How we count
Every recipe in this book prints four numbers at the top of the page: protein, calories, cost per serving, and what the same dish would have cost you delivered. Here is exactly where each of them comes from, so you can decide for yourself how much to trust them.
Protein and calories
Calculated per weighed ingredient, for the exact quantities the recipe uses, from standard UK nutritional data. Not per pack, not per rounded-up portion, not copied from a similar recipe elsewhere. If a recipe calls for 320g of 5% beef mince and serves two, the figure is built from 160g of 5% beef mince.
Where a recipe gives a choice of ingredient, the numbers use the first one listed. Swapping the option will move the figure a little, usually by a gram or two.
Cost per serving
Based on mid-2026 prices at the big UK supermarkets, again for the quantities the recipe uses rather than whole packs. So a tablespoon of soy sauce is costed as a tablespoon of soy sauce, not as the bottle.
This is the number most likely to drift. Prices move, own-brand and premium differ, and what you pay in central London is not what you pay in Doncaster. Treat it as a fair guide rather than a promise.
The delivered price
The typical menu price of the equivalent dish on the major delivery apps, before delivery fees, service fees and tips. We chose the conservative version deliberately. Once you add the fees the real gap is wider than the one we print, and we would rather understate it than be accused of flattering ourselves.
Time
Door to plate, cooking at a normal pace in a normal kitchen, including the prep. Not "active time" with the chopping quietly left out. If a recipe says 20 minutes, that is the whole thing.
What we have not done
- We have not rounded figures up to make them look better. The pepperoni pizza is 34g of protein. It would have been easy to write 36g and nobody would have checked.
- We have not used lab analysis. This is a cookbook written by people who cook, not a testing facility, and the figures are careful good-faith estimates rather than certified values.
- We have not assumed you own anything unusual. Every recipe works with a hob and a fan oven.
So how accurate is it?
Close enough to plan a week around, and not precise enough to build a medical decision on. Your exact numbers will wobble with brands, with how heavy-handed you are with the oil, and with whether your "two servings" match ours. That is true of every recipe book ever printed; most of them just do not say so.
If you have a specific medical or dietary requirement, please speak to a professional who knows your situation. This is a cookbook, not advice.
Found something wrong?
Tell us. Email hello@proteinfakeaways.com with the recipe number and what you think is off, and if you are right we will correct it in the next edition — which you will get free, because every edition is free once you have bought the book once.