Vegan Italiana (recipes by a restaurant chef)

Learning to cook your own food is empowering, as you no longer have to rely on expensive plastic-wrapped ready-meals and takeaways. Master your favourite cuisines at home. Then every night is restaurant night!

Vegan Italiana is a highly-reviewed book of recipes by a professional restaurant chef in the USA. From homemade meatballs to fresh cheese ravioli, you’ll learn how to create 100 authentic recipes from a woman who grew up in a big Italian family in New York, and now runs LA restaurant Pura Vita.

Look in stores for plastic-free pasta brands (Yorkshire Pasta Co and Northern Pasta Co are the two main brands, both made with British wheat to support our farmers).

Don’t eat cooked rice after 24 hours.

Before cooking, read up on food safety for people and pets (many foods are unsafe near animal friends). Bin allium scraps (onion, leeks, garlic, shallots, chives) and citrus/tomato/rhubarb scraps, as acids could harm compost creatures. It’s okay to put them in food waste bins (made into biogas).

For tinned foods, fully remove lids (put inside) or pop ring-pulls back over holes (and pinch tops closed) before recycling, to avoid wildlife getting trapped.