If your ravenous offspring are desperate for an after-school snack, and you need to rustle up a delicious (and filling) plateful of something tasty fast, this cookbook holds the answer to your prayers with a number of recipes that can be prepared from start to finish in less than 5 minutes. Likewise, if you’re expected to create an all-singing, all-dancing birthday tea, look no further. All situations and numbers (from one to a crowd) are catered for. Among these 150 recipes are ideas for weekday breakfasts and lazy brunches, speedy midweek suppers and leisurely weekend lunches, not to mention weekday lunch boxes (the bane of most working moms’ lives). There’s comfort food for those days when the world has conspired against you, and one-pot dishes that are especially useful if the dishwasher has broken. You’ll find recipes here to suit the fussiest of eaters, veggies, and carnivores, dishes to suit those with a sweet tooth, and new ways with everyone’s store-cupboard standbys—pasta and pesto.

Sisters Claire and Lucy McDonald are both journalists, who have written regularly for national newspapers. Claire worked as an editor and writer at The Times of London for 12 years, and Lucy has appeared regularly on CBS and Sky tv channels. They have an award-winning family food blog www.crumbsfood.co.uk, and a popular YouTube channel www.youtube.com/user/crumbsfood. They are both married with two young children each. Both authors are based in London, UK.