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!
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:
Creamy Zucchini Fettucine
Creamy zucchini fettucine is like a lighter, brighter fettuccine alfredo with zucchini.
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.
The Great Dumpling Tour!
During the Good and Cheap Kickstarter, Jim Leff, founder of Chowhound, offered out of the blue to do one of his famous food tours to help spur donations. Arlyn Davich, founder of Payperks, quickly scooped up the prize with a generous donation. This past Saturday, Jim hosted Arlyn and I on meticulously curated tasting tour of NYC's rarest and most delicious dumplings. I think we can all agree that one of the best parts of traveling is eating new and delicious food, and it was incredible to have that experience all in one city. One of the unexpected delights of...
Cornmeal Crusted Vegetables
I've been making these a lot lately at different events around the city. They're a great party food so they're perfect when there's a crowd. They also surprise people. They're like vegetable chicken fingers! I suggest in Good and Cheap that you serve them with peanut sauce, but people have enjoyed them with sour cream and scallions, spiced yogurt and even salsa. And now that it's solidly asparagus season well, it's time to try crusting them! (from Good and Cheap p.62) Pictured are bell peppers and green beans.
Peanut Butter and Jelly Granola Bars
Simple-to-make granola bars made from combining just oats, peanut butter and jam or jelly. You can make infinite variations and additions to this flexible recipe.
Spicy Green Beans
A simple recipe for spicy green beans stir fried until just cooked and coated in a spicy, salty and garlicky sauce. Serve it with rice and an egg and you've got a full meal.
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...
Spicy Tilapia with Lime
If you can find a good deal on Tilapia, or any white fish fillets, please, please try this. Unfortunately fish tends to be expensive in NYC so this one comes out a little pricier than most recipes. But it can still fit into most budgets occasionally. It's so delicious and crazy fast. If you're not a big fish lover this is a great place to start! White fish has a very mild flavor and the treatment here is inspired by a Louisiana blackened catfish, if not quite so powerfully spiced! The spice and quick broiling creates fish with a slightly...
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
Broccoli Apple Salad
This salad may not seem like much at first, but thinly sliced apples and broccoli are not only delicious together, they have a crunchy, satisfying texture that makes this salad a lot of fun to eat. I had an apple salad at a neighborhood restaurant recently, and it had a little honey in the dressing, which I think would be a great addition here! People are always surprised by how much they like this, so shake off your skepticism and give this a try! (from Good and Cheap page 54) 1 large crown and stem of broccoli
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,...
