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Tiny Budget Cooking: Saving Money Never Tasted So Good
Keen cook Limahl Asmall’s aim is simple: to show you how to eat delicious, mouth-watering meals for very little money. Tiny Budget Cooking features 100 delicious recipes bursting with flavour and variety. The book is organized into four weekly plans, each comprising a dedicated shopping list, as well as breakfast, lunch and dinner recipes for every day of the week. Whether you’re just starting out or a confident cook, Limahl makes cooking simpler than ever with creative ways to reinvent leftovers and a clever swappable ingredient tool that helps to personalize the dishes. With guidance for saving money, simplifying the weekly food shop and minimizing food waste, Tiny Budget Cooking makes great food achievable for everyone.
192 pages, Paperback
Published June 29, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 27, 2017
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. It contains the introduction and the first week of recipes, so unfortunately will be a limited review.
From what I had access to, I can say that this looks like an excellent book I would recommend to almost anyone who's somewhat new to cooking or living away from parents, but especially those on a limited budget.
I've checked out a few "student" cookbooks and budget recipes and they nearly always contain super expensive ingredients, hard to source ingredients, terrible recipes, or lack photos. Tiny Budget Cooking does none of those things.
Asmall begins with laying out a little groundwork. The aim of his book is to provide affordable recipes with a variety of flavours to ward off boredom, with a balance of healthy meals and the occasional treat. He states that the issues preventing many from cooking great meals each day are "money, time, confidence, and knowledge", which seems pretty accurate, and this book does manage to tackle each one of those aspects.
The Tiny Budget Tips section is invaluable, giving the reader some basic knowledge that many people aren't aware of. Things like comparing the price per kg to get the best deals, and pointing out that oftentimes the cheaper own brands are identical to the premium brands in all but packaging and price. These are really important things to learn when you're on a budget, or even if you'd just like to save a bit of money for extra treats.
Following this are four weekly mealplans. The sample contained only the first week, but it looked excellent. It began with the menu for the week, including recipes for all three meals, pointing out where lunches could be made from last night's leftovers. Then Asmall gives us a shopping list for the whole week, with quantities for two people, and a separate section for breakfast in case you don't want to cook and would rather eat cereal or something. I took one look at the list and scoffed--just the meat section included bacon, beef mince, chicken, smoked mackerel, and sausages, far more meat than I've ever been able to eat on any budget! This wasn't budget cooking! Grr!
I headed to the Asda online shopping section to check just how much this well-rounded and filling shopping list would cost, and I was floored ... I was totally wrong. Asmall's list came to just under £40, and I suspect he specified the ingredients based on Asda's stock knowing this. £20 per person per week is a pretty reasonable budget (although breakfast and non-food items would increase this cost), particularly considering the first week contains some initial outlays like spice purchasing, bulk lentils, potatoes, onions, etc that he will apparently use in later weeks, and many of which will last forever in your cupboard. For those on even tighter budgets, they might try purchasing many of the items at Aldi or Lidl, who generally sell pretty reasonable basic products and produce (it's their ready made food you might want to avoid).
The only issue that I see with this shopping list is that it would be hard to cut it in half for one person and maintain the budget aspect. You'd probably end up only making half the recipes in a week and eating them two days running, but there isn't much one can do about that. Being poor and living alone is pretty sucky.
Anyway, onto the recipes! There's a great variety of them here in the first week. Creamy sausage, mushroom, and spinach spaghetti, sweet potato breakfast hash, meatball marinara, and spiced cauliflower soup are just a few of the options.
Each is accompanied by a fabulous colour photograph that makes even the things I personally wouldn't like look delicious. The recipes are clearly written, attractively laid out, the best of all they're flexible. Asmall includes ingredients you could swap out in many cases, for instance allowing you to transform "honey-glazed beef noodles with green beans" into whatever meat you like with rice noodles, peppers and carrots, with oyster sauce. This is great for people who don't like a particular vegetable, for example, or for after you've worked your way through the month's worth of meals in the book and would like to shake it up (you would have to create your own shopping list for those).
Later sections of the book include "Big Batch Basics", an essential skill for the budget chef, and "Quick Breakfasts and Desserts". I can't speak to the content of those, but if they're produced with the same care as the rest of the book, I would be excited to read them.
I imagine by the time a nervous cook has made their way through this book, they'd be set up to continue on their own, knowing the costs of various ingredients, and a variety of techniques they might not otherwise have heard of but can experiment with. Potato hash, for instance is super cheap, simple to cook, filling, and endlessly variable. Asmall obviously put a lot of thought and work into this, and has clearly experienced being on an actual budget. If you're on a budget too, I think this would help.
From what I had access to, I can say that this looks like an excellent book I would recommend to almost anyone who's somewhat new to cooking or living away from parents, but especially those on a limited budget.
I've checked out a few "student" cookbooks and budget recipes and they nearly always contain super expensive ingredients, hard to source ingredients, terrible recipes, or lack photos. Tiny Budget Cooking does none of those things.
Asmall begins with laying out a little groundwork. The aim of his book is to provide affordable recipes with a variety of flavours to ward off boredom, with a balance of healthy meals and the occasional treat. He states that the issues preventing many from cooking great meals each day are "money, time, confidence, and knowledge", which seems pretty accurate, and this book does manage to tackle each one of those aspects.
The Tiny Budget Tips section is invaluable, giving the reader some basic knowledge that many people aren't aware of. Things like comparing the price per kg to get the best deals, and pointing out that oftentimes the cheaper own brands are identical to the premium brands in all but packaging and price. These are really important things to learn when you're on a budget, or even if you'd just like to save a bit of money for extra treats.
Following this are four weekly mealplans. The sample contained only the first week, but it looked excellent. It began with the menu for the week, including recipes for all three meals, pointing out where lunches could be made from last night's leftovers. Then Asmall gives us a shopping list for the whole week, with quantities for two people, and a separate section for breakfast in case you don't want to cook and would rather eat cereal or something. I took one look at the list and scoffed--just the meat section included bacon, beef mince, chicken, smoked mackerel, and sausages, far more meat than I've ever been able to eat on any budget! This wasn't budget cooking! Grr!
I headed to the Asda online shopping section to check just how much this well-rounded and filling shopping list would cost, and I was floored ... I was totally wrong. Asmall's list came to just under £40, and I suspect he specified the ingredients based on Asda's stock knowing this. £20 per person per week is a pretty reasonable budget (although breakfast and non-food items would increase this cost), particularly considering the first week contains some initial outlays like spice purchasing, bulk lentils, potatoes, onions, etc that he will apparently use in later weeks, and many of which will last forever in your cupboard. For those on even tighter budgets, they might try purchasing many of the items at Aldi or Lidl, who generally sell pretty reasonable basic products and produce (it's their ready made food you might want to avoid).
The only issue that I see with this shopping list is that it would be hard to cut it in half for one person and maintain the budget aspect. You'd probably end up only making half the recipes in a week and eating them two days running, but there isn't much one can do about that. Being poor and living alone is pretty sucky.
Anyway, onto the recipes! There's a great variety of them here in the first week. Creamy sausage, mushroom, and spinach spaghetti, sweet potato breakfast hash, meatball marinara, and spiced cauliflower soup are just a few of the options.
Each is accompanied by a fabulous colour photograph that makes even the things I personally wouldn't like look delicious. The recipes are clearly written, attractively laid out, the best of all they're flexible. Asmall includes ingredients you could swap out in many cases, for instance allowing you to transform "honey-glazed beef noodles with green beans" into whatever meat you like with rice noodles, peppers and carrots, with oyster sauce. This is great for people who don't like a particular vegetable, for example, or for after you've worked your way through the month's worth of meals in the book and would like to shake it up (you would have to create your own shopping list for those).
Later sections of the book include "Big Batch Basics", an essential skill for the budget chef, and "Quick Breakfasts and Desserts". I can't speak to the content of those, but if they're produced with the same care as the rest of the book, I would be excited to read them.
I imagine by the time a nervous cook has made their way through this book, they'd be set up to continue on their own, knowing the costs of various ingredients, and a variety of techniques they might not otherwise have heard of but can experiment with. Potato hash, for instance is super cheap, simple to cook, filling, and endlessly variable. Asmall obviously put a lot of thought and work into this, and has clearly experienced being on an actual budget. If you're on a budget too, I think this would help.
April 15, 2020
I would make almost everything in here, even if I'm too lazy for some of the recipes. Very basic cooking skills needed to follow these recipes, with lots of repeated ingredients which are given different flavor profiles. If you like tandoori, tikka and curry flavors then you will likely appreciate this book.
March 15, 2019
This is such a cute little cookbook. The layout is inviting and friendly, easy to navigate and understand. Each section is divided by a shopping list and weekly menu that lays out breakfast, lunch, AND dinner for you. The options are creative, unique, and I think most people would find new, untried recipes in this volume by LImahl Asmall. I like Asmall's Middle Eastern sensibilities; you can see it throughout Tiny Budget Cooking and it definitely adds a little more sex appeal to the recipes featured.
However, I'm wondering about the "tiny budget" aspect, as some of the shopping lists are daunting. For a week's meals, one week asks me to purchase a broad variety of items just to make a week's worth of meals. Some shopping list items are marked with a star, indicating it can be used towards next week's meals, too, but when it comes to fresh produce, I wonder whether certain items will last until next week.
I tried a couple of simple recipes (grilled peaches and greek yogurt for breakfast & grilled mackerel and buttered baby potatoes), and they were true to the prep and cooking time indicated! My mackerel dinner was prepped in about 23 minutes and cooked for 30 minutes. Not bad.
I recommend Tiny Budget Cooking for its somewhat exotic, but low-commitment recipes and for the weekly meal organization it provides.
What qualifies as a "tiny budget" anyway?
However, I'm wondering about the "tiny budget" aspect, as some of the shopping lists are daunting. For a week's meals, one week asks me to purchase a broad variety of items just to make a week's worth of meals. Some shopping list items are marked with a star, indicating it can be used towards next week's meals, too, but when it comes to fresh produce, I wonder whether certain items will last until next week.
I tried a couple of simple recipes (grilled peaches and greek yogurt for breakfast & grilled mackerel and buttered baby potatoes), and they were true to the prep and cooking time indicated! My mackerel dinner was prepped in about 23 minutes and cooked for 30 minutes. Not bad.
I recommend Tiny Budget Cooking for its somewhat exotic, but low-commitment recipes and for the weekly meal organization it provides.
What qualifies as a "tiny budget" anyway?
January 26, 2018
Great value recipe book
I wasn't expecting much from this book at the bargain price of 99p but I have to say that I'm delighted with the contents. Usually in not the kind of person that likes a full worked out menu for the week but the ones in this book were practical and sounded like meals i would want to eat. The best bit about the recipes are the 'swap' lists which make it easy to switch out things you don't like or reuse the recipe but let it taste different. I also appreciated the money saving tips throughout the book and using up leftovers for different recipes as I do hate waste. The recipes are set for two people so they can easily be halved for single dinners or doubled up for larger parties.
This book is perfect for anyone who wants to save money and time: it even works out your weekly shopping list for you! :)
I wasn't expecting much from this book at the bargain price of 99p but I have to say that I'm delighted with the contents. Usually in not the kind of person that likes a full worked out menu for the week but the ones in this book were practical and sounded like meals i would want to eat. The best bit about the recipes are the 'swap' lists which make it easy to switch out things you don't like or reuse the recipe but let it taste different. I also appreciated the money saving tips throughout the book and using up leftovers for different recipes as I do hate waste. The recipes are set for two people so they can easily be halved for single dinners or doubled up for larger parties.
This book is perfect for anyone who wants to save money and time: it even works out your weekly shopping list for you! :)
September 1, 2017
I love a meal plan, I think it's the best solution to save money, time, and prevent food wastage. This book is perfect for this, it comes with tips as well as plans and recipes.
I would have liked to be able to review the whole book instead of just the first part, but I liked what I read.
One of the best features of these recipes are the swap ideas. Not everyone is creative in the kitchen and confident enough to adapt recipes themselves so this is a great idea.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
I would have liked to be able to review the whole book instead of just the first part, but I liked what I read.
One of the best features of these recipes are the swap ideas. Not everyone is creative in the kitchen and confident enough to adapt recipes themselves so this is a great idea.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
September 17, 2020
Lots of great recipes and lots of great advice. My one complaint is the meal plans. 3 cooked from scratch meals every day for a week is surely too much cooking for the average working person. I like how all the menu plans work together to use up ingredients you only partially use for one recipe later in the week. Well thought out!
November 25, 2018
Great recipient book
I really enjoyed this book. Full of great recipes most have colour photos. Simple ingredients and clear instructions. Menus for each day. Good variety of meals. Love the swaps. Can't wait to try them.
I really enjoyed this book. Full of great recipes most have colour photos. Simple ingredients and clear instructions. Menus for each day. Good variety of meals. Love the swaps. Can't wait to try them.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews