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belinda's review
3.0
Working from home or in an office with a kitchen, lunch is not a big issue for me - I just have leftovers or a toasted cheese sandwich. My boyfriend, however, works outside all day and really struggles to find interesting and fun things to have for lunch, so when I saw this book on Netgalley I requested it immediately!
The first thing I thought while reading this book is gosh that kid is luck to have JM Hirsch for a dad! It is a very well-shot cookbook and the meals look absolutely delicious. It's less a traditional cookbook than a kind of 'guide' book - recipes for dinners are followed by ways to transform the leftovers into tempting lunch meals as well as suggestions of how to combine ingredients into appealing meals. Most of the lunches have extra veggies or fruits added to make them even healthier and there is a strong focus on whole grains and whole food, which is excellent. There are also sections on how to transport and store food safely and how to keep hot food hot and cold food cold. I would recommend this book without hesitation for any parent, especially one who is used to seeing full lunch boxes return home from school - even the fussiest kids could find options to appeal to them in this book.
If I could have I would've given it 3.5 stars (why no 1/2 stars, goodreads?) but have decided to go with three stars for my review. This is for a few reasons. Firstly, a few of the hot lunch ideas are 'Heat dumplings/samosas from the frozen international section of the freezer and store in this way and serve with this accompaniment.' Good for inspiration for parents but not actually a recipe. Secondly, the meals are really meaty, with some using two or three types of meat. As a newly minted vegetarian, there wasn't that much for me plus I don't think it's environmentally healthy to make so many meat-based meals. Thirdly, like many American cookbooks a lot of the food options were very sweet, even the savoury meals. I reduce the sugar in almost all of my American cookbooks and this one is no different - you will not be seeing me add strawberry jam to my salad dressing any time soon!
This book is based on the blog http://www.lunchboxblues.com, which I did not realise before I started reading it. If you like the food on there you should love this book. Like I said earlier, that is one lucky kid!
The first thing I thought while reading this book is gosh that kid is luck to have JM Hirsch for a dad! It is a very well-shot cookbook and the meals look absolutely delicious. It's less a traditional cookbook than a kind of 'guide' book - recipes for dinners are followed by ways to transform the leftovers into tempting lunch meals as well as suggestions of how to combine ingredients into appealing meals. Most of the lunches have extra veggies or fruits added to make them even healthier and there is a strong focus on whole grains and whole food, which is excellent. There are also sections on how to transport and store food safely and how to keep hot food hot and cold food cold. I would recommend this book without hesitation for any parent, especially one who is used to seeing full lunch boxes return home from school - even the fussiest kids could find options to appeal to them in this book.
If I could have I would've given it 3.5 stars (why no 1/2 stars, goodreads?) but have decided to go with three stars for my review. This is for a few reasons. Firstly, a few of the hot lunch ideas are 'Heat dumplings/samosas from the frozen international section of the freezer and store in this way and serve with this accompaniment.' Good for inspiration for parents but not actually a recipe. Secondly, the meals are really meaty, with some using two or three types of meat. As a newly minted vegetarian, there wasn't that much for me plus I don't think it's environmentally healthy to make so many meat-based meals. Thirdly, like many American cookbooks a lot of the food options were very sweet, even the savoury meals. I reduce the sugar in almost all of my American cookbooks and this one is no different - you will not be seeing me add strawberry jam to my salad dressing any time soon!
This book is based on the blog http://www.lunchboxblues.com, which I did not realise before I started reading it. If you like the food on there you should love this book. Like I said earlier, that is one lucky kid!