Cooking among friends: Meal planning and preparation delightfully simplified [Paperback]

Mary Tennant (Author), Becki Visser (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 31, 2005

Cooking Among Friends® is a meal planning and preparation technique that really works! Gather a group of friends, collaborate, plan a menu of entrées, invidually prepare a large quantity of a single entrée (or two), freeze it in meal-sized portions and then swap! Continue with a food quantity and exchange frequency that is ideal for the group. Cooking Among Friends® shows you how!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mary Tennant and Becki Visser are college buddies who later found themselves with growing families and chaotic mealtimes. In desperation to deliver fabulous food and mood on a regular basis, they formed an innovative cooking club. The success and popularity of the concept inspired a how-to cookbook entitled Cooking Among Friends®. Mary makes her home in Holland, Michigan with husband Bob and daughters Jessica and Ashley. Becki lives in Allendale, Michigan with husband Randy and children Mitchell, Macie, and Sierra.

Product Details

• Paperback: 228 pages
• Publisher: Cooking Among Friends, LLC (May 31, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0970156111
• ISBN-13: 978-0970156112
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #415,897 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #68 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Professional Cooking > Quantity

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yummy and worth the effort!, November 1, 2005

By 

Lohroffc (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cooking among friends: Meal planning and preparation delightfully simplified (Paperback)

Bottom Line: This book is for freezer meals in quantity (6, 12, 18 meals). This is NOT "dump chicken". These are entrees from scratch that won't kill you with difficulty. Lots of good ideas on organizing your food exchange group. Worth it, even if you're just cooking for your own freezer.

The long version:
I bought the Cooking Among Friends cookbook several months ago when Becki and Mary spoke at our MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group. Our small group of 7 ladies decided to start a CAF group. We've been cooking and exchanging now for 8 months.

The premise of Cooking Among Friends is to form a group of somewhat like-minded cooks/eaters. You each choose a recipe or two, then cook it at home, making a quantity of 6, 12, or 18 entrees. Then you get together with your friends and each person takes home one each of the other entrees. For a few hours' cooking, you get 10 or 12 different meals, which lasts most of us about a month.

Our group used the survey and information in the back of the book to get started. We really couldn't have done it without that info. It included questions about food preferences, how much you want to spend, etc. It helps you to think about aspects you might not otherwise consider when choosing a group to exchange meals with.

We began with the recipes from the cookbook. In our group, we each choose two different entrees to prepare for an exchange. The recipes were all tested by Mary and Becki. One aspect our group really liked was that the recipes do not contain condensed soups, taco mixes, etc. Pretty much everything is from scratch (there are a few exceptions, but very few). Nor are they all casseroles! All of the recipes are laid out in 6-, 12- and 18- portion quantities.

We just began by preparing foods that looked good or interesting. Most are very good. A few we could do without. It's just a matter of preference, as with any cook book. For most recipes, though our group likes them, we agree could use either more wine or more garlic.

As families with preschoolers, we all feed the kids our choices and nobody's gone hungry yet. Some are more appropriate for adult palates, so we serve those for adult guests.

After a while, you can branch out and begin trying your own tried-and-true recipes for exchanges. We've gotten to this stage, but about half of the things we cook are still from the CAF cook book.

Regarding skill level, we have one gal who (admittedly) doesn't know the difference among anchovies, avocados and artichokes, and she has managed just fine. I myself hadn't cooked from scratch a lot before CAF, but it's darn fulfilling to make that white sauce!

If you are not involved in a food exchange group, but are simply cooking for your own freezer, I would still recommend this book. As I mentioned above, there are almost no casseroles, a very few pre-made seasoning mixes called for, and I can't think of any recipes with condensed soups (though there may be one or two). It's almost entirely from scratch, but doesn't require tons of work. You could cut a recipe in half, and still have 3 delicious meals in the freezer.

Some of our group's favorites: Chicken Gyro Kits, Baked French Toast, Coq au Vin, Meatballs with various sauces, and (one of my favorites) Chicken in Phyllo. Most recipes are the "main" food for a meal then you choose a side, like the pasta, or rice. There are also soups, and some appetizers and cookies.

We've found an additional advantage to the food exchanges. If the recipe stretches a little further, you can give the extra portions to a family that needs a little boost, like those with new babies, surgery, etc.

This book is worth the price tag. Also worth mentioning - I have the comb-bound version.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wealth of information, yummy recipes, November 14, 2006

By 

WhatWorks4U? (A -burg in PA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Cooking among friends: Meal planning and preparation delightfully simplified (Paperback)

As stay at home mom of two children ages 5 and 3 I need time. I haven't started with a group of other cooks yet, but I've benefited with saving time and offering my family something they usually like. This book is one I pull off the shelf regularly for ideas and information on how to make other recipes in greater quantities. I have made quite a few of the recipes in this book and they all have been whole family pleasers. Some are a bit rich for me, but my children and husband like them that way. I have adapted some of the recipes to be lower in fat. In fact, the information in the book is laid out so well that other recipes can easily be used and all can be adapted to make smaller amounts of meals.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent, easy-to-use cookbook for the hectic twenty-first century, September 13, 2005

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cooking among friends: Meal planning and preparation delightfully simplified (Paperback)

Cooking Among Friends: Meal Planning & Preparation Delightfully Simplified is a cookbook designed to be used in a labor-saving fashion with a circle of friends. Gather a group, let each individual prepare a large quantity of one or two entrees, freeze it in meal-sized portions, and swap! Done with a food quantity and exchange frequency ideal for the group, this technique allows each individual to enjoy a wide variety of culinary selections with minimal time investment. Thus the recipes in Cooking Among Friends are not only flavorful, relatively simple to prepare, and described thoroughly to make cooking them easy for chefs of all skill and experience levels. The selections also focus upon entrees that are ideal for preparation in large quantities, and that can be frozen and swapped without losing their flavor. Size adjusters are provided so that one can tailor the precise quantity made to one's needs. An extensive introduction walks the reader through the basics of this time-saving cooking style, and recipes cover everything from Beef Burgundy to Chicken and Broccoli Loaf Kits, Vegetable Lasagna with a Red Sauce, Artichoke Squares, Buttermilk Pancake Mix and so more. An excellent, easy-to-use cookbook for the hectic twenty-first century.