Notes
These notes give the sources behind the claims in each chapter, and say where I'm giving my own interpretation. The book isn't medical or dietary advice. If you have a condition that affects what or how you eat, your GP or a registered dietitian is the person to ask. The examples throughout, the half pepper, the app that opens on the usual place, the curry on Friday, the child who eats two of four parts, are invented to illustrate and aren't drawn from real people. Cooking times are my estimates for ordinary hobs and ordinary pans.
Studies were checked on 26 September 2026 by reading their published abstracts. None was read in full, and none carried a retraction or correction notice at that date. Where a paper is cross-sectional, it describes an association at one point in time and can't show what causes what, and I've tried to say so each time.
Chapter 1. No sources. The terms are the book's own.
Chapter 3. Jabs and Devine, "Time scarcity and food choices: an overview", Appetite 47, 2006, pages 196 to 204. A review, not a study. Monsivais, Aggarwal and Drewnowski, "Time spent on home food preparation and indicators of healthy eating", American Journal of Preventive Medicine 47, 2014, pages 796 to 802. 1,319 adults in a population survey in the United States, 2008 to 2009, cross-sectional. The claim about the attention the wait takes is mine.
Chapter 4. Adams and colleagues, "Prevalence and socio-demographic correlates of cooking skills in UK adults: cross-sectional analysis of data from the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey", International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 12, 2015, article 99. 509 respondents, self-reported confidence. Lavelle and colleagues, "Learning cooking skills at different ages: a cross-sectional study", International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 13, 2016, article 119. 1,049 adults aged 20 to 60 in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Garcia, Reardon, McDonald and Vargas-Garcia, "Community interventions to improve cooking skills and their effects on confidence and eating behaviour", Current Nutrition Reports 5, 2016, pages 315 to 322. A narrative review. The driving comparison is mine.
Chapter 5. No research sources. The timings are my estimates, and the claim about attention is my interpretation.
Chapter 6. Monsivais and colleagues, as above. The earlier books referred to are Put the card away and Ask the price of the evening.
Chapter 7. No research sources. The earlier book referred to is The biscuit tin. The argument is mine.
Chapter 8. Mills and colleagues, "Health and social determinants and outcomes of home cooking: a systematic review of observational studies", Appetite 111, 2017, pages 116 to 134. 38 studies, mostly cross-sectional, from 13,341 records. The claims about cooking for one are mine.
Chapter 9. No research sources. The earlier book referred to is The dishes take four minutes.
Chapter 10. Ducrot and colleagues, "Meal planning is associated with food variety, diet quality and body weight status in a large sample of French adults", International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 14, 2017, article 12. 40,554 participants in the NutriNet-Santé study, cross-sectional, self-reported weight and height. The claim that hunger is bad at deciding is my observation.
Chapter 11. The NHS Eatwell Guide, at nhs.uk, read on 26 September 2026. Lavelle and colleagues, "Barriers and facilitators to cooking from 'scratch' using basic or raw ingredients: a qualitative interview study", Appetite 107, 2016, pages 383 to 391. 27 interviews on the island of Ireland. A qualitative study, which describes what people said and can't say how common it is.
Chapter 12. Lam and Adams, "Association between home food preparation skills and behaviour, and consumption of ultra-processed foods: cross-sectional analysis of the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey (2008-2009)", International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 14, 2017, article 68. The same 509 adults as chapter 4. The claim that heating a tray builds nothing is mine.
Chapter 13. Goffe and colleagues, "Relationship between mean daily energy intake and frequency of consumption of out-of-home meals in the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey", International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 14, 2017, article 131. The figures of 63 to 87 kilocalories a day are for adults having takeaway meals at home at least weekly compared with rarely, from four-day food diaries.
Chapter 14. Lavelle and colleagues 2016, the interview study, as above. The reservation about batch cooking is mine.
Chapter 15. No research sources. The shape of the plain plate is my description and loosely follows the Eatwell Guide's food groups.
Chapter 16. Lavelle and colleagues 2016, the interview study, as above, for family preferences as a barrier. Everything else in the chapter is my suggestion and is said to be.
Chapter 17. Wolfson and Bleich, "Is cooking at home associated with better diet quality or weight-loss intention?", Public Health Nutrition 18, 2015, pages 1397 to 1406. 9,569 adults in the 2007 to 2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in the United States, cross-sectional. Mills and colleagues, "Frequency of eating home cooked meals and potential benefits for diet and health: cross-sectional analysis of a population-based cohort study", International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 14, 2017, article 109. 11,396 adults aged 29 to 64 in the Fenland cohort. The other costs are my observations.
Chapter 18. Garcia and colleagues, as above. The mechanism described is my interpretation.
Chapter 19. The NHS Eatwell Guide, as above. The contents of the shelf are my suggestion.
Chapter 21. Ducrot and colleagues, as above.
Chapter 22. Gollwitzer and Sheeran, "Implementation intentions and goal achievement: a meta-analysis of effects and processes", Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 38, 2006, pages 69 to 119, for the when-then form. Lally, van Jaarsveld, Potts and Wardle, "How are habits formed: modelling habit formation in the real world", European Journal of Social Psychology 40, 2010, pages 998 to 1009. 96 volunteers, 82 with usable data. The rule hasn't been tested as a package and what I say to expect is my expectation.
Chapter 23. The NHS pages on the symptoms of depression in adults and on eating disorders, at nhs.uk, read on 26 September 2026. The earlier book referred to is Eat when you're hungry. No claim is made about the effectiveness of any service.
Chapter 24. Lally and colleagues, as above. The extension from a missed day to a missed week is mine.
Looked up and not used. Wolfson and colleagues, "What does cooking mean to you?", Appetite 2016, had no abstract available to me and isn't cited. Reicks and colleagues' 2014 review of cooking interventions found positive effects but weak designs, and says nothing this book needed beyond Garcia. Burgoine and colleagues' 2014 study in the BMJ of takeaway outlets near home, work and commuting routes in Cambridgeshire is about the environment rather than the evening, and isn't cited. Taillie's 2018 study of cooking trends in the United States found cooking increasing, especially among men, but is about another country and isn't cited. Jaworowska and Force's 2025 analysis of fat in London takeaway meals was read and left out because this isn't a book about what's in the box.