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

well blow me, it’s finally here – the twochubbycubs cookbook has launched!

Everyone! Our cookbook has finally launched – after what feels like months of writing, planning, photographing and plotting. it’s here! Launched on 2 January 2020 and already a best-seller, to the point where we exhausted Amazon’s stockpile many times over.

I just wanted to write a little bit about what this means to me. I know I speak for Paul too when I say this, but damn it, I’m the writer, these are my words. All of my life I have loved to write: I’ve kept (and keep) diaries, I rattle off short stories when I’m bored, I’ve kept this beast of a blog going for almost six years. I never, ever thought the blog would swell to become what it is today – a clumsily edited, lo-tech, no bells and whistles lumbering collection of nonsense tales and excellent food. There’s just the two of us, both with full time jobs, but we’ve kept this going because the social side of things has been endlessly brilliant. Then, last year, we were approached to make a cookbook and, after much consideration (we looked at Disney holidays, saw the prices and then agreed we must write a cookbook) set about pulling it together. I thought we might sell a thousand copies or so, mainly to my mam (who actually hasn’t bought a copy at all because she wants a free one, the tight mare), but nope. It has soared. The fact that it is published, out and we’re getting so many good reviews and positive comments absolutely melts my heart. I have achieved a genuine, concrete life goal and whatever happens next, I can turn around and say we’re published, best-selling authors – and it means the absolute fucking world to me.

So – seriously now – we might be about the knob jokes, coarse language and cooking – but you have made two very chubby cubs very, very happy indeed. Thank you!

Now – because there was such a colossal spike in sales last week, Amazon are struggling getting so many copies out in one go! We’ve literally depleted their stocks – and so a few of you may be getting an email saying there’s been a delay. WORRY NOT. Our publishers have sent Challenge Anneka down with her lorry and a whole load of new books and these will be hitting in the next few days. As soon as there’s new stock, the delays will be updated and books will be on the way. We had no idea there would be such a surge and this came out of the blue – so please, if this is you and you’ve been told a delay of a few weeks, panic not! Yours will be coming as soon as possible, promise! THANK YOU!

If you’re keen to buy it from Amazon, you can order it now and it’ll be with you soon – click here! There’s also a Kindle version for immediate reading!

If you are struggling with waiting, then please, fret not! You can also order from:

We know Sainsbury’s have them at the moment but they are flying off the shelves so be quick!

Comments from people will follow but we’re hearing good things about the fact they’re family friendly, easy meals and the book looks bloody gorgeous!

So: if you have the book, please do leave us a review, tell people about it, get things made and join in on our social media channels – @twochubbycubs on IG and Twitter and we’re all over Facebook! We really want to hear from you and we REALLY want some reviews!

That’s me for now. But one more time: thank you to each and every single person who reads this, recommends us, kindly leaves us comments and being part of this fucking amazing show in whatever way you have been. You’re amazing!

With love from James (the bearded, handsome, shaved head one with excellent clothes) and Paul (pictured)

we are coming in your ears

Ooh, matron.

Paul here – just to let you saucepots know that we have had the absolute pleasure to appear on a special bonus episode of ‘The Secret World of Slimming Clubs’ podcast! You can listen to it right now on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.  Click on their mushes below to go straight to their Facebook page, and don’t forget to tell them we sent you! And also while you’re there don’t forget to subscribe – you’ll get a fabulous episode every week full of the trials and tribulations of a weigh-in class and it’s an absolute hoot! Put a towel down first, mind, because you will piss yourself.

Image may contain: 3 people, people smiling, text

The Secret World of Slimming Clubs

In other news – we’ve been really busy working on our book so ever so sorry that we’ve been quiet. The good news is it’s nearly done and on-track to be coming out for the New Year and we can’t wait for you to see it! If you haven’t got your greasy paws on one yet you can preorder from Amazon, or if you’re feeling particularly fancy you can also preorder a special, limited SIGNED copy from Waterstones! Ooh, get you!

Click here to preorder our new cookbook!

Thanks to all of you for sticking with us and allowing us to cram our shite into your eyeballs every so often, it means a lot to us. We really hope you like our cookbook and it helps you on your way. We’ll be back to posting on here more regularly as soon as we can but also (hopefully) we’ll working on another cookbook for you so if you have any ideas of what you want to see, tell us in the comments below. If you’re ever stuck for ideas, don’t forget we’ve already got 600+ recipes for you ready to go, just click here to go to the index!

Cheers!

P x

BIG NEWS LADY! REAL BIG NEWS!

We have an announcement. Please stand by. Or take a seat, get the weight off your bunions. Either way, it’s all terribly dramatic.

Paul and I have decided – after twelve years – to split up.

That’s right, split up the responsibility of WRITING A BLOODY COOKBOOK. YASSSSSSS!

CLICK HERE TO PRE-ORDER NOW! IN A FANCY NEW WINDOW TOO!

Yes! After years of saying we’d never do one because frankly, it all seems like a terrific bother, we’ve been headhunted by a lovely publisher who really believes. I know, my flabber was as gasted as yours – I was making Harold Bishop concentrating noises for weeks in disbelief.

So what’s our angle? Easy: 100 or so of the slimming recipes that helped us on our journey last year to lose 265lb between the two of us! All new recipes that haven’t been slid into your inbox before. Recipes that you can count on to be delicious (because it’s us, and yeah, we might have filthy mouths and make far too many knob-jokes than is decent, but by god we can cook!), slimming and, perhaps most of all: easy to make. The whole ethos of twochubbycubs is that we aren’t chefs, we aren’t fancy and we certainly aren’t boring blah-blah writers – and that’s going to get tipped straight into the book, we promise. We’ll make an effort to make sure the recipes are suitable for your slimming plans.

Vegetarian? Vegan? Don’t you fret. We haven’t forgotten about you – we’ll make sure there’s a good spread of recipes that suit your needs straight from the off, or, are easily adapted to your ways. Fan of meat between your cheeks? We hear you, and have you covered too. In short, it’s a book for all!

Possibly the biggest question though: is it going to have the twochubbycubs’ brand of humour and smut? Of course it bloody is. It’s us. Whilst the recipes will be clear, easy-to-follow and simple enough to cook at home, there’s going to be more than a thick portion of our personality spread over each page. I did ask if the centrefold can be a casual photo of me in a bath of Quality Street with my moobs pressed lusciously together but that was vetoed on the grounds that it would be so damn hot, it would pose a fire risk. Plus they’d might lose a toffee finger or two when I shifted. We might tone down the swearing in case the book ends up on a table in a WI hall at some point, but everything else remains the same.

We want this book to be three things, most of all:

*   inspirational: we lost 265lb between us, we know how to lose weight and that the key thing to remember is that you want your diet to feel less like a chore and more like a lifestyle – we can give you the help you need without being patronising arses;
*   fun: if you’re like us and reading 300 words about someone choosing the right quinoa in a Venetian market bores you to tears – we will be different; and
*   lucrative: listen, we’ve got an American road-trip planned for next year and there’s only so many meat-boxes that we can convert to airmiles.

Oh, and the blog: worry not. We’ve had our foot off the pedals for a while, but we’re back on it big-style. We’ve got recipes banked up to post, stories to tell and finally, thankfully, we’ve got a bit of zim about us. This will be our year!

Two final points: you can pre-order the cookbook now, and we’d love you forever and ever if you told your friends and slimming group members all about it – we promise you won’t be disappointed.

CLICK HERE TO PRE-ORDER NOW!

And, just to be clear, Paul and I aren’t splitting up. I just couldn’t do that to him. Honestly, he’s co-signed as a joint party on our book contract and I’ll be damned if he’s getting half of the spoils if he’s not around to scratch my feet and keep me centered.

Enjoy!