twochubbycubs: DINNER TIME – all your questions answered and now only £10!

Just a note: at the time of writing, DINNER TIME is currently £10 on Amazon – cheapest it has ever been! Order here

First let me begin this post by apologising to everyone because I know I am very, very late with my usual apology about not posting enough and the subsequent fervent and well-meant and then entirely ignored promise to post more. But for once we have a genuine excuse above and beyond I saw something shiny on the floor or we’ve been on holiday. See, and I know most of you will know this, we have welcomed our third child DINNER TIME into the world. I mean technically it’s our fourth child but the planner doesn’t count because I think Paul ate some lead during cooking it up. Actually that is very unfair, the planner remains a hidden joy!

Our baby!

But yes! DINNER TIME launched a couple of weeks ago – our third proper cookbook and an absolute riot of colour and taste. I’m always incredibly nervous and stressed before a book launch because you always worry that it’ll fall on its arse and reveal us for the shambling quims that we really are, but no, thankfully, it’s been well-received. It sat near the top of the Amazon charts and – somewhat inexplicably – became a number one Sunday Times Bestseller. If you’ll forgive me a moment of treacle-thick mush, and you must understand I’m doing my best to keep that to a minimum at the moment, it’s just the most validating, exciting and wonderful feeling. Being at the top of various lists is one thing, seeing the sales figures another, but nothing hits us in the feels more than seeing people proudly waving their copy around, cooking from it and letting us know they love it. So much work goes into making each book different from the last – writing the wee stories, doing the recipe testing, our team making all the photos look delicious – that you never truly know how it’ll do. We delayed the publication of DINNER TIME six months this time because we wanted to make sure it was a winner – it would be easy for us to pump out the recipe books like we’re shelling peas but then you just end up with the same old same old books.

And we didn’t want that.

So! Before we get to the various questions we get asked a lot, just a big thank you to everyone who has bought the book – we do love you all and remain incredibly grateful for everything you do for us. If you have the book, please do consider taking a moment to leave us a review, because every last one helps us out. We don’t ask for a lot! The questions then!

What recipes are in the book?

There’s 120 recipes in book three – 100 full meals and twenty side ideas. I prepared a full list which you can view by clicking here – it’ll open in a new window. Although the theme of the book is evening meals, and certainly they’re designed to fill that void of an evening when you wonder what on Earth to cook, they translate very easily to lunches and leftovers and for more than a few of them, breakfasts too.

Any complicated ingredients or difficult cooking methods?

Lordy no. Paul and I are both very lazy and very tight and as a result, there’s nothing in this cookbook (or indeed our other two) which you can’t find in Tesco or any other major supermarket. We never buy an ingredient to use just once because that’s a poor economy. Similarly, neither of us are chefs and nothing in the book is difficult to throw together. If you’re unsure of your cooking ability, you need not worry with our books.

Do you cater for vegetarians?

Yes, you can eat the pages. No we jest – we have made a special effort with this book to make sure that there’s a good mixture of vegetarian recipes – over a third of the book – and that those veggie recipes aren’t just meat recipes with Quorn stuffed in. Most of my favourites come from the vegetarian sections. We have asked fans of our facebook pages whether we managed to cater for vegetarians and it was a resounding yes. So don’t hesitate!

I am gluten / dairy free – are the recipes suitable?

We have included a very clear key as to what recipes are suitable for those with gluten or dairy allergies. For the recipes that don’t fit the bill, we encourage you to make smart swaps to make them work. Neither Paul or I have an allergy so it would be tricky for us to do a full GF/DF book but given the simplicity of the recipes, you should hopefully find something that works!

Is it suitable for Slimming World / Weight Watchers etc?

As many of you know, we moved away from Slimming World a year or so ago to go ‘low calorie’ – so the recipes do not have syn values or Weight Watchers points. They’re all under 500 calories though and will slip into a calorie controlled plan very easily. We have heard from people on both plans that the recipes translate very easily though!

Where can I pick it up?

WH Smith, Waterstones, lots of independent bookstores, Amazon (currently £10 at time of writing), supermarkets (ASDA stocking it at a tenner too!)

Is the calorie count per meal or per portion?

Per portion. We’re actually calling book four ‘TWOCHUBBYCUBS: IT’S PER PORTION’. I wish a dish that serves four would be less than 500 calories, trust me!

£10/12 is steep for me at the moment – will the price drop?

We aren’t sure – previous years Amazon have stuck us on a Prime Day deal, but we simply don’t know. However, if times are tight, please don’t rush out and buy the book – it’ll appear in libraries soon and failing that, our second book has been consistently around £8 for the last few months on Amazon. And if that is too much, don’t fret – take a gander through this website where you’ll find over 750 recipes for free. You don’t need to spend money to find good recipes! Whatever works for you. The blog recipes will resume soon when I’m not dealing with so much admin and feedback and we have some stonkers coming up.

Hope this helps! Remember the £10 price point will probably shift back to £12 soon enough, so if you’re on the fence, do pick it up. Everyone else, if you have it, please do leave a review, it would be a huge help for us!

Thanks!

J&P

new book to pre-order: twochubbycubs: dinner time!

BIG NEWS!

After months of being squirrelled away, variously in the house, Scarborough, London and hotels, Paul and I are pleased to announce our third cookbook, twochubbycubs: dinner time is coming soon – 26 May 2022 – and is available to pre-order right now! Simply click on the fabulous cover below to be whisked straight to Amazon to order your copy! For a little more detail about what the book is about, look below!

twochubbycubs: dinner time is a book absolutely rammed full of new recipes focusing on the one meal that matters most – the evening meal! Now listen, if you’re one of those normal people who call dinner ‘tea’ then we are right with you, but if we put out a book called ‘twochubbycubs on tea’ some people might get the wrong idea. Cracking weight loss path though. But no, dinner tends to be the meal that everyone plans for the most, brings people together, the one meal you’ll buy the good ingredients for, the bringer of comfort on dark days and delight on sunny ones. It’s OK, I got goosebumps too.

As you would expect from our book:

  • there’s plenty of vegetarian recipes to get your teeth into;
  • the recipes do not use crap like artificial sweetener or margarine to be low-calorie – they’re just good, decent recipes using proper ingredients;
  • all the meals are easy to cook – nothing complicated, just clear instructions for delicious food
  • there’s so much ‘us’ in this book that it’ll feel like you’re sat down with us for dinner, you poor sods;
  • there’s actually more than 100 recipes in there – I included my fudge recipe as a bonus, and we’ve got you covered with over twenty ideas for sides to go with your dinner too; and
  • listen, if you loved the last two books, you’ll adore this one!

It’s currently £20 on Amazon, but that’s the price that all pre-orders get set at – as more people order it, the price will come down, and then that’s what you will pay (on release) – so don’t be put off by the £20 tag!

We really couldn’t be prouder of dinner time – and we would love your support! So if you know someone who has our book, tell them about the new one – and if you see any of our posts on social media, be sure to share them!

Love you all,

J&P

your book questions answered: Fast & Filling

First things first (I only put that in because Paul hates the phrase), an announcement!

Forgive the big advert, but we’ve been asked a lot if there’s gonna be a bundle – this isn’t a bundle so much as it is both books dropping in price to an elegant £18 for the two! Go for it. Click the link to open in a new window!

It’s certainly been a busy few days since book launch! A huge thank you to everyone for buying our book and making it a Sunday Times Best-Seller! That’s the second time we’ve done this and it’s mind-blowing. Remember, it’s just me and Paul here. Bloody love you guys! Anyway, the book launch means we find ourselves answering the same questions a lot from people who are on the fence about the book – so this blog is all about answering those questions! Hope this helps! And if you have already bought the book, please consider leaving us a review on Amazon – it really helps us.

Where can we pick up the book?

An easy one to start! Fast & Filling is available on Amazon via the link above, and is currently priced at a very attractive £10. If you aren’t a fan of Amazon, you can also pick it up online via WH Smith, Waterstones, The Works or many other independent bookstores. If you are abroad it is a little trickier, but we recommend The Book Depository if you are having trouble getting it shipped. Of course, all of the books are also available on Kindle, if you want to go electronic. If you’re old school, you’ll find it in WH Smith and Waterstones on the high street, plus we’re in all major supermarkets. There has been an absolute rush on, which may mean stock issues offline for a couple of weeks, but our publishers are working on that!

What sort of recipes are in the book?

Exactly the same type of recipes as the blog: easy to cook breakfasts, lunches and dinners that taste good, don’t cost a bomb to make and will fill you up. We don’t do diet food, never have, we do proper food with a few healthy swaps. Listen, we’re two chunky lads who can put away a good meal – we know you’re going to be miserable if you’re given rabbit portions because we would be. Unless it’s one of those rabbits that come in plain packaging from lovehoney, and hey, if it is, think of the weight loss from a bit of self-love. These are recipes that you will cook for the family and everyone will eat: not cooking something for yourself and then cooking something delicious for those not on a diet. Put simply: this is good food, done right. You deserve it!

Where can I find the syns for the recipes?

Unfortunately, at the time of writing, we cannot provide the syn values for the recipes ourselves. Syns is a term that belongs to Slimming World and, understandably, they would not like us to use it in our cookbooks. Slimming World have been amazing with us throughout our blog and we absolutely don’t begrudge them this. They allow us to use syns on the blog and social media, and we are very grateful for that! I’ll say this though: all of our recipes are simple enough with no wacky ingredients and as a consequence, they’re easy to work out for yourselves using SW’s online tools. They’re all under 500 calories too.

Have you included cooking times / dietary restrictions / portion sizes?

Yep. After forgetting some of that information in the last book (it was our first time, be kind!), we have made sure it’s in here. All recipes are below 500 calories (that’s per portion) and most, unless clearly indicated, serve four. Where possible, we have made sure to show where recipes are suitable for gluten free too!

Why don’t you use sweetener / Quark / Frylight in your recipes?

Same reason we don’t on the blog. We believe in the philosophy of using good ingredients to make your food the best it can be. That’s not knocking Quark, mind, it has its place, but sweetener is a big bugbear of ours. Yeah, you might save a syn or two replacing say, brown sugar with sweetener, but why? It makes it taste so sweet and artificial! We don’t believe in having to be ‘syn-free’, and it works, because the feedback we get from our recipes is how tasty they are. So if our recipes use a bit of butter, or some honey, or a drop of maple syrup, get it in there. You’ll thank us afterwards! That said, if you’re absolutely set on using Frylight or Quark, shoot for the moon. Do what works for you!

Are there many recipes suitable for vegetarians?

Yes! And I know this because I’ve been asking! It’s no secret we like meat here at Chubby Towers – I’m never happier than when I’m packed with sausage – but at the same time, we’ve made a special effort with this book to up our vegetarian recipes. Not just ‘swap the chicken for Quorn’, either, but using Quorn or tofu or the vegetables themselves as the main ingredient and making them sing. From memory, there’s over 60+ veggie friendly recipes in there. We always welcome feedback too, so if you think we can do better, let us know.

Are the recipes easy to follow?

Absolutely. These recipes are meant to save one thing – time now or time later. So this means the recipes are either easy to cook, quick to put together, easy to scale up or suitable for batch-cooking and freezing. There’s no fancy cooking techniques – I mean, look, it’s us – and if you’re not a confident cook then you will be right at home. We aren’t chefs ourselves you know, and we know there’s nothing more daunting than a huge list of ingredients or steps for cooking. You’ll find neither in here. Also, if you get really stuck, send us a message on Instagram (see below) and we will try and help. One thing we keep seeing over and over in our comments and reviews is that the meals are perfect for family cooking, or those just starting out.

Let me finish this question with a plea: if you struggle to cook, please, just start! The best thing you can do is to start cooking – it’s rare the meal will go absolutely wrong and you can always salvage it. But cooking is all about confidence and that only builds with exposure! So go for it!

How easy is it to make substitutes for difficult ingredients?

We genuinely don’t think there’s any especially difficult ingredients in there – we shop at Aldi and Tesco, and if you can’t get it there, it’s not in our book! One thing we’ve always disliked about other books is where you buy an ingredient, use it once and never again. None of that with us. Perhaps the two unusual ingredients to feature are (and lord, imagine my sigh here) panko and mirin. Panko is easy to find in most major supermarkets – it’s a dried breadcrumb and is usually in the world foods bit. It’s cheap as chips. Mirin might be a little bit trickier – they sell it all over up here, it’s a sweet rice wine, and you’ll find it where you find the panko. You can swap it for a white cooking wine if you like. A plea if you’re just starting out, too – get to know your local speciality supermarkets – so much cheaper than buying in the major supermarkets.

Are the recipes suitable for those on a lower budget?

Yes! We rarely use ‘expensive’ cuts of meat, for example, and look – we aren’t big spenders here. It goes back to the ingredients thing – we use proper stuff you’re likely to have in the cupboard anyway, and if not, we take the cheap ingredients and make them so much more because we cook them properly.

Will the release of the book change anything for the blog?

Nope. This is an important one for us! Our blog was set up in 2014 (crikey!) as an antithesis to the awful diet food that was being circulated at the time. Now, almost seven years later, we’ve got over 700 recipes and, this bit I love, a record of our lives! Our followers all came from this blog and we have zero intention of stopping now. I’m committing to a new recipe every week where I can. We will never charge you to access recipes or try and monetise the fuck out of the blog. There’s a few adverts, yeah, but aside from that, it’s all free all the time. When you stop reading, I’ll stop writing!

How do we follow you on social media?

Ah we’re everywhere!

A note on our Facebook group. One of my favourite acts that I’ve seen blossom is the ‘pay it forward’ scheme operating, where those who are struggling to buy the book are being gifted it by those in a position to help. It was completely unexpected, but speaks so much to the good in our group. There’s a reason you don’t see much negativity in our group: because it’s full of terrific people. I confess myself ridiculously proud of it. A reminder though: if you’re struggling for money, please, don’t be buying our cookbook – save that for when you have some cash! There’s over 700 recipes now in our index and although they don’t look quite so professional in the photos, the food recipes themselves are exactly the same calibre as you get in the book – and for free.

I think that is everything! If you have any questions or you want to show off your food, come show us in the group or on Instagram. If you tag us in, we will do our best to spot you!

Ah actually one final thing.

Thanks guys. I know I’ve said it so many times over the years, but it bears repeating. We would be nothing without you lot buying our books, sharing our recipes and telling everyone about those two fat blokes on the Internet who cook good food. Reading everyone’s nice comments, seeing people actually happy with the food, seeing old cooks and new cooks and everyone in between having a go. Well. You’ll never truly know what that means to us, because, despite being a gobshite who can waffle for days about absolutely nothing, I’ve never quite found the words. Thank you.

Happy cooking!

J&P