Poor Girl Gourmet Review

TITLE: Poor Girl Gourmet
AUTHOR: Amy McCoy
PUB DATE: June 1, 2010
PUBLISHER: Andrews McMeel
PAGES: 222

ABOUT THE BOOK:
Love eating well but hate paying a lot? Amy McCoy’s cookbook, Poor Girl Gourmet (based on her popular blog of the same name), features decadent and delectable recipes for foodies with limited budgets, but sophisticated tastes.

In Poor Girl Gourmet, McCoy breaks down the costs for each dish while also offering money-saving strategies, including tips for growing and preserving your own food, as well as ideas for quick and delicious family meals. Each recipe serves at least four people, so it’s perfect for families on a budget—because eating well while saving money is something that appeals to all of us. McCoy, knowing that a gourmet meal is enhanced by the proper wine, also reviews more than 25 affordable wine varietals and blends, with pairing suggestions for many of the dishes. And there is a chapter of splurges ($15 to $30 per entrée for a family of four) for when you’re feeling fancy.

MY THOUGHTS
Thank you to Tammi at Andrews McMeel for sending me this great cookbook to read and review. She knows how much I love cookbooks and always sends them unexpectedly to me. I love the element of surprise when I get packages from her.

As everyone knows I love cookbooks, love trying new foods and eating healthy and cheaply is possible. Growing up I have to admit my parents weren’t adventurous in there cooking and we always had the same thing every week on the same day (ie hamburgers and hotdogs on Saturday etc). I use to always question my mother because she always had a ton of cookbooks sitting on the shelf in our home why she never tried any of the recipes in them and her answers was always “What if we don’t like it and then we end up wasting food?” Well for me you never will know until you try it.

So moving out was a joyous event for me and to celebrate I had bought myself a cookbook and swore I would always try new foods and not stick to the same old thing.

Back to my review :)I loved this cookbook because as a parent I want to serve and eat healthy foods without spending alot of money but not scrimp on the taste of it.

In the book Amy talks about some key points you can do to save money. Here is a few of them:

• Cook at home. (We all know sometimes its easier to make a quick run through the drive thru on the way home but just think of the money you could save?)
• Don’t waste food and buy only what you need. (You can freeze left overs, stale bread can become croutons or breadcrumbs, left over vegetables can become a stock and compost.)
• Plan your meals, shop the sales and use coupons.
• Buy in season and locally
• Buy in bulk. (Great for meat. I do this and I am amazed at how much I end up saving in the end)

Amy also includes a basic technique section on how to toast nuts, make crouton, breadcrumbs, kneading dough and a few other things that are handy to know.

There is roughly 84 recipes in the book and here is what I loved about that, there is a photo with every single recipe (BONUS for me) and with each recipe she has also broken down the cost of the items so it shows you what you end up saving on each meal.

The recipe sections are: Soups & Salads, Entrees, Vegetable & Sides, Bakery & Desserts, Splurges, Wines and Menu Suggestions. Know who doesn’t like a menu suggestion?

Since getting the cookbook I have made a veal stew, Perfect Roasted Chicken with Spicy Orange Sauce and Roasted Chicken Legs with Olives. Happy to say we enjoyed all three of these recipes and looking forward to trying more recipes from this cookbook.