A Balanced Belly Book Club: Eat Shop Save

Today I’m back with a new book review. I haven’t done one in a while but if you’re new here, I try to review a new healthy living, gut health or gluten-free recipe book every month or so. Past books have included……

But let’s get back to today’s choice. Today I’m tackling Eat Shop Save by Dale Pinnock

What is it?

‘Eat Shop Save’ is a collection of healthy (many gluten and dairy free) recipes that are all achievable on a budget. Many of the recipes are designed around simple ingredients, being suitable for batch cooking or being a cost-efficent alternative to takeaways and meals out. Although it’s not billed specifically for a gluten/dairy free market, so many of the recipes are naturally gluten and dairy free. The book comes with an eight-week meal plan and shopping list, as well as simple nutrition advice and a small section to make your own notes. It’s written by Dale Pinnock who is a nutritionist (an actual one-I checked) and chef.

What’s good about it?

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For one:the price! It’s under a fiver on Amazon currently; which makes it an absolute bargain. Secondly, I absolutely loved the simplicity of some of the recipes. For example:

Chicken and veg tray bake
Batch cooking homemade tomato sauce
Oatmeal-crusted fish fingers

A lot of healthy recipe books (or free-from ones) have a long list of ingredients-and expensive gluten-free alternatives. Everything in the book is made from natural and low-cost ingredients and there’s rarely a recipe with more than ten ingredients listed.

I can’t wait to try this fish recipe!

It really made me think about how I might be overcomplicating things when it comes to recipes, and that simple is best! There’s a belief that healthy cooking has to be expensive and I think that’s what prevents a lot of people from trying it. This book dispells a lot of myths and also acts a great introduction to batch cooking. The 8-week meal plan at the back of the book is perfect if you need a lot of hand-holding. It’s not restrictive or faddy-it’s just full of good food! The fact that it comes with a shopping list makes it even easier. The short intro to nutrition at the start is also a great idea. It introduces things like the importance of fats, carbs as well being conscious of getting your omegas and B12.

What I didn’t like

There really wasn’t much I didn’t like about this book. I suppose some might argue it’s a bit too simplistic-for example, you can find a recipe for tomato sauce anywhere. But for me, that was kind of the appeal. I’d have loved some dedicated space for meal plan; there’s a chart at the beginning that it suggests copying out but it would be great if there was a dedicated section with more space. It doesn’t have any allergy labelling (because it’s not marketed in that way I guess) but it is easy enough to navigate; and any recipes that use gluten and dairy are easy enough to replace with alternatives.

Verdict

If you enjoy my gluten-free on a budget posts and are looking for some simple and cost-efficient ways to get healthier, this is 100% the book for you. It’s also great if you’re looking for a meal plan and want to start batch cooking. And at under a fiver, you can’t really go wrong! You can buy Eat Shop Save here.

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