Week in a Day by Rachael Ray

by Rachael Ray

Wondering what to make for dinner tonight—and for the rest of the week? Here’s an easy way to prepare a week’s worth of meals, for yourself or the whole family, in just one day.Relax with a tasty meal after a busy day. Enjoy your evenings around the dinner table with your friends and family. Sound too good to be true? Not if you plan your Week in a Day. Rachael Ray’s Week in a Day , the companion book to her hit cooking show of the same name, offers more than two hundred recipes that will help you prepare five nights’ worth of meals in a single day. The woman who taught America how to make a meal in 30 minutes is sharing more of her practical and easy tips that will have you eating well for days to come!Each week features its own theme, including From a Taco to Morocco, A Chicken in Every Pot, and Stew on This, allowing your taste buds to travel around the world with dishes such as Chicken and Chorizo Spanish Enchiladas, Argentine Chili with Chimichurri, and Zinfully Delicious Short Ribs.In addition, Rachael shows you how to fit all the groceries you need for three fabulous meals into a single bag with her special section, 1 Grocery Bag, 3 Meals. And you can enjoy bonus content and extra recipes for side dishes by scanning the QR codes displayed throughout. When the weekend rolls around, this book has everything you need to get ready for your Week in a Day. Come Monday night, you’ll be glad you did!

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Reference, Nonfiction, Food

Paperback

First published April 9, 2013

About the author

Rachael Domenica Ray is an American cook, television personality, businesswoman, and author. She hosted the syndicated daily talk and lifestyle program Rachael Ray. Other programs to her credit include 30 Minute Meals, Rachael Ray's Tasty Travels, $40 a Day, Rachael Ray's Week in a Day, and the reality format shows Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off and Rachael Ray's Kids Cook-Off. Ray has written several cookbooks based on the 30 Minute Meals concept, and launched a magazine, Every Day with Rachael Ray, in 2006. Ray's television shows have won three Daytime Emmy Awards.

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

So many of these recipes sounded incredibly delicious, and are what I'd choose at a restaurant - but they aren't the type of recipes I'd want to make on my own. Many of the ingredients I hadn't heard of before or didn't know how to pronounce, and couldn't even picture what they might be if there wasn't one included. I've also never seen a cookbook refer to Extra Virgin Olive Oil as EVOO, and I couldn't find an explanation anywhere in the book and had to google it. I'm sure I'm revealing just how much of a novice I am but it seems that the demographics for a book about making meals & meal planning easier might want something a little more simple. I'm sure I'm a little biased after reading a 5 ingredients or less cookbook, but the ingredient lists seemed really long for all these recipes!

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't think I was a picky eater but there wasn't a whole lot of recipes that were of my taste. :( It is a wonderful concept though and I would love to do one day of cooking for the week!

[Jene · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a fan of this cookbook. I've been focusing on meal prep and cooking as much as I can on Sunday so I thought this would be a great tool. The idea is sound but the layout is terrible. There should be a clear grocery list at the beginning of each week - so you can see how you are saving time and money. I've enjoyed her recipes but I didn't feel many of these even sounded that great - and they sounded time consuming (not something I want when I'm trying to prep/cook for a week).

[Dray · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is maybe my third Rachael Ray book and I though it to be the best yet. Although the idea of presenting a "meal plan" with foods you can make in advance is ambitious I'm not convinced it worked. None-the-less the recipes are sturdy and well put together and follow Rachael's knack for 30 minute dishes (mostly). Rachael is a competent cook and good teacher. I found some gems that add to my scope and ability.

[Jodi Geever · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rachel Ray is usually too trendy for me, but I enjoyed what she's done in this book.

There are over a year of weekly meal preps and there is a very useful 'one bag=3 meals' index. Most recipes are simple to follow and use seasonal ingredients so you won't be hunting for zucchini in December. There are also photos with the recipes and I like pictures with my cooking.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good ideas but just want simple ingredients.. unlike crab meat, etc

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great concept. Food looks good. Out of the 52 weeks, there were about 5 or so recipes I might actually make. All recipes required too many ingredients. Disappointed because I love Rachael Ray.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

My family rather enjoys my cooking, but has a few criticisms: my budget is too large and it takes too much time. I really need to learn to prepare several meals at once, ahead of time, say on the weekend before the week. This is something Rachael Ray claims not only can be done but she does for her busy life. I figured this was I book I could learn from and would become a regular cookbook.

Not so: (1) Ray provides very little guidance on how to learn to create your own plan, but forces you to rely on her guide/plan for your week; (2) her plan is for 5 meals, including the meal you are to serve on prep day, therefore - if prep day is Sunday - you are cooking Friday night; (3) I question if these recipes will provide any leftovers for lunches, though this is dependent on family size; (4) there is no nutritional information for you to incorporate recipes into another diet/plan, e.g. I have no carbohydrate information to help me planning for the diabetics in my family; and (5) there are few pictures for guidance or to tantalize you into making a recipe.

Some people may be perfectly fine with with using her plan, not wanting to plan their own (hey, we all need a break sometimes). Despite my issues, there are a lot of positives for this book: (1) her weeks are organized into themes, which can be fun and reflect a certain taste, making the selection of week much simpler; (2) while there are disagreements as to what is average, the recipes are - I feel - made with popular ingredients and a lot of repeats, which makes the recipes cheaper, easy to source, and more popular with your family; (3) the recipes are a good balance of family favourites and more interesting food; (4) recipes are fairly consistently the same number of servings for your family, to simplify planning; and (5) throughout the book, there are Q-codes to scan for a little extra information or a video with more detailed instruction if you feel the instructions are not enough.

So I am displeased as it did not meet my purposes. However, I can concede that this cookbook has the potential to help others in simplifying their cooking schedule. It is not my favourite but I am keeping it for the future - the weeks I need someone to plan it for me.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's got some great recipes, but it's not what I expected. I was looking for a way to save time by preping everything at once. I falsely assumed there would be common ingredients combined differently so that I would be able to save time making 5 somewhat related meals. This book doesn't really save time, it just tells you how to prep a week's worth of meals all at once and how to reheat everything later. So it puts all the work in one day rather than spreading it out over the week.

I'm glad I bought it, I have some great plans to use these and they will come in handy when I need to make food to take to people as the reheating instructions are provided. But I'm still looking for a book that will save me time over the week.

[Chris Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a departure from Rachael Ray, and I'll be interested to try some of these recipes. Normally, she comes up with dishes that take 30 minutes to cook. In this one, she has five dishes you cook in one day, and then store to eat later in the week. Some of these dishes may take hours of simmering time, but then they're ready for you when you've had a busy day and just don't feel like cooking. My one complaint is that many of these recipes are for soups or stews. Since I'm not a big soup fan, and stews are just chunky soups in my book, I'm not that interested in making five soups or stews to eat in a week. But I'm eager to try some of the other weeks, which I will likely do pretty soon.

[Denver Public Library · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good recipes but terribly organized... Like, what order are we supposed to start and finish these meals in. You'd think Ray would start with the one you're supposed to start with right? Yeah, no, and she switches it up and only sometimes will she tell you which one is which meal (which one you eat on cook day)... Do all of these keep for a week, do some get better with age? Terrible organization, not a good narrative. So besides missing the underlying point of her own book (e.g. cooking for a week in a day) the recipes seem tasty just poorly laid out...

Get Week in a Day from the Denver Public Library

- Emily

[Monique · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say? I love Rachael Ray. She makes cooking fun and simple. She has the ability to take one meal and rework it into something yummy and new. The section featuring one grocery bag/3 meals is ideal for the working mom on a budget. I have been able to prepare several meals that my family actually ate and enjoyed (which is difficult as they are a picky bunch). Pick this cookbook up, study it, use it and thank me later (well really you need to thank Rachael).

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don't get me wrong when you see the rating. The book is not bad, it just doesn't fit me or my family. We don't eat many of the dish ingredients (like lamb) or we already make our own versions of what is inside. If you have a smart phone, you may benefit from this as there are QR codes that "enhance" your experience.

[Sarah Schultz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I always like her recipes and many of these look good, but I was hoping for more of a "system." This is more of 5 distinct meals across a week that fit a theme, it doesn't seem like it would cut down much on volume of cooking.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the idea and many of the recipes sound good, but none of the weekly menus appeal to me as a whole. There is usually too much meat or not enough variety. I guess that's a problem when you are trying to cook everything in one day.

[Samantha Hodge · Rating 2 out of 5]

This cookbook is for people with far more time and money than I. Yowzas, one recipe had 24 ingredients. My head was swimming after reading through this one.

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite RR cookbook, most recipes required a lot of ingredients but I did add a few to my personal cookbook / pintrest page.

[Beka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of interesting twists on familiar dishes.

[Erika · Rating 3 out of 5]

I flipped through just to get some ideas because I'm in a food rut. It helped. Also, I will always be happy to see pictures of Rachael Ray.

[Christi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the idea of cooking ahead for the week.
There are just two of us so I cooked two recipes and that was enough for us for the week.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is just not my type of book, I grabbed it at the check out line at the library. Its kind of repetitive and just not interesting enough for me.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall a good cookbook. My family and I have enjoyed the recipes. That being said, it just wasn't quite the time saving cook book I envisioned.

[Lynda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not what I was expecting. Many long, complicated recipes. I passed that phase in my cooking history 25 years ago.

[Evelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great idea, I am inspired to try this method of pre-cooking weeknight meals.

[Kelley Mitchell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book, but not flavors and combinations that my family would enjoy.

[Stefanie Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

""

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah, Rachel Ray finally put in pictures!!!