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Dinner: The Playbook: A 30-Day Plan for Mastering the Art of the Family Meal
Three signs you need this book:
1) Chicken fingers qualify as adventurous. (Hey, they’re not nuggets.)
2) You live in fear of the white stuff touching the green stuff.
3) Family dinner? What’s family dinner?
When Jenny Rosenstrach’s kids were little, her dinner rotation looked like this: Pasta, Pizza, Pasta, Burgers, Pasta. It made her crazy—not only because of the relentless repetition, but because she loved to cook and missed her prekid, ketchup-free dinners. Her solution? A family adventure: She and her husband, Andy, would cook thirty new dishes in a single month . . . and her kids would try them all. Was it nuts for two working parents to take on this challenge? Yes. But did it transform family dinner from stressful grind to happy ritual? Completely. Here, Rosenstrach—creator of the beloved blog and book Dinner: A Love Story—shares her story, offering weekly meal plans, tons of organizing tips, and eighty-plus kid-vetted recipes.
Stuck in a rut? Ready to reboot dinner? This book is your secret weapon.
1) Chicken fingers qualify as adventurous. (Hey, they’re not nuggets.)
2) You live in fear of the white stuff touching the green stuff.
3) Family dinner? What’s family dinner?
When Jenny Rosenstrach’s kids were little, her dinner rotation looked like this: Pasta, Pizza, Pasta, Burgers, Pasta. It made her crazy—not only because of the relentless repetition, but because she loved to cook and missed her prekid, ketchup-free dinners. Her solution? A family adventure: She and her husband, Andy, would cook thirty new dishes in a single month . . . and her kids would try them all. Was it nuts for two working parents to take on this challenge? Yes. But did it transform family dinner from stressful grind to happy ritual? Completely. Here, Rosenstrach—creator of the beloved blog and book Dinner: A Love Story—shares her story, offering weekly meal plans, tons of organizing tips, and eighty-plus kid-vetted recipes.
Stuck in a rut? Ready to reboot dinner? This book is your secret weapon.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
131 people are currently reading
1397 people want to read
About the author
Jenny Rosenstrach
8 books103 followersJenny Rosenstrach is the creator of Dinner: A Love Story, the website devoted to family dinner, and the coauthor of Time for Dinner: Strategies, Recipes, Inspiration for Family Meals Every Night of the Week. For four years, she was the features director at Cookie magazine and special projects editor at Real Simple. Her essays and articles have appeared in numerous national publications and anthologies including Martha Stewart Living, Whole Living, and the New York Times. She is the author, with her husband, Andy Ward, of "The Providers," a column in Bon Appétit. She and her family live in Westchester County, New York.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 88 reviews
November 11, 2014
As a stay at home mom of 2 small boys, I often find that the hardest part of getting dinner on the table is not in the actual time it takes, but in the amount if effort. I would need 5 cups of coffee before I even began to think about making one of those hyper active "30 minute meals" that seem to be the norm for busy moms. I simply don't have the energy or brain power for that sort of thing at the end of the day, which is why this book is so perfect.
Jenny Rosenstrach has hit the nail on the head - easy, fast, homemade food. I must have bookmarked nearly every recipe in this book, because every one of them seemed like something I could do after a long and trying day, and that, at the very least, my husband and I would like and would be exposing my kids to something new (that didn't come frozen or in styrofoam). I've only made a few dishes thus far, but they have delivered on ease of execution and planning, and got good reviews from the family. But best of all, come 5 o'clock when I'm generally debating whether to make my planned dinner or just order in, I always followed through on making the dinner. That's a win in my book.
Jenny Rosenstrach has hit the nail on the head - easy, fast, homemade food. I must have bookmarked nearly every recipe in this book, because every one of them seemed like something I could do after a long and trying day, and that, at the very least, my husband and I would like and would be exposing my kids to something new (that didn't come frozen or in styrofoam). I've only made a few dishes thus far, but they have delivered on ease of execution and planning, and got good reviews from the family. But best of all, come 5 o'clock when I'm generally debating whether to make my planned dinner or just order in, I always followed through on making the dinner. That's a win in my book.
June 16, 2019
Dinner the playbook is full of great meal planning tips that I could actually do and has so many delicious recipes. I bought a copy after I finished it so I didn’t have to keep borrowing the library copy. This author understands my life. It’s a great compliment to Dinner: A Love Story and How to Celebrate Everything.
March 15, 2015
I got this for Xmas. I wanted a book that would help with getting dinner ready because the hour between leaving work and dinner time was starting to feel like a pressure vise. Unfortunately this book is not really helpful. I should have got one of the million 30 minutes or less cookbooks on the market. There wasn't a lot of practical advice. Instead there was a fair amount of cheerleading ("Don't be afraid of dinner!" -- I'm not afraid of dinner. "Don't be afraid of red pepper flakes!!" -- I'm not afraid of red pepper flakes). The recipes are fine, and Emmett really likes the chicken meatballs.
February 28, 2023
If you and your family find yourselves constantly eating out of a box, Dinner: The Playbook is for you. It is masterful and covers every possible question you might have about learning to eat supper together as a family. I will go so far as to say it could be life changing. Strong words, I know, but I think making dinner together, trying new and healthy foods, and eating together in the ways this book shares could completely reshape your family.
July 27, 2015
I LOVED Dinner a Love Story, so was very excited to read Jenny Rosenstrach's follow-up. This one is more instructional as she is laying out a game plan, but still in the exact same vein as Dinner a Love Story. Plus, she is laying out a game plan not to become a 5 star chef for your Wednesday night meal, but to get said meal on the table in a way that won't kill you or your family, while allowing you to be proud of the end result. Reasonable and yet a tad bit inspirational.
May 16, 2015
A great part two to her first book, even if I would have liked more stories. The recipes are delicious, but most of all, she convinced me to plan out a month's worth of dinners. Mission accomplished.
January 11, 2022
A cookbook for families who have trouble with dinnertime, either because they are prone to eat out or because their kids are especially picky. The author deals with coming up with a meal plan, easy main dishes, easy sides and longer dishes for nights when you have a little bit more time. Each recipe comes with ideas for side dishes and some hints about how you can prepare some of the steps ahead of time to make dinnertime easier.
I picked this cookbook up in a Little Free Library. Because I remember liking the author's other cookbook, Dinner a Love Story, I thought I might like this one, too. The result is that I find the cookbook to be just so-so. It may be that I'm not the target audience. This cookbook is designed for people who have kids who won't try new foods and who maybe are not cooks themselves. I cook every day (and have done so for years), so I don't need much hand-holding. And whereas my kids can be picky, by and large, they eat a pretty varied palette and will try new things (even so, they are not afraid to tell me they don't like it if that's the case). Of all of the recipes in this cookbook, I made 31. Eighteen were good, 17 were so-so and 6 were flat out bad. By and large, easily half of the good recipes accounted only for some of the side dishes. The main dishes were much more of a gamble. Sometimes I would dread using the cookbook because I would expect the recipe to be so-so or worse. Also, there were a few recipes where the cooking time was way off OR maybe called for boned chicken but by the directions it was clear it needed to be boneless (or vice versa). In those instances I was able to deal with it (especially with my trusty meat thermometer and good sense for how long things take to cook), but if I were a new or inexperienced cook, I might think it was me that made the mistake and not the cookbook. This book I will be returning to a Little Free Library. Not worth the space in my cookbook shelf.
I picked this cookbook up in a Little Free Library. Because I remember liking the author's other cookbook, Dinner a Love Story, I thought I might like this one, too. The result is that I find the cookbook to be just so-so. It may be that I'm not the target audience. This cookbook is designed for people who have kids who won't try new foods and who maybe are not cooks themselves. I cook every day (and have done so for years), so I don't need much hand-holding. And whereas my kids can be picky, by and large, they eat a pretty varied palette and will try new things (even so, they are not afraid to tell me they don't like it if that's the case). Of all of the recipes in this cookbook, I made 31. Eighteen were good, 17 were so-so and 6 were flat out bad. By and large, easily half of the good recipes accounted only for some of the side dishes. The main dishes were much more of a gamble. Sometimes I would dread using the cookbook because I would expect the recipe to be so-so or worse. Also, there were a few recipes where the cooking time was way off OR maybe called for boned chicken but by the directions it was clear it needed to be boneless (or vice versa). In those instances I was able to deal with it (especially with my trusty meat thermometer and good sense for how long things take to cook), but if I were a new or inexperienced cook, I might think it was me that made the mistake and not the cookbook. This book I will be returning to a Little Free Library. Not worth the space in my cookbook shelf.
February 8, 2015
I confess … I’m in a dinner rut.
Again.
Perhaps you are too.
Our family tends to eat the same meals, every single week. Our repertoire is some variation of Taco Night; Breakfast for Dinner; Soup and Bread (Or Sometimes Salad) Night; Pasta with Sauce; Macaroni and Cheese, and pizza on Friday nights.
Complicating matters are our various dietary requirements and picky tastes:
Me: gluten-free and pescetarian. While the rest of the family tolerates the occasional GF pasta, they really have no interest in converting.
The Husband: a vegetarian who dislikes (but tolerates in small quantities) vegetables, beans, greens, and some fish. If such a thing as a pasta-tarian exists (i.e., a diet that consists mostly of pasta, cheese, and tomato sauce), that’s him.
The Boy: total carnivore. The more meat on his plate, the better. He’s the one ordering the Meat-Lovers Everything whenever we go out to dinner. Steaks, burgers, chicken – he loves it all.
The Girl: eats white meat and fish, but is strongly leaning towards being a pescetarian, too.
So, yeah, cooking for our crew is no small feat.
I try, though, and generally I succeed. It usually involves a meal with at least one variation. I often say I am going to make more dinners in advance and to plan ahead better. Doing so would help the increasing frustration I feel when it comes to dinnertime.
Which is why I was curious about Dinner: The Playbook: A 30-Day Plan for Mastering the Art of the Family Meal, by Jenny Rosenstrach.
Rosenstrach, who blogs at Dinner: A Love Story and who has recorded in a Dinner Diary every dinner she has cooked since February 22, 1998, was in a similar dinner rut nearly ten years ago.
“Even though we had built a pretty solid archive of dinners as (childless) kitchen enthusiasts, it suddenly seemed as if all those years had been for naught. Where we’d once approach dinner by asking, ‘What are we in the mood for tonight?’ (or, even more luxuriously, ‘What’s good at the market today?’) now it was, ‘What can we make for the girls tonight that won’t ignite a revolt?'” (pg. xv)
“If you took one look at my dinner diary during that long stretch in 2006, you would notice a lot of one-word meal descriptions:
Cutlets, BURGERS, Pizza
Then the week following:
Cutlets, BURGERS, Pizza
Then …….. BURGERS, Cutlets, Cutlets
Then …….. Pizza, Pizza, BURGERS
Then …….. BURGERS, BURGERS, Cutlets.”
Reading this, I suddenly didn’t feel so bad about my family’s lineup. We’re practically culinary connoisseurs!
Rosenstrach set out on a mission to make 30 new dinners in one month. Most of these included familiar ingredients that her family enjoyed, but there were new elements as well. The project was, obviously, successful – hence, the blog and the books. She also implemented several strategies, which I was interested in – because, frankly, I’ve read a lot of these types of cookbooks and after awhile, they do tend to give the same “tips” and “hints.”
That said, I’m a firm believer that what works for one family is not going to work for another. For example, there’s no way in hell that the four of us are doing the grocery shopping TOGETHER. (Rule #4 in The Playbook.) You want to talk recipe for disaster? Grocery Shopping As a Family means end times for us. We had to do it for a month out of necessity – when I was recuperating from gall bladder surgery last year – and if we have to do so again, I’m convinced my family will not eat.
What I can do is “gather my recipes” (also known as Step 3 in the book, selecting 30 recipes for my family to try within a month). Out of all the cookbooks I have and all the newspaper and magazine clippings, there’s plenty to pick from – even with our four respective food peculiarities. The caveat for our family is that there will have to be some predictability in there; this can’t be a month of surprises. And again, like the grocery shopping, I’m flyin’ solo. The Husband and I delegated the food preparation and all things thereof to me when we got married nearly 22 years ago and nobody’s interested in changing things up now. (And yes, I’ve tried to enlist the kids’ participation in selecting menus, in shopping, in cooking. They don’t give a damn. They just want to eat.)
Speaking of the kids, what I have tried with resounding success is Rule #6 “Memorize the Phrase ‘I Don’t Know Yet.'”
“You know how your kids are hardwired to ask you what’s for dinner every night? It seems like an innocent question, but trust me, it has the potential to make or break your entire evening. If you tell them what you are cooking, and if what you are cooking sounds remotely weird (and anything brand new is bound to), then your kid has a good thirty to sixty minutes to ruminate about how weird it truly is. A good thirty to sixty minutes to figure out a way to complain and beg for pizza. A good thirty to sixty minutes to start dreading his dinner instead of looking forward to it.
“That’s why a key strategy in your playbook is the “I Don’t Know Yet” move.”
Now this – THIS is brilliant. This seems to be having some limited success in our house. I’m going to continue this practice, for sure. Other tips I’m planning to try: assembling the non-perishable ingredients on the counter before leaving for work, prepping for the week on the weekend (I always say I’m going to do this, but don’t), and a “kitchen dump” (i.e., looking through what’s left of the produce and vegetables at week’s end to see what can be pureed, frozen, added to soups, etc.)
Rosenstrach provides her reader with several meal plans (My Idea of a Perfect Week; Flexitarian; Winter Warm-Your-Bones; Family Faves) as well as two recipe collections (Go To Weeknight Meals and Keep the Spark Alive Dinners). These aren’t meant to add to our already-existing to-try recipes, but rather to provide inspiration. Most of them won’t work for our family, but there are a few that will.
As I said, that’s how I approach most cookbooks. I think the key is about flexibility and making dinnertime work in a way that’s enjoyable and easy for you. Getting there takes some practice and some planning. Dinner: The Playbook offers practical advice with a side of humor that makes you feel that indeed, the daily family dinner challenge can be something even the most frustrated of cooks can (most days) count as a win.
Again.
Perhaps you are too.
Our family tends to eat the same meals, every single week. Our repertoire is some variation of Taco Night; Breakfast for Dinner; Soup and Bread (Or Sometimes Salad) Night; Pasta with Sauce; Macaroni and Cheese, and pizza on Friday nights.
Complicating matters are our various dietary requirements and picky tastes:
Me: gluten-free and pescetarian. While the rest of the family tolerates the occasional GF pasta, they really have no interest in converting.
The Husband: a vegetarian who dislikes (but tolerates in small quantities) vegetables, beans, greens, and some fish. If such a thing as a pasta-tarian exists (i.e., a diet that consists mostly of pasta, cheese, and tomato sauce), that’s him.
The Boy: total carnivore. The more meat on his plate, the better. He’s the one ordering the Meat-Lovers Everything whenever we go out to dinner. Steaks, burgers, chicken – he loves it all.
The Girl: eats white meat and fish, but is strongly leaning towards being a pescetarian, too.
So, yeah, cooking for our crew is no small feat.
I try, though, and generally I succeed. It usually involves a meal with at least one variation. I often say I am going to make more dinners in advance and to plan ahead better. Doing so would help the increasing frustration I feel when it comes to dinnertime.
Which is why I was curious about Dinner: The Playbook: A 30-Day Plan for Mastering the Art of the Family Meal, by Jenny Rosenstrach.
Rosenstrach, who blogs at Dinner: A Love Story and who has recorded in a Dinner Diary every dinner she has cooked since February 22, 1998, was in a similar dinner rut nearly ten years ago.
“Even though we had built a pretty solid archive of dinners as (childless) kitchen enthusiasts, it suddenly seemed as if all those years had been for naught. Where we’d once approach dinner by asking, ‘What are we in the mood for tonight?’ (or, even more luxuriously, ‘What’s good at the market today?’) now it was, ‘What can we make for the girls tonight that won’t ignite a revolt?'” (pg. xv)
“If you took one look at my dinner diary during that long stretch in 2006, you would notice a lot of one-word meal descriptions:
Cutlets, BURGERS, Pizza
Then the week following:
Cutlets, BURGERS, Pizza
Then …….. BURGERS, Cutlets, Cutlets
Then …….. Pizza, Pizza, BURGERS
Then …….. BURGERS, BURGERS, Cutlets.”
Reading this, I suddenly didn’t feel so bad about my family’s lineup. We’re practically culinary connoisseurs!
Rosenstrach set out on a mission to make 30 new dinners in one month. Most of these included familiar ingredients that her family enjoyed, but there were new elements as well. The project was, obviously, successful – hence, the blog and the books. She also implemented several strategies, which I was interested in – because, frankly, I’ve read a lot of these types of cookbooks and after awhile, they do tend to give the same “tips” and “hints.”
That said, I’m a firm believer that what works for one family is not going to work for another. For example, there’s no way in hell that the four of us are doing the grocery shopping TOGETHER. (Rule #4 in The Playbook.) You want to talk recipe for disaster? Grocery Shopping As a Family means end times for us. We had to do it for a month out of necessity – when I was recuperating from gall bladder surgery last year – and if we have to do so again, I’m convinced my family will not eat.
What I can do is “gather my recipes” (also known as Step 3 in the book, selecting 30 recipes for my family to try within a month). Out of all the cookbooks I have and all the newspaper and magazine clippings, there’s plenty to pick from – even with our four respective food peculiarities. The caveat for our family is that there will have to be some predictability in there; this can’t be a month of surprises. And again, like the grocery shopping, I’m flyin’ solo. The Husband and I delegated the food preparation and all things thereof to me when we got married nearly 22 years ago and nobody’s interested in changing things up now. (And yes, I’ve tried to enlist the kids’ participation in selecting menus, in shopping, in cooking. They don’t give a damn. They just want to eat.)
Speaking of the kids, what I have tried with resounding success is Rule #6 “Memorize the Phrase ‘I Don’t Know Yet.'”
“You know how your kids are hardwired to ask you what’s for dinner every night? It seems like an innocent question, but trust me, it has the potential to make or break your entire evening. If you tell them what you are cooking, and if what you are cooking sounds remotely weird (and anything brand new is bound to), then your kid has a good thirty to sixty minutes to ruminate about how weird it truly is. A good thirty to sixty minutes to figure out a way to complain and beg for pizza. A good thirty to sixty minutes to start dreading his dinner instead of looking forward to it.
“That’s why a key strategy in your playbook is the “I Don’t Know Yet” move.”
Now this – THIS is brilliant. This seems to be having some limited success in our house. I’m going to continue this practice, for sure. Other tips I’m planning to try: assembling the non-perishable ingredients on the counter before leaving for work, prepping for the week on the weekend (I always say I’m going to do this, but don’t), and a “kitchen dump” (i.e., looking through what’s left of the produce and vegetables at week’s end to see what can be pureed, frozen, added to soups, etc.)
Rosenstrach provides her reader with several meal plans (My Idea of a Perfect Week; Flexitarian; Winter Warm-Your-Bones; Family Faves) as well as two recipe collections (Go To Weeknight Meals and Keep the Spark Alive Dinners). These aren’t meant to add to our already-existing to-try recipes, but rather to provide inspiration. Most of them won’t work for our family, but there are a few that will.
As I said, that’s how I approach most cookbooks. I think the key is about flexibility and making dinnertime work in a way that’s enjoyable and easy for you. Getting there takes some practice and some planning. Dinner: The Playbook offers practical advice with a side of humor that makes you feel that indeed, the daily family dinner challenge can be something even the most frustrated of cooks can (most days) count as a win.
December 26, 2019
To be fair, I'm not the intended audience for this cookbook; it's geared towards parents who need to feed picky kids and who may not be that confident in the kitchen. As a child-free adult who's working on a rotating meal plan to get me out of my dinner rut, I was hoping it could help me out anyway.
That seemed like a safe enough bet given that the first 60+ pages are tips for shopping, meal planning, and prep, and the recipes often include suggested sides and make-ahead components. Unfortunately a lot of this extended introduction is basic, repetitive, or just encouraging fluff. The recipes themselves look fairly good for the most part and aren't too fussy. And pretty much all these ingredients are accessible to anyone with a higher-end grocery store, though home cooks who shop at a place that mostly stocks the basics may need to make a few adjustments.
Dinner: The Playbook could come in handy if your family fits its profile, but I won't be buying my own copy after dropping it back off at the library.
Edit: After coming back to this cookbook to try a few recipes, I decided to knock a star off my original rating. The food turned out decent enough, but the recipes don't include servings, which is a pretty basic cookbook requirement. Nobody should have to remember how big the author's family is or flip through the whole thing to find a recipe that divides into filets or patties or whatever just so they can make a more informed guess about whether the soup they were eyeing is portioned for four or six people. It's another thing that confirms my impression that this book will be mostly helpful for one type of very specific family.
That kind of omission also makes me a little leery of trusting the times, temps, and other little details in the recipes.
That seemed like a safe enough bet given that the first 60+ pages are tips for shopping, meal planning, and prep, and the recipes often include suggested sides and make-ahead components. Unfortunately a lot of this extended introduction is basic, repetitive, or just encouraging fluff. The recipes themselves look fairly good for the most part and aren't too fussy. And pretty much all these ingredients are accessible to anyone with a higher-end grocery store, though home cooks who shop at a place that mostly stocks the basics may need to make a few adjustments.
Dinner: The Playbook could come in handy if your family fits its profile, but I won't be buying my own copy after dropping it back off at the library.
Edit: After coming back to this cookbook to try a few recipes, I decided to knock a star off my original rating. The food turned out decent enough, but the recipes don't include servings, which is a pretty basic cookbook requirement. Nobody should have to remember how big the author's family is or flip through the whole thing to find a recipe that divides into filets or patties or whatever just so they can make a more informed guess about whether the soup they were eyeing is portioned for four or six people. It's another thing that confirms my impression that this book will be mostly helpful for one type of very specific family.
That kind of omission also makes me a little leery of trusting the times, temps, and other little details in the recipes.
January 18, 2018
Right advice, wrong time. We are forever trying to find a way to make meal planning work for us rather than against. I've tried dedicating Sunday to making my breakfasts/lunches but that time seems so much better spent on dinners for all of us, now that the little one is finally an eater. There's a paragraph that references the craziness of two toddlers 20 months apart. Ours are 22 and it resonated so strongly with me. This time is impossible for anything other than survival and frankly I didn't feel like I was even doing that this week. I am mentally filing this one away for the future, even though the book explicitly says to just go for it since there's never a right time. I liked how she approaches using odd and end leftovers, but a lot of the suggested recipes need some thinking over with our slew of food allergies.
August 12, 2020
Some good ideas in here: the advance meal planning, to prep ingredients in advance, the need for simple and quick suppers. I like her writing. My main gripe is: Sample menus are >90% meat based. Would be great to put out an updated edition that is plant based with way less meat and not just tofu as the meat alternative. Not easy but it would be nice. I’m aware I live in an LA Dietitian bubble but I don’t know anyone that cooks special meals of beef and pork anymore- that is a dated concept that needs to go away. I am going to try her adobo pork tacos with jackfruit instead. We are trying out her recipes all week, the kids got to choose. Should be fun.
May 8, 2021
A good part of this book is geared towards parents with picky eaters and I skipped all that. But a lot of it is also about setting yourself up for success and completely avoiding the kind of decision fatigue that happens when you don't have a dinner plan and there's nothing immediately edible in the fridge and goddamnit you deserve takeout again.... by planning and prepping. Not exactly ground breaking ideas but laid out in a way that was really relatable and practical for where I'm at right now.
February 4, 2017
While having a 30 day meal plan and going shopping for groceries once a week are excellent tips, the tips were too basic for this seasoned cook. Also the recipes are more for New Yorkers, than Midwest meat and potatoes family. Some comments, were intriguing "Brussel sprouts not being readily available in the 1980s." My mom cooked them in the 1960s and beyond. Most people boiled them instead of steaming them or roasting them in the oven, so the brussel sprouts were mushy and kids hated them.
December 4, 2018
An intriguing premise -- jump-starting your family's cook-your-own-dinner habit with some tailored recipes and a collaborative and adventurous spirit. But, I'll have to cook some of this to be able to tell if it's really worth the read -- which won't happen for a bit. Will probably have to re-read this one in 2019; I know Rosenstrach says "there's no perfect month!" but I'm pretty sure the holidays are a tough sell.
September 24, 2022
This concept worked for me and my family of six. I did not do 30 days of new meals, but since being inspired by her ideas, I present 1-2 new things to my family per week and trying new foods is a normal activity now. My kids (age 7 and under) are ten times more likely to try something new and like it. I also saved a few of these recipes and my family loves them, especially the chicken parmesan meatballs!
February 12, 2020
I already have my basic system of shopping and meal planning, but this book offers inspiration for simple weekday family meals. It’s hard to find practical meals that are also delicious and creative. I love the ideas! She gets too wordy at times so I had to cut through all the chatter, but it’s worth the read.
August 5, 2017
I love her recipes. They are the right combination of accessible and delicious for my life right now. And her writing just makes it all better. She has made me crave "the narrative arc of family dinner".
May 11, 2019
Don’t have picky eaters at my house but saw this at the library and thought it looked interesting - I loved it and will be adding it to my collection - the recipes looked yummy yet realistic for families with young kids who loose their mind when it is time to fix dinner 😉
November 19, 2024
I don't think I have it in me to follow the full 30-day plan (and I don't see my kids giving up nuggets and mac&cheese), but I did appreciate how these recipes were formatted and I enjoyed the author's family stories.
March 14, 2017
Not great so glad I didn't buy it. No ideas I can really use in my house
February 26, 2018
A good take on the subject, but being a vegetarian, it wasn't what I was looking for.
August 28, 2018
Easy to read and follow guidelines for busy parents.
May 13, 2020
Brilliant. Easily one of my favourite cookbooks ever
June 14, 2021
Wasn’t really sure what I would learn(as I have been cooking forever) but so many tips and suggestions! I have new ideas as well as some easy to make recipes! All good! Glad I bought this book.
June 7, 2022
Practical advice (you just need to feed the kids, not present to the king) and useful recipes. Plenty of variety.
November 12, 2024
Solid weeknight dinner cookbook - aimed at those with kids. Great advice on how to handle leftovers and post grocery shopping prep for the week.
September 8, 2025
Some helpful tidbits, but overall nothing revolutionary
January 8, 2017
Definitely written for families with young children. Although not a part of the target audience, I still thought the author had some good ideas for meal prep and planning; the recipes were okay, and I liked the separate sides section. Easy to read, but nothing that hasn't been done before: two-and-a-half stars.
March 4, 2017
Excited to try a 30 day plan!
January 12, 2015
This little cookbook could have been more aggravating. I know this. Cookbooks that try to help you reorganize your cooking and eating life - particularly when kids are involved - can occasionally be a bit too preachy. A bit too in your face about telling you that you could be doing a better job of feeding your family. I think that it's hard not to be sensitive about the feelings that surround cooking for a family so an author/author team needs to tread softly on the whole renovating your cooking. Jenny Rosentrach does a nice job of this and provides a good variety of ways that you can incorporate her ideas into your life.
The 30-Day Plan is appealing and could be a nice way to overhaul the way you cook, shop and feed your kids and partner, but even if you don't approach it exactly as she describes I think it is possible to incorporate some of her ideas into your own weekly planning. Or not planning. You could just flip through the book and find a nice recipe (with a good colour photograph and reasonable suggestions for side dishes) that you can pull together for your evening meal.
As I said this book could have been more aggravating. I was slightly aggravated by the book but not because of the content. I was aggravated by the physical feel of the book and the way that her text was formatted. I know that this seems overly critical but a cookbook has to feel good and be easy to hold/use if I'm going to keep it around and enjoy it for years. The author chose to use a format that makes her own text look like it has some editing marks and little doodles for emphasis and I don't love this. Also, there are different paper weights for the sections of the book and I found this made the pages fall open when I didn't want them to. Maybe this is a cookbook I would have loved as an e-book option?
I think I would give it a 4 star review for the recipe content but the overall feel of the book was frustrating to me.
The 30-Day Plan is appealing and could be a nice way to overhaul the way you cook, shop and feed your kids and partner, but even if you don't approach it exactly as she describes I think it is possible to incorporate some of her ideas into your own weekly planning. Or not planning. You could just flip through the book and find a nice recipe (with a good colour photograph and reasonable suggestions for side dishes) that you can pull together for your evening meal.
As I said this book could have been more aggravating. I was slightly aggravated by the book but not because of the content. I was aggravated by the physical feel of the book and the way that her text was formatted. I know that this seems overly critical but a cookbook has to feel good and be easy to hold/use if I'm going to keep it around and enjoy it for years. The author chose to use a format that makes her own text look like it has some editing marks and little doodles for emphasis and I don't love this. Also, there are different paper weights for the sections of the book and I found this made the pages fall open when I didn't want them to. Maybe this is a cookbook I would have loved as an e-book option?
I think I would give it a 4 star review for the recipe content but the overall feel of the book was frustrating to me.
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