I know there are probably lots of options out there, but wanted to get people’s thoughts on cookbooks for time pressed athletes. I’m interested in primarily dinner. I workout after work and need to be able to make something fairly quick. I want to get away from just frozen pizza and dinners. I have lots of healthy options at work for lunch and dinner. Thanks for the advice!
-Pete
I’ve found things that work best for me wouldn’t be appropriate for a cookbook (i.e. they are too simple to waste paper on–simple in terms of ability and prep/cook time). For instance:
Pasta with sauce+egg
Quesidilla–low-fat cheese, mushrooms, tortillas
Chicken, broccoli, rice
Thug Kitchen is awesome.
It is a vegan cookbook but we adjust it to add in meat/poultry/dairy etc
I love cooking but am not a huge cookbook guy. The internet has all the recipes you’ll ever need. Just google the ingredients you have on hand or what you’re feeling like, read through some recipes, and then make something. That said, for healthy athletic cookbooks I did like Brendan Brazier’s Whole Foods to Thrive.
The one thing I’ll mention for the time pressed athlete, is to take one day of the week (like sunday) as cooking day - premake stuff in batches, portion it out, and put it in the freezer. When you leave for work in the morning, take out what you want and put it in the fridge. Then making dinner is just reheating, either in the microwave or in a pan/wok. You can also do up a little mis-en-place of various fresh veg that you keep in the fridge and add to your dinners.
I know there are probably lots of options out there, but wanted to get people’s thoughts on cookbooks for time pressed athletes. I’m interested in primarily dinner. I workout after work and need to be able to make something fairly quick. I want to get away from just frozen pizza and dinners. I have lots of healthy options at work for lunch and dinner. Thanks for the advice!
-Pete
Just cook a bunch of brown rice at the beginning of the week and then whenever you want to eat just take some out add black beans, salsa and some avocado and that a great quick meal full of good carbs, protein and fat. And delish too
Men’s Health has a ton of healthy quick recipes. i.e. while boiling water for pasta, sauté a protein. Check out Tuscon Chicken
The one thing I’ll mention for the time pressed athlete, is to take one day of the week (like sunday) as cooking day - premake stuff in batches, portion it out, and put it in the freezer. When you leave for work in the morning, take out what you want and put it in the fridge. Then making dinner is just reheating, either in the microwave or in a pan/wok. You can also do up a little mis-en-place of various fresh veg that you keep in the fridge and add to your dinners.
I like and hate the concept of food prepping for a week, while very practical I can’t help but feel like this way I would be eating left overs for the whole week. Which is sad. I love cooking and I love freshly cooked food but meal prepping kind of goes against that when you cook for 7 days in advance and just reheat food.
Mark Bittman’s “How to Cook Everything Fast” is a really good cookbook, devoted to recipes that only take about 30 minutes. Another option is cooking big on the weekend and then having leftovers during the week, which is what we do pretty much all the time.
Spot
A site from here is Australia is http://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/nutrition/recipes
This is from the Australian Institute of Sport and provides recipes for real food and gives protein/carb/ fat etc levels within the servings. I have the four books and use them for recipes.
I know there are probably lots of options out there, but wanted to get people’s thoughts on cookbooks for time pressed athletes. I’m interested in primarily dinner. I workout after work and need to be able to make something fairly quick. I want to get away from just frozen pizza and dinners. I have lots of healthy options at work for lunch and dinner. Thanks for the advice!
-Pete
Racing Weight Cookbook by Matt Fitzgerald. Lots of good stuff. Easy to make.
I love cooking and doing batches is the way to go. I pick new recipes every week and cook everything up during the weekend. Basic rules I follow:
If want a book:L
While definitely not all recipes are particularly focused on ultra-fast cooking (which really is all in the prep and cooking order), you cannot beat the Veganomicon for healthy eats. Bonus: I have not eaten one recipe from that book that wasn’t delicious.
Count me as another disciple of Mark Bittman. He’s taught me a lot about cooking technique as well, which translates well if/when you want to wow your friends & family with a more impressive meal. His “Best Recipes in the World” book includes a wide variety of dishes and flavors, many of which are surprisingly easy to make if you follow his directions. Some are much healthier than others, but even the “worst” will be better than processed stuff that’s so easy to fall back on when you’re hungry right after a workout. Prepare a couple of dishes ahead of time on the weekend, and you’ll have plenty of quality sustenance for the rest of the week.
You could try out the Runner’s World Cookbook. I really like it. It has a lot of fast and healthy recipes for the endurance athlete.
Recently bought a pressure cooker. It delivers a traditional “slow cook” meal within 30 mins. Beef stew, 25 mins, and it’s tender as an 8-hour slow cook. Whole chicken in 30 mins or so.