So Good: Food you want to eat, designed by a nutritionist (Emily English)

I cannot fault anything with this book. As you can see I’ve made a lot of the meals so far. After buying the Bored of Lunch series (which is pretty hard to live up to), I’ve been sceptical about buying other recipe books. However, I’ve been following Emily on Instagram for a while and some of her recipes look “so good”, so thought I’d give the book a try. I preordered the book when it was on offer, so didn’t pay more than £12 for it, which is exceptional value for money. Since I’ve received this book, I’ve cooked multiple recipes each week, some for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The recipes are very easy to prepare and are delicious. (I usually have a tired toddler and a demanding 5 year old causing absolute chaos whilst I’m cooking dinner, so preparation needs to be simple and it very much is. I’ve found, sometimes nutritionally balanced recipes can be boring and lacking in flavour, this is not one of those books. Everything I’ve made has tasted INCREDIBLE. Most of the ingredients she uses are easy to find in the supermarket (Tescos, Morrisons, Lidl - especially for microwave quinoa), pricier ingredients are used sparingly and Emily makes sure you use those elsewhere too, so they’re not wasted. I’ve been able to use multiple ingredients across multiple dishes, which has meant it has not been costly to recreate these meals. Additionally, Emily provides advice on meal preparation and the instructions on how to store and reheat prepped items (which is amazing for me because I’m never too sure on reheating). The recipes are easy to prepare with no complicated instructions or skills required. I like that the lunch recipes are for one person - this has been amazing for me making lunches just for me, where as some recipe books, lunches are feeding 50 people and takes my entire lunch break to prep. Many of the recipes can be easily adapted (e.g. the sea bass orzo I've made with chicken because I couldn’t get sea bass from the shop that week - I don’t see why you couldn’t put in a vegetarian alternative to many of these recipes). Also, the recipes in this book are nutritionally balanced, this has meant, as someone who exercises a great deal, I've been able to adequately fuel myself, staying fuller for longer and upping my protein intake. I’ve found I’ve lost weight and have become more toned, less bloating etc. These recipes do take a little time in cutting up veg, but this has changed my life and if I have to spend 10 minutes cutting up veg, I really don’t mind. I’ve learnt new tips regarding seasonings on my meals and there’s even advice and a template for meal prepping - I’ve since copied this plan, printed my own and use this each week for planning meals in our house. My husband, who is not an adventurous cook, has been able to easily follow some of the recipes in here. Honestly, this might be my new favourite recipe book. I absolutely love it. Everyone NEEDS this book in their kitchen; it is AMAZING.

I bought both of Emily’s books, and I’m working my way through making all the recipes but so far really enjoying them all! They really do taste so good! They are all pretty easy to make, once you’ve bought some major flavour ingredients (capers, sundried tomatoes, anchovies, lemons etc), these then pop up throughout the recipes so they keep being used but they really do elevate the flavours (and there are some combinations which I wouldn’t have put together, but they go amazingly well together). I’ve got other cook books which focus on the ‘delicious/comfort food’, but I actually love that these are packed with fruit, veg, nuts/seeds, which feels a lot more balanced and like I can actually eat these everyday of the week. I appreciate others might feel like these are a bit basic, but personally I like that all of these recipes feel like I could make them in the weekday; quick, nutritious and yummy. The only note for me is that the lunch recipes seem to be more of recipes for people working from home (although there are some for taking into work). Saying that I’ve made some for a smaller dinner too so no harm done. I’ll be buying the books again as gifts so definitely recommend!

The best part about this book is that although they’re healthy recipes, there aren’t too many faffy ingredients and once you’ve invested in a few store cupboard items (such as capers for example which feature quite heavily) you begin to find that you don’t need to go to the shop for too many fresh ingredients to then make the dishes. Plus the store cupboard ingredients are repeated quite a lot in the recipes so you don’t end up having a partly used pot of something in the cupboard for the next 5 years. Another thing I love is that most of the recipes are batch cook-able. Therefore at the start of the week I usually make my lunch plus an extra 3 portions for the rest of the week (pictures attached) and as well as cutting right back on ultra processed food I get a much wider variety of plants in my diet/gut and it saves me money. Plus, the majority of the recipes are delicious, I have frequently found myself coming back to a certain recipe just to make the dressing for another dish I’m making. Since using this for my lunches, as well as having home cooked dinners I’ve noticed that I rarely struggle to hit my 30 different plants per week which seems to be recommended more recently for gut health. The book provides a little information on nutrition & gut health to begin, followed by 20 breakfast recipes, 19 lunch recipes, 13 dinner recipes, 9 sweet recipes and 10 snack recipes. I give it 4 stars only because I’d like to see more snack recipes, a vegetarian section (I like to control meat consumption by only having it for my evening meal) and perhaps more dinner recipes. 20 breakfast recipes seems a little bit of a waste as I only ever have a very simple breakfast like most people. There aren’t many of the snack recipes that are overly convenient for taking out and about which is something I really hoped for with this book as snacks are where I always fall down with non-nutritious and processed food choices. Hope this helps someone!

I’ve been so excited to receive this after following Em on socials for so long and it has not disappointed. There are SO many recipes that we’ve never seen on instagram. The recipes aren’t overly elaborate with ingredients you can’t find or aren’t likely to have at home, also the quick protein measurements by each one are super helpful. The book is amazing quality and isn’t overly full with pictures - perfect balance!

I have been following Emily on Instagram for a while now and was testing some of her recipes. As they were all amazing I decided to try her book and what should I say? It was probably the best buying decision I've ever made. All of the recipes in the book are so easy and fast to make, require mostly stuff that you already have in your pantry or in your fridge and are nutritious and delicious! I use it almost every day for me and my family. Great feeling to provide them with delicious and healthy meals. And the best is that it is so easy to make adjustments. I am a pescetarian, my husband's a meat lover but I can easily make two equally delicious versions just by switching the protein. There are even suggestions for different proteins you could use . Emily thank you for this amazing book, I already pre-ordered Live to Eat. Can't wait 😉

Loved the book and most of the recipes are nice . One of the healthy books i liked.

My sister loves this. don’t understand but women seem to enjoy this “Emily English”

I have made 4 recipes from this book so far and so far, SO GOOD. I really have been loving them and how they are not only nutritious but really tasty. I am really happy with it and will continue to make more recipes. I would buy another book of hers if she comes out with another one.