Cheap Eats it Ain't (Good Food: 101 Cheap Eats)

Member Name: apuskiduski

Product:	Good Food: 101 Cheap Eats
Date:	15/03/09 (210 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some nice recipes, compact book, veggie options

Disadvantages: Not cheap to make, often high in calories and salt

In the recent economic climate that we've found ourselves in, I have tried various things in an attempt to save money, and short of selling the kids, I think I've done most things to snip my monthly budget in order to become debt-free.

When I saw a copy of BBC Food Magazine 101 Cheap Eats, I thought I'd be onto a winner, because their cakes and bakes book is just fantastic. So, I was tremendously excited when my book arrived from Amazon - I couldn't wait to start trying these cheap and cheerful, but no doubt delicious recipes out.

I thumbed through the book, eyeing the attractive and totally tempting glossy pics with fervour and I have to admit I was salivating after a few minutes (must have been a full moon or too close to lunch time). These recipes looked simply spiffing and I wanted to try them out immediately, so I gathered my pen and paper to prepare a shopping list for the Lamb and Date Casserole on page 166 which had immediately taken my fancy.

I had some stuff on my shelves, but I needed the main ingredients. And here's the rub:
For the 1lb 4oz of lamb, 1 tbsp cranberry sauce (I found a jar lurking in the back of the fridge but it looked decidedly dodgy), ready to eat dates and couscous it was going to cost me in the region of £8-10 depending where I shopped.

And of course, I would still have to replace the carrots, onions, garlic cloves, parsley, tomato puree, flour, olive oil and stock that are usually in my cupboards. Counting all those in on top, I was reckoning about £10-12 for something to serve four. But there are five of us at home so I would have to add another ration and cost that in too. Oh dear. It wasn't looking such a cheap eat after all

Unfortunately, the same can be said for a lot of the recipes in the book. As it was written before our current financial crisis, I think the cheap perhaps no longer applies. Still there are some good features of the book.

A welcoming introduction by the editor-in-chief of Good Food Magazine draws you into a whole new world of cheap eats and not a beans on toast recipe in sight, kind of thing, but he also guarantees you'll "never be short of low-cost recipes for every season ever again". A big claim I think.

There follows five well labelled categories of recipes: Salads, Snacks and Light Meals, Pasta and Noodles, Meat, Fish, One-Pot Dishes and Desserts. Amongst each of the categories there are some options for vegetarians such as Herbed cheese Puff and Cheesy Potato Jackets but I have to say, the recipes that you think might be veggie somehow manage to sneak bacon into them. A bit disappointing on that score then, better to stick to the 101 Veggie Dishes, published in the same series I think.

Other useful information given includes several conversion tables, appetising pictures of how it could be (oh I wish!) Persuasive one-liners to tempt you into that recipe - you know "Kids will love these and they're brilliant for barbecues" type stuff - ingredients, step by step instructions (which, when followed, do actually work), the time needed and how many servings this recipe will make.

The biggest let down for me in this book is the nutritional information. Not that it's poor or anything. On the contrary, it gives info about calories, protein, carbs, fat, saturated fat, fibre, salt and sugar.

My biggest gripe is that the cooks who came up with these 'cheap' eats also came up with portions of food that are ludicrously high in calories! And I hate to think that those people in society with the least means would end up eating the most calories. It's wrong!

The calories range - per portion- from 210 for a 'Chicken with Red Pepper Crust' which doesn't seem bad, and something you could have for your main meal with a few veg. But the highest calorific value is 1023 per portion, yes, per portion, for 'Bacon Kebabs on Mushroom Rice'. The average calorific value is around 4-500 calories, which on my diet is the whole of my main meal plus a 100 calorie treat (Based on 1250 cals a day)

One dessert- Steamed Rhubarb Pudding - has 35g of sugar per portion and a Bacon and Tomato Cobbler contains 4.74g of salt per portion. The recommended daily allowance of salt is only about 4g I'm sure. I suppose it's up to the consumer whether they make the recipe that's in the book that they've paid for but I could taste the salt just looking at the picture so didn't bother.

So, rant over, this is a useful little book, if you don't mind not so cheap and not so low in calorie eats. It's handy in size (about 6" x 5") to take with you to the supermarket for your shopping and also a nice weight to slug a pickpocket round the head with.

For the £2.99 I paid for it, I think I've had enough value out of it. I wouldn't recommend it for anyone going away to Uni looking for cheap food, I'd look elsewhere to be honest as cheap eats it isn't.

Summary: Cheap at one time, but not now, methinks!