Good recipe book to have in the kitchen for easy, cheap meals. Is written by a New Zealander, so the ingredients are all easily available in NZ. The recipes use basic ingredients you will already have – so no need to buy a jar of a fancy, exotic ingredient to only use 1 tablespoon of it!

Also has advice about budgeting and what staples you should keep in the kitchen and how to throw together a quick, nutritious meal based on a few staple ingredients. The budget advice needs to be converted to ‘today's dollars’ as the prices referred to in the book are based on when the book was originally written a few years ago. However the principles are still the same.

The chicken pie is awesome (and only uses one chicken breast) and have used it (and other) recipes when entertaining friends for dinner, with great feedback.

Great for a basic cookbook with ideas to save money, would be a great gift for flatters and others leaving home.

Sophie Gray is New Zealand's answer to Nigella Lawson! Not only does she give very sound budgeting advice for supermarket shopping, but she then goes on to give us a number of tasty and diverse recipes that use the ingredients she recommends. She keeps it simple and tasty.

While all of her recipes are delicious and economical, everyone I know who owns this recipe book has their favourtie “go to” recipes from it. In my case I always use Dana's Chocolate Cake; Calzone – Bread Dough Pizza Base; Mushroom and Bacon Fetticine and Pesto. All four of these recipes are ones I use often and now know by heart. They have all recieved rave reviews. The best thing is they are incredibly easy – especially the chocolate cake!

I would recommend this book on the chocolate cake recipe alone, that being said, there is a whole bookful of wonderful meals and tasty treats to be had. A book for any person's collec­tion.