ost bakes or pies (but without pastry) are quick and simple to throw together in one dish, minimising preparation time and washing up, though a few, such as shepherd’s pie or fish pie, take a bit more assembly. If you’ve got some of those round or oblong glazed terracotta dishes that are so cheap in France and Spain, this is the time to dig them out, but any ovenproof ceramic or glass dish will do just as well.

Bakes are also an ideal way of using up the last bits of cheese hanging around in the fridge, especially dry ends that aren’t big enough to do much with. Like the last piece of bread that gets whizzed up and stored as crumbs in a box in the freezer, you could even find yourself – slightly fanatically – getting into the habit of grating all the dog-ends of hard cheeses such as Parmesan, Cheddar or red Leicester and keeping them in a jar in the fridge just for these kinds of dishes.

There are endless variations to the recipe below using chicory, spinach, leeks and even broccoli – check out the Thrifty Cookbook pages 99-100