A great meal prep cookbook for anyone who has (or lives with someone with) autoimmune issues. I have read and reviewed a copy of this book through NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I found this to be a useful and informative introduction to the AIP protocol. Despite the restrictive nature of this protocol this book demonstrates lists of variety and stresses the advantages of being prepared and flexible with meal preparation. Would recommend to anyone looking to learn more about AIP and interested in adapting their current diet to help with auto immune symptoms.

I found this book informative and useful. Not all of the options where to my liking but that is to be expected. Overall this was a worthwhile book.

This book can help set you up with AIP, but the plan has you eating the same things several days in a row. While it says you get 10 weeks of plans, most of the weeks have the same food over and over for a full week. If you want variety you will have to mix and match and create your own meal plans. The recipes are easy to follow and do not require any crazy ingredients. Overall there were a few recipes that I really enjoyed, but I did not love everything in the book, but I never do in most cookbooks.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishing house for the advance copy of this book.

This book provided great information! I enjoyed many of the recipes. I usually meal prep, so I got a few new ideas for meals. I played around a bit to make meal combos!

It feels so good when non-fiction books can tell you exactly what they’re all about by just paying attention to their cover. This is one of them. I requested an eArc last year, before I knew how handy it would be to plan meals for a week and avoid extra trips to the grocery store.

This is a great book for our current times, for those on the autoimmune protocol diet (AIP) or simply craving for yummy recipes that avoid carbs, dairy and other inflammatory ingredients, while embracing fruits, vegetables, meats, healthy fats, etc.

For those who don’t know what AIP is, the first chapter explains how it works, its benefits and methodology. It’s actually very simple. A couple of chapters are dedicated to guide your through your new journey of meal batch making: containers, ingredients, how to store, reheat or even defrost your meals successfully (not necessary but possible!).

There are 10 different meal plans in this book, each one designed to feed an adult for 5 days (breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack). They also have themes like “comfort food meal plan”, “one-pot meal plan”, “flavors of the world meal plan”, etc. Each plan will give you a full shopping list, instructions for batch cooking and, of course, delicious recipes. I only wish it had even more recipes to choose from and perhaps a 7-day meal plan version.

I really like the idea of cooking all meals needed for a week in one go and then forget about it for the rest of the week. Also, the possibility of freezing them could mean you can create batches for 10, 15 or more days!. This is specially appealing when you have an autoimmune disease that can leave you out of energy all of a sudden. Having your meals ready can give you one less thing to worry about, while making sure you are still eating healthy.

This is such a great approach perfect for newbie meal preppers, vegans, veggies and carnivores alike, as well as seasoned pros to prepping. It is designed for those struggling with autoimmune diseases, which seem to be on the rise, but is a healthy diet to follow even for those who don't suffer with any intolerances.
I am one of the aforementioned newbies, a non vegan but very occasional meat eater, having spent 9 years a vegetarian, I often lean towards meat free meals but love eating fish a few times a week. I am lucky that I don't currently suffer with any issues but have done in the past and I have friends and family who do, and we all know that diet plays a huge part in making us feel good.. or awful!!
I love how this book uses easy to follow instructions, it is easy to find the ideal recipes that you can make even a week in advance, some you can freeze, others don't even need refrigerating at all! I don't tend to take packed lunches to work, but I find that the recipes are useful for preparing dinners in bulk ahead of time. Even if you aren't planning to 'meal prep' per se, this is a great selection of recipes for dinners, lunches, even dinner parties. Of course you can easily change the amounts to suit you and your needs.
As part of my 2020 resolution to live more naturally - meaning more fresh cooking from scratch and home grown herbs, this little guide will be by my side!

Easy to navigate. I'm not sure I noticed any dietary difference in how I felt when consuming the food from teh recipes but they were delicious and easy to recreate

This book provides an absolute wealth of information for anyone who wants to follow the Autoimmune Protocol diet but is unable to cook fresh food on a daily basis. Here is everything you need – equipment, ingredient lists, meal plans and recipes – to batch cook some healthy and delicious meals that will help you to avoid nasty autoimmune flare-ups.

The recipes are, helpfully, organised by meal plan rather than by food type, which eliminates the need for searching and pulling together the week’s meals yourself.

First comes information on equipment; how to eliminate and reintroduce risky foods; which foods to include and exclude; and how to batch cook, freeze, store and reheat the foods presented. Then the meal plans start in Chapter 4 (p.37) and the first recipe is on p.41.

The meal plans are also usefully organised into sections as follows: comfort food; easy-peasy; low fodmap; low carb; coconut-free; flavours of the world; superbowl; one-pot; holidays; then finally some basic recipes. Each meal plan includes some form of sweet (healthy) treat, like a cake or dessert, as well as the main meals.

I suffer from a chronic illness that causes me to often feel fatigued and makes me struggle to make decisions. Not only does this approach help me by presenting me with everything I need in one easy-to-follow format, but it also aids my family in planning meals in advance that we can all eat and enjoy.

In terms of the health benefits, I cannot honestly say that my own personal condition has improved any after following AIP, but any diet that encourages you to eat a wide variety of fresh food is definitely going to benefit your overall health. The pictures here are clear, fresh-looking and appealing and reasonably achievable (which I don’t always find to be the case with cookbook photography!).

Definitely a cookbook to look out for if you are following an elimination diet and need a clear and comprehensive guide to AIP batch-cooking.


Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog

I'm giving this one a solid 3 stars. The meal prep information is useful and thorough, but some of the recipes include ingredients that will probably cause flare-ups in those with autoimmune issues different from the author's.

For someone who likes to meal prep like myself I was excited about this title. However a lot of the book had a lot of meat heavy dishes that didn't suit my needs. This is a great starting book if you are Keto or Paleo though!

Worth a browse for ideas if you or someone you cook for suffers with auto-immune problems. Easy to follow with clear instructions.

As someone who has an autoimmune disorder, I was excited to see this book come along. There are many things on the internet about the AI protocol diet, but the beauty of this book, is that all the information is in one place. I think the author does a great job of explaining the idea and reasoning behind the AIP diet as well as providing easy to follow meal ideas, instructions, and ingredient lists. She even includes ideas for storage. I very much appreciated the variety in options.

This cookbook and meal plan is exactly what I was looking for. I am new to AIP and it’s very overwhelming to to make so many changes. This book makes the changes seem easy and the recipes look delicious as well!

Great, easy recipes that are delicious.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

This was my first book by Sophie Van Tiggelen and i found it easy to read. The instructions are clear and easy to follow, i made a variety of meals without any difficulty. I found the recipies varied in taste, some were great, some average, nothing was bad, though this is just my personal taste. Over time i noticed myself sleeping better and having more energy so i've seen a benefit from trying these meals. Recommended.

Review uploaded to amazon.co.uk

The Autoimmune Protocol Meal Prep Cookbook explains the elimination / reintroduction diet in a way that is clear and concise. List are provided of things to eat and avoid, easily copied or memorized to carry with you when dining out. However the main purpose of this book is to cook in bulk food for the work week.

The books is laid out with easy to follow menus for the week, shopping lists, cooking tips, and food container suggestions. Anyone looking to eat healthy and having trouble packing their lunch should get this book even if you do not have an autoimmune condition.

Great pictures and easy to follow instructions make this book a must purchase for me. I have already added it to my Amazon wish list.

Tiggelen has a good, motivational, informative blog detailing her own experience with an autoimmune condition, and though she is no doctor, she has valuable advice there. This cookbook, however, is a disappointment for me. Unless you are rich, jobless, have all the time in the world to prepare meals just for yourself, in an industrial-sized huge kitchen, and are prepared to make food to last for 4-5 days which you can 're-heat' later, and like eating coconut milk/oil/butter/cream/sauce/flour in every meal, have an affinity for eating beef+pork+chicken meatball concoctions and sweet potato mashes daily, with loads of sea salt daily, then this is the recipe book for you. It gave me a headache and just reading through it increased my stress levels. Why or how can any one spend so much time making delicacies for just one person?!!! Food with similar ingredients over and over again, having the same taste again and again. It was ridiculous to read through it, frankly.

The bland pictures (in white backdrop) make the dishes look like food served in hospitals. The white tiles and table tops in Tiggelen's apparently large kitchen (as evidenced in her photograph at the end of the book) look like a hospital too.

Also, I am no doctor either, but apple cider vinegar and lemon inflames the gut. And palm oil is inflammatory too. AIP diet is not just about hashimoto thyroiditis (what Tiggelen has), it is a broad spectrum and this book would probably cause flares in people with lupus (SLE) symptoms.

The recipes (like the apple cake) are on her website so why should anyone buy this book instead of printing out from the blog?

I didn’t agree with some things stated in this book, and I didn’t feel that some ingredients used are even healthy. Only because something is healthier than something else doesn’t necessarily make it healthy. The overall message and a handful of recipes that I’ll try earn it a 3 stars from me.

The Autoimmune Protocol Meal Prep Cookbook has a lot of different themes going on: meal prep/planning, family friendly recipes, quick and easy, and autoimmune protocol (AIP) compliant. Released 22nd Oct by Quarto on their Fair Winds Press imprint, it's 192 pages and available in ebook and paperback formats.

Author editor Sophie Van Tiggelen is a foodie, blogger, recipe developer, and was diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis some years ago and in the meantime has written/blogged about AIP and anti-inflammatory foods and diets. Her writing style is upbeat and positive, encouraging and accessible. For readers who are struggling with a possibly overwhelming diagnosis, I imagine her 'you can do it' vibe will be quite welcome and reassuring.

The book has a logical format. Chapter 1 covers the background and benefits of the autoimmune protocol diet as well as a very general layman-accessible discussion of the mechanics of the diet itself including food lists and a good sidebar about adding flavor and variety to the meals. Chapters 2 & 3 cover meal prep and planning, making lists, batch cooking, food safety and storage. There is a lot of good advice in these chapters which are applicable to any meal prep and planning sessions, not just for the AIP. The author also includes some logical pointers about containers, ingredients, and supplies.

The meal plan chapters (there are 10 of them) include a surprisingly varied selection of weekly meal plans with different tastes and representing different world cuisines: Cuban, Italian, American, Asian fusion, and more. There are 2 meal plans included which are low-FODMAP compliant as well as some low-carb options.

The recipes have their ingredients listed bullet style in a sidebar. Measurements are given in US standard with metric measures in parentheses. Special tools and ingredients are also listed, along with yields and cooking directions. The ingredients are all easily sourced at any moderately well stocked grocery store.

There is also a chapter with recipes for basic ingredients such as bone broth, pestos, dressing, rice/grain alternatives, and more. The book has a resource list with links for further reading, short author bio, and index which includes all the recipes by name and by main ingredients.

The photography is sufficient; roughly 10% of the recipes are pictured. The photos which are included in the cookbook are well done, clear, appealing, and (for tutorial photos) easy to follow.

Well done. This book would make a great gift/housewarming for someone looking for AIP compliant recipes as well as fans of food prep planning / batch cooking.

Four stars.