also saving enough for her dinner the next day.

I'm spending about £50-£55 a week on food instead of £80, and finding that there's usually enough leftovers for lunch too.

I really hope I stick at it, it's so easy to get stuck in a rut with recipes! Luckily my husband and daughter are quite adventurous with food so are enjoying it too.

If you can't get anything on the list you can usually swap it, just check which recipe it's in and leave it out/ swap it for something cheaper. For example, someone mentioned chicory - that was used in salad last week so could easily be swapped for lettuce or spinach. I couldn't get any pearl barley so used rice,then green lentils for brown lentils.

So thumbs up from me

laineyc_2

[Do you know what I think? Have you ever had a friend who announces she's going to stop wasting money, then goes out and spends a fortune on 'money-saving' items?! You know, the one for whom 'but it'll save me money in the long term' is just an excuse to carry on spending recklessly? No? Well, I do, and I reckon this is who the Kitchen Revolution book is aimed at :rotfl:[/quote]


Lol! That used to be me until I found this board.

grannytwice

Had a look at the web link, looks interesting but a bit more expensive than i'm used to , could be handy for anyone too busy to meal plan themselves or to give you a nudge in the money saving direction but i think The Old Style recipe board would give it a run for its money anyday it's my favourite source of ideas,and they are tried and tested by frugal experts.Enjoyed looking at the site and will look out for the book in the library always open to learning new ideas and moneysaving tips

Yategirl

4pudding wrote: »

Hello,

I bought this book, didn't win it. I started following it this year after eating up what we already had in the freezer/fridge.

I'm really enjoying it and it's saving me money. I use mysupermarket.com to place an order at the start of each week. The recipes are delicious so far, and I'm really enjoying cooking without having to think about what to make. I have a toddler who takes up most of my day, so I'm actually finding the cooking in the evening quite relaxing! Also saving enough for her dinner the next day.

I'm spending about £50-£55 a week on food instead of £80, and finding that there's usually enough leftovers for lunch too.

I really hope I stick at it, it's so easy to get stuck in a rut with recipes! Luckily my husband and daughter are quite adventurous with food so are enjoying it too.

If you can't get anything on the list you can usually swap it, just check which recipe it's in and leave it out/ swap it for something cheaper. For example, someone mentioned chicory - that was used in salad last week so could easily be swapped for lettuce or spinach. I couldn't get any pearl barley so used rice,then green lentils for brown lentils.

So thumbs up from me

4pudding - are you still following the book? I have just picked up my reserved copy from the library (having hankered after it since last summer but baulked at spending the money ).. the recipes sound yummy and most of them would be enjoyed by my family (dh would moan at the fish :rolleyes: ).. but am wondering about the cost.. you say you were spending approx £50-£55 a week when you started.. does this cover all your meals in a week (and any toiletries/cleaners)?

thanks YG

artichoke

hum

i was just searching for some meal planning inspirations as have just planned this week's meals to use up everything in freezer and wanted some new ideas as bored of the same old lasagne, lamb shanks, pizza, dhall etc

so i may give this a go next week - but substitute cheaper alternatives when possible....

i live in the sticks so have no access to 'fancy' ingredients... and try to buy as much fresh seasonal and local produce as possible...

so may try and price it up for next weeks shopping...

art

morganlefay

I bought the book and think the idea of a plan is brilliant (after many years of thinking up the meals, buying the ingredients, cooking the ingredients, watching the meal vanish in 10 seconds) I just feel tired of the whole 'thinking up food thing' - let alone doing it all. But actually some of the planned meals in the book have things in them that I (desperate to lose a lot of weight for health reasons) wouldn't cook (eg pastry) and also some of the recipes contain things that my OH wouldn't touch. I will go back to it tho and tweak some of the plans because I really like the sound of someone else doing all the thinking and me just having to cook it ! I'd be really interested to hear how other people get on - my daughter LOVED it but has now been put on a funny diet by her doctor so isn't following it for a while.