Cook Once a Week, Eat Well Every Day: Make-Ahead Meals That Transform Your Suppertime Circus Into Relaxing Family Time

This book is great! My son is eating the vegetables that are cleverly mashed into the spaghetti sauce, which in itself is a balanced meal! I have searched so many recipe books and I always end up adapting, half the sugar, half the salt, half the meat, double the vegetables, but not with this book. I can almost follow the ingredients to the letter (I don't put wine in the spaghetti sauce although wine's supposed to be healthy. Not for my five year old.) I think that the taste is sophisticated and the idea of cooking one night a week is very exciting. The leftovers can be used for weekends if you can't bear the thought of cooking anything else. I appreciate the author's efforts to bring health and nutrition into an accessible cookbook.

I got this book for Christmas & it's already got that delightful "used cookbook" look. As a new mother, I was finding it difficult to find the time to cook each evening (or to even think about what to make), and I was heading to the grocery store several times a week. The shopping lists and work plans have simplified my life, and the recipes are really tasty, easy to prepare, & I feel like we're eating more healthfully and with greater variety than ever. And since we're making healthy foods for dinner, it's easy for me to feed our 9-month-old without much additional work (just cut up & share!). I do find that I'm buying more meat than I used to, but also different kinds (pork & fish - not just ground beef or chicken breasts). Since there are only about 5 dinners prepped per week, there's room to add in our old family standards, to go out, or to pick out a frozen "leftover" from one of the earlier weeks. I'm recommending this book to every one I know.

I am a working mom married to a man who ate too much Americana growing up. Meaning -- I don't have much time to cook, but my husband really doesn't enjoy the typical cream of mushroom soup and hamburger fare that easy cookbooks typically contain. This book saved me! I just finished the first week's cooking. I have five dinners ready for the week, and my husband begged me not to freeze all of the chili so he could eat some for lunch. (And my two year old ate it, too, and loved it. So no worries, there.) If, like me, the thing you hate about cooking dinner is trying to figure out what to shop for each week and what to make each evening, this book is lovely.

As a Dad who cooks I found variety, nutrition and speed in the plans set out in this well written excellently communicated cookbook. Concepts which before were alien to me became crystal clear and I created my own weekly meal plans to go along with the series that are outlined in the book. The kids actually joined in on the making of some of the plans and true to her word (the author) they actually relished those meals more than the others. Most meals they tried and liked, some a lot and some so so but that's kids and that was miles ahead of where I was three months ago.

This book is perfect for anyone who finds themselves eating out waaaay too often, just because they can't face pulling together a meal after a hectic day. The idea here is to cook something each week that can spin off a number of easy-to-prepare meals. Does roasted chicken, beef burritos, meat loaf with salsa, or beef and pasta toss sound like food your family would eat? The recipes aren't overly elaborate or gourmet, just good food. Think of all you'll save, staying out of the restaurants. Think of family dinners where everyone actually talks together and bonds over their meal. This book makes it a lot easier.