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Fix, Freeze, Feast: Prepare in Bulk and Enjoy by the Serving - More than 125 Recipes
Save time, money, and stress while serving up healthy delicious food your whole family will love. Kati Neville and Lindsay Tkacsik show you how to buy groceries in bulk, prepare easy dishes, package them in meal-sized bags, and then stock the freezer with ready-to-defrost-and-serve homemade meals. With 125 recipes that include main courses, sides, desserts, and more, Fix, Freeze, Feast is the perfect cookbook for budget-conscious shoppers, warehouse club members, and anyone who wants to put great meals on the table with less effort and expense.
250 pages, Hardcover
First published November 7, 2007
163 people are currently reading
697 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 133 reviews
January 22, 2018
This is the second edition of a cookbook originally published almost ten years ago.
The cookbook is well organized. Entrees are sorted by meat. I love that the authors previously owned meal preparation businesses and that the recipes were designed for the average cook and have been made countless times by a wide variety of folks.
Now, I don’t think meals that are nothing more than a marinade over a meat have a place in a cookbook like this. I routinely serve marinated meats for dinner and it only takes 5 minutes to throw a marinade together in the morning to serve that evening. Ditto with the Berry Roasted Chicken, which is a great recipe but only takes a few minutes to make. To be fair, these recipes are good. It’s just that I wouldn’t go through the trouble of freezing it and thawing it out. Just remember to divide the marinade ingredients by the appropriate number if you’re just making one recipe on the day you plan to serve.
A nice touch is providing sample labels in the appendix to be copied and giving a website for downloading labels that work on Avery stickers (even telling you which stickers the labels work with). Another nice touch is showing which recipes can be cooked directly from frozen without the need to thaw. In fact, there are lots of helpful hints, like how to best transfer a sauce to a freezer bag.
Recipes are well laid out. They show a section for ingredients, packaging requirements, preparation to freeze and preparation to cook. Some recipes tell you alternative ways to use a prior recipe so that boredom doesn’t set in.
While some recipes are obviously kid friendly, I appreciated that several were designed more for adult tastes. Also, these aren’t necessary budget conscious meals. There are ingredients that might be considered costly (dried mangoes, various liquors and wild rice). Now, I like that because I’m more concerned with good taste than cost, but it depends on what you want out of this book. There’s also a nice variety of different cuisines, including Indian, Chinese and Tex-Mex.
The authors also offer some things I would have never thought of freezing, but appreciated, like flavored butters or homemade granola. Flip side, I was dumbfounded by the idea of freezing snack mix or smoothies.
Here’s a sample of the recipes I tried and liked: Pepper Jelly Pork Chops, Maple Marinade (the book recommends for vegetables but I tried on turkey tenderloins), Farmers Market Soup and Molasses Rum Chicken.
My thanks to netgalley and Storey Publishing for an advance copy of this book.
The cookbook is well organized. Entrees are sorted by meat. I love that the authors previously owned meal preparation businesses and that the recipes were designed for the average cook and have been made countless times by a wide variety of folks.
Now, I don’t think meals that are nothing more than a marinade over a meat have a place in a cookbook like this. I routinely serve marinated meats for dinner and it only takes 5 minutes to throw a marinade together in the morning to serve that evening. Ditto with the Berry Roasted Chicken, which is a great recipe but only takes a few minutes to make. To be fair, these recipes are good. It’s just that I wouldn’t go through the trouble of freezing it and thawing it out. Just remember to divide the marinade ingredients by the appropriate number if you’re just making one recipe on the day you plan to serve.
A nice touch is providing sample labels in the appendix to be copied and giving a website for downloading labels that work on Avery stickers (even telling you which stickers the labels work with). Another nice touch is showing which recipes can be cooked directly from frozen without the need to thaw. In fact, there are lots of helpful hints, like how to best transfer a sauce to a freezer bag.
Recipes are well laid out. They show a section for ingredients, packaging requirements, preparation to freeze and preparation to cook. Some recipes tell you alternative ways to use a prior recipe so that boredom doesn’t set in.
While some recipes are obviously kid friendly, I appreciated that several were designed more for adult tastes. Also, these aren’t necessary budget conscious meals. There are ingredients that might be considered costly (dried mangoes, various liquors and wild rice). Now, I like that because I’m more concerned with good taste than cost, but it depends on what you want out of this book. There’s also a nice variety of different cuisines, including Indian, Chinese and Tex-Mex.
The authors also offer some things I would have never thought of freezing, but appreciated, like flavored butters or homemade granola. Flip side, I was dumbfounded by the idea of freezing snack mix or smoothies.
Here’s a sample of the recipes I tried and liked: Pepper Jelly Pork Chops, Maple Marinade (the book recommends for vegetables but I tried on turkey tenderloins), Farmers Market Soup and Molasses Rum Chicken.
My thanks to netgalley and Storey Publishing for an advance copy of this book.
November 6, 2017
I received a free electronic copy of Fix, Freeze, Feast, 2nd Edition by Kati Neville for my honest review. This is a great cookbook. It is a must have for anyone who wants to save money and can buy in bulk. The recipes are simple and the pictures are great. This cookbook was very well done and would benefit anyone who has a family or just wants to be more organized with meals and a busy life. A well put together cookbook.
Want to read
November 28, 2017I have not read the first edition of Fix, Freeze, Feast, but I would like to now. I am a food prep fiend. I love nothing more than having most of our week's meals planned and made on a Saturday, leaving me with healthy meals at my fingertips and a few "ahhh, I already know what we are having for dinner" moments because dinner is done.
My only dilemma is that we end up wasting food. I double or triple recipes and freeze the leftovers, but we don't always eat all of what we have frozen. I LOVE that this book does all the math for you. The recipes are planned out for you to make a large amount and freeze. It also has complete instructions on how to prepare the meal after freezing. Not only that, but the book is full of cooking tips, especially as it pertains to freezing meals.
I'm a vegetarian, but for meat eaters, there are chapters on beef, chicken, and pork recipes, as well as seafood. I found plenty of recipes I would love to try from the vegetables section. Lots of soups, frittatas, stratas, and more. I plan to update my review once I have tried a few recipes.
Thank you to Kati Neville and Lindsay Athens for all their hard work in producing this cookbook. I hope they will make another. Thanks also to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book.
My only dilemma is that we end up wasting food. I double or triple recipes and freeze the leftovers, but we don't always eat all of what we have frozen. I LOVE that this book does all the math for you. The recipes are planned out for you to make a large amount and freeze. It also has complete instructions on how to prepare the meal after freezing. Not only that, but the book is full of cooking tips, especially as it pertains to freezing meals.
I'm a vegetarian, but for meat eaters, there are chapters on beef, chicken, and pork recipes, as well as seafood. I found plenty of recipes I would love to try from the vegetables section. Lots of soups, frittatas, stratas, and more. I plan to update my review once I have tried a few recipes.
Thank you to Kati Neville and Lindsay Athens for all their hard work in producing this cookbook. I hope they will make another. Thanks also to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book.
January 22, 2018
This is the second edition of a cookbook originally published almost ten years ago.
The cookbook is well organized. Entrees are sorted by meat. I love that the authors previously owned meal preparation businesses and that the recipes were designed for the average cook and have been made countless times by a wide variety of folks.
Now, I don’t think meals that are nothing more than a marinade over a meat have a place in a cookbook like this. I routinely serve marinated meats for dinner and it only takes 5 minutes to throw a marinade together in the morning to serve that evening. Ditto with the Berry Roasted Chicken, which is a great recipe but only takes a few minutes to make. To be fair, these recipes are good. It’s just that I wouldn’t go through the trouble of freezing it and thawing it out. Just remember to divide the marinade ingredients by the appropriate number if you’re just making one recipe on the day you plan to serve.
A nice touch is providing sample labels in the appendix to be copied and giving a website for downloading labels that work on Avery stickers (even telling you which stickers the labels work with). Another nice touch is showing which recipes can be cooked directly from frozen without the need to thaw. In fact, there are lots of helpful hints, like how to best transfer a sauce to a freezer bag.
Recipes are well laid out. They show a section for ingredients, packaging requirements, preparation to freeze and preparation to cook. Some recipes tell you alternative ways to use a prior recipe so that boredom doesn’t set in.
While some recipes are obviously kid friendly, I appreciated that several were designed more for adult tastes. Also, these aren’t necessary budget conscious meals. There are ingredients that might be considered costly (dried mangoes, various liquors and wild rice). Now, I like that because I’m more concerned with good taste than cost, but it depends on what you want out of this book. There’s also a nice variety of different cuisines, including Indian, Chinese and Tex-Mex.
The authors also offer some things I would have never thought of freezing, but appreciated, like flavored butters or homemade granola. Flip side, I was dumbfounded by the idea of freezing snack mix or smoothies.
Here’s a sample of the recipes I tried and liked: Pepper Jelly Pork Chops, Maple Marinade (the book recommends for vegetables but I tried on turkey tenderloins), Farmers Market Soup and Molasses Rum Chicken.
My thanks to netgalley and Storey Publishing for an advance copy of this book.
The cookbook is well organized. Entrees are sorted by meat. I love that the authors previously owned meal preparation businesses and that the recipes were designed for the average cook and have been made countless times by a wide variety of folks.
Now, I don’t think meals that are nothing more than a marinade over a meat have a place in a cookbook like this. I routinely serve marinated meats for dinner and it only takes 5 minutes to throw a marinade together in the morning to serve that evening. Ditto with the Berry Roasted Chicken, which is a great recipe but only takes a few minutes to make. To be fair, these recipes are good. It’s just that I wouldn’t go through the trouble of freezing it and thawing it out. Just remember to divide the marinade ingredients by the appropriate number if you’re just making one recipe on the day you plan to serve.
A nice touch is providing sample labels in the appendix to be copied and giving a website for downloading labels that work on Avery stickers (even telling you which stickers the labels work with). Another nice touch is showing which recipes can be cooked directly from frozen without the need to thaw. In fact, there are lots of helpful hints, like how to best transfer a sauce to a freezer bag.
Recipes are well laid out. They show a section for ingredients, packaging requirements, preparation to freeze and preparation to cook. Some recipes tell you alternative ways to use a prior recipe so that boredom doesn’t set in.
While some recipes are obviously kid friendly, I appreciated that several were designed more for adult tastes. Also, these aren’t necessary budget conscious meals. There are ingredients that might be considered costly (dried mangoes, various liquors and wild rice). Now, I like that because I’m more concerned with good taste than cost, but it depends on what you want out of this book. There’s also a nice variety of different cuisines, including Indian, Chinese and Tex-Mex.
The authors also offer some things I would have never thought of freezing, but appreciated, like flavored butters or homemade granola. Flip side, I was dumbfounded by the idea of freezing snack mix or smoothies.
Here’s a sample of the recipes I tried and liked: Pepper Jelly Pork Chops, Maple Marinade (the book recommends for vegetables but I tried on turkey tenderloins), Farmers Market Soup and Molasses Rum Chicken.
My thanks to netgalley and Storey Publishing for an advance copy of this book.
April 18, 2018
The title pretty much speaks for itself. This book is full of recipes that can be made in bulk and frozen for a later date. We're such fussy eaters in our house so it's rare I find much in cookbooks that suit my needs but I think there's a good 70% of recipes in here I'd like to try which for me and my family is a huge number.
There's some beautiful food photos in here. It covers all meats and some veggie meals. I would have liked to have seen more fish meals but there are one or two. The recipes look simple enough to make. An excellent book.
There's some beautiful food photos in here. It covers all meats and some veggie meals. I would have liked to have seen more fish meals but there are one or two. The recipes look simple enough to make. An excellent book.
June 1, 2008
Fix, Freeze, Feast is just about the most awesome "bulk buy, prep, and freeze" type cookbook out there. We (well, A.) looked at several cookbooks in this category before ultimately settling on this one. Whereas most of the others use a great many processed ingredients (think "Cheez-Whiz"), this one uses fresh ingredients more/less exclusively. It has a great introductory section that talks about warehouse shopping (think: "CostCo") and how to buy bulk quantities intelligently to minimize waste while maximizing the variety of meals.
Curiously good:
» I've never seen a binding like this before but it makes sense on a cookbook (heavy, utility-grade cardboard covers)
» the pages are nice and smooth and look like you could wipe them off pretty easily if you needed to
» there is an appendix that includes some thawing/cooking labels that you can photocopy and place into the freezer bags to help keep things straight
Why only ★★★★☆ (4 of 5):
» most meals are pretty meat-heavy; we're not exclusively vegetarians but it would have been nice to have a few more meatless recipes (or recipes that included more than meats and cheeses)
» no pictures (I feel like there should be a law requiring pictures in cookbooks)
» the chapter on "sides" is shared with the few vegetarian recipes ... and also the soups; could have used some more recipes for side dishes
» the font size for the actual recipes could have been about 2 pt. larger...
That said: heartily recommended to anyone planning on prepping some freezer meals.
UPDATE: Also, don't let the book patronize you. There's a passage in there somewhere that talks about "if the recipe calls for 1.5 lbs. and your CostCo purchased package of meat contains 4.5 lbs. and you want to use up all the meat for this dish then you'll want to multiply all the other ingredients by 3..." Yikes! Thanks for the algebra lesson?
Curiously good:
» I've never seen a binding like this before but it makes sense on a cookbook (heavy, utility-grade cardboard covers)
» the pages are nice and smooth and look like you could wipe them off pretty easily if you needed to
» there is an appendix that includes some thawing/cooking labels that you can photocopy and place into the freezer bags to help keep things straight
Why only ★★★★☆ (4 of 5):
» most meals are pretty meat-heavy; we're not exclusively vegetarians but it would have been nice to have a few more meatless recipes (or recipes that included more than meats and cheeses)
» no pictures (I feel like there should be a law requiring pictures in cookbooks)
» the chapter on "sides" is shared with the few vegetarian recipes ... and also the soups; could have used some more recipes for side dishes
» the font size for the actual recipes could have been about 2 pt. larger...
That said: heartily recommended to anyone planning on prepping some freezer meals.
UPDATE: Also, don't let the book patronize you. There's a passage in there somewhere that talks about "if the recipe calls for 1.5 lbs. and your CostCo purchased package of meat contains 4.5 lbs. and you want to use up all the meat for this dish then you'll want to multiply all the other ingredients by 3..." Yikes! Thanks for the algebra lesson?
June 25, 2018
FIX FREEZE FEAST starts off with the following two chapters. The Beauty of Make Ahead Meals, and About Our Fix and Freeze Recipes. These chapters give readers valuable information on the ins and outs of freezing food. What will and won’t, how you should and shouldn’t. I never realized just how much can be frozen, and I learned some things how to freeze food properly.
Following those helpful chapter, the book moves on to recipes. So many recipes. Over 35 chicken recipes, over 20 for beef, over 20 pork! You’ll all find recipes for Veggies, soup, Sauces, Marinades, Flavored Butters, Breakfast, Snacks, and Sweets. Just a few of the recipes you’ll find are . . . Mango-Cranberry Chicken, Sun-Dried Pesto Chicken, Cashew Chicken Stir-Fry, Tuscan Meatloaf, Mozzarella Meatballs, 4 Bs Flank Steak, Pepper Jelly Pork Chops, Pork Stew, Asparagus and Potato Frittata, Wild Rice and Nut Bake, Seafood Creole, Maple Marinade, Basic Red Sauce, Walnut-Pesto Butter, Very Vanilla Snickerdoodles, and lots more!
There are mouth-watering recipes for just about every taste, that are in varying degrees difficulty. While not for each recipe, there are beautiful colored photos throughout FIX FREEZE FEAST that serve to temp you with the dishes they show.
Rather you want to learn more about freezing your food, looking for new recipes, or want to add a new tome to your cookbook collection, I think you’ll be pleased with FIX FREEZE FEAST.
Following those helpful chapter, the book moves on to recipes. So many recipes. Over 35 chicken recipes, over 20 for beef, over 20 pork! You’ll all find recipes for Veggies, soup, Sauces, Marinades, Flavored Butters, Breakfast, Snacks, and Sweets. Just a few of the recipes you’ll find are . . . Mango-Cranberry Chicken, Sun-Dried Pesto Chicken, Cashew Chicken Stir-Fry, Tuscan Meatloaf, Mozzarella Meatballs, 4 Bs Flank Steak, Pepper Jelly Pork Chops, Pork Stew, Asparagus and Potato Frittata, Wild Rice and Nut Bake, Seafood Creole, Maple Marinade, Basic Red Sauce, Walnut-Pesto Butter, Very Vanilla Snickerdoodles, and lots more!
There are mouth-watering recipes for just about every taste, that are in varying degrees difficulty. While not for each recipe, there are beautiful colored photos throughout FIX FREEZE FEAST that serve to temp you with the dishes they show.
Rather you want to learn more about freezing your food, looking for new recipes, or want to add a new tome to your cookbook collection, I think you’ll be pleased with FIX FREEZE FEAST.
March 28, 2021
I absolutely love this cookbook.
It offers terrific meal options for busy people by prepping several meals at once and freezing them until needed.
This cookbook needs to be on the shelf of every busy parent.
5 OUT OF 5 STARS ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
It offers terrific meal options for busy people by prepping several meals at once and freezing them until needed.
This cookbook needs to be on the shelf of every busy parent.
5 OUT OF 5 STARS ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
June 7, 2018
When the first recipe in this book called for ingredients I never keep on hand I was concerned, but after that beginning, most of the recipes called for only basic ingredients I usually have on hand. I especially appreciated that nearly every spice mix called for had an optional recipe for blending it yourself from individual spices, which I'm much more likely to have around than specific spice mixes.
Overall, this strikes me as a very practical book. Many of the recipes have multiple options for how to cook the meals after defrosting (grill and oven, crockpot and stovetop, etc), so the meals generally work no matter what appliances you own. Some of the recipes seem a bit repetitive (is there really that much difference between Teriyaki Chicken and Sweet Asian Chicken?) but even so there's a good range, so I wouldn't regret spending money on this cookbook even if there were a few almost repeats.
I haven't had a chance to try much from the cookbook yet, so I will update after I try at least a couple recipes to confirm that they're as good as they look.
Edited to add: I've tried a few recipes now, and they mostly live up to my original impressions of the book. Basil Balsamic Pork Chops were my favorite, and both Mustard Oregano Pork Chops and Royal Thai Chicken Thighs were hits with the rest of the family but just a touch bland and lacking in salt for me to really love them. Overall, solid recipes and easily tweaked to suit my taste.
I was given a review copy of this book by NetGalley in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
Overall, this strikes me as a very practical book. Many of the recipes have multiple options for how to cook the meals after defrosting (grill and oven, crockpot and stovetop, etc), so the meals generally work no matter what appliances you own. Some of the recipes seem a bit repetitive (is there really that much difference between Teriyaki Chicken and Sweet Asian Chicken?) but even so there's a good range, so I wouldn't regret spending money on this cookbook even if there were a few almost repeats.
I haven't had a chance to try much from the cookbook yet, so I will update after I try at least a couple recipes to confirm that they're as good as they look.
Edited to add: I've tried a few recipes now, and they mostly live up to my original impressions of the book. Basil Balsamic Pork Chops were my favorite, and both Mustard Oregano Pork Chops and Royal Thai Chicken Thighs were hits with the rest of the family but just a touch bland and lacking in salt for me to really love them. Overall, solid recipes and easily tweaked to suit my taste.
I was given a review copy of this book by NetGalley in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
July 2, 2018
A few pre-review caveats: I'm not a cook, I don't enjoy cooking, and as a result I'd say whatever I prepare tends to be acceptable, but nothing to write home about. But I LOVE food, and because I don't like to cook, I prefer to get things done ahead of time so that day to day meal prep is quick and painless, hence the appeal of this book. Also, I didn't make anything from this book, so I can't speak to the quality of the recipes. That said...
In theory, this book sounded like everything I needed. It's clear that the authors have a very specialized expertise, and I can see how buying and cooking in bulk would be extremely helpful to people who have a lot of people to feed, but not a lot of time and/or a tighter budget. When my three younger children are older (and my freezer much bigger), I can see the value this kind of approach brings. However...
I do think that in order for this to work for my family, we'd need a bigger fridge/freezer (we have a 23" built in 2004). Or a chest freezer (which, in all honesty, we would benefit from at this point regardless). Even if you are building up a stash of freezer meals slowly (doing one new recipe a week, for instance), I find it hard to believe there is going to be much room for other things.
Then there is budgetary concerns: most of these recipes call for meat. Meat is expensive. And yeah, I've heard of discount clubs, but a family on a really tight budget might not be able to swing 9lbs of meat for one recipe, even if it's going to save them money in the long run. The problem with buying in bulk is you have to "have" money to "save" money.
My third concern is, what if you made this huge recipe and you hate it? If you're on a tight budget, you can't afford to just give away food that you don't like.
And finally, pictures. This is not a complaint particular to just this book, but most cookbooks: there should be pictures for every recipe. Food, in general, is a very sensory thing. Smell is our first go to sense when it comes to food, but sight is next in line...and the only one you can possibly appeal to in a cookbook. For an already wary cook like myself, pictures go a long way to helping me choose what I'm interested in making, and shoring up my anxieties about whether I prepared it correctly (hey, it looks a lot like the picture!).
In a nutshell, I think I'm probably not the audience for this book, though the initial concept was extremely appealing.
Note: I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley. I pride myself on writing fair and honest reviews.
In theory, this book sounded like everything I needed. It's clear that the authors have a very specialized expertise, and I can see how buying and cooking in bulk would be extremely helpful to people who have a lot of people to feed, but not a lot of time and/or a tighter budget. When my three younger children are older (and my freezer much bigger), I can see the value this kind of approach brings. However...
I do think that in order for this to work for my family, we'd need a bigger fridge/freezer (we have a 23" built in 2004). Or a chest freezer (which, in all honesty, we would benefit from at this point regardless). Even if you are building up a stash of freezer meals slowly (doing one new recipe a week, for instance), I find it hard to believe there is going to be much room for other things.
Then there is budgetary concerns: most of these recipes call for meat. Meat is expensive. And yeah, I've heard of discount clubs, but a family on a really tight budget might not be able to swing 9lbs of meat for one recipe, even if it's going to save them money in the long run. The problem with buying in bulk is you have to "have" money to "save" money.
My third concern is, what if you made this huge recipe and you hate it? If you're on a tight budget, you can't afford to just give away food that you don't like.
And finally, pictures. This is not a complaint particular to just this book, but most cookbooks: there should be pictures for every recipe. Food, in general, is a very sensory thing. Smell is our first go to sense when it comes to food, but sight is next in line...and the only one you can possibly appeal to in a cookbook. For an already wary cook like myself, pictures go a long way to helping me choose what I'm interested in making, and shoring up my anxieties about whether I prepared it correctly (hey, it looks a lot like the picture!).
In a nutshell, I think I'm probably not the audience for this book, though the initial concept was extremely appealing.
Note: I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley. I pride myself on writing fair and honest reviews.
November 10, 2013
Hm. As someone who has a long standing love affair with a slow cooker, and is spawn-free, I freeze lots of food. I had hoped that this might give me a few more ideas, even taking into account the fact that most of the book would be useless to me from the outset since I don't eat meat. I was pleased to discover a meatless chapter, and went right to it. However, the author is one that doesn't consider fish "meat" so most of the "meatless" options have shrimp and fish paste.
I roll my eyes at people who, in this day and age, would still consider fish as 'not meat'.
I roll my eyes at people who, in this day and age, would still consider fish as 'not meat'.
January 18, 2018
i think the receipes are great if you eat pretty much anything there is at least one option for you. I don't think it had enough receipes that told me I needed to buy it. I love the breakfast sandwich option but didn't care for most of the red meat options. I don't eat pork either so 1/2 the book was of no use to me .. which is fine! I just don't think most recipes were a success.
Read
December 6, 2017I read this book over a month ago and waited to post a review until after I had prepared and served some of the freezer meal recipes. I have to say that not only was shopping easier but also having frozen, prepared meals made dinner time so much less stressful after a long day. There are times when my inner Top Chef takes over the kitchen and there are times when I just want to cook with easy to obtain items that provide flavorful meal options. I’ve tried five recipes- Chicken-Broccoli Bake, Sun-Dried Pesto Chicken, Beef and Bow Tie Soup, Basil-Balsamic Chops and even a breakfast recipe- Breakfast Burritos.
The meal preparation was easy and straightforward and even better, they all tasted good! There are so many more recipes that I plan to try and I am looking forward to working my way through them all. A real time saver and the only thing I would have personally liked would have been a picture of each recipe. There were quite a few pictures, but for me, I am a very visual person who just likes to see the finished recipe before I begin. I am sure the page count and production costs came into play and the many pictures that are included all look yummy. A solid 4.5 stars
Thank you, Kati Neville, Lindsay Ahrens, Storey Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC to read and review.
The meal preparation was easy and straightforward and even better, they all tasted good! There are so many more recipes that I plan to try and I am looking forward to working my way through them all. A real time saver and the only thing I would have personally liked would have been a picture of each recipe. There were quite a few pictures, but for me, I am a very visual person who just likes to see the finished recipe before I begin. I am sure the page count and production costs came into play and the many pictures that are included all look yummy. A solid 4.5 stars
Thank you, Kati Neville, Lindsay Ahrens, Storey Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC to read and review.
February 2, 2018
I received a copy of Fix, Freeze, Feast, 2nd Edition by Kati Neville and Lindsay Ahrens from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Although I am not a very adventurous cook (I tend to make the dozen or so things that I know how to make well and like), there were several recipes that immediately jumped out as things I am pretty confident I can create easily! Best of all, with these recipes and knowing what to freeze, I can plan ahead for family gatherings and not spend all my time preparing meals.
Looking forward to trying these out!
Although I am not a very adventurous cook (I tend to make the dozen or so things that I know how to make well and like), there were several recipes that immediately jumped out as things I am pretty confident I can create easily! Best of all, with these recipes and knowing what to freeze, I can plan ahead for family gatherings and not spend all my time preparing meals.
Looking forward to trying these out!
March 17, 2018
This book is packed full of recipes that I never knew could be frozen! Step by step guide, information on bulk buying to prepare meals in advance. There is something for everyone in this book. A must for busy families or people with hectic lives.
November 26, 2017
How do you write yummy and mean yummy recipes? Fix, Freeze, Feast, 2nd Edition: The Delicious, Money-Saving Way to Feed Your Family; The Make-Ahead Plan: 1 Day of Cooking = 12 Days of Dinner; Fill Your Freezer with Dozens of Homemade Meals is the perfect definition of yummy as you will find plenty of freezer friendly recipes in Kati Nevelle's cookbook. Some of the recipes you'll find include:
Cherry Skillet Chicken
Port Barbecue Chicken
Enchiladas Suiza Stack
Spanish Rice
Basil-Balsamic Chops
Thai Red Curry with Vegetables
Golden Granola
PB&J Breakfast Cookies
Lemon-Lavender Cookies
Strawberry Smoothies
While I could see her cookbook helping out with large family meals, I plan to adapt her recipes to serve our small family of two.
Recommend.
Review written after downloading a galley from Net Galley.
Cherry Skillet Chicken
Port Barbecue Chicken
Enchiladas Suiza Stack
Spanish Rice
Basil-Balsamic Chops
Thai Red Curry with Vegetables
Golden Granola
PB&J Breakfast Cookies
Lemon-Lavender Cookies
Strawberry Smoothies
While I could see her cookbook helping out with large family meals, I plan to adapt her recipes to serve our small family of two.
Recommend.
Review written after downloading a galley from Net Galley.
July 20, 2015
This would perhaps be more accurately titled "Freezer Cooking with Sam's Club," it is based on the bulk meat package sizes from membership stores. It is mostly based on lets-marinade-some-meat-and-freeze-it and is not vegetarian-friendly at all.
June 1, 2018
If you're like me, you struggle to figure out what to cook for dinner too many nights during the week. I feel like I'm always struggling to come up with ideas and then to find the time to pull off the prep and cooking. I feel like I'm letting us down when it comes to dinner. So I was so excited to find Fix, Freeze, Feast. This is an updated edition of the original, with over 150 recipes and ideas for dinner that can be made in advance and defrosted when needed.
Authors Kati Neville and Lindsay Ahrens are former owners of a meal preparation business, so they have tested all these recipes over and over. They're big batches, so you can make a recipe in a weekend and freeze batches so you can eat it over months. Or if you'd rather, you can invite some friends over and all cook up a bunch of food to put into containers and divide up so each family freezer gets some easy, tasty meals.
Cooking in large batches can save time and money, and these recipes offer a huge assortment of mains as well as some sides to fill your freezer. There are over 35 chicken recipes, from Mini Chicken Pot Pies to Chicken Cordon Bleu. Mariachi Chicken Rolls, Sweet Asian Chicken, Tequila-Lime Chicken, Sun-Dried Pesto Chicken, Chicken Wings, and (my favorite recipe name) Urban Garlic Chicken--all these recipes and more are here, ready to be prepped and stored into your freezer for one of those Tuesday nights. (Urban Garlic Chicken? It's actually Herb and Garlic Chicken, misheard and renamed forever, just for fun. I would have done the exact same thing, myself.)
There are 24 recipes each for beef and pork, including Beef and Bean Burritos, Classic Lasagna, Moroccan Meatballs, Sesame-Soy Sirloin, Ginger Beef, Cheese Steaks, Pork Loin Ragout, Sticky Ribs, Firehouse Pork Skewers, Caribbean Pork Tenderloin, and Chile Verde. There are also seafood and veggie mains like Shrimp Curry and Feta and Spinach Lasagna as well as soups like Cream of Asparagus, Black Bean, and Mulligatawny. Sides include Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Rice Pilaf. And if that's not enough, there are also chapters on sauces, breakfast, snacks, and sweets.
Some recipes also include a Feast Tonight option, so that you can make Dave's Swamp Blues Barbecued Chicken for your freezer and make Dave's Barbecued Chicken Pizza to eat tonight. And there are lots of tips and tricks to make the most of your ingredients. Fix, Freeze, Feast takes you from prepping your kitchen through to thawing and cooking your finished dish. These women know these recipes, they know this style of cooking, they can help you create and store meals that can help make your weeknights simple and tasty. And they can even help your correct mistakes as you go, so you won't have to start over on a recipe or give up and call for a pizza. This cookbook gives you everything you need to know to get started prepping and storing meals in your freezer for a happy, healthy, hungry life.
Galleys for Fix, Freeze, Feast, 2nd Edition, were provided by Storey Publishing through NetGalley, with many thanks.
Authors Kati Neville and Lindsay Ahrens are former owners of a meal preparation business, so they have tested all these recipes over and over. They're big batches, so you can make a recipe in a weekend and freeze batches so you can eat it over months. Or if you'd rather, you can invite some friends over and all cook up a bunch of food to put into containers and divide up so each family freezer gets some easy, tasty meals.
Cooking in large batches can save time and money, and these recipes offer a huge assortment of mains as well as some sides to fill your freezer. There are over 35 chicken recipes, from Mini Chicken Pot Pies to Chicken Cordon Bleu. Mariachi Chicken Rolls, Sweet Asian Chicken, Tequila-Lime Chicken, Sun-Dried Pesto Chicken, Chicken Wings, and (my favorite recipe name) Urban Garlic Chicken--all these recipes and more are here, ready to be prepped and stored into your freezer for one of those Tuesday nights. (Urban Garlic Chicken? It's actually Herb and Garlic Chicken, misheard and renamed forever, just for fun. I would have done the exact same thing, myself.)
There are 24 recipes each for beef and pork, including Beef and Bean Burritos, Classic Lasagna, Moroccan Meatballs, Sesame-Soy Sirloin, Ginger Beef, Cheese Steaks, Pork Loin Ragout, Sticky Ribs, Firehouse Pork Skewers, Caribbean Pork Tenderloin, and Chile Verde. There are also seafood and veggie mains like Shrimp Curry and Feta and Spinach Lasagna as well as soups like Cream of Asparagus, Black Bean, and Mulligatawny. Sides include Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Rice Pilaf. And if that's not enough, there are also chapters on sauces, breakfast, snacks, and sweets.
Some recipes also include a Feast Tonight option, so that you can make Dave's Swamp Blues Barbecued Chicken for your freezer and make Dave's Barbecued Chicken Pizza to eat tonight. And there are lots of tips and tricks to make the most of your ingredients. Fix, Freeze, Feast takes you from prepping your kitchen through to thawing and cooking your finished dish. These women know these recipes, they know this style of cooking, they can help you create and store meals that can help make your weeknights simple and tasty. And they can even help your correct mistakes as you go, so you won't have to start over on a recipe or give up and call for a pizza. This cookbook gives you everything you need to know to get started prepping and storing meals in your freezer for a happy, healthy, hungry life.
Galleys for Fix, Freeze, Feast, 2nd Edition, were provided by Storey Publishing through NetGalley, with many thanks.
February 6, 2018
Extremely comprehensive family cookbook that includes both freezable meals and meals to be eaten immediately after preparation.
Fix, Freeze, Feast has a huge variety of recipes. It has 84 meat-based main dishes: 37 with chicken, 23 with beef and 24 with pork. There are 24 seafood and vegetable main and side dishes. 25 sauces and 16 breakfast, snacks and sweets finish up the book. Most of the recipes are family-sized but a few are for only two servings. It would be easy to scale up or down any of the recipes to fit any size of household. It was also easy to make most of recipes gluten-free by just using gluten-free flours, thickeners (like arrowroot), and breadcrumbs.
I tried the Chicken-Broccoli Bake, Vegetable Lasagna (small pan), Basic Red Sauce (small batch) and the Mama’s Pizza Sauce. I used the red sauce for the lasagna as suggested. The results for all of the recipes were outstanding. The best part of this book is the clear directions for how to package for the freezer and how to reheat the food. Packaging varies depending on the item being packaged. Most use either plastic freezer zipper bags or baking dishes. The author has a great idea to buy foil baking pans for no clean up after the meal is reheated. This works especially well when the item will be taken to a potluck or party.
About a tenth of the recipes are labeled with “Feast Tonight” and don’t contain a freezing step. While I was fine with those being included, I wish they were all located at the end of each section to make them easier to find. In addition, I would have liked nutritional information including calories to be provided.
Overall, this is a good book for people trying to cook weekday meals in advance. It would definitely be good for the family budget especially if shopping is done at Costco or Sam’s Club.
Thanks to the publisher, Storey Publishing, and NetGalley for an advanced copy.
Fix, Freeze, Feast has a huge variety of recipes. It has 84 meat-based main dishes: 37 with chicken, 23 with beef and 24 with pork. There are 24 seafood and vegetable main and side dishes. 25 sauces and 16 breakfast, snacks and sweets finish up the book. Most of the recipes are family-sized but a few are for only two servings. It would be easy to scale up or down any of the recipes to fit any size of household. It was also easy to make most of recipes gluten-free by just using gluten-free flours, thickeners (like arrowroot), and breadcrumbs.
I tried the Chicken-Broccoli Bake, Vegetable Lasagna (small pan), Basic Red Sauce (small batch) and the Mama’s Pizza Sauce. I used the red sauce for the lasagna as suggested. The results for all of the recipes were outstanding. The best part of this book is the clear directions for how to package for the freezer and how to reheat the food. Packaging varies depending on the item being packaged. Most use either plastic freezer zipper bags or baking dishes. The author has a great idea to buy foil baking pans for no clean up after the meal is reheated. This works especially well when the item will be taken to a potluck or party.
About a tenth of the recipes are labeled with “Feast Tonight” and don’t contain a freezing step. While I was fine with those being included, I wish they were all located at the end of each section to make them easier to find. In addition, I would have liked nutritional information including calories to be provided.
Overall, this is a good book for people trying to cook weekday meals in advance. It would definitely be good for the family budget especially if shopping is done at Costco or Sam’s Club.
Thanks to the publisher, Storey Publishing, and NetGalley for an advanced copy.
March 22, 2018
This yummy book of 150 recipes that will make dinner time so much easier was awesome. I love how simple this book makes tasty meals so much easier for me. Yes the prep day is a kind of a pain but once it's done you can eat well in very little time. You gather all the ingredients, put them in freezer containers or bags toss them in the freezer and when you know you are looking at a busy day set one of the meals out over night in the refrigerator, toss in a pan when you arrive home and in under 30 minutes you have a home cooked meal ready to serve and eat. Some of the meals are ready crockpot ready as well, just dump the bag or bowl in and when you arrive home you house smells amazing and you can feed your family a yummy home cooked meal, without getting your hands dirty.
I travel a good bit and my poor hubby stays at home. I just returned from a trip and while I was gone I used some of the recipes in this book. I made up the bags and bowls before I left and he was able to have fresh cooked meals without any fuss while I was gone.
Some of the recipes make several meals with one prep. For us since it's just him and I home now, I got 10 to 12 meals instead of 6. On some I just cut the recipe down by halves or quarters, since I do not have a deep freeze anymore to store so many meals. I also cut some way back just to try and see if we liked them or not before I make the full recipe. Waste not want not.
The mango-cranberry chicken is to die for. It was delicious. Next time I will make the full recipe so I can have this on hand. It does have a tiny bite to it but is mild enough even for smaller children. The recipe make 4 meals of 4 servings, and takes 15 to 20 minutes to cook and serve.
I received this book from the Author or Publisher via Netgalley.com to read and review.
I travel a good bit and my poor hubby stays at home. I just returned from a trip and while I was gone I used some of the recipes in this book. I made up the bags and bowls before I left and he was able to have fresh cooked meals without any fuss while I was gone.
Some of the recipes make several meals with one prep. For us since it's just him and I home now, I got 10 to 12 meals instead of 6. On some I just cut the recipe down by halves or quarters, since I do not have a deep freeze anymore to store so many meals. I also cut some way back just to try and see if we liked them or not before I make the full recipe. Waste not want not.
The mango-cranberry chicken is to die for. It was delicious. Next time I will make the full recipe so I can have this on hand. It does have a tiny bite to it but is mild enough even for smaller children. The recipe make 4 meals of 4 servings, and takes 15 to 20 minutes to cook and serve.
I received this book from the Author or Publisher via Netgalley.com to read and review.
November 20, 2019
I bought the revised edition of this cookbook for my library last year, and finally checked it out myself. I liked it enough that I just ordered my own copy!
As a person usually cooking for one, I cut most of the recipes I tried down by half, which was easy enough. (I do not need 24 portions of something to freeze! I’ll definitely get tired of it before I get through six pounds of ground beef or 12 chicken breasts.)
I like to cook and freeze large batches of meals, so I appreciated that the recipes include instructions for what to do before freezing, and what to add and do to cook later. The recipes are clear and easy to follow, and there are pictures for almost each one.
There are definitely recipes in this cookbook that will be favorites at my house for years to come, and some that I’ll never try. (So many pork chop variations....) The chicken broccoli bake, Tuscan meatloaf, and French onion soup have been great so far! My freezer is nice and full, and I look forward to trying more recipes.
As a person usually cooking for one, I cut most of the recipes I tried down by half, which was easy enough. (I do not need 24 portions of something to freeze! I’ll definitely get tired of it before I get through six pounds of ground beef or 12 chicken breasts.)
I like to cook and freeze large batches of meals, so I appreciated that the recipes include instructions for what to do before freezing, and what to add and do to cook later. The recipes are clear and easy to follow, and there are pictures for almost each one.
There are definitely recipes in this cookbook that will be favorites at my house for years to come, and some that I’ll never try. (So many pork chop variations....) The chicken broccoli bake, Tuscan meatloaf, and French onion soup have been great so far! My freezer is nice and full, and I look forward to trying more recipes.
September 8, 2017
I was looking for recipes to have meals ready ahead of time for busy weeknight suppers. I think I may have found about 5 recipes that I would consider trying. I need to do things to adjust almost everyone to taste better. For instance the Mini Chicken Pot Pie recipe has you cut out 3.5 inch circles of sandwich bread to later use as crusts. I can't imagine this would be very appealing to most people. Why not use refrigerator biscuits or refrigerated pie dough? Although I wouldn't rate the ingredient lists in most of the recipes as very good, the author does have some really fantastic techniques to put together complete meals for the freezer. 1 star for the recipes, maybe 3 for the techniques. I am going to make my own chicken pot pie base and freeze it in gallon bags as suggested and keep a few cans of the Trader Joe's refrigerated buttermilk biscuits in the fridge to top it off with. This cookbook got me really thinking about techniques to meal prep ahead of time and then and freeze!
November 7, 2017
I LOVED this cookbook the minute I opened it & saw the easy layout, how organized, grouped by meats & types of food. It’s easy to find ANY recipe u might want to try. I saw CHICKEN SATAY & I was really in love. Some of the dishes have pictures which look good enough to eat right from the cookbook page
I’d HIGHLY recommend this book for family cooking ( main reason to freeze ahead), those who love to cook &, although I’m not positive, I imagine you could cut some recipes in half in order to make smaller amounts, but main feature of this cookbook is so you can cook ahead& freeze for later. I’d think most families would like a cookbook like this, for this very reason. Today’s family’s are busy & it gets costly eating & ordering out, this is a great guide for cooking ahead & having a meal ready on a busy day. Wish I had the first edition, but I’m loving this edition!
I received a digital copy from Netgalley in return for an honest opinion
I’d HIGHLY recommend this book for family cooking ( main reason to freeze ahead), those who love to cook &, although I’m not positive, I imagine you could cut some recipes in half in order to make smaller amounts, but main feature of this cookbook is so you can cook ahead& freeze for later. I’d think most families would like a cookbook like this, for this very reason. Today’s family’s are busy & it gets costly eating & ordering out, this is a great guide for cooking ahead & having a meal ready on a busy day. Wish I had the first edition, but I’m loving this edition!
I received a digital copy from Netgalley in return for an honest opinion
January 15, 2018
Fix, Freeze Feast.....By Kati Neville. WoW.......What a wonderful find this book is.
If you're on a budget, and have a busy family/working life and want to prepare tasty dinners, healthy dinners etc in advance and bulk, this is a book for you. Throughout this wonderful book, it has brilliant easy to follow recipes to follow with lovely clear photo's of some of what was made.
This is a must book if you want to save money especially as it shows you what ingredients you can use to make tasty meals without purchasing jars of sauces etc. Most of us have these ingredients in our kitchen cupboards.
It gives you clear instructions on how to prepare your meal/s, how to freeze it and then cook it etc.
I just love this book and will be purchased when it goes on sale. I would highly recommend this book.
I was given an ARC by NetGalley for an Honest review.
Big Fat 5* from me.
If you're on a budget, and have a busy family/working life and want to prepare tasty dinners, healthy dinners etc in advance and bulk, this is a book for you. Throughout this wonderful book, it has brilliant easy to follow recipes to follow with lovely clear photo's of some of what was made.
This is a must book if you want to save money especially as it shows you what ingredients you can use to make tasty meals without purchasing jars of sauces etc. Most of us have these ingredients in our kitchen cupboards.
It gives you clear instructions on how to prepare your meal/s, how to freeze it and then cook it etc.
I just love this book and will be purchased when it goes on sale. I would highly recommend this book.
I was given an ARC by NetGalley for an Honest review.
Big Fat 5* from me.
March 26, 2018
My biggest complaint with this book, and I went in knowing this would be a frustration for me, was that the meals are all huge quantities. It's pretty obvious from the title that this is a bulk meal cookbook, but when you're cooking for one there aren't a whole heck of a lot of options. That said, I still found the recipes good inspiration. I liked how there were tips and tricks on freezing your prepped meals, and how to store them. I DO wish there had been more photos of recipes (I honestly prefer a photo of every recipe), but there were a lot of images. I had the digital review copy, so hopefully in the final print there are more photos.. Like most cookbooks there aren't a lot of vegetarian meals, but I'm used to adapting meals.
November 9, 2023
Due to our work schedules, I'm always on the look out for make ahead and freezable recipes. These recipes are pretty basic, and most of them use easy to find ingredients, which I appreciated. We tried several - Swimming Rama, Enchilada Suiza Stack, and the Breakfast Burritos, along with a couple others. We found them to be kind of bland, but easily customizable. Some of them we likely will never try, mostly because I just don't need another recipe for lasagna or meatballs, etc. However, even though I may never try those recipes, the instructions for freezing were helpful. Three stars because while the recipes were kind of lackluster, they were easy to adapt to our preferences, and because the information on freezing the various items was useful.
May 3, 2024
An excellent book, and kind authors
This is the best type of cookbook - one in which the recipes are clear and accurate, and the authors seem like friends.
This ebook is the 5th copy I've purchased. I keep giving the physical books away to people who seem to need them more than I do!
It's an excellent guide to preparing and keeping track of frozen meals. Every recipe we've tried has been a family favourite.
I've enjoyed the stories along the way, too. Uncle Dave and his collection of Penzey's spices; the Sequim lavender festival; how to divide a roll of chicken cordon bleu 3 ways.
I appreciate the authors' encouragement and their concern for families and communities. Their kindness shows in their writing, as does their competency.
This is the best type of cookbook - one in which the recipes are clear and accurate, and the authors seem like friends.
This ebook is the 5th copy I've purchased. I keep giving the physical books away to people who seem to need them more than I do!
It's an excellent guide to preparing and keeping track of frozen meals. Every recipe we've tried has been a family favourite.
I've enjoyed the stories along the way, too. Uncle Dave and his collection of Penzey's spices; the Sequim lavender festival; how to divide a roll of chicken cordon bleu 3 ways.
I appreciate the authors' encouragement and their concern for families and communities. Their kindness shows in their writing, as does their competency.
November 8, 2017
I love the idea of having meals ready to just pull out of the freezer in the morning, to thaw for dinner that night. Even better if I can just toss it into a slow cooker and have dinner ready after work. Many of the recipes in this book fit that criteria, and I can't wait to try them. There were some recipes here that didn't seem to make much sense for freezing ahead of time (most of the work was done after thawing just a few basic ingredients), but overall this seems to be a great resource.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, provided by the author and/or the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, provided by the author and/or the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
November 9, 2017
I was given an ARC by NetGalley for an Honest review.
This wonderful Cookbook would be a great buy for anybody who loves to Budget and Save on Food for the family. I myself will be buying at least three copies of this wonderful cookbook which contains great recipes and clear precise instructions to the reader on how to prepare and freeze tasty and healthy meals for the family to enjoy. I will be giving my purchased copies to my family members who have to think of their budget when shopping for and providing healthy and tasteful food for their hungry families. I would certainly recommend this book to people who need to keep to a strict budget but want to feel indulged.
This wonderful Cookbook would be a great buy for anybody who loves to Budget and Save on Food for the family. I myself will be buying at least three copies of this wonderful cookbook which contains great recipes and clear precise instructions to the reader on how to prepare and freeze tasty and healthy meals for the family to enjoy. I will be giving my purchased copies to my family members who have to think of their budget when shopping for and providing healthy and tasteful food for their hungry families. I would certainly recommend this book to people who need to keep to a strict budget but want to feel indulged.
May 27, 2018
I received a free copy of Fix, Freeze, Feast, 2nd Edition by Kati Neville in exchange for my honest review.
I would rate this book 3.5/4out of 5.
There so many things that I liked about this book:
- The firsts pages have great explanations and tips.
- Recipes' pages are well organized and clear, easy to follow.
- The pictures are beautiful.
Things I disliked:
- I'm one of the cookers that need to visual the dish before preparing it so the lack of pictures accompanying the recipes didn't make me want to try to do the dish.
- I found a lot of recipes being similar
- Some aren't healthy at all.
It can be a good book, but not a must to own cookbook.
I would rate this book 3.5/4out of 5.
There so many things that I liked about this book:
- The firsts pages have great explanations and tips.
- Recipes' pages are well organized and clear, easy to follow.
- The pictures are beautiful.
Things I disliked:
- I'm one of the cookers that need to visual the dish before preparing it so the lack of pictures accompanying the recipes didn't make me want to try to do the dish.
- I found a lot of recipes being similar
- Some aren't healthy at all.
It can be a good book, but not a must to own cookbook.
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