Don't let load shedding ruin your dinner!

Woolworths Taste magazine, published by New Media, has unveiled a standalone special edition, a cookbook designed to stop load shedding from ruining your dinner. The ingenious collection of 89 recipes will help you navigate those evening power cuts (and more) with smart cooking strategies in five chapters: Fast, Easy Assembly, One-Pan Cooking, Prep Ahead and Braai.

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Featuring recipes by Taste favourites Abigail Donnelly, Khanya Mzongwana, Hannah Lewry and Philippa Cheifitz, the cookbook promises to get you to spring, and beyond, for just R100.

Taste editor-in-chief Kate Wilson says of the concept: "We know load shedding isn't going away, but suffering cold meals in the depths of winter isn't Taste's style - our goal is always to make life easier for our audience.

"Woolworths already has a wide range of products designed to get dinner on the table fast - fresh and frozen prepared meals; prepped ingredients like pre-cut veg or easy-to-cook roasts; and a slew of pantry innovations, from sauces to rice sachets. So stocking up is one strategy, but we wanted to provide as much variety as possible for different kinds of cooks.

"So if you're natural planner, we'll show you how to prep in advance and make dinner go further, while if you prefer to play it fast and loose, we have plenty of dishes you can have on the table in under 30 minutes, either before or after the power cuts."

The cookbook will be sold exclusively at Woolworths until the end of October 2023.

Says Woolworths' head of food marketing Elizka Ferreira: "The Taste brand supports Woolies' positioning as the leading quality food retailer in South Africa and plays an important role in driving customer loyalty. This special edition affirms our commitment to great content marketing, giving our customers even more value at a time when they need it most."

Tasteis a multichannel food brand produced by New Media on behalf of Woolworths. It includes a monthly print magazine, a highly engaged online community across web, email and social media, and video content across social, web and YouTube. Striking a balance between inspiration and convenience, Taste is considered by the client as the "food authority" among all Woolworths' owned media channels.

Here's a breakdown of each chapter in the Woolworths Taste "The Loadshedding Cookbook":

1. The Fast chapter includes meals you can have on the table in under 30 minutes (and they don't all require pasta).
2. Easy Assembly, the reluctant cook's strategy, includes meals that can be assembled using Woolies' freezer and pantry staples, with or without prepared products.
3. One-Pan Cooking champions minimal components - and limited washing up. Get all your ingredients into the pot/pan ready to go into the oven the minute the power comes on.
4. Prep Ahead is the planner's chapter and involves prepping or cooking parts of your dish in advance, perhaps using tools such as a Wonderbag or a slow cooker. These recipes are ideal for batch-cooking.
5. The Braai section is aimed at outdoor enthusiasts, of course, but most of the recipes can also be cooked on a gas stove or burner.