I’m picky about the cookbooks I buy. There’s NOTHING worse than buying a book to find only one or two recipes I’ll try. When I started bulk cooking a few years ago I went to the library and checked out every OAMC/Bulk/Investment Cooking Cookbook I could find and then used the information to select a few to buy (here’s that journey and the books I bought –REVIEW: Your Best Investment for Freezer Cooking Cookbooks). New books have come out and as each hits the market, I go through the same regiment.
I recently checked out and now have received “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Easy Freezer Meals“. It’s one of the books that passed my test for purchase:
- The recipes cannot be mostly canned soup casseroles – passed
- There has to be a photo of each recipe – failed!
- There has to be some diversity in recipes – I’ve got enough enchilada freezer recipes for a lifetime – passed
- The ingredients have to be easy to find at my local market – passed
- There must be clear instructions for freezing and cooking – passed
The recipes are not instantly scalable like many freezer books – ie., it’s a one-size-fits-all recipe, but that’s nice because I’ve found myself mixing up the measurements on the multi-sized recipes. This book averages serving sizes between 8-12 cups so it’s pretty easy to gauge how many meals you’ll get for your family. I like this format because I cook for one, so I know how many lunch/dinner portions I’ll be making for the hubby. So many other recipes are by serving dishes.
I’ve made a few recipes from The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Easy Freezer Meals already, with changes to suit my husband and his tastes. So far the recipes have been right on in the moisture content (freezing and then reheating can leave some items dry) and on taste. I made their Vegetable Egg Rolls and baked rather than fried them as the recipe directs and they were delicious. I also made and blogged about the mild Chicken and Sausage Jambalya recipe I made while I had the book from the library. I’ve also made their Beef Burgundy Stew( above). The hubby declared it amazing.
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