Book Review: Foil Pack Dinners: 100 Delicious, Quick-Prep Recipes for the Grill and Oven by Julia Rutland

Foil Pack Dinners: 100 Delicious, Quick-Prep Recipes for the Grill and Oven by Julia Rutland offers readers a variety of meals with less than an hour of cooking time. Steaming food in packets has been a tried and tested method of cooking that the French and Italians have used for generations. Perfect for grilling, campfire cooking, or making a quick meal in the oven, there’s absolutely no other cooking method out there that’s as fast, fun, mess-free, and versatile as foil packs. Recipes include Chicken Cordon Bleu, Pepperoni Cheese Bread, Louisiana-Style BBQ Shrimp, Black Bean Enchiladas, and Summer Squash Spirals with Ricotta and Basil. With recipes for both carnivores and vegetarians alike, this book includes a little something for everyone.

Foil Pack Dinners is a book that grabbed my attention easily. We have all been cooking more at home, and now that we are in the heat of summer using the grill or quick and easy options are priority. Getting to try something new and different, that I can still tailor to my family's taste is great too. I like that the author gave more detail about the different kinds of foil, and the logistics of folding, moving, and cooking in foil packets before getting to the recipes. I thought I would already know the majority of it, but I learned a great deal and it helped me have a much more enjoyable and successful experience when I started doing this more often. I found the recipes themselves to be very clear and easy to follow, and nicely varied and with plenty of room for personalization. There is a great deal of fresh produce and various spices used- so as always read through the recipes first to make sure you have all the called for ingredients- or something you would like to substitute. I am still finding random things missing from store shelves, so planning ahead and with specific recipes or possibilities in mind is important. I thought the recipes were well organized. I like that the metric conversion charts were included at the end of the book, and thought that the images used nicely represented the food described. 

Foil Pack Dinners is a well written and organized cookbook. I recommend giving it a look, but think that for myself it would be a library borrow rather than a purchase since I have no cookbook shelving space left.