Food For Free (Collins Gem)

If you have any interest in foraging, this little portable book is ideal. It is small enough to fit in your back pocket, very portable little thing. The plants in the book have illustrations and photos so it’s pretty easy to recognise what you’re looking at, even for a novice like me. It goes in to a bit of detail on how you would prep and use the plants you’re able to forage, which is really useful too. There’s so many uses for this book - parents out with their kids teaching them a little about nature - all kids love this sort of thing they really do, keep it with you when camping to see what you can add to the campfire, keep it handy when on a hike so you can pick up some snacks along the way, it’s even a great addition for survivalists to learn how to live off the land. Great little book, very useful when there’s no phone coverage, and very cheap too. What’s not to like?

This is a great little guide whether you intend to set out on a forage or are just ambling around the countryside and fancy taking something tasty home. It lists pretty much all your standard countryside fare - nuts, berries, flowers, edible foliage, vegetables, seeds etc. - and gives clear guides on identification, when to pick and what to use them for. It also lists shellfish and seaweeds in similar detail, and although there is a good mushroom section with the easiest to identify species, if you haven't been mushroom picking before do get at least one other book on mushrooms to compare with and make very certain of what you are picking. There is also a great introduction to edible foraging and the law, and a month by month pick guide as well as some basic info on making, jams etc. The only things that let it down in my eyes are its size - while nicely compact it would be easier to read if it were a tad bigger, and it could do with more pictures, although you can say this of any flora guide. It also makes no mention of the many wild foods you can pick to use for wine and beer making, but this is probably outside of the book's scope. All in all a fantastic little guide and amazing value. Go out there and pick some fat hen!

Teeny tiny cute guide. Indeed for the pocket. Useful because it goes by month/season for what’s available. Good identification diagrams and photos. I feel confident this will stop me poisoning myself. The reason for the drop in stars might be my own fault, so hands up here, but I’d been searching, and thought, I had found a “if I’m stuck in the wild/apocalypse/grid goes down situation I can survive” and unfortunately this book may help a bit but is not THAT book. A lot of the content is meant as a cute added flourish to your normal meals. A very nice flourish I’ll admit and would certainly add a bit of fancy to a survival dinner but you get my point. Nevertheless... best to have a bit of garnish than nothing at all.

This is a gem of a book. Nice little pocket sized. I thought i'd give it a try although i was preparing myself for receiving another toilet shelf book. This is definitely not one for the toilet shelf. I personally think the pictures are great, some plants are hard to differentiate but this book does describe them as well, there is no use in buying a book like this if you just want to look at the pictures for an instant answer if its edible. This gives clear and concise information thats easy to take in and fun as well as useful to use. This is also a very well priced book. Nice little gift got those who like camping or hiking etc. Its really amazing how much food is out there that we could be using. Although i think the reason may be the taste.. Overall i'd say this is a great buy, perfectly sized, easily to carry, fun and educational to use. You don't have to be a genius to read this book, its good for adult and children.

Definitely one of the best books on edible plants.

Small, helpful and easy to use.

Super little book, filled with useful information. Brought back memories of foraging with my grandfather. I have forgotten much of what I learned as a child, simply because I stopped doing it. This book reminded me. I can now enjoy foraging again with my own grand child. It's small, yes, but no less useful. Fits nicely into a pocket to take out on walks. I've just purchases another copy as a gift.

I give it only 4 stars though because it isn't as exhaustive or clear as it could be. For instance it doesn't seem to mention crab apples anywhere and whilst they aren't always the most palatable form of apple they do frequently grow in the same areas and same time of year as blackberries. Chuck a couple in with the jam and you've got a free source of pectin. It does mention that blackberry jam needs extra pectin to thicken so that seems like a missed opportunity. Most of the recipes call for adding store bought ingredients and miss out some simple things you can do. For instance it has three recipes for nettles all of which require things you cannot get for free (unless you own a farm, dairy, granary etc) but doesn't mention simply using them as a tea substitute. I feel it could do with a slightly better guide for differentiating between things like red berries too and a section on things you can't eat (but look like things you can). For instance in my area there's at least three different tree species with red berries on that I have trouble distinguishing between. I know one of them is not edible... but I'm not clear which. If you are planning on using it for fungi I would suggest getting the Mushrooms pocketbook too for cross referencing because this book doesn't mention some of the similar looking mushrooms that are not edible or dangerous. EDIT: I removed another star because it also lacks important information on toxicity. I finally found some Rowan berries in the area amidst all the Hawthorne and Rosehip only to learn they can cause digestive upset raw. The book does not mention this which I feel is potentially dangerous. Yes it doesn't say 'eat them raw' and says they taste too strong and bitter for that (I found them delicious and could have eaten dozens without my phone for research). It calls for making them into jam or wine but it also doesn't say you shouldn't eat lots raw because of the parasorbic acid they contain. Nor does it mention that this is converted to safe sorbic acid when heated which is a common food preservative so logically could help keep jams made from other fruit for longer by adding some Rowan. I also found what I think are poisonous bittersweet berries AKA woody nightshade but if I went solely from this book I could have mistaken them for redcurrants. It really could do with including some of the common poison berries to avoid.