Out of the family cooking chaos - can this book help?
17.9.2025
Translation: machine translated
Pictures: Anna Sandner
Cooking for the whole family is exhausting. There is usually a lack of time, inspiration and options that satisfy all Family members. Can the recipe book from GU-Verlag help?
Like many others, I am faced with the daily question «What should I cook today?». For an answer that will help for more than one day, I took a close look at the market for family cookery guides - and picked out «SOS Family Kitchen» for the acid test. With the «Key Facts Family Kitchen» (the introductory section of the guide) in mind, I put together a weekly plan from the recipe collection and used my family as guinea pigs.
It's important to us that everyone likes it, that it doesn't get boring, that it's easy to implement in everyday life and that the recipes have the right nutrients.
I want that too! And I hope that the two authors keep their promises.
Basic rules and practical tips: Well-known facts brought to the point
After almost a decade of cooking for three very different flavours, I'm certainly no longer a novice. I still regularly despair at the task and hope for new tips with every cookery book. In this guide, I find a manageable introduction (12 pages) that gets to the heart of everything relevant.
I didn't discover anything really surprising. Nevertheless, it is a good introduction to remind me of the most important points: Good planning, some colour on the plate and variety are crucial for success. So far so familiar.
However, I have failed miserably at some of these tips on several occasions. For example: even if I arrange radishes and kohlrabi as a face, the unloved raw vegetables are still spurned. nd if I offer broccoli as mini trees, no one but me eats it with pleasure.
The weekly plan is set: quick and headache-free
The enjoyable part starts with choosing the recipes for the test week. No long pondering, instead we can choose from the suggested recipes as the mood takes us. The recipes are divided into:
- clever one pots,
- Vegetables galore for young and old,
- quick and easy dishes (I'm particularly hoping for these)
- pimp your ready-made dough and
- our favourite classics.
Each recipe is accompanied by a preparation time, symbols for specialities such as lactose-free or gluten-free, a list of ingredients, cooking instructions and an appealing picture.
We opt for a colourful mix: a one-sheet pasta with meatballs (15 minutes preparation, 35 minutes baking time), a creamy chicken curry with rice, quinoa wraps with vegetables and quick bowls such as tofu mango or falafel salad. The pea and chickpea dumplings and a herb and parmesan schnitzel also make it onto our menu. So everything is included, from quick meals to more elaborate classics.
With the weekly plan ready, the shopping list is quickly made. And so I start the well-planned week of meals full of hope.
Extensive variety: every beginning is difficult
Planning ahead for the whole week has decisive advantages: I don't have to think about what's going to be on the table every day and, if in doubt, buy the necessary ingredients beforehand. But if I hadn't realised this from the very beginning of my cooking career, we would probably have starved a long time ago. So nothing new - but recommended to anyone who has to cook for a family.
The problem here is that the dishes are all more or less new to me and so the first preparation takes longer than with some of the more elaborate dishes that are part of my basic repertoire. That's the price I pay for more variety on the menu in the beginning. If some of the dishes make it onto the family recipe list, I'm sure this will soon become unnecessary thanks to practice.
Culinary success with variations
Nevertheless, the test week is a challenge. Instead of cooking the usual dishes on autopilot, I had to try something new every day. But: the effort was worth it and is an investment in the future.
My two test eaters and I got our money's worth and a few of the new dishes will certainly find their way onto our dining table more often. I had to make a few slight changes to the recipes. For example, I generally use meat alternatives more often so that, as a vegetarian, I don't just get to enjoy half the meal. I also often have to use substitutes for dairy products. Which is one of the great advantages of fresh and home cooking: I can easily vary the ingredients as needed, as the mood takes me.
Our favourite ended up being the herb parmesan schnitzel, which in my case consisted of celery instead of meat. Even though it doesn't fall into my favourite category of quick meals with a preparation time of theoretically 35 minutes (and actually more like 50 minutes), it has earned itself a secure place on our meal plan.
In a nutshell
Creative and everyday inspiration for the family table
"SOS Family Kitchen" is a good everyday helper with valid tips and tricks that make cooking for the whole family efficient and easy on the nerves. The recipes are varied and easy to adapt to your own needs. The pictures make you want to eat healthy food. Positive: The ingredients are varied, but not exotic - new things are created from familiar ingredients. The symbols for the specialities in the recipe made it easier for me to choose. As we have both a lactose intolerance and a vegetarian diet, this information helped me at a glance without having to go through all the ingredients every time.
Pro
- appealing design that makes you want to cook
- Varied, easy-to-cook recipes
- Clear introductory section with helpful tips
Header image: Anna Sandner
Anna Sandner
Senior Editor
Anna.Sandner@galaxus.deScience editor and biologist. I love animals and am fascinated by plants, their abilities and everything you can do with them. That's why my favourite place is always outside - somewhere in nature, preferably in my wild garden.
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