When the War was still raging in Europe, and black-out came down soon after sunset, there was really very little to talk about that gave one real satisfaction but Food and especially "What I Should Like to Eat Now".

In the middle of an entrancing conversation with an old friend about what we had most enjoyed for dinner six years ago, the first faint prenatal stirrings of this book took place. The talk branched off towards breakfast, and the right way to cook bacon, "My difficulty," said Aubrey, "is that there are no cookery books or none that I can find that tell you how to boil eggs, how to make tea and coffee, how to boil potatoes, and so on," "Surely," I said, "everybody knows those simple things by nature." "They don''t," Aubrey protested, "at least I don''t. I have had to work by trial and error. Why don''t you write a book for bachelors?"

So this book was first thought of, and soon after it began to come into being. It will be of no interest to those who know how to cook already. There are not many new recipes in it, although there are some. But it does tell you how to set about getting ready a meal for one and sometimes even for two or more, if you are feeling hospitable if you live alone, and there is no professed cook on the premises. Because there will be men and women, even now that the War in Europe is over, who will have to get meals ready for themselves, and who have had no training in cookery or in catering, it seems worth while to begin with a probably buy it once a week with your other rations at present.

FOODS TO BUY IN QUANTITY FOR STORING

Dried fruits prunes, eggs, apricots and apple rings
Sugar 3 Ibs. at a time, when it goes off the ration.
Flour 7 Ibs. at a time, if you have a tin box to store it in - if not, 1 Ib. at a time.
Salt 3 packets at a time.
Pepper 1 Ib. at a time.
Mustard a tin or a glass of French mustard at a time.
Spices cinnamon, nutmegs, mace, ginger, mixed spice 1 oz. of each.
Vinegar 1 bottle.
Rice, semolina, sago and tapioca 1 Ib. at a time.
Macaroni 1 Ib. at a time,
Jam or marmalade a jar of each.
Try to accumulate a few stone jars for storing, they are tidier in the kitchen than foods stored in bags. Glass jam jars will store rice, and the other cereals, sugar, peppercorns and spices. Don''t pour hot fat into a glass jar, it will break it. Use stone jars for storing.

May I also say here what I would say to you if we were cooking together in your kitchen or mine, although you may think it a little dictatorial

Get all your materials ready before you begin to cook, lay out your chopping board, set your knives and forks beside it, get out your measuring spoon and cup, decide upon your recipe and then measure out all your...