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!
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...
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...
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.
A Good and Cheap Story from Carlos Olaechea
Today’s post comes from Carlos Olaechea, he’s working towards a Master’s degree in Boston University’s Gastronomy program. I was personally really touched by his story, and I think it points to a lot of issues with cooking and eating for little, that we don’t talk about enough. I hope you’ll read it, think about it, and consider sharing. If anyone has a story, personal or otherwise that you would like to share, please write to me at Leanne@leannebrown.com. I've never been on food stamps, but there were times when I was living on a very modest budget from my unemployment...
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...
Deconstructed Cabbage Rolls
A much less labor intensive version of the hearty eastern European classic, cabbage rolls.
French Onion Soup
There's an undeniable romance to french onion soup. It's silky and dark and rich. It's also next to impossible not to cry during it's creation. If you don't already have a serious plan in place consider making this for your loved one this Valentines Day. The smell alone is enough to make anyone fall in love. (from Good and Cheap p. 38) Now it’s time to make cheese toast! If you want classic French onion soup— with the toast directly in the soup, which makes it a bit soggy—place a piece of bread on top of each bowl of soup,...
