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Cover of Make the bread, buy the butter

Make the bread, buy the butter

304 pages

A lively, pragmatic culinary companion that relieves the pressure of the from-scratch movement with humor and cost-benefit clarity.

What it feels like

Reading this book feels like inviting a witty, pragmatic friend into your kitchen to relieve you of the guilt of modern domestic expectations. The narrative moves at a brisk, lively pace, blending the cozy atmosphere of home cooking with the sharp, satisfying clarity of cost-benefit analysis. It offers a cheerful, frugal-chic approach to the homemade life, replacing the overwhelming pressure to cook absolutely everything from scratch with a conscientious, realistic middle ground. The prose is conversational and engaging, seamlessly weaving personal anecdotes with practical culinary experiments. It is a delightful, grounding experience for any home cook who wants to embrace the joy of making their own food without sacrificing their sanity or their grocery budget.

Mood
  • cheerful
  • domestic
  • pragmatic
  • cozy
Tone
  • lively
  • practical
  • humorous
  • approachable
  • conscientious
Pace
brisk
Themes
culinary pragmatism · the homemade life · frugal living · kitchen cost-benefit analysis · relieving domestic pressure
The writing
Engaging and conversational, blending lively personal narrative with clear-eyed, analytical culinary experiments.
The arc
Moves from the overwhelming expectations of the from-scratch movement to a joyful, realistic embrace of practical home cooking.
Who it's for
Home cooks seeking a humorous, realistic, and frugal approach to deciding which staples are actually worth making from scratch.

About the book

"A lively, frugal-chic answer to the question "Make or Buy" about 120 different food staples"--

"Does becoming part of the home cooking movement mean cooking everything from scratch? According to Jennifer Reese, known as The Tipsy Baker to her online foodie following, there are plenty of products that you should buy at the store. Make your own bread, for instance, but buy the butter--making butter takes too long and doesn't taste better. Jennifer Reese's popular cost-benefit experiments became the most emailed story on Slate for a week, and this book brings her conscientious, frugal-chic approach to 120 food staples in a narrative with recipes that explores the homemade life"--

Description from Open Library.

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