The Ultimate Meal-Prep Cookbook: One Grocery List. A Week of Meals. No Waste.

I am someone that enjoys cooking, but tend to gravitate towards complicated recipes that I don't have time for on weeknights. I found myself bored with my weeknight go-tos, and really wanted to shake things up a bit. Most meal prep cookbooks I have tried are either dump and pour approaches which aren't particularly healthy and lack the use of fresh vegetables or meals that lack the flavor I want to get out of a homemade meal. This book is different from others, in a good way. What I love about this book: 1) It removes all of the decision making for meal planning, and I love the provided grocery list at the beginning of each week. This saves me over an hour of planning and grocery list making each week! 2) We have made 3 weeks of recipes so far, and there has not been a single dud in the bunch. 3) Recipes are healthy with very few processed time savers that you find in traditional weeknight meal cookbooks, such as canned soups. There are also lots of fresh vegetables used in most recipes. 4) There are 25 weeks worth of recipes, so even if you cooked dinner from this book every weeknight, you would only repeat a meal twice a year! 5)Pictures are nice! 6) Succinct writing makes the recipes very easy to follow when in a hurry. 7) Recipes are simple, yet flavorful. This book has reminded me that dinner does not have to be complicated to be tasty. This book may not be for the following individuals: 1) Vegetarians - There are very few animal-free recipes in this book. I wish America's Test Kitchen would do a vegetarian version of this! 2) People that want to assemble everything during the weekend - I find that the recipes usually allow for a few items to be prepped, but at least 20 minutes of active prep time is usually required for day of even if you prep everything that can be prepped. 3) People that do not like cooking from scratch that are expecting dump & pour recipes. 4) People with picky eaters in the family- For me the biggest benefit is the time saved in planning and grocery list making. The grocery list is for the whole week, so if you are a person that only likes about 1/2 the recipes offered, you won't see this benefit.

I wanted to wait until I’d used this book for a couple weeks before writing a review. I am not the cook in my family but wanted to get better. My husband and I both trust America’s Test Kitchen recipes so I found this book and thought I’d give it a try! I now cook four nights a week out of this book to help get my cooking skills up and even with a few mistakes, I can already tell I’m getting better! Things I love about this cookbook: -the ingredients for the whole week are listed at the beginning of the week. Shopping has become so much easier because I just have to check what we have and don’t have instead of trying to create a list out of nothing. -substitution suggestions listed for each recipe! So great when you have a toddler who won’t eat certain ingredients. -all the recipes so far have been amazing. We especially loved the green pearl couscous (we substituted basil for the parsley) and the bucatini with eggplant and tomatoes. -storage suggestions for leftover ingredients. No more throwing away half an onion over here, now we freeze it for later! -ATK’s recipes are always written out in an easy to follow way that makes it hard to mess up. So far every recipe has turned out amazing except two: one user error because I tried to substitute something without following instructions, and one because my stove cooks chicken differently than the book suggests. Things I don’t love so much: -some weeks are pretty expensive. For example, there’s one week that has scallops and steak! -these meal plans incorporate way more meat than I’m used to eating in a week (part of why some weeks are so expensive). I wish there were more veggie based meals. -my pantry is not stocked the way they expect it to be for the pantry meals. We’re slowly working our way up to it but right now, at this point in our budget, the pantry meals are not helpful for us. -my husband is sad there are no desserts in this book because ATK has amazing dessert recipes All in all, five stars because it really is a great cookbook and we’ve loved the recipes so far!

Disclaimer: I preordered the book that was set to come out March 2nd, 2021. I was happily surprised they made sure to ship it out to arrive on the “release” date. As this new meal prep Bible just reached my hands I will have to make a shopping list, go hunt down my supplies, then produce the mouth watering items waiting inside. For now, this is purely based on the cookbook itself, no recipes have been attempted at this point. [Edited to add: If you’re looking for traditional meal plans where you spend one day in the kitchen preparing ALL (or the majority) of every meal or snack you will me eating for the day; this isn’t the book for you. While semi correct with the title, it IS misleading. Yes you are prepping a weeks worth of food, and by week I do mean 5 days compared to the usual 6-7, but you’re on your own for breakfast, snacks, lunch, or evening snacks if that’s what you’re searching for. To me it IS a plus of having a list of tasty meals I can plan around BUT I’d still have look up ideas for the other meals (breakfast/lunch/snacks) which defeats the purpose a bit. I will continue to look for a meal prep/cookbook/guide that Is similar to my needs which aren’t met with this book alone. Be mindful of why you’re ordering a meal prep guide and what you expect out of it.] Now something you should know about me (which to be honest you probably don’t care) I LOVE cookbooks. You could call it an obsession. I call it normal. Though I enjoy collecting goodies, not all cookbooks are the same. I’m very particular about what I look for within the glossy pages. Pictures help enhance but I don’t base my opinion purely on professional plated/photographed food; though it helps. I was foaming at the mouth flipping through with pictures to match. Font, spacing, color, layout, and set up are big factors when it comes to my commitment issues (despite loving cookbooks, if I’m purchasing a brand new book this will happen) and I had zero going in when purchasing. Boy was I right! To give you an idea in addition to the well typed description - here are some things you will see within these pages: -They give tips on storing like items, what will freeze well, foods to have on hand/pantry, ways to prep items (veggies, meats, and herbs) so they last longer, substitution recommendations, as well as extensive tips and tricks that I won’t spoil for you. -All weeks are sectioned off. First the overview of menu items to give you an idea of what you’ll get into in the upcoming week. They have a grocery list with all items broken down into the grocery store sections. There’s also a list of pantry items for the week in case you need to pick up items or make substitutions. They include a prep ahead list that makes for faster preparation. They also have a “make ahead” with how many days the food will hold up before you cook it. -Then it has the recipes listed in full, with serving sizes and prepping/cooking time. They will list a prep ahead, make ahead, and notes from the kitchen under every recipe. The substitutions are listed again as well. -With the meal plan they have 4 items listed with the 5th being “choose a pantry recipe” - this is listed near the back so you can pick and choose what you’d like and it keeps things spiced up!! -In the back they have the nutritional info for every recipe. There is a conversion and equivalent guide for quick help. Ending with an Index! I’d say check this out if you need some assistance with prepping meal and want a great guide to help you on your journey!!

This Book is Brilliant , Can't say enough wonderful things. But it is for a certain type person. It is not what most people think about meal prep ie: The single person preparing individual meals to have for the week. These are family meals . It is about how to get a meal together fast with minimal work. It is not necessarily for the novice cook. But if you have ever used a meal company like Blue Apron or Hello Fresh it's like a do it yourself version of those. What I liked about those companies there was literally no food waste and the meals were adventurous and creative not your grandma's meal loaf. (Not that there's anything wrong with grandma's meat loaf) As someone who has cooked for over 30 years I wanted new flavors and ideas. My grocery bill is also way down due to the pared down and streamlined grocery lists, so you can afford the few upgraded luxury ingredients for the recipes. And even recipes I thought I wouldn't like, I have actually loved but I'm also an adventurous eater. This would not be the book for picky eaters, I also love that the nutrition for every meal is provided, so I can count macros and calories to stay with in my diet. Although not a diet or healthy cooking cook book, many of the meals are extremely healthy and well balanced. Knowing what I am having for dinner I can adjust my breakfast and lunch. I so love this book and did I mention so much less food waste so therefore has been saving me money too. :-)

I really like this cookbook. Before I got this book, I got recipes from online blogs and Instagram, and I was unsatisfied with how my food was turning out. I got discouraged a lot. A background about me: I’m in my early 30s and I don’t like to cook. But I recently had a baby and wanted to save money and not eat out and be more in control of what goes in my body. Why I love this book: the instructions are clear and easy to follow for someone like me, who doesn’t have a lot of experience cooking. The food turns out amazing. There’s a lot of protein and vegetables, which is how I prefer to eat. And the variety is amazing. I’ve been cooking things I’ve never had before, and it’s not boring. I don’t dread cooking. And the meals are planned out for the week and there’s no waste. I am currently on week 6 and have not felt discouraged or overwhelmed by prepping and cooking dinner. I 1,000% think this book is worth the money.

It's different than what I was hoping for, but that doesn't mean it isn't a quality source of quality information

I use this cookbook often. I find the recipes well-written and tasty. It’s also geared more toward the type of meal prep I prefer - partial prep of ingredients at the beginning of the week and minimal prep/cooking on the day of the meal instead of fully cooking everything and reheating later in the week. I like that there are menu plans but I find usually I can only make three meals from a week without food waste. The fifth meal of each week is a “ pantry meal” from a section at the back. Some of these are really good recipes, but most are not what I’d call a complete meal, lacking either a protein source or vegetables. I do wish some breakfast recipes were included.

As a college student living alone, this cookbook has been amazing. I can plan, make, and have meals for a whole week. The weekly meal plans give you recipes which often use like ingredients, cutting down on the grocery list it gives you. Ingredient lists are short, recipes are simple yet elegant, and cooking is a breeze. They give you multiple tips on how to effectively prep for cooking times throughout the week I think a lot of people misunderstand this book, assuming it's your typical "make food, throw in Tupperware, don't cook again all week." While you can 100% use this cookbook for that (I certainly do, literally just make all of the weeks meals and throw them in the fridge or freezer —this cookbook has a guide on how to reheat frozen meals/foods specifically for this reason!!), it is more intended for those who enjoy cooking, but don't want to be running to the grocery store after work everyday. This is a meal planning cookbook. This cookbook is FANTASTIC for what it is, it's a really well thought out meal planning book. It isn't a traditional meal-prep book, and that's not a bad thing. It's designed to let you cook fresh every night, in as little time as possible. I don't know about you, but I would rather eat as fresh as I can instead of reheating meals I made weeks ago - but the beauty of this book is that you can do both, either, or, depending on your schedule and desire. Don't get me wrong, I'm busy too - double majoring and work most school nights - but I still like to cook, and this lets me do that!

Excelente información

I own *a lot* of the ATK recipe books, and I have to admit this is probably one of my favourites. I love it for a few reasons: - all-in-one meals. No more guessing what side I should pair with my main - it’s all on a single page - zero/low waste. I half most all the recipes (as I’m only cooking for 1-2), but I adore the fact that the intention is to massively reduce wasted food. Additionally, their tips for food storage are top notch. - new recipes. Every time I buy a new ATK, I typically tend to stumble across the same recipes as their other books (with ever so slight variations between). This book feels renewed and refreshed with some different recipes I haven’t seen before. It’s great! Absolutely recommend!!

Even though the meals are usually quite delicious, they are not offering a well balanced diet, I think. I found that I was looking for ways to include more vegetables/greens to every day's recipes. Still, delicious and easy recipes.

My wife and I have always enjoyed cooking, once we had kids we continued to do the same but would rely more on instant pot or sous vide recipes to better manage our time. Then we started getting into a bit of a rut where we have a dozen + recipes that we would just repeat. This was fine but we realized how much food we were throwing out. We considered food kits, but I'm a picky produce shopper and they just seemed to have too much potential for negative environmental impact, and I would prefer to support local produces. This book is exactly what we have been looking for, the shopping list minimizes food waste, portion sizes are great, excellent variety of recipes and it's fun. We have started an instagram page, @Halifamily902, documenting our progress through the 25 weeks of recipe, please follow to see our thoughts on each recipe.