Customer Reviews

Raw Foods for Busy People: Simple and Machine-Free Recipes for Every Day

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Its very apparent that a lot of love went into making this book. The layout, additional info and resources are excellent and presented very clearly.

As a single guy with not a lot of free time I searched all over for a Raw Foods cookbook that I could use. This is the ONLY book I found that has things I'd eat, enjoy and are easy to make without exorbitant costs or prep times or weird ingredients.
Honestly after researching a lot of the Raw Foods books I figured the only people who could eat this way are housewives with a lot of money, I couldnt imagine anyone spending the time or wanting to eat a lot of the recipes in these other books.

After making many things from the book I can say that they fall into two categories-great or bland/too watery. Things like the cinnamon stewed apples, cashew cream, schezwan marinade, halvah shake, puddings and the dehydrator recipes are outstanding. Others like the gravy, curry apple marinade, tahini marinade, mashed potatoes and others are way too watery or lack flavor. I'd still rate this book 5 stars since theres no other raw cookbook like this but I think she needs to fine tune some of these recipes.

Would still highly reccomend it though. It was a big relief to get a practical book like this after my 1st purchase- Raw in Ten which was truly an awful raw book.

In our modern, grab-and-go society, most people don't have the time for radical changes in their diets. But, fast food is literally killing us! It's no secret that at least half of the western world is suffering from one ailment or another; and it's not gettin' any better! So, how do we improve our health, while maintaining our go-go-go lifestyles? Jordan Maerin has the answer in her new book "Raw Foods for Busy People."
Whether you're looking to just add more raw food into your diet, or you're going for the extraordinary results of a 90-100% raw food diet, Maerin's book can make that path a lot easier. She starts off with the basic ideas behind the raw food diet, including her own personal journey, then moves onto pages full of delicious, easy-to-make recipes (most of which you can make without having to spend hundreds of dollars on new appliances!).
And if you thought raw food was boring or tasteless, think again. My personal favorites here are the Pesto-stuffed Vegetables, the Curried Coconut Soup and the Cottage Pie! So, if you're looking for a healthy alternative to fast food, and you can't afford highly priced gourmet raw food meals, "Raw Foods for Busy People" has everything you need to get started on the path to awesome health.

I may be missing something, but I found this to be more sauces and dressings than anything.... which are easy and flavorful but not really meals in and of themselves.

This book doesn't really accomplish what it states... being a raw book for busy people. This book doesn't save time over lots of other raw books and recipes. There are some good recipes but, not that many of them.

For value and variety, there are much better raw books available. (Living in the Raw Gourmet by Rose Lee Calabro) or (Dining in the Raw by Rita Romano) or (Rainbow Green Live-Food Cuisine by Gabriel Cousens) are good choices. There are other wonderful Raw Books that offer more value.

I recently purchased this book along with "Raw in Ten Minutes" by Brian Au, both of which will be sent back to Amazon soon.

The recipes in this book are indeed quick but then again so is grabbing an apple or banana when your on the go. These recipes are about a step up from that. The chapters include salads, dips, soups, sauces and deserts. Nothing super substantial, appetizing or unique.

This is a very small book and while it's only 11.95 the price is still too high for what you get.

I would reccomend "Raw foods, Real World". The recipes are inspired, delicous and require no more time than these, just preperation. And I honestly dont think throwing something in a dehydrator and then walking away is that hard.

This book offers both familiar recipes and ones I have not seen before. The recipes are good and they are simple. The biggest issue I have with this book is that it is not as "machine-free" as I expected. You will be limited in what you can prepare if you do not have a blender. And the texture of the food will be different without a blender in some of the "machine-free" recipes. Be prepared to chop and grate your way through, to eliminate an ingredient here or there (to avoid needing a blender), and to dry food in the sun if you want to be truly "machine-free". In all fairness, it is very difficult to be raw and machine-free. Considering the challenge- decent job.

Author really delivered on this one. Really simple. Separated the ones that needed only a blender from the more 'complicated' ones. Really none of the recipes in this book are complicated. I appreciate author's honesty and also for opening the door for readers to really 'get it' that raw can be done on the go. kuddos to the author!

Finally, a raw food (un)cookbook I can use! I'm not much of a cook, or perhaps I should say food-preparer, but I can do these recipes. The ones I've tried so far are very good. They don't require extremely unusual ingredients (which I don't have access to here) or expensive machines. I give this book five stars.

My husband and I have been doing raw for about four years and needed some quick and easy alternatives to other "cook" books we own. This one is very simple, using easily purchased items from local grocery stores (no special order stuff), and the recipes are tasty. We are quickly adding a number of new staples to our repertoire.

This was an alright book, but I haven't found myself using it much.

First of all, a lot of the recipes call for a dehydrator - wait, I thought this was machine-free?

I much prefer "Raw Food Made Easy" - which is truly more machine-free (I bought a food processor for $40 - which you need for those recipes, but have so far held off on the $180 dehydrator) and, as said in the title, easy! I don't think you should bill yourself as machine-free when lots of your recipes require something as expensive as a dehydrator!

I am giving this two stars - I haven't really tried the recipes, so I can't judge them - but the fact that I haven't says something considering I am making recipes every day from the book I mentioned above!