Jack Monroe is well known for her resourcefulness and creativity in the kitchen, able to whip up outrageously cheap, upbeat family dinners with the bare minimum in her pantry. These recipes are our favourite of Jack’s storecupboard recipes. You can make them with just a few everyday ingredients and with her accessible swap suggestions, it’s likely you’ll have what you need at home.
For more store cupboard recipes, plus our full guide to cooking through isolation, read more here.
Onion Pasta with Parsley and Red Wine from A Girl Called Jack by Jack Monroe
Jack Monroe has so many budget- and storecupboard-friendly tips up her sleeve and this is one of them: “I always buy a dozen onions at a time, as these hardy little vegetables keep for over a week in the fridge and form the base for most of my savoury recipes”. Turn your onions into this five-ingredient pasta dish with a good splash of red wine, parsley and cheese for oodles of flavour. Comforting and tasty.
Order A Girl Called Jack here.
Earthy Red Wine Risotto from A Girl Called Jack
Jack Monroe’s earthy, red wine risotto is warm and flavourful with mushrooms, herbs and a red wine base. Serve it as a side to roasted chicken thighs or sausages or eat just as it is – a big bowlful of comfort.
Buy Jack Monroe’s A Girl Called Jack here.
Apple Crumble Granola from A Year in 120 Recipes
You need just five ingredients to make this decadent-tasting breakfast – oats and an apple and a little butter, honey and cinnamon. Jack suggests using any combination of fruit and spices that you have in the pantry, even frozen berries with chunks of white chocolate, banana and cinnamon, or grated orange rind with dark chocolate.
Order a copy of A Year in 120 Recipes here.
Creamy Salmon Pasta from A Girl Called Jack
“This speedy fish supper is really simply a tinkering with a cheap jar of fish paste”, says Jack who pairs tinned fish with pasta, lemon and yoghurt for a divine dinner that is deceptively simple.
Order Jack Monroe’s A Girl Called Jack here.
Sausage & Beer Casserole from A Girl Called Jack
Half a dozen sausages and even the cheapest can of beer will make an enriching stew that the whole family will go mad for. Serve it up with a mound of creamy mash or stretch it further with a tin of white beans. If you don’t have beer, use red or white wine instead.
Order Jack Monroe’s A Girl Called Jack here.
Diet-Coke Chicken from A Girl Called Jack
Jack describes this five-ingredient chicken dinner as ‘sticky deliciousness’ and we have to agree. You don’t have to stick to Diet Coke to make it, you can swap in regular Coke or supermarket own-brand cola. Alternatively, a fizzy orange drink or natural orange juice will create a sweet, fruity sauce similar to sweet and sour. Serve your sticky, sweet chicken thighs with rice, chips or couscous – total comfort food.
Order A Girl Called Jack here.
Courgette Chocolate Cake from A Year in 120 Recipes
A courgette too many in your veg box? Grate a couple into this deliciously moist cake with dark chocolate or cocoa powder (depending what you have) and a grating of lime zest for extra zing.
Order a copy of A Year in 120 Recipes here.
Paddington Bear Sponge Puddings from A Girl Called Jack
If you’re a household that loves marmalade, these moist little puddings are for you. Eat them warm with custard, or cold as a lunchtime snack.
