Book Review | Edmonds More Food For Flatters

Promotion for Hachette

Edmonds Cookery Books have been in almost all New Zealand homes for over 100 years. With my youngest being in Year 13 and planning to leave home next year, it was the ideal time to give the new Edmonds More Food For Flatters cookery book a test run.

Find out what we thought of the book, and how she went testing out two of the classic recipes – spaghetti and meatballs and banana caramel pancakes.

First impressions

It’s been more than ten years since the release of Edmonds Food For Flatters for kids heading out into the big wide world. The new version, Edmonds More Food For Flatters is bursting with even more tips and recipes and comes complete with the familiar classic spiral binding. I note it’s slightly bigger and has a more sturdy cover than my 30-year-old Edmonds Cookery Book. The font is easy to read and there are loads of great tips including kitchen essentials and budgeting.

More Food For Flatters - eggs

It is assumed that the users will have little or no prior cooking experience so instructions are detailed. They have included things like how to cook eggs (soft and hard-boiled, poached, fried and scrambled) and rice, along with some ‘Five ways with …’ sections eg ‘Five ways with frozen peas’, ‘Five ways with tinned fruit’ and ‘Five ways with egg noodles’.

Sections include breakfast and brunch, snacks and starters, salads, soups as well as desserts, cakes and baking, and party food. There is a wide variety of protein options covered for evening meals including red and white meat, fish and shellfish, liver, plus a vegetarian section. The recipes also only require standard cooking utensils.

My Miss 17 chose two of her favourite food groups to cook – pancakes and mince.

Banana caramel pancakes

In the past she had made the classic pancake recipe that is just flour, milk, egg and salt, so was excited to switch it up a bit and include sour cream into the mixture which created a super creamy and smooth batter and a nice thick and filling pancake.

Edmonds - pancakes

After some trial and error with the temperature of the pan – the first one is never good! – she managed to cook a few good-looking pancakes and then onto the banana caramel. So quick and easy and yum!

The protein in the sour cream plus the banana makes the whole meal super filling and the caramel is a special way to start the day.

Spaghetti and meatballs

This was a hit! The ingredients list was nice and simple and we were pleasantly surprised at how tasty it was.

Edmonds - meatballs

She found the recipe easy and was even bold enough to substitute the can of tomatoes with passata as we were out of tins. Overall the recipe was quick and easy – the slowest part was chopping the onions and garlic.

It would have been even faster if she had made the meatballs first and then while they were baking made the sauce. She could also have benefitted from a reminder to pop the water on for the spaghetti!

Good to go

We give Edmonds More Food for Flatters the thumbs up. The easy-to-follow recipes combined with lots of additional tips will give even the most inexperienced cook confidence in the kitchen. Grab a copy for your future flatter!

Buy your copy now

Robyn and her daughter were provided with “Edmonds More Food for Flatters” for the purposes of this review. Opinions are those of the reviewer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Kidspot NZ or Hachette.

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author robynWritten by Robyn

Robyn creates content on Kidspot NZ. Her hobbies include buying cleaning products and wondering why things don’t then clean themselves, eating cheese scones with her friends, and taking her kids to appointments. 

Favourite motto to live by: “This too will pass.”

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