A Girl Called Jack: 100 Delicious Budget Recipes

This book is a wonderful antidote to all the food porn books. I love them like we all do, but many recipes aren't user friendly for someone on a budget (i.e. most of us.) I have a kitchen full of books & printed out recipes, some from well known chefs, where many of the recipes are either expensive to produce, or take a long time to cook, which isn't practical on a daily basis.
Jack Monroe sensibly starts with a list of pantry must haves, few in number, readily available & used in recipes throughout the book. If you didn't have any cooking experience at all & limited funds, this would be a great book for that reason alone. She also encourages growing your own herbs, which is a winner for taste, nutrition & your pocket.
Her down to earth style is easy to follow, & she encourages experimentation & the habit of using what you have available. Many of the recipes follow on from one another - you use an ingredient, then use up the remainder of the can in another recipe. I can't be the only person who so often searches memory, books & internet for a recipe to use up 1/2 a can of something & then ends up throwing it out because of time constraints.
I've made many of these recipes from Jack's wonderful online blog, & they're easy & taste delicious. Her curries are amazing, & healthy too! It's very easy to add a few different herbs or 1/2 a packet of spinach you have hanging around to the base recipes.
Being a.mother she understands the importance of fun food to children, & her pizzas cut out with biscuit cutters are
are a great idea. As she suggests, many of the recipe leftovers can easily be converted to next day lunches by wrapping in pita bread, for example.
Hints for freezing & drying leftover food & herbs are included as well.
This is a fantastic book. Buy it & encourage her to write more!

Loved the writing, and I did find it informative in many ways. I had hoped for more 'traditionally English' food recipes and did not find many. But this book is something that is rare, perhaps it is singular in it's design; but it honestly tells you how to stretch your food budget, when you have almost NOTHING in the bank. In that respect, it is not like any cookery book I've read. I would recommend it for that reason alone.

Love the book! I'm a "Jack Monroe" groupy so I loved to finally have so many of her recipes and stories in a bound copy! I love her budget minded advice and the creativity she brings to home cooking. Definitely a winner...even if you aren't an Anglophile there's a little something for everyone in here.

It's hard to be creative, sometimes, if you're at the bottom, but Jack rose to the top of the heap! It was so uplifting to learn how she stretched and double-stretched her meager resources. I admire her and love her creative food.

What is there to say? Jack is inspirational. The recipes are amazing, the food is nutritious, and the things she can do with low-budget items are miraculous!

I waited so long to get this book in the USA. All I’ve made has been great, and as a student, I can really save money being frugal with these tasty recipes.

great recipes, expensive shipping