The Thrifty Baker

The Thrifty Baker presents 65 delicious, affordable and impressive recipes plus advice, tips and hacks covering many areas of baking. Filled with clever ideas and useful features, the book is written with a realism and empathy that comes from the heart, from a lived experience. It isn't just a book of great recipes, but an essential manual for anyone baking today.

Although Hermine is enjoying her current success, life hasn't always been easy for her. As a single mother, to her son Steven, she has at times struggled to make ends meet, especially when he was young and she could only work part-time. With a limited income, but determined that they should both eat good, nutritious food, she learned how to shop, cook, bake and eat on a tight budget. This included making savings on ingredients and cooking equipment, devising clever, thrifty recipes, planning weekly menus, and running her oven as efficiently as possible to save on energy bills.

In the process Hermine has developed a wide-ranging ethos for baking on a budget, a set of values, habits and skills that have at their heart a belief that we can all eat flavourful, nutritious food without spending a fortune on ingredients and energy. And crucially also the knowledge that making our own bakes - whether that's bread, pies, quiches, desserts, cakes or snacks - can save us considerable sums when times are tough. Hermine would now like to share everything she's learned about baking on a budget.