The key to being lazy is being very, very prepared. My luxurious weeknight loaf on the couch can only come if my clothes are picked out, my face washed, and my lunch box packed for the next day. Rather than suffering the endless plight of constructing a sandwich every evening, I have been prepping my meals at the start of the week. When I run low on inspiration, cookbooks offer novelty in a way my Pinterest algorithm never seems to replicate.
Using the library, I want some solid meals for me and the occasional hungry roommate. They need to be tasty, economical and keep well. I am excluding the several dozen meal prep recipes that focus on diet and weight loss, as these are not my goals. Additionally, whole week plans for large families, like Prep and Rally, were just impractical for one little Skyler. With this in mind, I tried three meal prep cookbooks to find some inspiration.
“Time to Eat” by Nadiya Hussain
“Time to Eat,” Nadiya Hussain’s fourth cook book, focuses on recipes and strategies for meal prepping. Hussain fills her freezer for the future, storing meals weeks in advance to relieve the demand of feeding herself and her family. Each recipe breaks for the serving sizes, freezing, and reheating instructions. The food itself is a stodgy tour of British mainstays, Bengali flavors, and Hussain’s pension for pastry. She didn’t win the Great British Baking Show for no reason!
I made her recipe for Tzatziki Quesadillas. Luckily, the ingredients were easy to find and most of them were already in my freezer and pantry. A note on ingredients: the measurements are a bit puzzling. Some ingredients needed weighing, and others had non-standard amounts like a 7.5 ounce jar of Jalapenos. I will just chalk it up to British to American growing pains. The filling was easy to make and yielded two quesadillas, a sandwich, and some left over to eat manically with crackers while sitting on the floor. They were extremely tasty, most things with cheddar and jalapenos are. Unfortunately, the filling was not… well… filling. I expected a tortilla of Greek yogurt and chicken to sate me a little longer, but there I was, frantically snacking after work.
Take Aways: A great read for a little whimsy in your freezer. Tasty recipes, but prepare to use your food scale and maybe pack a snack. Four of five spoons.
“The Batch Lady: Cooking on a Budget” by Suzanne Mulholland
Suzanne Mulholland’s, the Batch Lady, cooks to save money, time and energy. Her recipes are simple, classic dinners like pot roasts and burgers. The change is the batch. Quite astutely, Mullholland points out the cost of energy an oven generates, so opts to cook multiple recipes, and multiple batches of recipes at one.
I tried the recipe for butternut squash risotto while also making chicken breasts and a week’s worth of breakfasts. The risotto itself left me wanting more — I ended up supplementing it with mushrooms, proteins, and generous sauces and seasonings when I would defrost it. While the flavors were wanting, I found myself using Mulholland’s batch logic. If the oven is on, why NOT make some bagels. If I am already frying up fajitas, why NOT make a second portion for later.
Take Aways: I like her style and I will be incorporating more batch cooking into my week. However, the recipes were a little too bland to eat two batches by myself. Three out of Five Spoons.
“Damn Delicious Meal Prep:115 Easy Recipes for Low Calorie, High Energy Living” By Chugah Rhee
Winner Winner Meal Prepped Dinner!
This is what I have been looking for. This cookbook is customizable and diverse — featuring a wide range of recipes as classic and comforting as a broccoli, cheese and rice casserole, to more veggie forward and creative options like a Chicago dog inspired salad. Rhee, a foodie with a popular blog, wanted to get into control of her eating habits. She gives the same tips as everyone and separates the recipes into meals, but this cookbook features a template for meal planning in the back of the book.
I made her Korean beef bowls and really enjoyed them! They were very easy to make and store. I really appreciated that I had most of the ingredients on hand already. Cooking it was very easy and straightforward. Even so, the meal came together as greater than the sum of its parts. My beef bowls were satisfying and delicious. While reading, I bookmarked over a dozen recipes that seemed delicious. I am excited to keep revisiting this cookbook!
Take Aways: This was a fantastic cookbook that infused a lot of exciting flavor into my meal prep. I am tempted to buy a copy for my own shelf. Five out of five spoons.
