Hungry?

At the end of last month I decided to try a meal-plan month. Plan your family meals for a set timespan, buy the necessary foods and don’t waste money on food that won’t get eaten because you’ve changed your mind when you get home from work. I’m surprised by how well it’s working; I expected to get fed up with the lack of spontaneity but in reality it’s been a blessing. If I know what I’m having ahead of time I can prep in advance and save time (and the leftovers make excellent work lunches). We’ve only cheated once (bought pizza instead) and that was because I was feeling naff.

By total coincidence I was approached about a week ago to see if I’d be interested in pushing a press release for “Hungry?“, the new innocent cookbook. I’m not (despite my age-old love for innocent), but the opportunity to get a freebie is something else entirely…

The book arrived at work, brightening up an otherwise crap afternoon (disclaimer: not indicative of usual feelings towards work). Couldn’t wait to get it home so I could figure out why it weighed so much! Turns out that as well as the 100 or so easy to cook recipes it also contains buckets of beautifully designed — and educational — spreads (that’s design speak, don’t you know):

5 reasons to eat in season

things to do in 15 minutes

And those are just the beginning… the book is absolutely ram-packed with the usual innocent one-liners and cute witticisms. The majority of recipes contain at least one portion of your “5 a day”. The pictures are fab and there’s even a binary caption under one (GEEK LOVE).

I was most fascinated to read about how the Chorleywood way has reduced bread to little more than a fatty bread-flavoured lump (paraphrasing) and how Howies “Doh Boy” campaign wants to change that. Having used the bread recipe that accompanies the text — which is just flour, yeast, salt and water .. oh, and time — I am now considering making my own bread by hand on a weekly basis. Domestic goddess? Damn right.

So next month the plan (pun!) is to carry on with the meal plans, and to integrate some of the innocent recipes. I had the book itself lined up for a give-away, but am selfishly thinking of keeping it to myself. Research purposes, you must understand. ;)

Photography by Creative Review. Borrowed because mine sucked ass.

PS. In case you’re wondering, tonight it’s toad in the hole :)

6 comments so far

  1. Melissa said:
    On 19 Sep at 5:11 pm

    That book looks awesome!! I might have to check it out for myself. :D

  2. Mumblies said:
    On 19 Sep at 5:56 pm

    Funnily enough I used to shop for a set meal plan on a weekly basis way back some 30 odd years ago when I was first expecting Ian. (Eek! I’m ancient) However, over the years as I ended up making different meals than planned plus the purchase of a freezer made it simpler for me to just ‘whip something out and defrost it’ and cook that instead. However as you lot move out/spend more time away from home bit by bit it’s becoming easier again to just shop for just us again. The book sounds great, shame you didn’t order it ’til just now – I might have had something interesting to read instead of learning every single word/action from Frek ;) Enjoy your frog-in-a-bog

  3. Stephanie said:
    On 20 Sep at 3:09 am

    I plan my meals every week! And I’m starting to bake my own bread fresh; it’s cheaper and more delicious.

  4. Adrianne said:
    On 20 Sep at 8:56 am

    I’d love to have that book, even if I barely spend some time in the kitchen (my mom and my sisters fight over the kitchen sometimes to see who gets to prepare tonight’s dinner. that kinda thing), but I love the whimsical designs and layouts in it. Thanks for sharing! :)