Feature image credit: Murdoch Books
We’re officially living in an era where just about everyone is busy. So recipe books that cater to this demographic (which, again, is basically everyone) and aim to make life a little less hectic—at least in the kitchen—are much needed. Healthy Meals for Busy People doesn’t just provide recipe inspo, but is almost like a guidebook for making cooking less stressful and time-consuming, and busy people will love it!
There’s a wide range of meals here, most of them quick, and all of them pretty straightforward. The book starts with a section on managing busy schedules before delving into nutrition, which is not surprising since author Leah Itsines created the Balanced and Realistic Eating Guide (BARE) and works with a team of practicing dietitians. The book includes a guide on building a busy meal from a nutrition standpoint, including a balance of vegetables, protein, and grains, along with detailing the basics to stock in your pantry and fridge. These are pretty easy to access: spinach and fresh veggies, lemons and limes, eggs, feta, sauces, protein bars, spices, and rice and flour in bulk. Itsines also provides tips on freezing food and how long certain ingredients can be frozen for, along with hints about not getting overwhelmed by meal prep. One of her most helpful tricks is breaking down meal prepping tasks over the weekend, so you’re not stuck doing everything at once.
The recipes themselves are categorised into five sections, with many of them inspired by popular meals that have gone viral on social media, from beef burger bowls to tomato and feta pasta sauce. The Express Dinners chapter provides many healthy takes on traditional comfort foods, like pesto pasta salad and Swedish meatballs. Then there are One Pot Meals, like vodka pasta and coconut chicken rice. Perhaps the most useful chapter for busy readers is One Meal Into Many, which features base recipes with leftovers that can be adapted to new dishes. For example, Itsines recommends turning chicken schnitzels into burgers, rice bowls, and a classic parmi. This is a particularly good approach for those cooking for just one person, who will often have leftovers and get stuck eating the same meals on repeat.
In the Take Me to Work chapter, there are delights like Mexican chicken bowls and garlic chorizo pasta. Finally, Itsines has also included more time-consuming recipes, like roast lamb yiros and prawn dumplings, in Got Time? I Got You. The collection is a really good resource if you value convenience, nutrition, simplicity, and variety in your cooking, but not at the cost of flavour.
Herby Roast Chicken With Rosemary And Lemon (page 95)
Everyone needs a good roast chicken recipe for a simple dish that’s perfect for stress-free entertaining, and this Herby Roast Chicken with Rosemary and Lemon is up there with the best. It came out quite tender, with the butter adding a nice flavour. If you like a flavour explosion, you could add even more herbs to infuse as the chicken is roasting. This was an easy recipe to follow, and as the author suggests, you could prep it ahead of time by making the butter in advance. The majority of the process was seamless, other than the butter that seemed to slide off the chicken rather than coating the skin evenly. However, it could be that the butter I used was still a little too cold!
Beef And Cashew Stir-Fry (page 30)
This recipe appears in the Express Dinners section, so it wasn’t a surprise that it was a speedy meal. The best thing about it, other than the ease of making it, is the versatility; the recipe calls for 4 cups of whatever veggies you like. I possibly went a little overboard here, using baby corn, carrot, snap peas, broccoli, cabbage, and mushrooms, and the added water content of the extra veg may have diluted some of the flavour of the sauce. But that’s easily fixed with a few extra sprinkles of soy and oyster sauce! The cashews were an especially nice touch in terms of flavour dimensions, and while I made mine with Hokkien noodles, you could just as easily serve it with rice.
Chilli Garlic Prawns (page 131)
There are quite a few prawn recipes in Healthy Meals for Busy People, and this one is perfect for a very quick and easy dinner. As long as you buy the prawns deshelled and deveined, it’s literally one you can whip up in seconds once you’ve gathered your ingredients. The olive oil, parsley, and garlic pull most of the weight in this dish, complementing the buttery taste of the prawns. You can serve them with anything from rice to potatoes, but they’re enough on their own. This recipe will definitely become a go-to during summer!
Reviewed by Vanessa Elle
Instagram: @vanessaellewrites
The views expressed in this review belong to the author and not Glam Adelaide, its affiliates, or employees.
Distributed by: Murdoch Books
Released: September 2026
RRP: $39.99
An expansive collection of simple, delicious recipes, perfect for taking the stress out of cooking.
