Everyday food

Everyday cooking is about the six or seven dinners each week when time is shorter than ambition.

A good everyday cookbook is defined by three things. Short ingredient lists using things you already have at home, recipes that need no more than one pan or a baking tray, and techniques that can be reused rather than being tied to a single recipe. The last is crucial, because once you have learnt to cook an onion properly and season at the right stage, you can improvise for the rest of the week without looking anything up.

Yotam Ottolenghi's Simple is built on exactly that principle, with dishes that either use few ingredients, come together quickly or can be prepared in advance. Jamie Oliver has done much the same with his five ingredient recipes and shorter cooking times, while Nigel Slater writes about everyday cooking as something to look forward to rather than something to get through.

The section also covers weekly meal planning, packed lunches, family food that works for both children and adults, and more affordable cooking built around pulses, root vegetables and cheaper cuts of meat.