Great cookbook for college students, recent grads or busy parents. I found this to be easy to utilize and had some amazing recipes that I love making on a busy night!

I was surprised by how good this cookbook is, considering most aimed at college students are more gimmick than substance. It’s too bad it didn’t exist during my college years, as I would’ve loved to know about so many options that weren’t ramen or boxed noodle mixes. It could also be helpful to those in temporary or economy type housing that have, at best, a kitchenette.

I feel like this book would be better targeted toward young adults in general, or teens than college students. The recipes were pretty simple and I loved that, and maybe I just had a completely different college experience but this was the type of food that WAS available in the mandatory-with-tuition dining hall when I lived on campus. They made stir fry’s and fajitas and had a sandwich and salad bar so you could pretty much only make this kind of stuff for yourself. BUT this would have been GREAT for when I first got married after college and had two young working adults, both too busy to cook properly and so very broke. Or even years prior when most teens are learning to cook. Other than the missed target audience (maybe not everyone’s school was like that though…), it was still pretty good and I always like having actual cookbooks versus something like an online source since social media tends to be reeeeeeeally out of touch with how poor young adults ACTUALLY live. (Not everyone is an influencer making ridiculous amounts of money and pretending to live cheap…)

I received an ARC, but my opinions are all mine.

I wish I had this cookbook when I was in college! I really enjoyed it and heck I will be using some of these recipes now and I am not in college. I definitely think this would be a great gift for a freshman going to college because truly who wants Ramen all the time!?

Unfortunately although this book shows that I downloaded it I can’t open it. From the other reviews it looked like I would have enjoyed it!

I am really impressed! This cookbook is a fantastic introduction to college students (its target audience) and other young adults looking to start cooking. The "Healthy, Quick & Easy College Cookbook" is divided into eight sections starting with a helpful introduction to healthy eating and food preparation basics. The recipes included are basic and low-ingredient, with a focus on being convenient and accessible. I liked the tips included for each recipe, which ranged from nutrition details, ideas to mix it up, and information on how to make a recipe ahead of time. This easy college cookbook also includes a number of vegetarian options and specifically tags "dorm friendly" recipes.

The "Healthy, Quick & Easy College Cookbook" is definitely a recipe collection geared for beginners, but more experienced home cooks will also find some inspiration. A few recipes that drew my attention include: cran-feta spinach salad, frozen cinnamon latte, roasted red pepper dip, and no-bake cookie dough energy bites.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

3.5 Stars

Healthy, Quick & Easy College Cookbook by Dana Angelo White is a book of recipes for those with limited experience in the kitchen. There is a great reference guide at the beginning that is quite useful, but much of the book involves basic recipes and techniques. The layout and design is easy to follow, but might not be useful to those with cooking experience.

What really stands out for me in this book is the exhaustive list of pantry items and kitchen implements to kick-start a new chef. Many of the items are found easily enough and will prove useful for any student who has a desire to cook for themselves. There are ideas for students who live on or off campus, which is a really useful distinction.

❀ BASIC RECIPES

However, in my opinion, many of the recipes in the book are very basic. Anyone who has a small amount of experience cooking for themselves won’t find many new ideas for healthy eating in this cookbook. It would actually be a perfect book for older children with it’s simple recipes and structure. For example, there is a recipe for nachos in the book that consists of tossing a few ingredients in the pan and heating. Not exactly something that needs to be spelled out, if you ask me.

❀ HEALTHY MEAL IDEAS

That being said, the recipes are definitely quick and healthy. There are a few ideas for saving time, but I am not sure that many college students will take the time to make their own peanut butter cups and fruit leather. There are definitely a lot of recipes to choose from and will give inspiration for anyone struggling for meal ideas.

THE CONTENTS OF HEALTHY, QUICK & EASY COLLEGE COOKBOOK:

Getting Started
Breakfasts That Don’t Come From a Bag
Simple Soups and Salada
Sandwiches, Wraps, and Paninis
Main Dishes Even Mom Would Love
Satisfying Snacks
Sweet Treats You’ll Have to Hide From Your Roommates
Late Night Cravings Menu

❀ A GREAT STARTER BOOK

Healthy, Quick & Easy College Cookbook is a great starter book of recipes for anyone with limited kitchen experience. The recipes are simple and the instructions are clear. It has an especially useful guide to stocking a college kitchen, which makes this a good resource for students.

Thank you to the publisher, netgalley, and the author for a copy of this cookbook in exchange for honest feedback. I thought this book had a great range of recipes, high quality photography, and a good set of ideas that were appropriate for college-going students. I also liked that health was part of the theme, but it didn't assume that students were able to get too many ingredients that may not be available on campus etc. Very nice.

Most of us have heard horror stories about what students ate while getting their college degrees. This always included lots of ramen, fast food, and junk food. Dana Angelo White, a registered dietitian, certified athletic trainer, and nutrition and fitness consultant, is the author of an excellent cookbook, Healthy, Quick & Easy College Cookbook: 100 Simple, Budget-Friendly Recipes to Satisfy Your Campus Cravings which has the ability to make college students into healthy-eaters. While most shun the label “healthy,” there are enough dishes in this cookbook to change their minds. White actually shows that “healthy” can be delicious. This cookbook includes dishes that real people, including students, actually will want to eat.

In addition to mouthwatering recipes, there are chapters on healthy eating 101, stocking an off-campus or dorm kitchen, as well as information on shopping and saving money.

Trendy dishes like Avocado Toast and Overnight Oats are included, as well as smoothies and granola. Ramen is even included in the form of a yummy salad, and other salads include healthy grains and healthy ingredients without taking away from the flavor. The sandwiches chapter is full of sandwiches that students will want to eat. It will make them skeptical about going to their fast food places. Easy main dishes such as turkey meatballs, tacos, and stuffed squash are included, as well as chili, shrimp fajitas, and pasta dishes. Snacks are a big thing when studying, and this cookbook has plenty that will appeal not only to students, but regular people. Easy desserts are plentiful, and there is an excellent chapter on Late Night Cravings.

All of the recipes are easy so that students don’t need to take any more time to prepare good meals than they would spend going out for fast food. This book has excellent photographs, and the recipes are easy to follow, whether the student has advanced or beginning cooking skills.

This cookbook would be a good gift for your favorite college student, but the recipes will appeal to everyone.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

With a daughter in college and one on the way in a couple of years, I found this book to be a helpful guide to eating healthy at college. Many of the recipes were simple but delicious and appealed to my daughters. Also, the cookware required to prepare the meals was not fancy or out of the ordinary. This cookbook is a good choice to get kids on the right track of making better eating choices and would make a great graduation gift.

I think this would be a really great book to get someone for HS graduation, even if they aren't planning on going to College. I would definitely use this all the time if I had the physical cookbook, and I'll probably make quite a few of these recipes anyway. I really like the first chapter about planning and stocking small spaces and meals. I think some of these would be super hard to make in a dorm room, but they all sound really tasty.

Starts out with good intro on eating healthy, how your body stores energy from food, and how to snack. Also gives what cooking items are needed for both in a dorm and off campus. (Recipes designate dorm safe through the book). In the dorm it’s so tricky because space is very limited, time is limited, and grocery runs are limited. I would not have been able to make meals ahead of time and store them along with perishable ingredients in a tiny fridge, nor go to the grocery store to buy everything (even if I had the money). Also, cereal marshmallow treats can absolutely be done in the microwave, dorm friendly for sure. Maybe the key is including roommates so you can share duties and cost! Off campus students may benefit most from this book.Actually, I feel like I could probably benefit from this book even more now! There is a ‘pineapple whip’ recipe (hello Disney people)!!! I would definitely get it for a college student willing to put in the work to be healthier, or anyone looking for quick and easy. I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving a free copy.

Love the simplistic cover and the idea definitely caught my eye. I wanted a peek to see if it may have some recipes I wished I’d had in my college years.

What did I like? I’ll be honest in my college years I wouldn’t have ate any of these recipes. I barely ate due to food allergies. Years later though this is my style of eating. I’ve learned how to adapt many recipes to fit my allergies. This cookbook does itself injustice by labeling itself for college kids.

Would I recommend or buy? I lived in a dorm, no kitchen with dining hall food and takeout. Actually buying food was a luxury we didn’t have. Apparently my college years were spent poorer than everyone else. I’m not sure this cookbook is that realistic. I attended college at 16 years old so this might have been beyond realistic for me or people like me.

I received a complimentary copy to read and voluntarily left a review.

The recipes in this book are super simple and easy to follow and would have been perfect for me when I was in college. I had little to no cooking skills when I went off to college and this book would have really come in handy for equipping me with the skills and knowledge necessary to survive and not eat total garbage.

I wish I had this cookbook when I was in college. This book is a wonderful way to learn how to create balanced meals for yourself without getting overwhelmed or wasting too much time in the kitchen. I use this cookbook for inspiration when I need to make a quick meal and don't want to order takeout. Fresh and filling! Thank you to NetGalley and DK and Alpha for a copy of this audiobook for an honest review.

Great cookbook for the younger crowd. It’s easy to use and definitely would be a good addition to a young persons bookshelf.

Reviewed: June 8, 2021
Pub Date: July 13, 2021

I love this cookbook. The recipes were so easy to follow and the ingredients were inexpensive. I will be buying this for all of my students who are going off to college!

A super easy and quick cookbook with some great recipes! Where was this when I was living in a dorm? I loved the variety of recipes and the very helpful tips.

Healthy, Quick & Easy College Cookbook is an accessible and attractively presented cookbook with recipes by Dana Angelo White. Due out 13th July 2021 from Penguin Random House on their DK imprint, it's 160 pages and will be available in paperback format.

This is a basic, useful, and versatile recipe collection along with tutorials for setting up a kitchen, pantry, utensils lists, and more. The introduction (~15%) covers basic kitchen tools and procedures as well as background info on maximizing efficiency (and money) when shopping and eating healthy on a budget.

The following chapters contain the recipes grouped roughly thematically: breakfasts, soups & salads, sandwiches wraps & panini, main dishes, snacks, desserts, and late night cravings. There are 100 recipes included, but most are very versatile and lend themselves well to variations and different presentations.

The recipes themselves are formatted with an introduction and background, ingredients listed bullet style in a sidebar (US standard measures, and metric equivalents in parentheses, yay!), and step by step instructions. Alternative presentations, tips, and special definitions are provided in highlighted text bars at the end of the instructions. Nutritional info is included in a footer and contains calories, fat, saturated fat, carbs, and protein (in grams). Many of the recipes are vegetarian friendly with an emphasis on plant based ingredients, but not all. The vegetarian/vegan friendly recipes are mostly not specified or marked out. I would say that nearly all the recipes in the book can easily be adapted to be vegan friendly if desired.

Almost all of the ingredients are easily sourced at any moderately well stocked grocery store. Some few ingredients might be more easily found at a health food or international food grocery, but there's nothing that will be very difficult to find.

One of the standouts of this collection is the photography. The food is beautifully styled, clearly photographed, and serving suggestions are attractive and appropriate. Roughly a third of the recipes have pictures.

The book includes a cross-referenced index with recipes listed, but no ingredients (broccoli or avocado for example) are listed, so finding recipes based on items on-hand will be more of a challenge. This would be a good selection for folks newly living on their own as the recipes are especially beginner friendly and require little in the way of exotic ingredients or tools/supplies.

Five stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Thanks to NetGalley for a review copy of this cookbook!
This was interesting, had lots of photos. I have three college students/young adults, however, and few of them need 8 servings of something . . .I was kind of hoping more of this was for one or two people. Good concept though, and I like the way healthier food was made pretty fast and easy.