She’s been labelled a cross between 'Yvette Cooper and Delia Smith with tattoos' and her first cookbook went to the top of the paperbook charts, with praise from Nigella Lawson.
Now author Jack Monroe, who at the start of her blogging career in 2012 was living on a £10-a-week food budget, is launching a new venture - teaming up with Groupon to offer five thrifty recipes for meals which cost £5 to make.
The Five For Five recipes, which feed four people, are available between January 20-27 for a £5 donation, which goes to Oxfam.
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Food blogger Jack Monroe has teamed up with Groupon to offer five recipes for a £5 donation
Kale, barley and cumin soup costs less than £5 to make and will feed four big eaters
They include ideas for main meals and desserts, with hearty yet cost effective recipes, including for tinned pear turnover, a kale, barley and cumin soup, a spicy Dal Makhani Indian dish, brown bread ice cream and pulsed cauli tabbouleh.
With each dish costing less than £5 to make (serving four people), the recipes will provide some meal time inspiration for those cooking on a budget.
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Living on a budget in 2012 meant 26-year-old Jack had to meticulously plan all her meals and organise recipes well in advance.
She has revealed how she had to shop smart, choosing tinned vegetables over fresh, and planning menus for her and her then two-year-old son Johnny in advance.
‘The nature of my recipes meant I would cook in bulk. A chilli or a mixed bean goulash, and freeze leftovers for later in the week. Swapping a 30p portion of chilli for half a bottle of wine seems like a pretty good deal to me!' she tells FEMAIL.
'Friends and company were invaluable when things were hard; it breaks up the monotony of cold evenings and loneliness, having someone to talk to about news or politics or anything, really.'
Jack, who has has a string of awards to her name, including winner of the Women Of The Year Enterprise award, Fortnum & Mason Food And Drink Award and YMCA Courage & Inspiration Award, no longer lives on her tiny food budget but admits there were times when things were particularly difficult.
‘At the time my biggest challenges were trying to get a healthy balanced diet on such a small amount of money, especially with constantly changing prices in the supermarket,’ she said.
‘My closest shop was a large supermarket across the road, and I would add things up as I walked around it with a pen and paper.
Ms Monroe in action, demonstrating her method to make tinned pear turnovers
'I ended up splitting my piece of paper into four columns: protein, carbs, fruit and veg, flavours, and trying to balance them out while adding it up.
'Sounds over-organised, but if it’s a long-term problem, you need to try to eat as well as possible, especially with a young child to look after; he needed to eat well too.
‘Examples of proteins would be basic kidney beans, herring roe, frozen fish, tinned sardines. Carbs would be flour, tinned potatoes, pasta, rice,’ she said.
‘Fruit and veg could be tinned or frozen or fresh, mixed stew packs or tinned mandarins or frozen spinach for example.
'Flavours would be herbs or spices that last ages so don’t need to be bought every week. I’d be trying to work meals out as I shopped, revising the contents of my basket to put things back quite a lot of the time.’
Homemade brown bread is used in Jack Monroe's brown bread ice-cream recipe
‘I used to bake with my son. You can do a lot with a packet of 35p cornflakes and some basics chocolate, or flour and butter and a little sugar for simple biscuits.
But even on a tight budget, Jack, whose circ*mstances honed her make-do-and-mend attitude into a fine art, revealed she still managed to entertain guests.
‘I occasionally had friends round for dinner, not nearly as much as I did before, and I would cook and they would bring a contribution, either dessert, or a bottle of wine – the wine was especially useful as I would use leftovers in cooking the week or so afterwards!' she added.
The 26-year-old used to live on a budget of £10 a week, which she had to spend judiciously on food
Ingredients for Ms Monroe's tinned pear turnovers include sultanas, brown sugar and ground cinnamon
HOW TO EAT LIKE A GIRL CALLED JACK: FIVE FOR FIVE RECIPES
Kale, barley and cumin soup. Serves four hungry people or six lighter portions
Jack Monroe's kale, barley and cumin soup
Jack says: 'Barley is one of the cheapest grains currently available in shops and supermarkets, and my mum made pearl barley soup for us when I was a child, loaded with tiny chopped spring vegetables, carrots, spring greens and nutty pearl barley. I’ve taken her Northern Irish heritage and added some of my favourite spices for a warming, wholesome soup. Soaking your barley overnight isn’t essential, but it softens it a little, which shortens the cooking time needed. If you forget to soak it, or decide to cook this off the cuff, just add half an hour to the cooking time from when you add the barley.'
Ingredients: 200g pearl barley, rinsed and soaked for an hour; three 3 onions, red or white; six fat cloves of garlic; a little butter or oil for frying; one teaspoon cumin; two large carrots, grated; 1.5l good vegetable stock (or chicken, if you prefer); one tablespoon sugar; half teaspoon turmeric; one tablespoon vinegar; zest and juice of a lemon; 100g sour cream, or lightly salted natural yoghurt; a good handful of kale
Method: First, rinse your barley, then cover with cold water and leave to soak for an hour or so, ideally overnight. When soaked, drain and rinse it, and set to one side.Then grate your lemon zest – it’s easier to do it with a whole lemon than one that’s been halved and squeezed, so do it now and set to one side – you’ll need it later.
Finely slice two of your onions, peel and chop your garlic, and toss into a saucepan with the oil or butter, cumin, and a pinch of salt. Cook on a very low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to cook evenly. When the onion and garlic are softened, grate one of your carrots and add to the onions and garlic, and stir. Add the barley, pour over the stock, squeeze in the lemon juice, and bring to the boil.
Cover the pan and reduce to a simmer for 40 minutes, checking every now and again that there is enough liquid – if the soup starts to dry out, add a cup of water and stir well.
After half an hour, start to prepare your garnish for the top. Finely slice your last onion and grate your carrot, and pop into a frying pan with a little oil. Fry on a medium heat until soft. Add the sugar, cumin and vinegar and crank the heat up high to caramelise, stirring all the time to stop it sticking and burning.
To serve, chop the kale and stir through. Ladle into bowls, and top with sour cream, spiced carrots and onions, and a pinch of lemon zest. Enjoy!
Tinned pear turnovers
Tinned pear turnovers
Jack says: 'When I was at school, I made apple turnovers in traditional triangle shapes, but recently had a tiny plum turnover in a restaurant, shaped in a semicircle, and decided there and then that when I made my next batch, I’d make them roundy ones in homage to that delicious little one. I didn’t have any plums, but I do always have a tin of pears hanging around the house – they’re simply delicious eaten from the tin, or baked into desserts and snacks like this.'
Ingredients for the pastry: 75g butter; 75g lard; 300g plain flour
Ingredients for the filling: 400g tinned pears, drained and sliced; 100g sultanas; two tablespoons brown sugar; scant teaspoon ground cinnamon
Method: First make your pastry. Dice the butter and lard. Tip the flour into a large mixing bowl and add the butter and lard. Rub into the flour with your fingertips to a breadcrumb texture, then add cold water, one tablespoon at a time, and mix with a knife to form a dough. Divide the dough into four pieces, cover and chill for 15 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 200C/Gas Mark 6, and lightly grease a baking tray with butter, oil or lard – whatever you have to hand.
Make your filling, so it’s ready to go when your dough is cut, otherwise your worktop starts to get busy. Drain the pears (reserve the liquid and pop it in a jar in the fridge, it’s great diluted like a cordial, or mixed with gin or vodka for a cheeky evening treat), Slice your pears and pop them into a mixing bowl with the sultanas, sugar and cinnamon, and give it all a good stir to evenly combine the ingredients. Set to one side for a moment.
Lightly flour your work surface and roll out one of your pieces of dough until it’s around half a centimetre thick. It should be thick enough to not fall apart when you pick it up, but not so thick that you’re just going to be chewing on pastry when it comes out of the oven.
Lay a saucer face down on top of the dough and cut around it with a knife to form a circle. Remove the saucer, and dollop two rounded tablespoons of the pear filling in the middle of the pastry.
Brush the edges with beaten egg to help it stick together. Fold it over - the ‘turnover’ bit - to make a semi-circle, and press around the edges lightly with a fork to seal them. Place it on your baking tray, and repeat until all the dough and filling are gone.
Brush your turnovers with any remaining egg, sprinkle with sugar, and bake in the centre of the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until they are a light golden colour. You’ll smell them when they’re done. Allow cooling for a minute or two before serving – or cool completely, they’re delicious cold, too.
Tips: If you aren’t a fan of tinned pears or can’t get hold of them, these work well with most fruits. Frozen mixed berries make delicious turnovers, just mix them with a little apple and remember to defrost them first. Tinned apricots work well, as do peaches, rhubarb, those tins of pre-made cherry pie filling. f you’d rather use fresh fruit, simply stew it for 15 minutes in a little water and sugar to soften, and then start the recipe from the beginning.
