I have two things going for me in my life (1) I’m old and (2) I’ve got a really good memory. Hopefully I’ll keep getting older and my memory will continue to be sharp. The reason I’m telling you this is because when I picked up my copy of Better Homes & Gardens Menus in Minutes, it reminded me of the old Richard Simmons’ Deal-A-Meal weight loss system from the 1980s. Just for grins, I checked Amazon to see if any were still available. I guess the term “collector’s edition” would apply here, as there are three copies for sale. The new one is listed for $2,300 while the two used copies are listed at $3,099. I guess I should’ve kept the one I had when I was a kid, it’d be worth a fortune today!
The Better Homes & Gardens Menus in Minutes cookbook reminds me of that system because it’s a mix-and-match cookbook. The top 2/3 of each page list an entree while the bottom 1/3 of the page lists either a side dish or a dessert. The pages are cut at the 2/3 point, so you can flip the pages independently! It’s kind of a cool setup. It’s also got the best of all possible worlds with a hardbound cover encasing the entire book but the pages are spiral bound on the inside. The spiral binding doesn’t catch on things and their doesn’t get all gunky in the kitchen but the pages turn really easily and the book lays flat. Those are huge advantages when I’m cooking!
There are nearly 180 pages of recipes, but because of the split format this translates to a lot more recipes that just 180. Because the side dishes and desserts are on pages of 1/3 size they often take up both sides of a page. To be fair, I didn’t count the recipes, but there are a load of them!
The recipes themselves are what I call regular, everyday recipes. That is, they use everyday ingredients that normal people have at home. If you don’t have them, they’re the kind of ingredients easily found in the store. There’s nothing exotic or off the beaten path. To make the recipes even better, each one has a relatively small number of ingredients so preparing them is easy-peasy.
While there are lots of beef, chicken, and pork recipes, there are also a load of seafood recipes. If you’re a seafood lover, this is a must have cookbook! But if you don’t like seafood, there are plenty of other recipes you’ll enjoy!
The edges of the pages are color coded to delineate the sections. This is fairly common in cookbooks. What makes this approach genius is the location of the written descriptions of the color’s meaning on the backs of the pages. If you flip the pages from the back to the front, can seem them clearly. I found myself using the back-to-front flipping/searching a lot more because of this. It was a pretty neat approach to recipe spelunking!
The upper and lower pages also have the page numbers printed on them. This was another little touch that makes the Better Homes & Gardens Menus in Minutes cookbook a pleasure to use. During meal planning I was able to make a list of Entree + Side + Dessert pages in the format 150/64/181 and then have those pages ready to go when it was time to start the food prep. I tried tagging the pages with Post-It Page Markers, but they kept getting caught because of the split-page design.
It’s not all sunshine…
There were a few things that gave me pause with this cookbook. None of them were showstoppers, but among the cons were:
- Recipe flavoring is quite varied, some are spicy many are too bland. For a seasoned cook (see what I did there…the Dad jokes just never stop!) this isn’t a huge problem, since you’ll be able to spice up the recipes easily. But for a newbie in the kitchen, these recipes may be a little disappointing.
- The time estimates seem to be awfully aggressive, most took me about 25% longer to actually prepare. Again, this is simply something you have to get used to. I’ve begun putting a note on the front of my cookbooks that warn me when the times seem off. It’s kind of like when you’re looking to buy shoes online and the description says “fits to size, fits snug, fits loose”. Same idea…your 25 minutes of cooking may not be the same as mine.
- The split pages of the book make it a little difficult to browse the entrees, since the pages tend to catch on the lower parts. I found myself having to lay the book on the table to flip the pages easily. I tried to use the book on my lap, but it was pretty much a no-go.
- The recipes are very compact because of the nature of the split pages. The prose format of the directions make it a bit difficult to follow along when you are cooking. I found myself getting lost within the recipes during cooking a lot more than was comfortable.
- The Index and Metric conversion pages at the back of the book are great, but since they’re not split page I kept getting caught on them when trying to flip through the sides/desserts recipes. It would have been awesome if these pages had been split like the rest of the book.
The Bottom Line
Overall, this is a great cookbook and I would highly recommend the Better Homes & Gardens Menus in Minutes for any cookbook library. It’s well-suited to both new and experienced cooks, with the one caveat that you may have to add a bit of your favorite flavoring to some of the entrees. The price for a new copy on Amazon is just $4.98 so we’re not talking a huge investment for a couple hundred recipes. The 2/3+1/3 formatting of the pages makes this cookbook much more usable than most other cookbooks out there.
The other two shining features of the cookbook are the amazing Timesaving Tips in the front of the book. These include sections on getting organized, cooking smart, kitchen gadgets and appliances, cleanup shortcuts, and step-saving ingredients. Frankly, this section is probably worth the cost of the entire cookbook! There’s more packed into these 7 pages than you’re going to find in half a day’s searching on Google.
The second feature is the Index in the back of the cookbook. While most cookbooks have an index, they are often pretty weak. This Index does a great job of sorting by all the important ingredients, so when I wanted to find a recipe that used Mangoes, I was able to find all of them. Same for Mushrooms. Since the recipes are scattered throughout the various sections the Index was a life-saver when I wanted to find something specific.
I highly recommend this book with no hesitation. Where there were some things that gave me pause, remember that I’ve got hundreds of cookbooks in my library…so I’m kind of a cookbook snob. If it says anything about the usefulness of this cookbook in my Hectic Kitchen, I had to be very careful which pages I used for the photos for this post because so many of them have food stains. That’s the mark of a truly usable cookbook. If it’s got splatters on it from cooking…I’m really using it!
As a gift for a loved one you can’t go wrong with this cookbook. And if you want to treat yourself…the Better Homes & Gardens Menus in Minutes cookbook will definitely help you make it a great day in your kitchen!
