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

by Theresa Albert-Ratchford

Cook Once a Week, Eat Well Every Day is the ultimate cookbook for today's busy parents. Instead of facing a suppertime circus, it allows moms and dads to prepare meals in advance so they can hurry home to more important things. Author Theresa Albert is a home-cooking efficiency expert who shares her culinary knowledge and organizational expertise—she offers more than three months worth of delicious, nutritious, family-friendly dinners, with plans on how to shop for, prepare, and cook each meal. Since the planning and preparation of each weeknight meal is done in three hours or less on a weekend afternoon, all parents need to do each weeknight is heat things up and get everyone to the table. The thirteen weekly plans feature delicious and affordable recipes for a variety of tastes, such as Chicken Cacciatore, Meatloaf Florentine, Lemony Baked Shrimp, Baked Mashed Potatoes and Potato Skins, Sesame Broccoli Salad, Easy Minestrone, Oatmeal Cookies, and more. With nutritional analyses, itemized shopping lists, great leftover ideas, countless kitchen tips, and "quickie meals from what you've got," Cook Once a Week, Eat Well Every Day offers less stress Monday through Friday, which makes spending time together as a family possible once again.

Genres: Cookbooks, Nonfiction, Food

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 10, 2005

Reviews

[Lynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fairly comprehensive.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I purchased this book specifically because one reviewer mentioned that it was a little too healthy for her. After looking over dozens of once-a-month cooking books, I decided on this one because 1)I only have to have room in my fridge and freezer for a week's worth of food, not a month and 2)all the other books I skimmed through had a lot of high fat, high carb, and processed foods. I was definitely looking for something much different than a traditional OMAC book, but with all the conveniences that OMAC has to offer.

The only reason I'm giving this book 4 stars instead of 5 is that I've found several gliches in it as far as the shopping list matching the recipes and mistakes in the work order. As long as you read through the week before shopping and cooking, you should be able to find the mistakes easily and save yourself a little hassle.

As far as the recipes go, my husband says that this book is the best thing to happen in our marriage, besides our kids! As a mom of an infant and a toddler, I don't have the time to plan dinner for that night, let alone a whole week. If meal planning was all this book had to offer, I would still purchase it. This book has given me my time, my sanity and my health back. Everyone in my family loves the recipes and I love that it often includes some lunches. We save at least $150 a month in eating out costs because there's always food in the house!

I love that it takes nutrition into consideration. I feel that I'm always eating a well-rounded meal and because I'm getting the vitamins and nutrients I need in the whole foods, I'm not getting cravings anymore. Because of that, I lost 4 pounds after the first week.

The desserts at the end of the book are wonderful. We especially love the Q-Bix for breakfast and the Quick & Delicious Peanut Butter Cookies for dessert.

Overall, this book has been a godsend for us. We're eating healthier as well as eating more things I normally would be too intimidated to try and make. I hope that Theresa writes another book!

[Thomasin Propson · Rating 4 out of 5]

OTHER than the continuous references to children who don't eat green foods (I don't know about you, but my kids eat everything - who are these children who cut out entire food colors and why do their parents let them get away with it?) I thought this batch cookbook was great. Look forward to cooking some weeks worth of the recipes (even without actually cooking them, the plans themselves are exiting - and realistic).

[Elyse Cronin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous! Helped me finish dental school. Too busy to cook everyday and I was tired of coming home all the time and wondering what I should eat. This takes the headache and stress out of it. Cooking and eating dinner became enjoyable!

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although this cookbook had many good ideas, I felt locked into a plan without much room for flexibility.

[Meg Dean · Rating 1 out of 5]

3 meals do not a week make!