Make-Ahead Meals (Book) Review & Giveaway!

Lately I have been trying to cook meals that I can make ahead and freeze for later.  This gives me the chance to save time (and stress) from planning and cooking meals every night.  So far, I have loved what freezer meals do for our household!  Not only are freezer meals convenient, but they can help you save money by buying in bulk.  Since you usually prepare a number of the same meals at once when you assemble freezer meals, it makes them extremely time efficient; you'll definitely save a lot of time by cooking your meals this way.  Each of these points are reasons why I enjoy freezer meals.  While I haven't yet mastered, or even attempted once a month cooking (OAMC) or 30 meals in 1 day, Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms has got me off to a good start!

Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms was written by Jane Doiron who is an elementary school teacher and a busy mom of two boys.  She decided to write this book after discovering the joy of preparing meals ahead of time.  Make-Ahead Meals is meant to combine Jane's years of experience and experimenting with recipes to provide you with a number of family friendly recipes and tips for make-ahead meals.

Review
Jane Doiron offered to send me a copy of her new book: Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms to review.  First of all I will talk a bit about how the book is put together.  The way Jane seperated this book seems very natural, which makes finding recipes a breeze.  The beginning of the book contains a table of contents and includes the following sections: an introduction, helpful tips, appetizers, breakfast and brunch, desserts, main dishes, side dishes, soup, measurement equivalents, and an index of recipes.  By combining the table of contents, with the Recipe Index, you are sure to find exactly what you are looking for.   This book had a total 232 pages, with a majority of those being packed with recipes!

One thing I liked about this book that I thought was unique from others was the size and the type of font used.  The font in this book is an Arial-type and sized a bit larger than most cookbooks.  These two factors make Jane's book easier to read than most cookbook that I already have on my bookshelf.

When I first looked through this book, I was happy to see that approximately 90% of the recipes contained in this book are ones that my family would enjoy.  Far too often I buy a cookbook thinking it will be a hit, only to discover that the recipes aren't ones that my family would enjoy.  This one was not like that at all.  This cookbook contains a number of recipes that are sure to please the majority of your family.  Plus, all the recipes in this book are easy to prepare and use ingredients that are easy to find in your local supermarket.

One thing that I had to keep in mind while looking through this book that it was in fact a book for make-ahead meals.  When looking through the book, I quickly forgot about this after finding so many recipes that I never thought about making ahead of time.  For example, Breakfast Burritos.  This is one recipe in the book that got my attention!  When I have Breakfast Burritos, they are usually from a fast food chain or I make them at home and eat them right away.  When I saw this recipe listed in Jane's book, it made me look at Breakfast Burritos in a whole new light.  They no longer had to be a breakfast dish that took just as long to prepare as others, or a item that I pick up at a local fast food place - it can now be a breakfast item that I can eat on the go, while ensuring my nutrition and saving my money!

The breakfast burritos recipe contained in this book was quick to make, yummy, and only had 5 ingredients.  I found that this recipe was very versatile and I could easily add in items (such as peppers) and substitute items.  For example, this recipe called for lean breakfast turkey sausage.  Unfortunately, the day I decided to make this recipe, I didn't have turkey sausage.  So, instead of turkey, I decided to use pork - definitely not as lean, but the recipe still worked out great!  Other substitutions for this recipe can include, fat free margarine instead of butter, egg whites instead of whole eggs, low-fat cheddar cheese instead of full-fat cheddar cheese, and whole wheat tortillas instead of flour tortillas.

Besides the great things I've already mentioned about this book, one of my favorite aspects has to be the extra tips contained throughout this book.  The book starts out with helpful tips and provides more and more with each recipe.  Plus, each recipe gives you the option to eat now or eat later.  Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms contains instructions on cooking, reheating, freezing, and preparing portions the night or day before (of course dependent on the requirements of the recipe).

Overall, I really enjoyed this book.  I loved the layout, the recipes, and all the hints that made preparing and saving the meals even easier.  I appreciate that Jane included recipes in this book that were family friendly and that contained ingredients that I could easily find in my local supermarket.  Finally, I really appreciate how this book opened my eyes to meals that can be made-ahead of time for my family.  As for things that could be added to this book to make it better, in my opinion, there aren't very many.  The only thing I'd like to see in future editions are some pictures (I am a visual person).  Other than that, this book was just what I was looking for.  I would highly suggest it to anyone who loves make-ahead meals or who is trying to find a more efficient way to cook for their family!

This book can be purchased in the USA on Amazon.com for $16.15, and in Canada from Amazon.ca for $19.07.  Otherwise, you can purchase an eBook copy of Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms on Jane Doiron's website for $12.95 (USD). 

What can you win? One lucky reader will receive a hard copy of Jane Doiron's book: Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms (paperback).

How to enter: Look at the list of recipes included in this book (here).  Then, come back here and leave a comment telling me the name of one recipe you'd like to try.This question must be answered to gain an entry in the giveaway.

Each of the following will give you one extra entry in the giveaway (unless otherwise noted). Please make sure to leave a separate comment for each thing you do. If a certain entry method is worth more than one entry, which will be indicated for methods worth more than one entry, please leave a comment to reflect each entry:
- Subscribing to my blog via email or RSS feed (Maximum of 1 entry - please tell me how you subscribe in your comment).

- Adding my button to your blog sidebar.  - IMPORTANT - If you've added it before, please add it again with the new code.  The button must point to http://www.everythingupclose.com for it to be counted as a valid entry.

- Following me on Twitter (@ihchicky) and Tweeting about this giveaway (with a link to this page). Please leave a link to your tweet or your twitter name. You can do this once a day.
- Following Jane Doiron's blog.
- Subscribing to the Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms Newsletter (here).
- Adding Jane Doiron's blog button to your blog sidebar using the following image, ensuring it points to http://makeaheadmealsforbusymoms.blogspot.com/:

- Following me on Blogger / Google Friends Connect (publicly).

- Entering one of my other giveaways.  Please indicate the name of the other giveaway you entered.

- Blogging about this giveaway on your blog. Please leave a link to your blog post in your comment.

- Writing about and linking to this giveaway in any public forum or on Facebook. If you do this, please leave your user-name and a link to the post.

-Donate a minimum of $1 to my BlogHer 2010 Fund using the ChipIn widget on the right hand side of my blog. Earn 2 entries for each dollar you donate! Please leave me your PayPal email address so I can verify your entry.

Important Entry Details:

The above entries (main and bonus) can only be submitted once per person (except for the tweet entry, which can be done daily). Please do not use more than one blogger account or add additional anonymous comments to gain extra entries. This is not fair to everyone else and this practice is strictly prohibited. If a person is found to be using more than one account to enter the same giveaway, they will be disqualified from that particular giveaway, as well as all future giveaways.

This giveaway will end on Saturday, January 23rd at 11:59pm (Central Standard Time). After the giveaway has ended, the winner will be picked randomly using random.org. EMAIL RULES: In order to win, you must provide a valid email. I will be notifying the winner by email only. Please make sure your blog profile includes your email address and make sure that it is visible. If you do not have a blogger account, please make sure you have included your email address in your post. If there is no email address provided, to contact the winner, another person will be chosen. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to the winning email notification with their complete mailing address (I will be forwarding all this information to the sponsor), If this information is not received within 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is open to residents of Canada and the US only!

Good Luck!

*Disclaimer* In order to complete an accurate review of this book, Jane Doiron offered to send me a copy of her book free of charge.  This review is 100% of my own feedback and I did not receive any other sort of compensation for my opinion.