Meal Prep Magic: Time-Saving Tricks for Stress-Free Cooking, A Weelicious Cookbook

by Catherine McCord, Colin Price (Photographer)

Become a faster, healthier cook with secrets from celebrated cookbook author, Weelicious founder, and meal prep genius Catherine McCord.

With Catherine McCord’s step-by-step process, your kitchen will be beautifully organized and fast, healthy family meals will be at your fingertips—starting with 100 of her favorite recipes. McCord believes that success in the kitchen comes down to two things—organization and meal prep—and she’ll show you how to master both in Meal Prep Magic .

One step beyond the ideological approach of Marie Kondo and The Home Edit , McCord brings you a practical guide to organizing the most important space in your home and using it. If you’ve ever lost leftovers to the back of the fridge, failed to find a spice that you know you bought, or faced a cabinet full of mismatched Tupperware, her advice will forever change your relationship to your kitchen.

After showing how to maximize your space for efficiency, McCord offers up her favorite family recipes. Including tried-and-tested secrets for saving time, these recipes are easy to prep ahead, make entirely ahead, contain basic ingredients that are always in your pantry, and/or strategically employ your freezer, air-fryer, Instant Pot, slow cooker, and more. Think grab-and-go breakfasts like Raspberry Creamy Chia Puddings, creative packed lunches including easy-to-assemble Salad Jars, healthy snacks like Air-Fryer Crispy Artichokes, and irresistible dinners that are even better leftover, such as lemony chicken thighs with lots of herbs.

By following McCord’s simple strategies for meal prepping, you’ll always have food on hand to enjoy throughout your busy week, limiting your trips to the grocery store and time spent in the kitchen. Eat healthy meals you love, while saving time, money, and your sanity. Never again stress out about what to make for dinner! Meal Prep Magic is a lifesaver for any and all home cooks and busy parents.

Includes Color Photographs

Genres: Cookbooks, Nonfiction, Cooking, Food

240 pages, Hardcover

Published April 4, 2023

Reviews

[Kaceey · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I’m not curled up somewhere reading, you’re likely to find me in the kitchen, (amateur gourmet!) cooking or baking up a storm!🏼‍🍳

So in order to give myself more time dedicated to reading I’ve become interested in trying meal prepping.
A real win-win proposition!

This book is dedicated to the tricks of the trade!

Pros:
🔺Every recipe is accompanied by mouthwatering pics.
🔺recipes are written in detail and easy to follow.
🔺lots of vegetarian options
🔺 At the bottom of each recipe is instructions on To Enjoy Later and/or Prep in Advance

Small con:
🔻The organization of recipes are by fridge / freezer / pantry rather than breakfast / meats / fish / veggies. Just took a while to get used to, and find a particular recipe.

Cooking results:
🔸Mushroom, spinach and pinto bean enchiladas. Absolutely delicious! Followed directions exactly as written (except made my own enchilada sauce from scratch) and the result came out looking like the photo and the taste was amazing. Didn’t miss the meat based proteins whatsoever!

Next up:
🔸California black bean burgers
🔸salad jars to take to work for lunch

If you’re looking for a guide to help organize your weekly meal planning…put on your oven mitts and grab this book!

Thank you to Goodreads Giveaways

[Jillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

In some ways, this book is not for me. I currently have the next 7 weeks of meals written on the calendar and recently made 14 meals ahead of time for the freezer for those all too frequent evenings when I just can't get it together. I never feel inferior (or judgemental!) when I see other people's kitchens and fridges as McCord suggests in the beginning of the book. But I love organization, cooking, and streamlining my processes to make things simpler. Deciding what foods to prepare for breakfast, lunch, and dinner is the single hardest regular homemaking decision I make...again and again and again.

Parts of this book were just review for me as I have been heavily involved in the kitchen for 20 years now, but the tips might help those with little guidance or experience. I generally know where to store equipment and food items in a way that works for me, but it takes a while to learn.

What I really loved about this book was the recipes. They are well-organized, very customizable, and simple to follow. Some books/websites for what I pejoratively call "mom cooking" consist of shortcuts like 75 ways to use a rotisserie chicken, or lots of recipes opening cans into a crockpot, or recipes that can be made all on one sheet pan or pot. There IS a place for that, but lowering my time spent in the kitchen is not my main kitchen goal. Other cookbooks I dislike are all about health fads, or sneaking kale into brownies for my kids, or the recipes have unusual ingredients I may never use again. I just want to eat yummy food that doesn't take a professional chef's expertise to make. This cookbook is one of those books. And it had the added bonus of tips to make ahead of time, tips to store for later, and a beautiful 4 week meal plan with prep instructions.

I will probably purchase this book. As much as I bragged in the beginning of this review, I do get into awful ruts in my meal planning and prep. (I'm just coming out of an 8 month long slump.) It's hard to be consistent. I always appreciate achievable goals and a little inspiration.

[Rhiannon Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.




Some people may know former model, actress, and television hostess Catherine McCord from her Weelicious website and socials, but I know her from my favorite cooking show Guys Grocery Games. She always has great insights for stretching a dollar, using pantry items, and how to sneak in extra vegetables. You can just tell that she's a mom who is constantly cooking for kids.

In Meal Prep Magic she shares how she successfully makes healthy and delicious meals while "saving time, money, and your sanity" through organization and meal prep. In addition to tips on organization, McCord shares 100 recipes complete with full-page color photos to help you get started with your meal prep routines. If you are overwhelmed with the idea of meal-prepping, this book would be a great place for advice and inspiration.


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[Suzanne Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found the format of the cookbook very easy to follow. Ms. McCord's ideas for preparing your kitchen, as well as meals, were thoughtful and adaptable for the average person with one refrigerator. A freezer would certainly be helpful if you are prepping an entire week's worth of meals at a time. Overall, very realistic for a basic cook who is trying to get out of a rut.

So far, I have tried three recipes: The giant pancake; the breakfast burritos; and the buttermilk brined chicken tenders. I really appreciated the storage and reheating instructions. I think I made my burritos a bit bigger than directed, so my reheating from frozen to eating time was about 10 minutes longer. All three will become part of our rotation!

Most of the ingredients I already had or would normally purchase. This cookbook had good ideas on incorporating basic items into multiple dishes. I am not fond of tofu, but the recipes made it look good enough to try. Of all the cookbooks I have checked out of the library, this is one I will probably buy myself a copy.

[Leslie aka StoreyBook Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love to cook, and discovering new authors, recipes, techniques, and other helpful hints really goes a long way to improving my skills.

This book is good for a beginner cook since it starts with organizing your kitchen, purging what you don't need (perhaps those old spices from lord knows when), to what staples you need to keep on hand.

The recipes included are a wide variety and range from simple to a little more complex. The dishes also range from breakfast items to dinner, with dessert thrown in as well. I think that almost anyone could master these dishes with a little practice and utilizing the tips she shares.

I have to admit that one tip, clean as you go, is a wise one. This way, there isn't a sink full of dishes at the end of the evening.

One recipe I would like to try soon is the Cheesy Brown Rice Cakes. There are a few ingredients and looks to be one of the simpler recipes in the book.

[Lu Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are a foodie who just needs some guidance in organizing your kitchen this could be the book for you provided that you remember that the author runs a food based business from her home and has several refrigerators and lots of pantry space that are in the photos in the book. The principals are sound but the examples will have to be scaled down for the average kitchen.

Ms. McCord trained as a professional chef and her recipes assume you actually like cooking, or at least you would if your kitchen were not in chaos. The recipes are great for incorporating more veggies (and less meat) into your meals. They are designed for families who still have children at home.

For those of us whose children are grown, who genuinely hate cooking and would be perfectly content to live on PB & J sandwiches to avoid it, the book was an interesting look at another point of view.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this cookbook via Goodreads giveaways and want to thank the publisher and Goodreads for the opportunity to receive, read and review. I have followed Catherine on social media for years and have adored watching her family grow and thrive; I particularly loved her smoothie series. I really enjoyed the introduction of this meal prep cookbook and how the author provided a strategy and plan to reset and organize your kitchen to set you up for meal prep success. I have tabbed several recipe ideas for future meal prep and cannot wait to see if they help my busy family when it comes to chaotic meal times.

[Lauren Zahn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always been intrigued by the idea of a flexible or no plan meal plan, but my brain doesn't work in a way that allows me to go to the grocery store, get what looks good, and be able to use those ingredients throughout the week. While I'm still far from walking into the store without a list, Meal Prep Magic is helping me get closer to that with recipes that can be built upon each other depending on what I have the time for or what my family wants to eat without tons of food waste. I also love how many vegetarian recipes are included in this book.

[Melissa at My Chaotic Ramblings · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not worth it

If you are on a budget, or know how to use the internet then don't bother with this book. All the recipes can be found elsewhere online, and only a handful of them are good for someone on a budget. There are not a whole lot of recipes that can be meal prepped, most are just refrigerated after cooking for up to 4 days. The recipes are "fancy", and the first 25% of the book is pretty useless information.

[JennaMarie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! It's not just a cookbook and not just a book about organization and meal prep, but combined both in one! I loved all the tips shared by the author for organizing a kitchen and foods kept on hand. I also loved the recipes. So many delicious and healthy recipes and even my kids love them and were pointing some out asking me to make them.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I especially like that the author included multiple ways to prepare the dish (for example: air fryer, oven, stove top, multi-cooker, slow cooker) as well as how to store in the refrigerator or freezer. There was also information on what steps could be done ahead. I have made a number of the recipes in the book and they turned out great. I have plans to make many more and have started following her company Weelicious on social media. I would highly recommend this book.

[Anthonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was interesting. This book gave a lot on meal organization, food storage, prepping food, recipes, and arranging your ingredients and food in the refrigerator. If you love cooking and organizing things, then this book is for you. A must read for any and all book lovers everywhere.

[Beka · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good 1/4-1/3 of the beginning of the book was more about organizing your fridge and pantry. Interesting, but not what I was going for. The recipes also didn't spark my interest, but it was still worth looking through.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

The prep tips are great- but I would use them more for batch cooking. The recipes I liked - mainly chicken- were enough for one meal. The honey garlic chicken is amazing, and the hasselback technique is a great idea.

Worth checking out but different than I expected.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The photographs were beautiful. The recipes even looked ok and there were at least 2 I would like to try before returning the book. I was a bit off out and overwhelmed with the things she was suggesting to do before you started cooking.

[Kristy Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

GoodRead giveaway winner, this is a good book for someone who wants to meal prep, eat health and save time, plus the recipes look so good

[Christy Copeland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple dinner ideas!

[Sarah K · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty pictures, very little useful info

[Jenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good vegetarian suggestions

[Sandy Fortier · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the organization of the book and the idea of the recipes but many of the recipes didn’t turn out well for me. The monster cookies are delicious though.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only the gnocchi recipe looked good.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a fun book! It hits the spot between tasty and do-able. Simple, flavorful recipes--excellent 4-week meal plan in the back. Everything I've made from this cookbook has been SO DELICIOUS!

[Jess · Rating 2 out of 5]

This had some recipes I’ll try but the part on meal prep didn’t feel particularly helpful.

[Valerie Reid · Rating 3 out of 5]

I downloaded this book from my local library and read it in Hoopla while on vacation. It was a quick read with a lot of practical information on meal planning, food storage, kitchen organization, etc. I think a beginning cook would benefit immensely from this book. Lots of recipes included which have straightforward ingredients and instructions.

Lots of pretty pictures too, but to be honest I don't have the time to arrange my pantry, refrigerator and freezer by color and put everything in matching containers! She also advocates keeping things in glass containers in the frig, which I think is a great suggestion but I can foresee what would happen if I did this in my house. "Clean up on Aisle 3!!" She also plans all of her meals a month at a time. Then every Sunday she cleans out the frig, grocery shops, preps all the ingredients, makes chicken stock, roasts vegetables, steams rice, and cooks chicken breasts. I'm exhausted just thinking about doing all that on one day!

Lots of great suggestions, but not all of them will work for everyone. I'm sure that we can all glean some helpful hints from this book.

Read more of my reviews at https://thegoodreader13.blogspot.com/.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of great information on setting up your pantry, and the mechanics of meal prepping....but unfortunately, not many of the recipes appealed to me.