All About Good and Cheap
Good and Cheap is a cookbook for people with very tight budgets, particularly those on SNAP/Food Stamps benefits. The PDF is free (ahora en Español!) when you sign up for my newsletter and has been downloaded more than 15,000,000 times. It is also available in print, and for every copy sold we donate one to someone who can’t afford it.
Good and Cheap had an unusual journey into publishing. It started out as the thesis for my Masters degree in Food Studies at NYU. I made a digital version of the book, but didn’t have any kind of distribution or marketing plan. After some fruitless attempts at working with non-profits, I decided to simply offer it as free download on a simple website in early 2014.
A few weeks later someone posted it on Reddit and I was astonished by the interest! The book was downloaded so many times that first day that it broke my website. Suddenly my inbox was full of kind advice, stories, gratitude, and encouragement from strangers who wanted to get the book out there as much as I did!
With that encouragement and proof that there was an interested audience, I started a Kickstarter project to fund a print run to get Good and Cheap into the hands of those who couldn’t get it online. For the summer of 2014, I worked night and day, along with my now-husband Dan and many generous friends, to make the project a reality. The experience changed my life. We were trying to raise $10,000 but ended up with a whopping $144,681. This allowed us to print 40,000 copies of the book, giving away one for every copy sold to someone who couldn’t otherwise afford it. We made 25,000 available for just $4/copy to organizations who work with target populations. It was amazing! Also completely wild and exhausting and unsustainable. But luckily we got help.
Next I found a wonderful publishing home in Workman Publishing. I never thought the book could be a commercial success; that was why I did it as a master’s thesis. I was so happy to be wrong. Workman was supportive of the buy-one-give-one model from the beginning and have been even more insatiable than I was about getting it into the hands of non-profits at deep deep discounts. In 2015, I got to go on a massive book tour, meeting so many incredible people, sharing stories and generally basking in the glow of all the incredible work people are doing. In addition, Good and Cheap won the 2015 IACP Judge’s Choice Award, I made the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Food and Drink, and Food & Wine and Fortune named me one of the Most Innovative Women in Food and Drink. Good grief!
Check Out Some of the Recipes!
Caramelized Bananas
These bananas—cooked in just a bit of caramel—are crispy and gooey on the outside and almost like a soft pudding inside. Sweet, messy, and irresistible.
Kickstarter for Good and Cheap
Today I am launching a Kickstarter to fund a print run of Good and Cheap, my free PDF cookbook for people on Food Stamps. Please take a few moments to check it out and share it with your friends. Just over a month ago, April 29th, a lovely person posted a link to Good and Cheap on Reddit. Soon it was on Tumblr, Hacker News and many other places besides. It was downloaded so many times that it temporarily broke the site twice. I was so encouraged and touched by the supportive comments from strangers. It was tremendously heartening to...
Charred Summer Salad
I am so glad that this salad has popcorn on it. Aren't you? Gina, who sponsored this recipe in Good and Cheap through last summer's Kickstarter, suggested that I add something crunchy to this salad of grilled zucs and corn. I was like "hello!! Have I forgotten my own rules? Salad must always have so
Peanut Sauce
A spicy, sweet, aromatic and of course peanutty peanut sauce that comes together quickly, keeps well and will up your dinner and snack game all week.
Bueno y Barato is here!
Guess what?? We did it!! The long awaited Spanish edition of Good and Cheap, Bueno y Barato, is finally here and will be available in stores and online starting later this summer, officially August [...]
Chana Masala
Of all the recipes I've ever shared, Chana Masala is the one I hear about from my friends the most. I think it's the magic of how shockingly easy it is to make, combined with the fact that it costs next to nothing, topped off with how it tastes absolutely incredible. You will crave it all the time. You might even drool a little when you think about it. Just try it. You're welcome. (from Good and Cheap p. 93) ½ tbsp ghee or ½ tbsp butter plus a splash of olive oil
Filipino Chicken Adobo
Chicken Adobo is a classic Filipino dish of chicken and vegetables cooked in vinegar and soy sauce. Tangy, salty and rich, and it keeps for days in the fridge.
Good and Cheap lessons at Rising Stars Academy
Today’s post comes from Julie Fromm, RD who taught a class using Good and Cheap at Rising Stars Academy. Rising Stars is a post-secondary school for young adults with special needs. In addition to math, reading and college and career readiness classes they focus on food. They grow food in their greenhouse and garden, and prepare it in their commercial kitchen. I taught a series of 4 lessons based on the USDA MyPlate and Good and Cheap. Here’s the basic lesson plan if anyone wants to try to replicate it! We started out discussing the MyPlate food groups and the...
Broccoli and Cheddar Empanadas
Lightly cooked broccoli and gooey cheddar baked into crunchy, cornmeal pockets.
Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
Moist chocolate zucchini muffins with oats and yogurt, perfect for breakfast or dessert!
Black Eyed Peas and Collards
'tis still the season for warm pots of yummy stuff. When it just seems like the winter will never end it feels good to eat something green. Collards are great at this time of year and melt beautifully into a pot of black eyed peas with the salty, smoky bacon counterpoint. You can substitute beans instead of peas and spice this up any way you want to. Serve this over rice or any other grain, or with some toast or flatbread
Cool Announcements Alert!
The new year is bringing a new phase for Good and Cheap. Last year was utterly, staggeringly incredible, but would you believe that this year might be even better? I am officially sold out of the 1st edition of Good and Cheap. We gave away over 9,000 donated copies, sold 24,000 at cost to non profits and sold another 7,000 to you! Oh, and the free PDF has been downloaded over 500,000 times so far. But being sold out doesn’t mean this is over. It means it’s just beginning. I'm excited to announce that this summer, Good and Cheap will...
