The Everything Plant-Based Meal Prep Cookbook 200 Easy, Make-Ahead Recipes Featuring Plant-Based Ingredients

 

The Everything Plant-Based Meal Prep Cookbook is a tutorial and recipe guide for meal-prep developed for the whole food plant-based diet written by Diane K. Smith. Due out 17th Nov 2020 from Simon & Schuster on their Adams Media imprint, it's 272 pages and will be 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 bulk-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 is a very well prepared and presented supportive guide to succeeding implementing and enjoying the WFPB diet more effectively with meal-prep and bulk cooking. The introduction covers the diet itself, its aims, health benefits, and ingredients as well as the nuts-and-bolts of the diet and how to use it. 

The recipes are arranged roughly thematically: breakfast, appetizers, salads, soups & stews, lunch, sides, sauces & condiments, and desserts.  Each recipe has its ingredients listed bullet style in a sidebar. Measurements are given in US standard only. (There's a metric conversion chart in the back of the book). Special tools and ingredients are also listed, along with yields and cooking directions. The ingredients are mostly easily sourced at any moderately well stocked grocery store. Nutritional information is provided for each of the recipes.

Essential info, alerts, facts, and questions & answers are highlighted in brightly colored text boxes. These will be familiar to readers of other books in the Everything series from this publisher. Roughly 25% of the recipes are photographed. Photos and serving suggestions included are full color, appetizing, and appropriate.  

The meal planning part of the book contains 2 weeks of sample meal plans. The charts are no-frills but they are very clear and easy to follow. Each meal for the week contains recipes for breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner, and dessert. 

This is a very well organized system to help readers get control of their diets, eat wholesome nutritious foods, and save time and money. Five stars. 

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.