annieb123
Written on Aug 5, 2019
The Visual Guide to Easy Meal Prep is a new cookbook and recipe collection from Erin Romeo. Due out 6th Aug 2019 from Quarto on their Race Point imprint, it's 176 pages and available in paperback and ebook formats.
There have been a lot of times when I've come home from work and literally had no plan for dinner and a not-inspiring collection of ingredients and no idea what to cook for my family (we usually wind up with takeout food in those cases). I've been familiar for ages with the concept of once-a-month-cooking and meal planning and prep, but it always seemed to take a lot more organizational skills than I honestly have. I'm sort of an extreme case of course, but I wanted to read this book and see if I could get some tips I could use to be more food-prep organized.
This book is certainly organized. The first 25% of the page content covers the introduction, definitions and concepts involved in meal prep, along with lists of very basic kitchen utensils and storage items. There are also lists of staples with quantities to have on hand for maximum efficiency. The author also includes 4 sample plans for meals: low-carb, vegetarian, gluten-free, and dairy-free.
The following chapters contain the recipes along with ingredient measures, shopping lists, yields, prep time and other essentials. Many (but not all) of the recipes are illustrated. The photography which is included is very clear and well done. Ingredient measurements are supplied in American and standard (metric) measurements. The nutritional information, sodium, fat, etc content is not listed for the recipes. Extra tips or recipe alternatives are listed in sidebars with the recipes. The recipes themselves are fairly straightforward and are made with easily sourced ingredients. Many are very simple (hummus, aioli, guacamole, salsa, etc). I also wonder how many of the items will taste after being stored for later in the week (cooked egg, smoothies, etc).
It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.
This is a beautifully presented very well organized book. I don't know exactly how many of the tips I'm going to be able to incorporate into my daily life, since I don't really have much storage space in my freezer or refrigerator (or cabinets). I would definitely recommend it to any of my friends who are looking to make their food prep even more efficient and streamlined (Karen from yoga? Definitely).
Four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.