The booklet, open on a linen cloth

Free, no catch

Ten dinners, no shopping

Ten recipes built entirely from what is already in most kitchens — a tin of something, an onion, whatever is left of a bag of rice. Written for the evening when the shop is shut and nobody wants to think.

All ten, by name

No filler pages, no photography course, no upsell at the end. Ten recipes and a page on what to keep in the cupboard so they always work.

  1. Tinned tomato and butter pasta15 minutes · 4 ingredients
  2. Egg-fried rice, properly hot12 minutes · uses yesterday's rice
  3. Chickpeas with garlic and lemon20 minutes · one tin
  4. Peanut noodles15 minutes · storecupboard
  5. Onion soup for a bad day40 minutes · mostly waiting
  6. Potato and rosemary tray bake45 minutes · unattended
  7. Lentils with whatever green25 minutes · freezer friendly
  8. Tuna, beans and red onion8 minutes · no cooking
  9. Cheese on toast, the good way10 minutes · worth the mustard
  10. Sticky rice pudding35 minutes · dessert from nothing

What readers say

I cooked the Sunday lamb and then the Tuesday orzo from the leftovers, and it was the first time a cookbook has told me what to do with the rest of it.

Hannah R.Bristol

The measurements are in grams and the timings are honest. Two things I did not expect to care about this much.

Deniz A.Rotterdam

I have given four copies away. My mother rang to say the focaccia worked, which has never happened before.

Ciara M.Cork