A Dinner a Day: Complete Meals in Minutes for Every Weeknight of the Year [Paperback]

Sally Sondheim (Author), Sazannah Sloan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1996

The remit of the authors is to provide the busy person with a full set of recipes for a year's worth of meals. With nearly a 1000 recipes and 260 menus they show the reader how to do it using fresh and seasonal products.

Product Details

• Paperback: 656 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (November 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446671452
• ISBN-13: 978-0446671453
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 1.5 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #462,509 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everyone I know is getting a copy of this book for Christmas, August 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Dinner a Day: Complete Meals in Minutes for Every Weeknight of the Year (Paperback)

The most frequent argument that my husband and I have is "What do you feel like for dinner?" I finally went in search of a cookbook that would give me combinations of recipes to cook, ie: a main course, a salad, and a vegetable. (I am NOT a very creative or proficient cook!)When I found this cookbook it completely exceeded my expectations!!! Not only did it provide the recipes for different dishes, but it actually planned an entire meal for each night of the week, for an entire year with no repeats. My husband and son are picky eaters, but we took the authors' advice and we try every meal, even if it doesn't sound appealing. If we don't care for it, we don't have to cook it again for another year. So far, we have loved just about every dinner! Another positive is that we are eating more fruits and vegetables than ever before, and I am learning how to cook with a variety of different seasonings and spices. It is actually fun to cook dinner now. The shopping lists and the countdowns are also great time savers. What a concept! The authors have provided an incredibly useful tool to working moms and busy families. All of my friends are getting a copy for Christmas.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Its not perfect, but for what it claims, it delivers, June 27, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: A Dinner a Day: Complete Meals in Minutes for Every Weeknight of the Year (Paperback)

I've been using this cookbook for three years and I think I know the ins and outs of it. It is incredibly useful for day to day cooking and once you have a pantry stocked with various spices,oils and vinegars, it's not all that expensive. The main problem for where I live is the fish and the seafood. Im landlocked and we don't get much good seafood here. You can sub in a chicken breast, pounded flat, for a fish fillet, you can sub porkchops for lambchops, you can sub canned tuna for crab and shrimp for scallops. You'll save about 60 bucks a week. (and that's no insignificant amount.) The sides dishes, and the variety of vegetables are the main thing. You've never eaten such a variety of produce. If you've ever felt like life consisted of corn, broccoli and carrots, you'll get over it here. Flag the side dishes you like and repeat them at holidays. Your relatives will think you're the worlds' most accomplished cook.All in all, groceries, my once a week groceries which includes cleaning and laundry products, for a family of four is about 175.00. It saves a lot of thinking about things you dont want to think about. Buy a food processor, there's a lot of chopping. One IMPORTANT thing, skip the desserts, the kids will think they are nasty, if they are anything like mine. I mean, stewed fruits? Am I 80 years old? Just buy a couple of gallons of ice cream instead of the dessert menus. You'll save a lot of money for empty calories and the kids will be happy.But, if you can find any cookbook that's more helpful on the mass market for your particualar family, you'll be unbelievably lucky. You could spend a gazillion dollars on a personal nutritionist, who is gonna nail your EXACT needs (for a year). But you could also buy this book, throw out what doesn't work and keep what does. I think you'll be very pleased.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great concept, poor execution, June 5, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: A Dinner a Day: Complete Meals in Minutes for Every Weeknight of the Year (Paperback)

The organization of this book is top-notch. A complete meal on each spread, the shopping list up front, the countdown of preparation steps... perfect. Now, if the recipes were good, it would be my one and only cookbook. I've made about 20 of the meals. Every one left something to be desired, and some were just plain bad. The authors use the phrase "season to taste" a lot, and they mean it. We're not just talking salt and pepper. I usually use more of the herbs and spices they do call for and add others of my own. I've also encountered obvious mistakes in several of the recipes. In their quest for a year's worth of different recipes, sometimes they get a little too wacky with the ingredient combos, too.