So today I decided to set myself a new challenge, to cook a like-for-like replica of a supermarket ready meal, but cheaper. Harder than it looks, as the ready meals are made in bulk using low priced ingredients – and I have to buy those ingredients at ‘retail’ price, not ‘wholesale’. I decided on a basic macaroni cheese meal, 75p […]
Day three of the slow cooker experiment (£8 from Wilkinsons!) and I decide to try a risotto in it. Only I’m not using rice and this doesn’t have the characteristic standing-and-stirring of a risotto, so I’m not really sure what to call it, apart from bloody yummy – as I’m tucking in as I type this! I haven’t overloaded this […]
For the full recipe, click here: Jack Monroe’s sausage casserole recipe, The Guardian. And in case you missed it or are curious, here’s the whole shebang about the free range sausages: Ethics vs Economics: Choosing free-range. Jack Monroe. Twitter: @MsJackMonroe.
After last weeks porridge experiment, several of my readers got in touch to tell me that they do something similar, but with dried skimmed milk. Well, I rushed to the supermarket to pick up a bag, to solve another household problem. So Thankyou dear readers for this ingenious idea – I’ve made a Super Express Portable Porridge pot from a […]
Last week, I was trying new things for upcoming recipes for my Guardian column, when I came across a bag of kale on special offer at Waitrose – 75p for a massive 200g bag. Anyway, I used a scant handful of it for a recipe, and this evening decided to make the rest into kale pesto… Ingredients (makes 14 portions […]
Published in the Guardian, Thursday 3rd October 2013: Jack Monroe’s beetroot, red lentil and feta salad. Twitter: @MsJackMonroe. Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/agirlcalledjack
Video courtesy of Unite and The Daily Mirror. Meeting organised by Ros Wynne-Jones, Real Britain columnist in The Daily Mirror every Wednesday. To watch the video, click here: Real Britain: Those affected by welfare cuts meet Ed Miliband. Jack Monroe. Twitter: @MsJackMonroe Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/agirlcalledjack
As featured on Great British Chefs: Jack Monroe’s budget friendly Beetroot, Brie and Red Wine Risotto. In some supermarkets, ready cooked and prepared beetroot is cheaper than buying it in bunches, not to mention quicker to cook! I’ve used the pre-packed variety in my recipe, but feel free to use fresh beetroot if you prefer, but it will need at […]
Based on my original Feisty Soup recipe, I’ve made myself a batch of this this afternoon to try to combat a very heavy cold. It normally works very well; the chilli blasts the sinuses, the lemon and ginger eases that accompanying stomach ache, the onion and garlic are packed with antioxidants and the carrots and tomatoes deliver a hefty dose of vitamin C… I’d rather have this than Lemsip any day. Ingredients (Makes 4-6 portions) 1 onion 2 cloves of garlic 1 teaspoon ground ginger or 1cm fresh 1 tbsp lemon juice 200g sliced carrots 800g chopped tomatoes with juice 300ml vegetable stock Pinch of dried chilli or 1 fresh chilli Peel and chop the onion, garlic, chilli and ginger and add to a large saucepan with the lemon juice. Cook together on a low heat, stirring frequently to disturb and stop them from sticking. When the onion has started to soften, add the tomatoes and drained carrots, and pour the stock over the top. Simmer for 10 minutes to combine the flavours and heat through. Remove from heat, and blend using a hand blender or jug blender. Serve hot! Jack Monroe. Twitter: @MxJackMonroe. Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/agirlcalledjack My new book, Cooking on a Bootstrap, is now available to order HERE. This blog is free to those who need it, and always will be, but it does of course incur costs to run and keep it running. If you use it and […]
Based on my original Feisty Soup recipe, I’ve made myself a batch of this this afternoon to try to combat a very heavy cold. It normally works very well; the chilli blasts the sinuses, the lemon and ginger eases that accompanying stomach ache, the onion and garlic are packed with antioxidants and the carrots and tomatoes deliver a hefty dose of vitamin C… I’d rather have this than Lemsip any day. Ingredients (Makes 4-6 portions) 1 onion 2 cloves of garlic 1 teaspoon ground ginger or 1cm fresh 1 tbsp lemon juice 200g sliced carrots 800g chopped tomatoes with juice 300ml chicken or vegetable stock Pinch of dried chilli or 1 fresh chilli Peel and chop the onion, garlic, chilli and ginger and add to a large saucepan with the lemon juice. Cook together on a low heat, stirring frequently to disturb and stop them from sticking. When the onion has started to soften, add the tomatoes and drained carrots, and pour the stock over the top. Simmer for 10 minutes to combine the flavours and heat through. Remove from heat, and blend using a hand blender or jug blender. Serve hot! Jack Monroe. Twitter: @MsJackMonroe. Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/agirlcalledjack
I like to make this bread in the evening to wind down and de-stress. Kneading the dough for 10 minutes may sound like a long time but it’s very therapeutic to do at the end of the day, and those 10 minutes will go faster than you think! This recipe uses half the mandarin segments from a standard 300g (or […]
I’m so addicted to airy fairy easy peasy soda bread, I thought I would see how it translates into a quick and easy garlic bread to accompany the mountain of pasta-and-tomatoes I eat….. I’m pleased to say it works beautifully, with a quick spread of butter. Wrap well after cooling though, as it will stale quickly – but if it […]
“Hey Sprout, do you want tomato and cheese with your pasta, or peas and cheese?” “Cheese!” “Yes, but do you want tomatoes, or peas?” “Peas!” “Peas and cheese?” “PEAS AND CHEESE!” That’s how that conversation went with SB today, having spent all day painting and cleaning and coming home to a rather limited cupboard (and equally limited levels of energy […]
People often ask me why I don’t buy items from the Reduced chiller at the supermarket: well I do, I just don’t tend to blog about them, on the basis that they aren’t dependable, and price reductions vary from supermarket chain to supermarket chain, and even store to store. However, on finding a packet of trout in my local supermarket […]
In a new series of blog posts for food website Great British Chefs, I have rejigged my Pasta Alla Genovese recipe, and photographed it on my favourite plate… For the full article, click here: http://www.greatbritishchefs.com/community/budget-pasta-alla-genovese-recipe Jack Monroe. Follow me on Twitter @MsJackMonroe
This afternoon I decided to take my abundant chilli plant in hand, and instead of picking one or two for a recipe here and there, snipped off all of the ripe and ready red ones that I could see – 42 in total! They are clearly enjoying being in the ground instead of in a pot on my window ledge! […]
This classic combination of Greek cheese and courgettes crops up again in a simple pasta dish that is perfect for lunch all year round. Eat cold in the summer, or warmed through in the winter to melt the cheese into a soft, delicious sauce. Serves 2 1 courgette a fistful of fresh mint, plus extra to garnish a fistful of […]
Like many of my recipes, this was a toss-together of some ’fridge stuff’ – some rogue Greek cheese and a courgette that was kicking about. harking back to my Cypriot roots for what was initially going to be a tzatziki, this ended up as something else entirely. The sauce or dip, or whatever it should be called, is immensely versatile, […]
As half a million people are reportedly reliant on the distribution of emergency food from food banks, the Government seems adamant to blame feckless parenting and a ‘scrounger mentality’ for the rise of food poverty in Britain. First, Lord Freud commented in the House of Lords this week that there was no link between the recent welfare cuts and the rise in demand for food banks. In a gross slur against the desperate families referred to food banks for help, he claimed that people were turning up just because there was ‘free food’, and not out of necessity – which simply isn’t true. Surveys show that one in five people suffering from food insecurity would not consider turning to a food bank for help, as they find the stigma attached to ‘asking for food’ humiliating. Then in today’s news, Michael Gove blames child poverty and hunger on reckless, irresponsible parenting and, in doing so, distracts from and denies the reality that most people using food banks are doing so as a result of benefit delays, sanctions, low income and unemployment. Other factors such as illness and domestic abuse certainly play a part, but these are the key causes, cited time and time again by food bank users. Many parents tell of going hungry themselves in order to feed their children, as the biting austerity measures wound family incomes – or lack thereof – deeper and deeper. It’s hardly the picture […]
While testing recipes for my book this week, it was inevitable that I would start to put leftover ingredients together to come up with accidental dishes. This speedy and satisfying late lunch was born of some scraps of cooking bacon left over from Spring Piggy, and some sad looking Brie from the Courgette and Brie gratin. I have been criticised […]
Think you can’t make bread? Or that you need a fancy pants bread maker to do so? RUBBISH. You have a natural, free bread maker in your palms and your knuckles – and this easy recipe with no proving or rising time is a great place to start. A lot of soda bread recipes use whole meal flour, salt, and […]
From “The Next Course” in Financial Times Weekend magazine, summer food special. 22nd June 2013. Photography by Rick Pushinsky To read the full article by Isabel Berwick, click here Follow me on Twitter @MsJackMonroe
This is one of my go-to recipes, a whatever-happens-to-be-in-the-cupboard special. I sometimes add a chopped chilli to the onion, and some coriander from my window ledge herb box, but I have given the basic recipe below – feel free to customize it as you wish. when it comes to my lunch, I can be an impatient oik so I tend […]
The Independent, 21 June. Follow me on Twitter @MsJackMonroe
Ironically, just after I posted the photo of the END HUNGER sign on the bank of Lough Erne to greet the G8 leaders as they arrived for the summit today, one of those leaders tweeted a photo of what he would be having for dinner this evening… Ironic, and sadly out of touch. There’s no money in the budget for […]
It’s 0929 in the morning, and we’ve secured some hotdesks at the Killyhevlin Media Centre in Enniskillen. ‘We’ are the IF@G8 Bloggers: Jack Monroe – @MsJackMonroe – Hunger and Nutrition Richard Murphy – @RichardJMurphy – Tax and Tax Havens Rosebell Kagumire – @RosebellK – Uganda and Transparency Sarah Robinson – @SarahRobinson78 – Chosen by Mumsnet Shane McCracken – @ShaneMcC – […]
Touching down at Belfast International airport on Sunday night, and very happy to find this sign as I stepped off the plane! Jack Monroe. Twitter: @MsJackMonroe
Society, The Guardian, Thursday 6 June 2013. Food poverty: ‘You think it doesn’t happen to normal people’ Jack Monroe’s A Girl Called Jack blog vividly charts her life on the breadline, from visits to the pawn shop to living on a £10 a week food budget. Policy makers should take note. By Patrick Butler. The undoubted star turn at the […]
Dear Atos Healthcare, I’m writing to you with a concern about a person known to me who is not in work. I am a journalist for a local newspaper, and on doing some research for an article yesterday, came across a very long list of questions that are asked at Atos ‘Work Capability Assessment’ interviews up and down Britain. Questions such as: Can you spell the word ‘world?’ What is 97 minus six? Can you show me your left hand? Can you show me your right hand? Can you touch your nose with your left hand? Can you touch your nose with your right hand? Do you live with people or on your own? Can you wash yourself? Can you dress yourself? Can you feed yourself unaided? As I started to read the questions, a growing sense of doom began to build as I realised that I might know someone who is committing Benefit Fraud. You see, my son, frequently referred to throughout my blog as Small Boy, can spell the word ‘world’. I don’t want to seem like one of those show- off mothers, but he can also touch his nose with his right and left hand when asked, he can wash his face, he dresses himself in the morning, and he doesn’t live by himself. My son is three years old, and from my understanding based on my own research, he would pass an Atos Work Capabilty Assessment […]
COOKING ON A BOOTSTRAP 