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!
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 [...]
Big Idea Week!
Happy May to you all! It's a beautiful day here in NYC. I'm participating in Big Idea Week as a mentor and this morning I got to present to a bunch of 4th graders at PS 15 in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The basic premise of Big Idea Week is that people from all kinds of industries (even cookbook authors apparently!) come to present their work to the kids. We talk about the problem our work addresses, the ideas we came up with to address those problems, and how those ideas become solutions. So we present to the kids on Monday,...
Ginger and Mushroom Tofu Hot Pot
This Tofu Hot pot features tofu slices, vegetables and noodles snuggled into a hot ginger, garlic and mushroom broth. Comes together quickly and is even better on day 2.
Flour Tortillas
I don't know about you guys, but lately I have just been ALL about the tacos. One of my favorite things growing up was taco night. Yes, the tacos were delicious, but I also loved that my Mum would put out all the different toppings and fillings and we'd just make our own. Even as a kid I guess I was kind of a control freak and I just loved making up my own taco. I think my Dad's favorite part was trying all the different hot sauces. Maybe also the sour cream. Anyway, I digress! My point is that...
Lightly Curried Butternut Squash Soup
Pureed butternut squash soup with added flavor from curry and coconut milk.
Sweet, Crispy and Juicy Broiled Grapefruit
Grapefruit cut in half and broiled with a little brown sugar until it is juicy and caramelized, but still fresh and fruity in the middle.
Jacket Sweet Potatoes
Baked sweet potatoes are a fun weekday meal.All you have to do it throw them in the oven and grab a couple of toppings from the fridge. I first got into them when I had a large number of sweet potatoes from a farm share. They were all odd sizes with long knobbly bits and I just didn't know what to do. So I just baked them, grabbed some sour cream and other random sauces and made a little topping bar. We ate potato after potato (these were little ones I swear!) and tried different toppings on each. So easy...
Fresh Pasta
This is my favorite fresh pasta recipe that uses whole eggs. Multiply this recipe by the number of people you are serving, maybe a bit less. The stated quantities are a useful ratio, but produce big portions.
Finally, Spanish! Bueno y Barato is here!
At long, last it’s happening: the Spanish version of Good and Cheap is out today — and as always, the PDF is free. Welcome to the world, Bueno y Barato! We’ve been waiting for you so long. [...]
Vegetable Quiche, Hold the Crust
As long as eggs are in my fridge I know that a good meal is only a few minutes away. But sometimes scrambling, frying or poaching just doesn't feel enough like dinner. This quiche looks beautiful and is great to serve to guests. (from Good and Cheap p. 114)
Updated Version of Good and Cheap now Available
It took a couple more days than we wanted, but the book is done! Now it has been sent to the printer and the printed books are still on schedule to ship in late September! However, the online version requires no tedious waiting for printing and shipping. It's already here so please download a shiny new copy: https://www.leannebrown.com/good-and-cheap.pdf The new version has:
How Good and Cheap Enhances a Student Program in St. Paul, MN
Hi guys! Today we have a wonderful guest author, Aimee Gonzalez here to tell a story about how she has used Good and Cheap in her work with Latino high school students in St. Paul, MN. If you or anyone you know would like to share their story about how they're using Good and Cheap please write to me at leanne@leannebrown.ca with subject line Good and Cheap Stories. --- Leanne The question every single one of us has asked ourselves at one point or another in our lives is more or less: “What am I supposed to contribute to this...
