More-With-Less Cookbook (2024)

I have been really fed-up with cookbooks lately - they have these beautiful, lavish recipes... but they all call for half a million fancy ingredients that cost a LOT and are hard to find in a small town with no easy access to gourmet grocery stores. So when I saw this book and read a little about it, I wanted it. "More-with-Less" sounds like code for "Simple" to me.

So I went into this prepared for the simple ingredients and back-to-basics cooking... and that's what I got! I love that most (all?) of the ingredients the recipes call for can be found at my local market or grocery store. And they cook with whole grains and natural ingredients, which is a direction I am moving towards. I just baked the oatmeal muffins, and even though I overworked the dough, they came out really delicious and were as simple as the recipe said they would be, and made only 12 - which is perfect since I cook for just me. All with ingredients I already had! (I do have one note: they are big proponents of dry milk, which I will never get behind. Just move past things like that.)

What I didn't expect was that the greatest value of this book isn't necessarily in the recipes - it's in the philosophy. This COOKbook is actually about 1/4 to 1/3 BOOK, and Mennonite philosophy just oozes out of it. For me, it put a name to the thoughts I was already having about American consumption. It was a little hard to follow and connect-the-dots... but that's good, because it made me truly think about it. It actually made me do a little research on Mennonite beliefs...

I recommend this highly to anyone concerned with food - the world's food resources, eating healthier, saving money on food, the evils of the American food industry, etc. As a Christian, the message of mission and compassion appeals to me, so I can't speak to how non-Christians would take it - but I do think you can get past it.

One of my favorite cookbooks of all time. I kept the library copy until I thought they were going to come to my house and take it back. I finally have my own copy :)

This wonderful, one-of-a-kind cookbook, originally commissioned by the Mennonite Central Committee in the 1970s, focuses on preparing simple but tasty food, with a minimum of waste and expense. It advocates eating more whole grains and fresh produce, consuming meat and dairy in moderation, and avoiding over-processed convenience foods. The idea is not simply to provide a healthier lifestyle for the individual, but to foster an ethic of food that promotes planetary health and human welfare.

But despite its very earnest intention to "do good" in the world, "More-With-Less" never comes across as heavy-handed. Instead, it is infused with a sense of warmth and humanity, with personal stories about cooking, spirituality, and world food issues interspersed among the recipes. If this book has one over-riding "message," it is that world hunger is not unrelated to our own personal food choices. But have no fear, it is not a proselytising book, despite the fact that many of the personal stories come from missionaries and their families.

This book was recommended to me many times by a very dear friend from my college days, who used to swear that no matter how few ingredients she had in the house, "More-With-Less" always gave her a recipe that could transform them into a tasty meal. Whether you want to address ethical issues through your food choices, live more frugally, or just adopt a healthier lifestyle, this is the book for you.

The copyright on my copy of More with Less Cookbook is 1976 so I probably didn’t take it to Ethiopia with me that year. But I may have heard of it there where we worked with Mennonite missionaries at the Good Shepherd School. (It was the Mennonites who produced the book.) Ethiopia would certainly have introduced me to the need to do more with less. Not only was poverty all around me, but grocery stores were very limited. More with Less became my staple cookbook somewhere in the next few years between Brazil and Mozambique. It never asked me for a box of this or a can of that that wasn’t available where I lived. A side note told me I could add molasses to white sugar to get a tasty brown sugar equivalent when sugar-rich Brazil thought it was too sophisticated for the brown stuff. In those days molasses was sold for a pittance in a five-gallon pail since its primary use as a by-product of sugar production was to tar roads! (Near the end of our term I threw out my half-used pail when it fermented, but by then the Seventh-Day Adventists had started marketing molasses in the supermarket. Only in 1985 did I find brown sugar in the store, again complements of the health-conscious SDA.)

The concept of More with Less is sustainable eating for the whole world, not conspicuous consumption by a few. More nutrition, more delight in good foods, with less consumption of limited resources—low-cost, low-fat, low-sugar with less expensive protein sources. The book emphasizes avoiding corn-fed beef and heavily processed foods and relies on complementary vegetable proteins used in Asia, African and Latin American cooking. The Indian dahl recipe garnished with a variety of chopped fruits, vegetables, and nuts became a family favourite. In Mozambique where we shared a kitchen without an oven for the first several months and store-bought bread was low quality, I turned to the flour tortilla recipe in More with Less and we regularly ate tacos stuffed with beans and vegetables instead of meat, which was also rarely available. Stir-fried green beans and the Crusty Mexican Bean Bake are recipes I still turn to frequently. (Well, not frequently enough, my husband would probably say.)

The back cover is off my old copy, but I didn’t throw it away because it includes a useful table of conversions and substitutions. Pages are yellowed and sometimes stained. Margins contain notes on variations and alternate recipes. As I flip through the pages, I find forgotten recipes I would still like to try. It isn’t so much that I use this cookbook on a daily basis anymore—after forty years, I have a pretty established repertoire for daily use—but it formed my philosophy of eating and cooking. Basic ingredients, balanced nutrition, smaller portions served with delight. I can’t solve the world’s food distribution problems, but I can avoid contributing to it. I can celebrate God’s gifts without abusing them or my body.

Why am I telling you all this? Harvest House is coming out with a fortieth anniversary edition of More with Less. A warm feeling of nostalgia poured over me when I saw the ad. Will a new generation rethink their eating habits and other consumer habits as a result of shared recipes? This generation is much more open to cooking from scratch, much more aware of the potential dangers of food additives. But we are divided between devotees and those who roll their eyes. The philosophy of More with Less is based on the gospel, a commitment to the stewardship of God’s creation and living out Christ’s compassion for the world.

I have an earlier, spiral-bound edition of this book that I purchased over ten years ago. At the time, I was a stay-at-home mom and our financial situation wasn't the best. The book was a big help to me because it presented scrumptious, healthy recipes that fit into our budget. I was thrilled when I saw a new-updated edition on Netgalley and couldn't wait to look through it. I wanted to see what changes they had made.

This book was first published in 1976, and yet it fits in so well with the information about food choices that is always coming out. The author, a socially, conscious Mennonite, was concerned about eating healthier, wasting food and using up less of our worlds resources. The book contains recipes for your meatless Mondays and even ideas of what to do with leftovers. You can probably shave quite a bit of money off your food budget, if you are using up what is in your fridge instead of routinely throwing everything away.

This is a book that you will use for as long as you cook. And hopefully then pass it on to your child. I highly recommend it. Your purchase also benefits Mennonite Central Committee, a worldwide ministry of relief, development, and peacebuilding. That's another good reason to buy a copy.

This is more than a cookbook, but a book on the culture of nutrition and doing more with less in our families eating habits. The gentle simplicity of the recipes had me realizing that I could enjoy cooking again, without concentrating on complicated ingredients or recipes.

This book was written before most of the allergy craze, and it shows all the more clearly how it is become more of a fad than a need. I am aware of many true allergies to food, but also see how in our country, it has become a first world need to have so many varied and different food "needs".
I found myself fascinated how many things have changed, but at the same time, the needs and focus needs to remain the same. If we can be satisfied with simple food, even for hosting gatherings, it could be much more simple.

Some of my favorites from this book still are the Coconut Custard pie, ethnic recipes, and granola.

Not too much to say, the first few chapters were really interesting, the rest is recipes. I liked what the author had to say about what we eat, why, and also just thinking about the whole picture of food. I liked the scriptures mentioned, and I appreciate that the author believes stewardship extends to the food system.

Exactly what I was looking for. This is a collection of basic recipes and a lot of them use ingredients found in your pantry or ingredients that are easy to find. Imagine a cold and dreary day and you are hungry and you don’t have anything planned. With this cookbook you could look around your cupboards and throw together a simple, easy, good tasting meal without leaving your home. I guess I’m getting ready for a harsh winter because I am already planning what to if I’m lazy but hungry.

A Mennonite introduced me to More-With-Less: A World Community Cookbook 20 years ago or more. First published in 1976, this cookbook authored by a socially conscious Mennonite, is being reissued this year. It’s hard to fathom that ideas that are now a cornerstone of healthy eating — avoid processed food, eat less meat in order to create a healthier planet and more sustainable agriculture in lesser-developed countries, sample ethnic cuisines, you can eat better and more cheaply, we can change the world with our food purchases — were once revolutionary ideas. And it was More-With-Less’s late author, Doris Janzen Longacre, who helped make them mainstream.

The cookbook has been updated in its 40th anniversary edition, and, having lost that long-ago copy, and I’m very happy to have it back. It’s a welcome addition for any cook who realizes that, when we get more with less, others can have more. Delicious food and a chance to make a difference for the planet and its people. Who could ask for anything more?

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Herald Press in exchange for an honest review.

Longacre was clearly a woman ahead of her time. Her philosophy is reminiscent of Bittman and Pollan, but this book was published decades before theirs. Some of the nutritional information is now known to be incorrect, but overall it is pretty sound.

The first part of the book goes into great detail about her whole foods philosophy and includes nutritional and environmental reasons for her choices. While the recipes do contain some cringe-worthy ingredients like margarine, shortening, and sugar the emphasis is heavy on whole foods and anyone with a modicum of cooking experience will have no trouble making substitutions in the vast majority of recipes.

While I won't be slaughtering my own chickens or converting to powdered milk anytime soon, there are quite a few recipes in this book that I am excited to try. Not only does it serve as a gentle reminder about which foods and shopping methods are easiest on the environment, it is a wonderful celebration of fellowship and community through shared cooking and meals. Even the margins are crammed with lovely quotes, many of them from 'ordinary' people who contributed to the book.

1) A cookbook that embraces fresh vegetables! Lentils! Beans! And they're not side dishes!
2) I would consider becoming a Mennonite for this book alone.

Back in the 80's this cook book was my bible. Not only were the recipes very usable; the attitude toward food was something I adapted as my own. I am so glad that this book was printed.

Who doesn’t have an eye to budget conscious, healthy and delicious food? And, best of all you can have new options, beyond leftovers, that don’t mean you have to get out and buy bunches of meats, spices, etc.. From some simple (and tasty) salad dressing recipes that are easy, tasty and quick to make to desserts that are heavy on flavor, shorter on time and effort than many.

There’s no reinventing the wheel here – these are simple foods, prepared carefully and with a mindfulness that keeps wasted items to a minimum. Everyone (I’m sure) has seen recipes for granola and granola bars – you can quickly (and cost-effectively) make your own granola and bars for snacks, breakfast or toppings. (I like the granola with yoghurt and fresh berries, or warmed like a porridge with milk.

Best of all, this cookbook has recipes that are simple and easy, with suggestions for leftovers, ways to make ingredients stretch without losing taste, and easy to recreate, bringing full of flavor options to replace some of your pre-made or more expansive and expensive recipes.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Wealth of information here. Will be chewing on this for the rest of my life.

New disclaimer due to new Amazon rules: I was gifted a free electronic copy of this book by Herald Press, via Netgalley. I am not being forced to post a review; I am doing it of my own free will as I enjoy reviewing.

On advice from Amazon, and based on their emailed reply – “My review is voluntarily and the Author/publisher does not require a review in exchange or attempt to influence my review.”

My review:

Although this is a reprint of an older book, this is the first time I have read a copy, and so my review is purely based on this edition of the book.

What can I say... It's okay, but not exactly my thing. I mean, it ticks all the right boxes by being recipes that use whole foods, nothing fancy or expensive, and nice and simple recipes... It’s possibly a good guide to someone new to cooking? But for me, it was still missing something. I mean, there is a difference with cooking flavourful foods on a budget, and just relying on masses of cheap strong in flavour ingredients like onion and garlic to provide the flavour for the entire meal. I know this is a bias of mine, due to my allium intolerance, but I have no time for recipes that rely solely on allium to make a meal.

Then there is the heavy Christian influence. Another bias by not being a Christian I guess! There is nothing wrong with other people's religions and faiths... But I am yet to see the point in them being rammed down my throat in a main stream cook book. Harsh of me, I know. Especially as the cover of this book does warn you it is a book created by a Christian faith and so it more likely than not going to contain religious banter.

The book is also obviously for an American audience as the measurements are all in imperial and not metric. This isn’t a big deal to a seasoned cook… but may stump a few newbie cooks who work in metric, until they find themselves a good online conversion table to help them out.

All in all, it was a good starter book for someone who is new to cooking, can tolerate loads of allium (they’re going to have to with this book) and is okay with Christian banter in amongst their recipes. But I am not the right reader for any of that and so I was wrong for the book. Not the other way around, please realise that. I believe this book to be good, written and shared in the best intentions and I hope it helps many a new cook out there. This old cook and obviously grumpy old Pagan just isn’t the right reader. :-)

Would I recommend this book to others?

That is a really hard call as this wasn’t a book for me, but it did have a lot of good points. I guess I would say if you want a simple, budget friendly cook book and can cope with the beliefs of those who wrote it – go for it. Check this book out today. If recommending to my close friends? I just wouldn’t. There are much better cooking whole foods on a budget books out there in my opinion.

Would I buy this book for myself?

I think everyone has already guessed the answer to this one! ;-) No, I wouldn’t. But don’t get me wrong, there are a few recipes in there I wouldn’t mind trying… but that is like a few half dozen in a book of hundreds of recipes and I don’t keep cook books I can only cook a few items from. Those are the books I borrow, copy the recipes out of (referencing them appropriately) and then return to the library.

In summary: A basic, budget friendly cook book, but not one for me.

Years ago, I bought the original More-with-Less, but many moves and many years resulted in a missing copy. I don’t remember if I made any of the recipes, but I do remember enjoying perusing the book. I was happy to receive a PDF copy of the book published by Herald Press and received through NetGalley.

More-with-Less Cookbook was never just a cookbook. It was and is a roadmap into how to view and react to food and the world. Just how much do we need in order to live? When does having enough change to wanting too much? What should be done to even out the resources available in the world?

These questions and more are addressed in Part I of the book. The answers are there also. Part II is the recipes and there are lots. Some are simple like Brown Gravy (meat drippings, flour, sugar, salt and pepper). Others are more challenging such as Fried Squash Blossoms. In that case, the challenge might be finding the squash blossoms.

Features such as “gather up the fragments” are filled with ways to use parts of foods that might otherwise be thrown away. Maybe “my” idea for freezing those bits of leftover corn and green beans and using them to make soups and stews actually came from my lost copy.

Recipes that are vegetarian and gluten free are marked. In some cases, the history behind a particular dish is explained like Fruit Moos. And no, there are no cows (moos) involved.

I would highly recommend More-with-Less Cookbook, 40th Anniversary Edition to anyone who cares about food, the deliciousness of food, the waste of food and the impact how we use food affects others.

I received a free copy of the book from NetGalley in exchanged for my honest review. Thank you.

From Netgalley for a review:

Usually if I run into a cookbook who has strong spiritual tones I am able to overlook it in favor of the recipes, assuming the recipes are good. I thought with the title 'More with Less' it would be focused on making things with few ingredients, hearty stews and the like, and while there is some of that, really it was just rehashing things I have seen many other places. There was nothing new and exciting, so as a cookbook it failed for me, though I could see someone who is just setting up a cookbook collection finding this useful. Granted this is the 40th anniversary reprinting so maybe it was groundbreaking when it came out, but referencing my other older cookbooks from the time does not lead me to think so.

I did find this book to be unbelievably self aggrandizing and preachy, so confident that the message it is sending is the correct one that it seemed to miss the whole point of tone. I agree with a lot of the message of this book, food is a sacred thing (I come at it from a different form of spirituality, but the bare bones of the idea are the same) eat healthy, take care of the environment and such...these are good messages, but the tone of the messages left a sour taste in my mouth.

This is my first cookbook that I have received on my Kindle and I am a little bit disappointed.

It doesn't seem to be at all accommodating for Kindle as I cant skip ahead chapters or go to a certain page to look at recipes. Now this could have something to do with my older Kindle version rather than the book.

There aren't a table of contents for the actual recipes but they have been bunched in groups like: "main dishes" or: "vegetables". This makes it seem less interesting to me, knowing I cant find that specific thing on that specific page at that specific time.

I already eat kind of simple food, being vegetarian and a sh*t cook, so nothing stood out to me as new.

It didn't mention that it was a Christian undertone in the description of the book. Although I think it doesn't matter where a good message comes from, I am an Atheist, and I would have liked to know in advance that I would be urged to read the bible for good food tips.

It was just not for me but in the right hands it can no doubt do wonders.

Ok, look, I have to level with you on this one. This cookbook was a throwback from my childhood where we lived near a Mennonite community. I remember perusing it many times as a hungry child whose busy mom was focused elsewhere and whose dad was a pulpit pounding minister. In short, we were poor. How poor? .47 cent gas purchase poor. I was often so hungry that I remember being jealous of my baby sisters teething biscuits. This cookbook may have served it's purpose at the time for my poor beleaguered mother but for modern me...not so much. What I did not remember about this cookbook was the amount of American cheese slices most of the recipes called for. Also, I may have died laughing when the recipe entry for queso explained that it was "a Mexican fondue" and called for 27 slices of American cheese. Anyway, get your sodium and diabetes needs met elsewhere because this book (unlike me) did not age well.

i will probably never be on board with the powdered milk gospel (um) advocated here, but the politics and perspective framing this cookbook are right on. encouraging experimentation, substitution, community, and an ecologically-light-footed (right?) culinary aesthetics, these recipes are great for dumpstered deliciousness !

Tends to be a little heavy to the dairy, and the quantity recipes are hard for someone cooking for just one or two people.

A very attractive updated look, combined with the old favourite recipes, makes this one a winner.

Reviewed by Tammy
Book provided by NetGalley

Rachel Marie Stone has revised Doris Janzen Longacre's More-with-Less Cookbook for it's 40th anniversary edition. Doris Janzen Longacre believed that if everyone lived simpler and consumed less then there would be more for those who are in need. Doris Janzen Longacre wrote the first edition of More-with-Less Cookbook in 1976. I feel it was ahead of its time then and it is still relevant today. In this 40th anniversary edition, Rachel Marie Stone adds the feel of a modern cookbook but keeps Doris Janzen Longacre's vision. "Simple. Wholesome. Generous. Faithful" are part of the product description that sum up this cookbook perfectly.

[image error]More-with-Less Cookbook is filled with recipes that have items you already probably have in your pantry or can find easily at your local store. Each chapter has an introduction to the recipes and includes "Gather up the fragments" with ways to use leftovers. I have made and enjoyed recipes over the years from my 25th edition. I tried out the Veggies Burgers and Navajo Fry Bread while reading this edition. I give them both 5 stars, they were delicious.

It was surprising to learn that Americans consume 90% of the world's food while reading this cookbook. Since I own the 25th anniversary edition of More-with-Less Cookbook I was looking forward to reading this new edition. I noticed the adding of Vegan and Gluten-Free tags to recipes but it's still very much like my older edition, which is a good thing. This cookbook proves that great meals can be made with items that are readily available and inexpensive. I would recommend this cookbook for those looking for simple, economical recipes.

A good friend of mine gifted a copy of this book to me several years ago when my husband was in grad school and I was working 2 jobs to make ends meet. At the time, I appreciated the thought and tried a couple of the recipes out, but found myself reverting back to convenience cooking a la Hamburger Helper and Campbells cream soup casseroles.

Since then, things have changed in my life and I am now at a place where I appreciate the philosophy of the cookbook more than I did previously. I really do think this book is more of a mindframe cookbook and less of a "cheap eats" cookbook. And that is even addressed in the first couple of chapters. If you are looking for cheap and quick foods now a days, you are going to be looking at the overly processed and nutrient lacking box mixes and cans, not at whole foods. And while you can certainly find relatively inexpensive whole foods if you know where to look, these are not the things one picks up on the 10 for $10 rack at Walmart. Eating well, even simply, requires some forethought, planning, and (let's face it) work! These are all things that I just did not have time to even consider in my 2 job days. Now that I am working part time, I am enjoying the ideas and philosophies contained in this book and and excited to try doing "more-with-less"!

Title: More-with-Less Cookbook - 40th Edition
Author: Doris Janzen Longacre
Publisher: Herald Press
Published: 9-27-2016
Pages: 328
Genre: Cooking, Food & Wine
Sub-Genre: Cookbooks; Special Diet
ISBN: 978-836199642
Reviewed For NetGalley and Herald Press
Reviewer: DelAnne
Rating: 4.5 Starts

Easy to follow abd understand recipes. Some unusual ones such as Campfire Packet Stew, Pinto Bean Bread, Chicken turnovers, Pilgrim's Bread, soap recipes, Navajo Fry Bread and dandilion salad just to name a few. There are chutneys, desserts and side and main dishes.

A little something for everyone. Along with conversion charts and nutriional information for creaing healthy meals.

My rating of "More-with-Less Cookbook " is 4.5 out of 5 stars.

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This was such a formative cookbook for me as a teen (my grandma had given my mom a copy) and a new wife (my roommate who is an excellent cook gave it to me as a wedding gift), particularly in learning how to truly cook from scratch and stretch a little bit of meat into a whole meal. Back in those days, we didn't have food blogging, homemaking had yet to make its hip resurgence, and I was the only teacher eating homemade refried beans and rice for lunch in the teacher lounge. I learned a lot of important skills and values from this cookbook, but I don't regularly reach for it anymore. Partially that is because I have my favorite recipes from it (oatmeal bread, refried beans) memorized, and partially because these dishes are not sexy. They're simple, healthy (sometimes in a very 70's way, recommending margarine and white rice!), have straightforward ingredients that I already have in my pantry, and are hard to mess up. They're probably what I should be fixing more often for the family. But I like trying fancy techniques and quirky ingredients. So while I recommend this to any young people going out on their own and learning to cook for the first time, I don't menu plan out of it anymore.

I purchased an edition of this book 30 years ago and I loved it. When this edition came out, I was convinced that I would feel the same about it. I do.

This book has been filled with recipes used by the Mennonite people. It helps the consumer look at the food that we consume, like whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes etc. Preferably, these should come from local sources. To show some of the missions that the Mennonite people serve they include pictures from around the world using local resources.

I found the recipes were easy to follow and, unlike so many other cookbooks, do not take forever to create. I enjoyed this version as often as I did the first one I owned.

I was given this book by NetGalley and Herald Press in exchange for my honest review.

Super Deluxe Food

I checked a copy of this book out of the library. Often I do this, intending to photocopy the few recipes that interest me.
It soon became obvious that in this case, considering the cost of paper, ink, and wear and tear on this poor old body of mine, it would make better sense to just buy the book. So I did.
This is a later edition than the library version, and although either edition is great, this one contains recipes for foods that were not available for earlier editions.
I would suggest that you make use of such appliances as Instant Pot and Crockpot. They can save you time and money.
Recommended for all cooks, would-be cooks and foodies of all sorts.

The most important part of this cookbook is the philosophy and principles laid out in the opening sections. The author argues in a warm and inspiring way for simple and frugal cooking, with occasional indulgences as a special occasion. Reading this book reaffirmed what my parents' taught me (and I'm sure they owned this book) and made me feel more resolved to put more effort into my cooking. Most of the recipes didn’t suit my tastes or capabilities, but that's true of any cookbook. I'll definitely keep this around as a reference.