Who wouldn't like the gift of more time? You can shave a little time off your meal planning and preparation if you have one to three friends you work well with. The Big Cook gives the cook of the family the opportunity to stock pile nutritious meals so extra time can be spent elsewhere. No more staring into the chilly abyss of the fridge wondering what to throw together at the last minute; or worse, loading everyone up in the car to eat out.

The Big Cook is the shared love child of three professional moms: Deanna Siemens, BScN, a mother of three; Lorelei Thomas, B. Ed, M.Ed, a mother of four; and Joanne Smith, B.Sc.H.Ec, RD, a mother of four. With this book they have proven that you can lead a busy life and still put good food on the table for the family.

The Big Cook details how to have an eight hour Saturday cook-off with their collection of tested and approved recipes. This recipe with a mission contains 24 beef recipes, 33 chicken recipes and 16 pork recipes. Depending on how many friends you involve, they recommend a maximum of four including yourself (the book also works for one cook), you can have 200 meals between you ready to store in your freezer. The easy to read instructions provide an ingredient breakdown for 1 meal, 4 meal, 6 meal or 8 meal with one meal feeding 4 - 6 people. A smaller family just means the opportunity for lunch leftovers. The appendix in the back gives a sample four friend cook off, complete with grocery list, to get foodie cooks through the first attempt.

The book is divided into three easy to read sections based on main meat ingredient. Each recipe offers methods for preparation, hints and serving suggestions. An appendix gives a nutritional breakdown of calories, fat, sodium, carbs and protein. The Big Cook has a coil center so the book will open flat. And $1 from each book sale will be donated to "Food for the Hungry" and "World Compassion".

I highly recommend The Big Cook. It saves time, it saves money and most of all it saves the hassle of what to cook. If you have a big family, a large freezer for storage and are looking for nutritional no fuss recipes then you must add this book to your recipe cupboard. My only complaint is that I would have liked a section on meatless dishes. You may never use another book again.

The Big Cook can be ordered from the official Big Cook website.