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How to Feed Your Whole Family a Healthy, Balanced Diet: Simple, Wholesome and Nutritious Recipes for Family Meals

by Gill Holcombe

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864311,226 (3.17)1
This book provides simple, wholesome and nutritious recipes for family meals; quick lunches, tasty puddings and cakes - and you don't have to spend hours slaving over a hot stove, or spend a fortune at the supermarket.There are menu plans, recipes, shortcuts and dozens of ideas for every meal, together with tried and tested tips to help you save your valuable time and money. Contents: Introduction; 1. Wake up to breakfast; 2. Little gems and tough cookies; 3. Make dinnfer, not excuses; 4. Quick fixes; 5. The joy of soup; 6. Join the pudding club; 7. Can't cook? don't cook!; 8. Let them eat cake; 9. Not only but also; 10. Weekly menu planning.… (more)
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Showing 4 of 4
Everyone thinks they need to stretch their food budget and, as someone who qualifies for the maximum benefit at my local Food Bank, I have a particular perspective on the matter. Always in need of reducing my expenditures, I took this book out from my local library and wish I could have my time back.

First, I got upset at many of Holcombe's, dare I say, utterances. She complains of food myths but perpetuates many on her own. I hate books that claim, without substance to back it up, that healthy food is cheaper than unhealthy; it is actually cheaper to keep yourself in meat than salads (as meat has become so popular but produce prices have soared), with grains and lentils being the cheapest. Honestly, do you really think I am cooking a meal for under $1.00-$1.50 a portion? No? I can easily get junk for that cheap or just live on carbs... well, if that wouldn't kill me - but there are people who do not have health issues that require special diets.

I also hated her claims of the gross and sometimes non-food items in junk food. It's like the "100% Beef" McDonald's scandal all over again. Her book represents the downfall of the fact-checkers at publishing houses, as well as the assumptions that the populace are stupid and do not know what is in their food. However, I will not rage on every stupid claim Holcombe makes - two is enough.

The real kicker is the recipes. Her audience is clearly the amateur family cook but her recipes are written for people who are more advanced - though the advanced would never eat that crap. She lists ingredients with no proportions: while it makes sense to remind family cooks that they can adjust recipes, her target audience requires quantities to start off with as they learn. Beginners (often even intermediates) cannot be told "just throw in some cumin, chili powder and oregano" and have it taste good - ratios take time. Not all recipes are without proportions but a significant number, especially where spices are involved.

Worse, merely reading her recipes I could see missing ingredients that are crucial to the chemistry of the cooking process: missing leaveners and the like. The woman doesn't even understand the use of salt (it is one thing to say it is overused, it is another to claim it does nothing in a dish), salt being the most basic ingredient. I am hardly an advanced cook, certainly not trying to portray myself as a professional, yet even I can see she is either missing or even wrong regarding some of the fundamentals.

There is also no transferable knowledge. You use her recipes or get no help.

I wouldn't even recommend taking this book from the library. Do not waste your money or time. ( )
  OptimisticCautiously | Sep 16, 2020 |
Everyone thinks they need to stretch their food budget and, as someone who qualifies for the maximum benefit at my local Food Bank, I have a particular perspective on the matter. Always in need of reducing my expenditures, I took this book out from my local library and wish I could have my time back.

First, I got upset at many of Holcombe's, dare I say, utterances. She complains of food myths but perpetuates many on her own. I hate books that claim, without substance to back it up, that healthy food is cheaper than unhealthy; it is actually cheaper to keep yourself in meat than salads (as meat has become so popular but produce prices have soared), with grains and lentils being the cheapest. Honestly, do you really think I am cooking a meal for under $1.00-$1.50 a portion? No? I can easily get junk for that cheap or just live on carbs... well, if that wouldn't kill me - but there are people who do not have health issues that require special diets.

I also hated her claims of the gross and sometimes non-food items in junk food. It's like the "100% Beef" McDonald's scandal all over again. Her book represents the downfall of the fact-checkers at publishing houses, as well as the assumptions that the populace are stupid and do not know what is in their food. However, I will not rage on every stupid claim Holcombe makes - two is enough.

The real kicker is the recipes. Her audience is clearly the amateur family cook but her recipes are written for people who are more advanced - though the advanced would never eat that crap. She lists ingredients with no proportions: while it makes sense to remind family cooks that they can adjust recipes, her target audience requires quantities to start off with as they learn. Beginners (often even intermediates) cannot be told "just throw in some cumin, chili powder and oregano" and have it taste good - ratios take time. Not all recipes are without proportions but a significant number, especially where spices are involved.

Worse, merely reading her recipes I could see missing ingredients that are crucial to the chemistry of the cooking process: missing leaveners and the like. The woman doesn't even understand the use of salt (it is one thing to say it is overused, it is another to claim it does nothing in a dish), salt being the most basic ingredient. I am hardly an advanced cook, certainly not trying to portray myself as a professional, yet even I can see she is either missing or even wrong regarding some of the fundamentals.

There is also no transferable knowledge. You use her recipes or get no help.

I wouldn't even recommend taking this book from the library. Do not waste your money or time. ( )
  OptimisticCautiously | Sep 16, 2020 |
I agree with the premise of this book- there IS time to cook, provided you don't get all wrapped up in 14 page recipes and goofy little gadgets. The recipes felt very British, not surprising since the author lives in London! Beans on toast is one of my favorite foods, I was thrilled to see it here. Kedgeree not so much.

I'd give this book as a gift to a college graduate, a couple with children to feed, and anyone who would like to improve their nutrition without too much stress. Meat-heavy, but again- British. ( )
  satyridae | Apr 5, 2013 |
Great general cookbook. Tons of recipes for daily use. Slight 70s influence hanging over it all - but thats no bad thing. Excellent if you don't mind corned beef suggested as an alternative meat for spaghetti bolognaise, etc. ( )
  RomneyMarsh | Oct 17, 2009 |
Showing 4 of 4
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This book provides simple, wholesome and nutritious recipes for family meals; quick lunches, tasty puddings and cakes - and you don't have to spend hours slaving over a hot stove, or spend a fortune at the supermarket.There are menu plans, recipes, shortcuts and dozens of ideas for every meal, together with tried and tested tips to help you save your valuable time and money. Contents: Introduction; 1. Wake up to breakfast; 2. Little gems and tough cookies; 3. Make dinnfer, not excuses; 4. Quick fixes; 5. The joy of soup; 6. Join the pudding club; 7. Can't cook? don't cook!; 8. Let them eat cake; 9. Not only but also; 10. Weekly menu planning.

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