Mediterranean Diet Meal Prep Cookbook: Weekly Plans and… (2024)

This book starts with info on the Mediterranean philosophy and then focuses on the purpose and benefits of prep work. It is then followed by 10 chapters of recipes with prep plans. It is a weekly guide that starts off easier with fewer recipes and gradually gets more complex with more recipes as the chapters move on.

Each chapter has a comprehensive shopping list for all of the meals on one page. It doesn't get easier than that.

As a super menu planner myself, I really appreciated this book. I am also into healthy eating and this book puts both concepts together perfectly .

You can use this book to plan ahead for a week of meals including some advance preparation, or you could just make the recipes individually as you desire. I loved the versatility.

The pictures were very appetizing, I just wish there were more.

Thank you Callisto Media and NetGalley for this digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

With today's busy lifestyles, meal prep is key for me to maintaining a healthy diet. It makes things much easier when my meals are planned out and a majority of the prep work is done in advance. This cookbook was helpful in many ways. First of all, it gives a brief background of the Mediterranean Diet. In addition, it provides the reader with recipes, meal plans and shopping lists.

The Mediterranean Diet Meal Prep Cookbook provides the reader with simplified, healthy meal planning. I believe the layout of this cookbook makes it very user friendly. Although I haven't had a chance to make any recipes yet, there are several that have already piqued my interest and will be at the top of my list. The only negative comment I have is that I would have liked to see more pictures. That is something that I consider a necessity in cookbooks. It helps me to see if something looks the way I imagine it when I read through the recipe.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book contains 8 delicious meal preps; each with their own shopping list and prep instructions. You will also find additional recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner; side dishes, salads, and sweets; as well as dips, dressings and sauces. Prep 6 was the favorite in our house since my wife doesn't like salmon, but there were plenty of the individual dishes that were amazing!

Good Prep Ideas But Too Much Meat

I like the idea of the Mediterranean diet because it is so healthy, vegetarian friendly, and wholefood based. It's far more flexible than other diet concepts, which can make it work for almost anybody who appreciates Mediterranean flavors and ingredient combinations. This book offers several different meal preparation plans--including grocery list, step-by-step instructions, and the recipes--which she just calls “preps.” As the author states, this is not about meal planning. Rather, you actually prep your meals ahead of time. Before diving into the preps, the author goes over the basics of the Mediterranean diet as well as hints and tricks to make your meal preps go more smoothly. Then she had all of the “preps”, plus an extra section of recipes for breakfast, lunch & dinner, sauces & dips, and snacks & sweets.

While some recipes had a long ingredient list, the essential preparation looked relatively easy for most recipes. The step-by-step instructions for your prep time allow you to streamline what you do in the kitchen, so you can, say, combine chopping garlic for multiple recipes at the same time. As the oven is going with one dish, you can work on a stovetop recipe. It appears the author expects you to do each prep in order. So she's added complexity as she goes along, like adding recipes, or featuring a different type of recipe preparation. For instance, the first plan has little chopping while one of the later plans is one-bowl recipes.

Not every recipe has a photo, but the ones the cookbook has look good. There's one thing I didn't like about this cookbook. The author states—as the first guideline no less—n the Mediterranean diet intro section, the emphasis of the diet is fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, seeds, and nuts. She goes so far as to say, “Your meals should be built around these foods.” Frankly, that's one of the things that I like about the Mediterranean diet as I am vegetarian. Even though she listed this as the first guideline, I was surprised at the amount of meat, poultry, and seafood recipes in these preps. Some preps would only have a side dish, a snack, and/or a dessert that a vegetarian could eat. I think it would have been fun if she had done one entire vegetarian prep. She, at least, should have used meat more sparingly and not so often as the star. So I was disappointed in the overemphasis on meat, poultry, and Seafood.

If you are interested in the Mediterranean diet, and especially if you are an omnivore, you might enjoy this book that gets you preparing your meals ahead.

My book blog: https://www.readingfanaticreviews.com

This is a comprehensive cookbook/guide on how to meal prep while following the healthy Mediterranean diet lifestyle. It is packed with mostly easy recipes, 6 weekly menus, and step-by-step instructions. With each week’s plan, you are given the grocery shopping lists, equipment needed, and an order to complete the meal prep steps to save the most time, as well as the recipes. The weekly meal prep starts off with 4 recipes for the week to get you used to prepping, then by week 5 it increases to six recipes for the week. In part 3 of the book, you are given 65 additional recipes so you can create your own meal prep menu or grab one when you need to substitute a recipe. I have a nut allergy, and nuts are used a lot in Mediterranean cooking so I substituted a bit. There is a helpful Food substitute page for food allergies or sensitivities. Well done!

This is an awesome cookbook, especially for the Type-A home chef (or the person who wants a straightforward meal plan they can tweak or leave as is!) -- and oftentimes I'm both!

I love the:
- overview of the Mediterranean diet, philosophy, and lifestyle
- clear expectations set at the beginning, along with recommended tips and equipment
- shopping lists
- conversions list at the end
- sheer variety of recipes! I had no idea the Mediterranean diet was so variable!

This is really geared as a meal plan and way of life, for however long you plan to run with it, rather than "just" a cookbook -- which I appreciate. Great opportunity to immerse oneself into the lifestyle.

I received a copy of the book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

Confession: I'm kind of obsessed with Mediterranean style eating and also meal planning (but don't do either enough). I got approved for this book and had to read it ASAP. And it's out today!
Ms Pine does a good job in explaining the benefits in Part I. None of the laid out weekly meal plans got my attention in Part II, but many of the separate dishes did in Part III! I can't wait to try these out:
Super Seed Granola
Moroccan Spiced Stir-Fried Beef w/Butternut Squash and Chickpeas
Quinoa Bruschetta Salad
Syrian Spiced Lentil, Barley, and Vegetable soup
Bulgar Pilaf w/Almonds
Yay!