The Poorcraft Cookbook

Poorcraft is a lovely little series about how to live with little, and oof. Don't we all need that right now? Book 1 was about financial literacy and getting out of the hole, book 2 was how to enjoy yourself and vacation on a budget, and book 3 is dedicated to one of the most satisfying (and time-consuming) daily activities: cooking and EATING!

About 70 pages of the book are food-related advice. This covers a pretty big array of topics, though, not just cooking! First is shopping, with a focus on basic spices, staple ingredients, and tools to build your pantry. Different types of grocery stores are listed and given pros and cons. Kitchen cleaning, tool maintenance, and proper food storage round out the lessons. I'm actually pretty impressed with all that gets covered in so few pages. I feel like most pure TEXT cookbooks would wax on longer than 70 pages, but this gives it so fast you can be done with your cooking into in under 30 minutes.

The rest of the book, you'll take more time on, because it's 150 pages of recipes. These are pretty much all one-page recipes, and the header includes how much hands-on time and hands-off time (simmering, baking, whatever doesn't require your attention), so you can know if something fits into your schedule. There's also recipes for basic sauces (like BBQ, teriyaki, bechamel, and even pizza sauce) and some alcohol mixers.

This would be a great gift for someone just setting out on their own, whether their budget is tight or not! If you DO plan on giving it as a gift, I recommending reading the intro, first, and including some of the setup items and foods as part of the gift. Especially a good rice cooker! Gotta love a good rice cooker.

This is the perfect cookbook for a young adult just starting out on their own!

It contains a surprisingly wide breadth of information on not only cooking but on grocery shopping, cleaning, and much more. Not only does this book have a bunch of staple recipes to help a new cook get a handle on the basics, it also has a lot of other fun recipes to expand someone’s ability. It is definitely useful to new cooks or those cooking on a budget, but it definitely does not have to be limited to it because the recipes it contains are still good for even the most practiced cook.

The bonus of this book is also that it is written to be read. Unlike the standard cookbook where your tendency is to skip past all the intro and pantry details to jump to the recipes, this cookbook doubles as a graphic novel story. It walks you through the basics of cooking, shopping, and cleaning without it feeling tedious or overwhelming. While some may not enjoy the graphic novel style, in many ways, I find that it makes this book feel more accessible and fun and less like a textbook you need to memorize.

All that to say, this is a great cookbook that I definitely recommend! While it’s perfect for young adults just getting started on their own, it is not limited to that.

Special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for an online copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Is it a graphic novel ? Is it a cookbook? The Poorcraft Cookbook is actually both ! This book contains a lot of simple recipes, as well as good advices to get your ingredients and organize your kitchen on a small budget.

I really enjoyed the illustrations, which have old-cartoon looks. We follow the adventures of two friends, Penny and Milli. One is a great cook, the other doesn’t know much about food-making, but is eager to learn. So Penny decides to teach skills and recipes to Milli, sharing them along with the reader.

The idea is fun, but I didn’t find it to be really practical. While the recipes have an index, and therefore can be found easily, the first part of the graphic novel is a succession of concepts and counsels, very good, but not well organized.

really fun exploration of ways to cook and eat with an affordable and sustainable lens, focusing on making cooking both fun and possible.

This delightful graphic cookbook checks all the boxes for me:
Practical advice
Feasible suggestions
Excellent illustrations
Easy to reference

The hilarious dialogue and enchanting characters only adds to the charm. Buy this book!!

I love the premise of this book and graphic novel-style cookbooks are so fun and creative. This book would be perfect for college students and families learning how to cook well on a budget.

Move over Joy of Cooking and Mastering the Art of French Cooking, there is a new cook book in town!

This book made me so hungry!!!!

From the first panel I was in love with the art style, saying our loud "that's just adorable" and stopping my husband to show him. I was unfamiliar with Poorcraft, but I'm absolutely going to check out the other titles.

I am 1000% buying this book when I get the chance! I loved the way the recipe section had fun beautiful illustrations to go along with them. There was a lot of diversity in the dishes, from Mexican to Japanese to deli and bread! I also got really good kitchen cleaning and organization advice I hadn't really considered.

I am a person who loves cooking and having a kitchen organized with the tools I need where I need them, so this spoke to that part of me.

I am legit going to make the Tamagokake Gohan tomorrow for lunch!

Thank you NetGalley and Nero Villagallos O'Reilly for the opportunity to read and review this title!

A great introduction to cooking and keeping a kitchen. The whole book feels like having an older, more experienced friend behind you, encouraging you to keep going. Great read.