Alex Elliott-Howery - The Food Savers A-Z: The essential Cornersmith kitchen companion

Were all too familiar with the daily struggle of putting meals on the table that tick all the boxes: yummy, affordable, nutritious, low-waste food that will be enjoyed by everyone and not end up in the bin. We know the food choices we make can play an important role in alleviating environmental problems, reducing food waste, avoiding excess packaging, managing budgets and building healthy bodies, but we also know its not an easy feat.

As enthusiastic self-taught cooks and experienced teachers at the popular Cornersmith Cooking School, we have been discussing, experimenting with and refining our kitchen skills over 16 years of friendship and professional collaboration. When each of us had small children, we committed to preservative-free this, wholemeal that, and everything including the Vegemite was made from scratch. We turned ourselves inside out being the most wholesome and eco-conscious (if not the most boring) citizens on the planet.

Now we both have bigger kids who are bringing home Slurpees, the cooking school has expanded and life has got busier, more complicated and more expensive. We cant homestead from city kitchens when we come home at 6 pm. At the same time, the stakes of the climate emergency are higher, and we know that now, more than ever, community and individual change matters. We havent given up on the home-made everything, but weve learned how to cut corners, focus our priorities and develop hacks for both sanity and sustainability.

While we both still love a day spent bottling tomatoes, were now much more into perfecting quick tips and tricks that will keep kitchen scraps out of the bin and recipes that are versatile enough to stretch over a few dinners.

When our last cookbook, Use It All , came out in 2020 we were surprised and delighted by its success. The feedback made us realise that people in households of all kinds want to change their habits in the kitchen. We had discussions with readers and our cooking school students about the obstacles to reducing food waste, and for many its simply that the wisdom of what to do with the thing has been lost. So we looked to the cooks from less wasteful times for lessons in resourcefulness and thrift rustic meals, wartime rations to really learn for ourselves and show readers how to make the very most out of every ingredient.

This book is a look into our own fridges and pantries, fruit bowls, freezers and gardens, to see the ways we manage the food that comes into our kitchens. Its not about lifestyle or Instagram perfection. Its about real people cooking good, simple, affordable food while also making better environmental choices.

We want to encourage you to be a more confident and instinctive cook, to take creative liberties with what you have and what you like. This book is to be used as a guide, as though were there with you in your kitchen, reminding you to look at what you already have rather than head to the shops. The layout is an AZ ingredient manual, designed to help you use up anything youre sick of looking at or thats going to go bad next week. Well show you how half a jar of tomato paste can be turned into dinner, just how many things you can do with a tired broccoli head, how delicious cauliflower leaves and leek tops actually are, and how never to throw away cooked pasta or rice again. Youll find advice on what ingredient goes with what, ways to store food properly for longer life, quick ideas for what to do with awkwardly small amounts of something, waste hacks, ingredient swaps, preserving tips and, of course, the answers to that endless question, Whats for dinner?