Use It All: The Cornersmith guide to a more sustainable kitchen

by Alex Elliott, Jaimee Edwards

Want to know what you can do to address a food system in crisis? Get back into the kitchen, use what's there and gain a bit more kitchen literacy. It's time to rethink the role of the modern home kitchen as a place that can effect positive change, as well as produce delicious meals, even when we are busy with the rest of our lives.

Most cookbooks present inspiring recipe after inspiring recipe, sending you to the shops with an enormous list of ingredients, much of which get wasted. Use it All is a kitchen skills handbook for real people with really busy lives who want to do a bit of good. Packed with over 160 recipes that form a blueprint for seasonal eating, offering dozens of alternative flavour combinations to adapt according to what you have on hand. Putting these skills into practice means you'll eat creative meals, buy less, use less packaging and make so much more with what you've got.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Sustainability

289 pages, Paperback

Published January 19, 2021

Reviews

[Jodie Esler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Use it All by Alex Elliott-Howery and Jaimee Edwards is one of the best cookbooks I’ve bought in ages. I’ve straight away ordered the authors other books. Highly recommended.

[Tamara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of useful advice and tips. I really liked some recipes - the 'slaw' pages were very helpful and led to success, along with some others - and found some not that excellent (like the pumpkin-zucchini bread/cake). Overall, a valuable book.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the idea of this book--it is a cousin of Cook Once, Eat All Week, with a lot more freedom and flexibility. The authors aim to help readers become more adaptable in the kitchen, able to both plan better and improvise to waste less in the kitchen. They group their recipes in seasonal "baskets", and provide a number of recipes that could be made with the ingredients from that basket. They also give detailed information about a number of different vegetables and herbs, with ideas of how to use up the last bits and how to rescue them when they look a little tired.

All that said, it's not a good book for my family right now. I'm sure a less exhausted GF/DF cook would be able to easily pick out and adapt recipes, but with low physical/mental energy, I need cookbooks with recipes that work for our food restrictions as written and don't need a lot of adapting.

Still a great book for families who don't have a lot of dietary restrictions and allergies.

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best kind of cookbook is the kind that makes you want to start cooking every time you pick it up to read. This is that kind; as a bonus, it fits very well with my existing ideas of sustainability in the kitchen. It’s full of recipes with suggestions to adapt based on what’s at hand as well as ideas for using every part possible of the food we buy, even if it’s started to get a little wrinkly.

[Amy Knox · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book literally changed my life. I use it multiple times a week. Great for making sure you waste as little food (and money) as possible, and full of really tasty recipes, including lots that are kid-friendly. My only suggestions for improvements are to have a built-in bookmark or ribbon, and to highlight/bold ingredients in the text.

[Annette McIntyre · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is full of ideas on using every single part of the plants you use for cooking. The peels, cores and other parts usually tossed in the compost are turned into tasty meals.