Just after Christmas, when everything was getting back to normal after the festivities I was mooching about in W.H.Smith in my local town when I spotted this book among the reduced display near the door. At first I thought it might be a mistake as Rachel Allen is a superb first class cook and her books arent usually reduced in the vast array of 'sale' books. I took it to the till and yes, I was not mistaken at all, I only paid £7 for this instead of the real price of £20.00. Now I am a real fan of this gentle lady and her recipes, having watched her on television in both her own programmes and Saturday kitchen, which I never miss if I can help it. She seems ...  Read the complete review

Since having had my 2 tiddlers, I have had alot more of a chance to really develope my home cooking skills. I work all weekends, so I never get to see one of my favourite family home cooks, Rachel Allen. She really hasn't reached 'celebrity chef' status, I sort of think almost thankfully. Her food is fantastic home cooking with a modern twist. I have reviewed her 'bake' book which for me has been a fail safe when it comes to baking, so I have been looking at her range of books with real hope and knowledge that her recipes work well! I got a paper back version of 'Food for Living' for £3.99 from Costco. List price is £14.99, so I think I got a reall ...  Read the complete review

I have a lot of cookbooks and only a couple that come out time and time again. Rachel Allen's food for Living is one of them. The book is very clearly layed out and has a useful ribbon to mark the page for you. Pictures are great and help you visualise what the food should look like. It doesn't have too many pictures in like some books. The thing i love about this is book is pretty much 90% of the recipes are one's you would actually do. They are easy to follow, don't use lots of hard to find ingredients and taste fab. I like the section for afternoon tea as i have the girls round a fair bit and also the food for lovers as due to the credit crunch ...  Read the complete review

I was given this book by my Mother-in-Law as a Christmas present just over a year ago and immediately took against it because of the oh-so-perfect photo of Allen on the cover. How silly was I? I knew, from her TV series, that Rachel Allen can cook, the recipes always looked lovely but i was younger and foolish then. Anyway, i finally opened the book some time last summer and am very glad that i did. The recipes are clear and very easy to follow. Nearly every one includes a photograph so that you can compare what you are cooking with the end product - this is something i look for in a recipe book. At the moment, the sweet recipes are favourite in this household and .  Read the complete review

After seeing her cook on the good food channel I was amazed how she makes basic ingredients into something that sounds wonderful. She is very down to earth on the show and wanted to cook a few of the different recipes I had seen on the show. This book certainly didn't disappoint it has some lovely recipes. They are all really easy to follow and very reliable there's no complicated cook speak so I don't feel thick while trying to cook. A lot of the recipes are so quick to make you don't actually feel like your cooking as such as you seem to whip something up that's so nice in no time. There are some great chapters in the book such as childhood favourites, food ...  Read the complete review