Your hands clench, your heart beats faster and you can feel your inner micromanager emerging: While preparing dinner, your preschooler has just walked up to you and asked, "Mama, can I help you cook?"

Hello, and welcome back to What's Cooking?, the open thread where you get to share your brilliant thoughts, advice, recipes and opinions on all things food-related. This week I want to talk about all of your favourite cookbooks.

There seems to be a lot of pressure on the home cook these days. It isn't enough to feed your family chicken breasts -- one should be feeding them free-range, organic, perfectly juicy chicken breasts that were cooked sous vide and served with vegetables you regrew from a curated selection of kitchen scraps. This perfectionist vibe is permeating food writing and the culture of home cooking, with everyone striving to churn out consistently perfect meals, night after night.

The best part about cooking at home -- besides the tasty food -- is all the money you can save. If you want to get even more out of your food budget, this free cookbook has tons of tasty recipes that will save you cash without sacrificing flavour.