Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2100 in Books
• Published on: 2005-04-07
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

Synopsis
Revised and updated edition of Annabel Karmel's classic "Family Meal Planner", with new photography. Are you serving the same old meals to your family, week in, week out? Do you find yourself staring at the contents of your fridge, hoping for inspiration? Do you long for some original recipes that are quick, stress-free, healthy and tasty? If so, help is at hand from the best-selling author and leading authority on feeding children, Annabel Karmel. This updated edition of "Family Meal Planner" is packed with over 150 mouth-watering recipes for both children and adults to enjoy, plus essential tips on nutrition, time-saving and planning ahead. It includes: shopping lists and advice on stocking the larder and freezer; meals for all occasions, from nourishing breakfasts to teatime treats; low-fat, healthy recipes; tasty and imaginative suggestions for school lunchboxes; food that is fun for children to make; and, family suppers that double up as delicious dinner party ideas. Put the joy back into everyday cooking with this essential collection of tried-and-tested recipes.

About the Author
Annabel Karmel:
Annabel Karmel is a busy working mother with three children. She has written eight previous titles including the bestselling SuperFoods for Babies and Toddlers and Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner. She is a celebrity chef on BBCi, the BBC website and has contributed to the Mothercare.com site. She also writes for national newspapers and magazines including a regular column in Prima Magazine and appears frequently on radio and TV as the UK's expert on children's nutritional issues. She is the cookery writer for Practical Parenting magazine.

Customer Reviews

This book lives up to its name!
I am a huge Annabel Karmel fan and each of her books is eagerly awaited by myself. This particular book is the most used out of all the recipe books in my kitchen, so much so that I had to order another copy as the first one fell to bits! I know there are a couple of fiddly recipes in the book (such as the basketweave chicken breasts, which I don't even look at!) but the others more than make up for it. All the pasta recipes in particular have been staple meals in my household for the past three or so years. The cake section is also fantastic as I do a lot of baking, the ideas for decorations are excellent. I urge you to try the Divinely Decadent Fruity Dark Chocolate Bars, they are gorgeous.

not just for children
I now have three of Annabel Karmels books. No I am not a mother of young children but a Nan living on my own (gosh that makes me sound ancient). I use her books constantly, the food is great, easy to prepare and unlike a previous critic I find the ingredients handy and normally on the shelf and the recipes uncomplicated. If it was something i wasn't sure about i'd just not use that recipe. Yes there are marinades but these take no time at all to whip up and can get on with other things while they work and then the item is really quick to cook. Recipes that can be frozen are clearly marked and so far everything i have cooked has tasted wonderful.. I even cook some to take for the rest of the family when i visit... and i normally hate "wasting time" in the kitchen. Think i'll have to buy them their own copies soon

Disappointing
I was really disappointed with this book. After reading other positive reviews I was expecting a lot more.

Many of the meals are not quick and easy to prepare - they require at least an hour in the kitchen, marinades to be prepared in advance, etc. One recipe item requires the cook to basket weave slices of vegetable around a chicken breast. Many of the supposedly basic or staple ingredients are far from basic - hoisin sauce for example.

There is a lot of repetition too - more than one recipe for burgers with chopped apple inside; too many skewer/kebab alternatives; too many sweet and sour sauce recipes; etc.

The appearance and layout of the book was poor. Aside from the garish orange cover (which gives me a slightly queasy feeling whenever I see it), too many of the recipe items are not photographed, and instead there are too many self-satisfied photos of the author and her family.

Finally, the layout of recipe items is confusing. It's all centrally aligned and italicised, making it hard to tell where one item stops and another begins. Not easy to read at a glance when you're preparing a shopping list.

As a Dad who works full time and enjoys does all the cooking for his family (2 adults and 3 kids), this book has singularly failed to inspire me.