My last office job was temping for Housing New Zealand, now Kainga Ora.
In this role, I learnt that new tenants used to be given packs containing information about services they could avail of and a printed copy of The Great Little Cookbook to help prepare meals for a family on a budget.
This was back in 2013. I am not sure if this practice still exists today.
I recall being impressed by the simplicity of the recipes and how helpful the shopping lists and meal plans were.
So, when I started hunting down ways to really cut down our spending so we could become financially free, I remembered the WINZ cookbook and started Googling.
Until recently, the cookbook was loaded onto the WINZ website as a PDF download. But a recent search showed that link had been removed.
It was nowhere to be found.
I’ve had a PDF copy downloaded for a while, so I have uploaded it here for reference with full credit to MSD staff as per the author’s information:
Written by Sally Mackay
Editing/Design by Jill Harris
Printed by PrintHouse, Nelson
© Ministry of Social Development 2006
The opening blurb on the provenance of the Great Little Cookbook reads
It was Work and Income frontline staff who first suggested that families would benefit from a down-to-earth book that showed simple ways to choose, prepare and serve food that was healthy and inexpensive. It is the partnership of the Nelson Marlborough and West Coast District Health Boards with Work and Income’s Regional Office in Nelson that has brought this suggestion to fruition
The PDF can be found here: The Great Little Cookbook
The Great Little Cookbook is a comprehensive guidebook that covers various aspects of healthy eating, meal planning, and budgeting.
It provides tips on staying healthy, making a meal plan, and preparing menus for a week.
The book also covers shopping and stocking the pantry, kitchen equipment, and recipe substitutes.
It includes food safety tips, reading food labels, and provides recipes for breakfast, school lunches, snacks, home baking, meat, fish, beans, and lentils.
The book also has hints for healthy meals, vegetable recipes, light meals, soups, takeaways, and desserts.
Additionally, it includes information on food for babies and other household hints.
Don’t expect fancy and modern; this is simple, old-fashioned Kiwi cooking, just like your mum and nana used to make.
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