r/cookbooks • u/TolverOneEighty • Jul 21 '25
QUESTION Can anyone recommend a good one-pot or meal-prep cookbook that isn't US-centric?
I struggle with US cookbooks as they generally mention specific brands, or products that are cheap there but hardly available in the UK, like corn tortillas without wheat, or cool whip. I don't mind converting the measurements so much (though it's obviously much easier if I don't have to sit and Google 'what is a cup of x in grams' over and over, since volume doesn't convert easily to weight), I just want something I can actually use.
I'm a terrible cook, gluten free, and I'm disabled now on top of that; if I have to make multiple adaptions per meal, I'm just going to eat raw carrot rather than the stress of an incorrect recipe. I KNOW I could find an alternative for things, it's just extra stress, and I'm following a recipe to make it less stressful, not more.
Anyway, if anyone knows of any books that might work, please do drop your ideas so that I stop eating the same two meals over and over. Thank you in advance.
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Jul 23 '25
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u/whateverfyou Jul 23 '25
Yes. Always with garlic and onion powder. 🙄
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Jul 23 '25
[deleted]
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u/whateverfyou Jul 23 '25
I found NYT recipes too salty and I like salt. I canceled my subscription.
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u/SubstantialGap345 Jul 23 '25
When recipes ask for ready made seasonings or marinara sauce, I’m immediately concerned. Like the point of a recipe is to make things from scratch!!
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u/sadia_y Jul 23 '25
One Pot, One Portion by Eleanor Wilkinson - she’s British. I own it and follow her on Instagram, her recipes are full of flavour and easy to follow. Just double up her recipes for more portions, but that can be done very easily and some of the meals are for more than 1 portion. Check out her IG first, she has lots of recipes for free there :) (not sure on the GF aspect but I’m sure you can find alternatives if needed)
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u/ExpertRaccoon Jul 21 '25
Corn tortillas aren't "US" centric in the slightest
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u/TolverOneEighty Jul 21 '25 edited Jul 21 '25
Okay? They are difficult to find in the UK without wheat flour. I know one brand, they are tiny. I'm coeliac, so I've looked.
As far as I have been told, wheatless corn tortillas are everywhere if you are in the US, because the US has extensive corn crops. It's also why they use a tonne more corn syrup than the UK. Whereas wheat is cheaper and more readily available here in the UK.
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u/MidiReader Jul 21 '25
Wow! I had no idea yall put wheat in your corn tortillas! That’s wild!
I’d suggest just getting masa and making them but I don’t think that’s an option for you, I hope someone can help.
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u/TolverOneEighty Jul 21 '25
I appreciate that but my issue is less about the corn tortillas themselves, and more about the fact that the US doesn't realise there are differences in what foods are available, and not just regional fruits/veg differences, but entire brands and ingredients. I've bought American recipe books before and not realised, and they are almost wholly unusable due to 'get this brand only, I don't know if others will even work' or 'every supermarket will have this in the Mexican section' sort of stuff. So it's not enough to just have 'it's all in English, just buy this one and convert the measurements'. Hence wanting to make sure that it's a recipe book that is usuable in the UK.
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u/Fyonella Jul 21 '25
I know exactly what you mean! There are a number of ingredients that when I see them in a recipe on a blog that just immediately make me navigate away. I know we can’t get an ingredient and no reasonable substitution either. Here’s a few that sprung to mind:
Rotel tomatoes with green chilli
Fire Roasted Rotel tomatoes.
Jar of Pico Gallo
Chipotles in Adobo Sauce
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u/TolverOneEighty Jul 21 '25
I haven't even come across any of those lol, but exactly that sort of idea, yes.
I follow some really basic cooking or cheap creators and they do a lot of 'now add this one specific tin of x and this binds the whole thing together' and there's no way in hell it's going to be in my local Asda so I basically either need to work out a whole bunch of substitutions, oorrrr just not use that recipe.
To be clear, there is an audience for that and it's absolutely fine. I just wanted a UK book to avoid that.
I got a book in the 'Gluten-Free on a Shoestring' series a few years ago and every single recipe seemed to ask for either a particular brand of gf flour, or a blend of two exact brands, and all US-specific. Totally unusable for me, very disappointing. I mean, I COULD have imported one at great cost, but it sort of undermined the 'on a shoestring' aspect.
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u/Unlucky-Waltz-773 Jul 23 '25
Corn tortillas come from Mexico - it’s not a US thing because there is a lot of corn in america. Corn tortillas are all over mexico (and other central american countries). I live in texas so we have a lot of both corn and flour tortillas but in most of US - flour is the norm.
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u/TolverOneEighty Jul 23 '25
Again, it's not about the tortillas. They are an example. I'm begging people to stop fixating on the tortillas.
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u/SubstantialGap345 Jul 21 '25
Anna Jones “One” is vegetarian and all one pot, she’s from the UK. The cookbook has loads of recipes some very simple and some more complex. She often includes adaptations for dietaries as well.
You could also look at the Roasting Tin cookbooks by Rukmini Iyer. She’s from the UK and i love her recipes.
Another thought might be Jamie Oliver’s 5 ingredients cookbooks!
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u/TolverOneEighty Jul 21 '25
Much appreciated, thank you!
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u/SubstantialGap345 Jul 21 '25
Thank you! I have no idea why I’m being downvoted for these suggestions.
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u/SubstantialGap345 Jul 22 '25
Another thought! Look into Nigel Slater. His recipes, esp Eat - The Little Book of fast food are very simple. You should be able to find second hand copies!
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u/SubstantialGap345 Jul 21 '25
Another suggestion would be the New York Times cooking app. Lots of very easy recipes and the subreddit is very active. The app converts into metric!
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u/Fyonella Jul 21 '25
But no doubt still calls for American centric ingredients? Which is OP’s issue. Suggesting an American Newspaper’s recipes is not really going to help.
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u/SubstantialGap345 Jul 21 '25 edited Jul 21 '25
Are you a user? I live in Australia and have used it for a while now. I find many recipes are simple enough with simple enough ingredients.
Edit to add - there’s also the BBC Good Food Food app and the Guardian Food App. I’ve tried them all, BBC is probably more British centric, but all are good!
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u/Fyonella Jul 22 '25
No, because it’s behind a paywall.
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u/SubstantialGap345 Jul 22 '25
Okay cool! Well as a paid user, I am sharing my experience, which is probably more relevant than your assumption 😉
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u/PlantedinCA Jul 21 '25
I have rarely seen any specific brand of ingredient called for in an NYT recipe. And most recipes have notes for harder to source ingredients for replacements.
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u/barnes8934 Jul 21 '25
https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/books/one/
Jamie Oliver one pan wonders. There's a show too-- I've seen a few episodes but I don't have the book.
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u/jakartacatlady Jul 24 '25
Nagi's Recipe Tin Eats books. Australian but I think largely appropriate to the UK. Haven't seen many ingredients in her recipes that I'm aware are hard to find in the UK.
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u/stopcounting Jul 25 '25 edited Jul 25 '25
I don't have a specific book to recommend because all of my one-pot books are for the instant pot, but if you like Indian food, there are soooo many one-pot dishes and the ingredients are generally easier to find in the UK than in the US. The recipes are more likely to be gluten free too, and you can eat anything with rice instead of bread.
If you do have an instant pot, I like Madhur Jaffery's Instantly Indian and Urvashi Pitre's Indian Instant Pot. As a US-ian, I sometimes have trouble finding all the ingredients, but it should be easier for you!
Added bonus: in my experience, most curries get better with time and freeze well, so leftovers are something to look forward to rather than dread.
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u/SpeedyEggbertRamirez 4d ago
I've got both those Instant Pot Indian books. Any other IP recommendations? Cheers!
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u/Exotic_Operation1586 28d ago
A few thoughts that might help:
- BBC Good Food has some solid one-pot collections that are UK-focused with proper gram measurements
- Deliciously Ella books tend to be naturally gluten-free and use ingredients easily found in UK supermarkets
- Tesco/Sainsbury's own recipe apps - designed around ingredients they actually stock, with normal metric measurements
- Slow cooker approach - throw ingredients in the morning, dinner ready when you get home, minimal technique required
- Frozen vegetable blends from UK supermarkets - pre-chopped, consistent results, no prep stress
- If you have time to investigate and learn something new, check out r/mealprep or r/MealPrepSunday with the "cook prep not meal" conception. These communities can answer all your questions regarding meal prepping and variety of food
Your post really resonates with challenges we're researching around meal prep obstacles. You mentioned being a terrible cook, dealing with gluten-free requirements, stress from incorrect recipes, and being stuck eating the same two meals - we're trying to understand which of these creates the biggest barrier for people like yourself. If you had to pick the one thing that most prevents you from having variety in your meals, what would it be - the cooking skills gap, finding reliable gluten-free options, or something else entirely?
Hope you find something that works for your situation!
P.S.
The "one base, multiple flavors" approach- my wife taught me this: make one big batch of rice and 3 different sauces, and suddenly you have "3 completely different" meals. Works with pasta, quinoa, roasted vegetables, anything really. Same prep time, totally different eating experience each day.
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u/whateverfyou Jul 23 '25
Jack Monroe is a great UK food writer. She focuses on healthy cooking on a budget, very UK specific.
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Jul 23 '25
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u/TolverOneEighty Jul 23 '25
That sounds good! Not very well suited for me unfortunately, as I don't tolerate pulses or lentils well, and I need a lot of protein. But helpful for others following the thread, thank you.
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u/PlantedinCA Jul 21 '25
I’ve got Milk Street’s World in a Skillet. This is pretty accessible. I did a quick scan, most recipes have pretty basic things.
There were a few recipes with specialty Asian ingredients (hoisin, oyster sauce, sichuan pepper, fish sauce, lemongrass, mirin), specialty items like pomegranate molasses, coconut milk. And a few trickier spices with recommended alternatives (namely Mexican oregano). The recipes called for a range of chilies: jalapenos, Fresno, habanero.
Besides the usual american measurements, all in all recipes were standard. No brands, but things like 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes or 15 ounce can of chickpeas.