No-fuss family meals in farm mum’s cookbook
A new e-cookery book that promotes food sustainability has received royal support, Athwenna Irons reports
AMULTI-TASKING farmers’ wife is to share her favourite home kitchen recipes, using locally sourced ingredients and flying the flag for British farming, in a new book endorsed by the Princess Royal.
Award-winning food blogger and podcaster, Milly Fyfe, is launching an e-cookery book to help people who enjoy cooking but are time poor, create family friendly meals from scratch.
It comes at a time where people are feeling the pinch, purse strings are tight, and people are looking for cost effective ways of preparing meals with batch cooking, slow cooking and low energy cooking.
The recipes are pulled together from the successful food blog, ‘No Fuss Meals for Busy Parents’ and the podcast, ‘The Countryside Kitchen Meets’, where mother of two Milly interviews food producers and farmers about what they grow, rear or process and how they can make a tasty meal using those ingredients.
There is a real emphasis on seasonality and highlighting local food producers, ensuring low food miles, provenance and sustainability, whilst making the meals accessible, easy to make and the whole family can enjoy.
Commenting on the e-book launch, author and entrepreneur Milly, who alongside her husband Andrew runs a mixed arable and livestock farm in Northamptonshire, said: “I want to help people eat well for less and enjoy cooking a meal from scratch. I’ve often found some cookery books and TV programmes too complex with ingredients that are expensive or not accessible to the average person.
“As a busy parent myself, I want to feed my family well, but am often time poor. I’ve put together these recipes from my own repertoire as well as from farmers and foodies that I have interviewed using British ingredients. “No Fuss Meals for Busy Parents was first conceived during the height of the pandemic, where I would take photos of the produce I was growing in my garden, document what was happening on the farm and involving my two young children in the growing, cooking and eating of homegrown produce. Very quickly people became interested in what we were up too and I wanted to share a few easy, no fuss recipes to help provide inspiration at mealtimes.”
She added: “Now that everyone is worried about the cost of living, I want to empower people to recognise what they can make, what local farmers and food producers have available and in season, and ultimately help the local economy.”
The book will be raising money for the Farming Community Network (FCN) and is supported by Love British Food, which Milly is an ambassador for. Perhaps most excitingly, it has been endorsed and foreworded by the Princess Royal.
Milly continued: “I cried when I received the letter from Princess Anne who wanted to endorse and foreword my book. All the hard work and determination is paying off and having royal support is the icing on the cake. I hope the book helps to make a difference, raise some money for charity, get more people cooking and showcasing the field to fork supply chain in a fun and interactive way. Most of all is that I want more people to buy British and champion those hero ingredients at mealtimes.”
An e-book launch will take place on Friday, December 16, and a copy will be available to purchase and download on Amazon for £4.95. Online pre-orders can be taken now. Printed copies will be available at a later date.
For more information on the book launch, please visit the website www. millyfyfe.com