Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by alisarae
Downshiftology Healthy Meal Prep by Lisa Bryan
You should know going into it that the approach is prep a bunch of different stuff and then combine at meal time. You might have a prepped & cooked meat dish, salad, and another veg, and then you pull them out to make a buffet-style meal. The author says she tries to prep with categories in mind: Protein, veggies, starch, snacks, breakfast. And then you can combine whatever you have from the different categories.
This is a good way to plan the meal prep process in my opinion. Make sure you have a couple different things available in each category, and you will be good for the week! This is a similar concept to [b:The Vegan Week |61378634|The Vegan Week Meal Prep Recipes to Feed Your Future Self A Cookbook |Gena Hamshaw|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1656701401l/61378634._SX50_.jpg|96822074], where the author suggests "a grain, a green, a bean, a sauce" to help strategize meals.
Pros:
- The beginning has a list of common vegetables and different ways to prep & store them.
- The hearty salads section - not all veggies do well sitting together for a couple days and lots of meal prep influencers forget that
- Gluten and sugar free
- Good photos for every recipe
- Focus on fresh, whole ingredients
Cons:
- Lots of spiralizing and veggie-ricing
- The "Quick Assembly meals" section is so random (it has like... a chaotic energy) it should have just been left out and the recipes put into other categories
- 5/15 breakfast recipes were oat based, which may not be a con for you, but I don't eat oats so it seems kinda oat heavy.
- I think the author should have really stuck with the organizational concept of "protein, veggies, starch, snacks, breakfast." It is arranged like a traditional cookbook (3 sections of main dishes, salads, desserts, breakfast, random sides, plus a few other random sections), which doesn't align that well with seeing the bigger picture of meal prep components.
Overall I think this is a pretty useful meal prep book for me, considering it is all gluten-free. It has bright, colorful photos and plenty of new dishes to try.
This is a good way to plan the meal prep process in my opinion. Make sure you have a couple different things available in each category, and you will be good for the week! This is a similar concept to [b:The Vegan Week |61378634|The Vegan Week Meal Prep Recipes to Feed Your Future Self A Cookbook |Gena Hamshaw|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1656701401l/61378634._SX50_.jpg|96822074], where the author suggests "a grain, a green, a bean, a sauce" to help strategize meals.
Pros:
- The beginning has a list of common vegetables and different ways to prep & store them.
- The hearty salads section - not all veggies do well sitting together for a couple days and lots of meal prep influencers forget that
- Gluten and sugar free
- Good photos for every recipe
- Focus on fresh, whole ingredients
Cons:
- Lots of spiralizing and veggie-ricing
- The "Quick Assembly meals" section is so random (it has like... a chaotic energy) it should have just been left out and the recipes put into other categories
- 5/15 breakfast recipes were oat based, which may not be a con for you, but I don't eat oats so it seems kinda oat heavy.
- I think the author should have really stuck with the organizational concept of "protein, veggies, starch, snacks, breakfast." It is arranged like a traditional cookbook (3 sections of main dishes, salads, desserts, breakfast, random sides, plus a few other random sections), which doesn't align that well with seeing the bigger picture of meal prep components.
Overall I think this is a pretty useful meal prep book for me, considering it is all gluten-free. It has bright, colorful photos and plenty of new dishes to try.