5 Cookbooks to Jumpstart Your Food Prep
Have you ever been stuck in a meal prep rut? Maybe you’ve been eating the same thing for a week straight, maybe you were never “all about that broccoli and chicken lifestyle”, or maybe you are a little intimated by cooking altogether. Whatever your particular hurdle maybe, I have always found that a good cookbook (or two) can really help shake things up, provide some inspiration, and help guide you towards your next culinary success. Here are the top five cookbooks that I keep in my kitchen:
1. Cook Once, Eat All Week: 26 Weeks of Gluten-Free, Affordable Meal Prep to Preserve Your Time & Sanity
By Cassy Joy Garcia
If you are looking for a faster way to meal prep, this cookbook is for you. This cookbook calls for cooking a protein, a veggie, and a starch (or another veggie) in bulk, and then provides recipes that turn them into three totally different dinners that you assemble throughout the week.
Want to get a taste of what this one is all about? Download Cassy Joy Garcia’s free 5-week meal prep plan here.
2. Well Fed: Paleo Recipes for People Who Love to Eat
By Melissa Joulwan
My favorite recipe from this book is another super simple and easy one but it really brings veggies up a notch. You can find Melissa’s Cumin-roasted Carrot recipe here. If you like that one, check out the whole cookbook with plenty of other recipes like that one.
3. Joy of Cooking
By Irma S. Rombauer
What do you do with a bunch of bananas that have turned brown? Well, you pull out the Joy of Cooking and make classic banana bread of course! My favorite part of this cookbook is the robust index in the back. Have a random ingredient on hand and need to figure out how to use it up? I regularly look up any ingredient in the Joy of Cooking index and find a traditional recipe for cooking it up quickly.
4. Ottolenghi Simple: A Cookbook
By Yotam Ottolenghi
Like middle eastern flavors? Well, this one is for you. The title of this book says it all. These recipes are meant to be packed full of flavor and yet, be simple enough to be made in 30 minutes or less, with 10 or fewer ingredients, in a single pot, using pantry staples, or prepared ahead of time. In our house, the recipe that we have returned to multiple times already is Yotam Ottolenghi’s new potatoes with peas and cilantro recipes. Looking for a different take on roasted fingerling potatoes? This one brings unexpected flavors of peas and preserved lemon into the mix.
5. Practical Paleo: A Customized Approach to Health and a Whole-Foods Lifestyle
By Diane Sanfilippo
One of the great perks of this cookbook is the nutrition information provided in the front ahead of the recipes. There is also some great guidance on how to best meal plan for the week which is, of course, rounded out with a nice variety of paleo recipes. One recipe that has become a staple in our house is the mustard-glazed chicken thighs. I am normally not a huge fan of mustard, but this recipe really transforms it for me!