The Best 30-Minute Recipe

Advertised as new. Two concerns: 1.) Arrived with bottom corners badly bent... most likely caused by their poor wrapping and happened during shipping. Book was put in packing envelope with no bubble wrap. I order many books on line, the only problems are from people who do not bubble wrap to protect books from damaged corners and possible moisture damage. Otherwise the book was very good. 2.) I also wrote about my concern a couple of weeks ago and never heard back. I wanted to give them a chance to reply before I posted negative feedback, but never heard from them. That is why I rated them 3 stars - badly damaged corners from poor wrapping and no response or effort to make things right after I took the time and effort to give them a chance to do so.

This has become a staple for us (and for my mother-in-law whenever she comes to visit!) -- with a 1yr old and two busy work schedules, we don't have much time to do the complicated, layered recipes that we usually love. But these recipes are really pretty doable in the 30min window they promise, and I've learned good shortcut techniques for other recipes too! What's nice is that they don't sacrifice on taste even as they come up with creative ways to cut down on the cooking time -- my daughter LOVES the skillet lasagna (and she's a picky eater!), and the mini-meatloaves are incredibly tasty! I probably have almost 50 cookbooks that I've bought and loved over the years, but this is the one we turn to 95% of the times these days.

I never really time myself when I cook but this book is great. You don't have to follow it word for word. The recipes are delicious and precise. I am now cooking roasted chicken breast and pan seared salmon for dinner... can't wait to try more. Great time saving methods.

I'm not a cook. I pretty much want the quickest and fastest method to achieve a reasonable result when I'm cooking for myself. When I bought the book, I hoped to have 30 minute meals. But some of the recipes call for preparations (such as actually cooking the meat before) and then slapping it all together in 30 mins for the actualy 'eating' time.

This isnt' a bad idea. But I had purchased this with the belief that I could do everything in the book in 30mins for a meal.

Other than that, it is a decent book and I found a few recipes I wouldn't mind trying out.

Don't buy this book if you avoid using a microwave oven. You can adapt your cooking, of course, but then it's no longer a 30-minute cookbook. Other than that, it has a lot of great time saving tips.