Good and Cheap by Leanne Brown

During the summer there seems to be more time to think about grilling, cooking, and adding fresh variety to our diet so I have been looking at newer cookbooks. Good and Cheap by Leanne Brown contains recipes split into seven sections, including some on main meals, plus snacks, soups and desserts.  This cookbook is filled with great, colorful pictures and as the subtitle –eat well on $4/day – implies, the focus is on cost.

I found some of the appetizing recipes (e.g., spaghetti and tuna) to be “good and cheap” but not especially innovative so this book would likely work best for a young, new cook, especially given the helpful description of pantry basics and kitchen equipment and its use of less expensive ingredients.  Good and Cheap actually began as a pdf that went viral and its creator Leanne Brown then initiated a Kickstarter campaign to fund printed copies, particularly for lower income groups.

To me, the recipes could be enhanced by adding some nutrition information (we are coming to expect that more and more), but the author, who has a masters degree in food studies at NYU, purposefully decided not to do so. Also, some recipes are for small sizes (e.g., using 8 ounces of pasta vs. a more standard 16 ounce box) so that factor needs to be considered, especially if you tend to prepare for a larger group or would like leftovers. Personally, I was impressed by the wonderful photos and am looking forward to first trying Pasta with Eggplant and Tomato and then Cauliflower Cheese.  You can learn more, especially about the impact of this campaign, at the Good and Cheap website.  

On a related topic, food deserts and the difficulty with finding good quality fresh food is often of interest for our students.  Recently, the Wall Street Journal published an article debating food deserts and included this map:

We own several books like What the World Eats and The Atlas of Food which explore these issues and food preferences globally.  Still curious about other cookbooks? You can virtually browse our shelves with over 200 cookbooks by going to the catalog, selecting the tab for number and entering 641 (Dewey Decimal location).  Consider titles like Eat Fresh Food: awesome recipes for teen chefs (2009) or the recently ordered The Green Teen Cookbook.  Our Kinetic Wellness classes have a nutrition unit and often consult titles like Eat This, Not That! or the new Handy Nutrition Answer Book. If you are looking for a particular topic or style of cuisine, please let us know.