A Review of Linda Tyler’s New Book

Cook Once, Eat Better: A Flexible Plant-Based Meal-Prep System

By Donna Reynolds

Cook Once, Eat Better is a structured but adaptable and inventive system that shows how to cook four types of food at the beginning of each week that you can mix and match to create a variety of dishes throughout the rest of the week. The four core components in this plant-based, no-oil ebook include a grain or starchy vegetable, a protein, one or more vegetables, and a sauce or dressing. The author then provides meal suggestions for breakfast, lunch, or dinner using some or all of these core pre-made foods as a base to add to, in order to produce a variety of quick, balanced, and tasty meals.

I have been wanting to create more of a balanced and ready structure to my meals and really liked the idea of being able to grab and heat up something tasty that I had already prepared, and with the mixing and matching idea, I wouldn’t be eating the same thing every night. Also, Tyler encourages cooks to substitute favorite items that they like, to use in-season veggies whenever possible, and says when it comes to meal prep, “The key is just to do it!”

So I jumped in, and although I was tempted by the Tomato Curry Sauce and Roasted Soy Curls in Week 3 and the multiple ways to load up Baked Russet Potatoes in Week 4, I decided to go with Baked Sweet Potatoes, Roasted Broccoli, Black Beans, and Sour Cream in Week 8 (of 12). I chose to print out the pages that I needed from this ebook which included a handy shopping list and a guide of how to cook 13 different grains either on the stovetop or in a pressure cooker—something I’ll use in later weeks. After cooking all the basic components, I liked that it encourages creativity beyond the suggested meal combinations. And for this particular week, I appreciated that I could easily monitor the amount of salt used in the black bean dish, and I liked learning that the sour cream made with tofu and cashews could be frozen! The Easy Black Beans and Roasted Broccoli were so flavorful, they could easily be enjoyed individually, but when they were mixed with additional ingredients, the resulting dishes were exceptional!

So if you want a healthy meal prep system that offers guidance and structure but also creative variety, lists specific ingredients while embracing personal favorite additions, and utilizes time spent early on with ease, convenience, and substantial time saved later in the week, then Linda Tyler’s Cook Once, Eat Better is for you!