Set menu plan..and is the Paleo Recipe Book helpful to buy?

[Irene]

I want to start the whole30 program...I purchased "It Starts With Food"...but have not read it yet.

Is there an actual menu plan available or is that in the book?  My problem will be figuring out what to make for meals.  I need to have a weekly meal plan to go by ..once I get further into the program maybe I can get creative and figure it out myself but in the beginning I will need help:) 

Should I purchase the Paleo Recipe Book? 

thank you to all for any insight or advice. 

[Tom Denham]

It Starts With Food shows you how to make many different meals, but does not offer them as a meal plan. You can make a meal plan with them. You should look at the recipes in the book before you buy another one.

[Roz Griffiths]

There are 100s of paleo recipe books out there. Very few of them will have recipes that are entirely whole30 compliant. If you want something close, then Melissa Joulwan's Well Fed & Well Fed 2 are about 99% whole30 approved.

[EchoDelta]

I suggest to read It Starts with Food first or, if you haven't already, download the checklists for the Whole 30. I have the Paleo Recipe Book. It contains 400+ recipes including a 2-month meal plan plus other files. The meal plan is basic but uses the recipes from the book. The recipe book is a good intro to Paleo but not every recipe is Whole 30 compliant. 

 

Whole 9 did a review of it here:  http://www.whole9life.com/2011/06/stm-paleo-recipe-book/

 

It will explain it better than I can  

[amberino21]

I've not read the whole book, bought any recipe books or really looked at any recipes...I found the material available on the whole 9 site to be enough for the program to make sense! I have the book, just not the time to read it yet

Your meals don't need to be complicated, they simply need to follow the template:

http://whole9life.com/book/ISWF-Meal-Planning-Template.pdf

If your meal consisted of some protein (eg steak, or a couple of chicken thighs, a tin of fish), and simple sides of a big salad with avocado, or steamed/roasted vegies covered in oil/ghee or mayo, you'd be set!

Keep it simple! Everyone recommends Tom's page for recipes and food ideas, check it out write your own meal plan before you start if you need one. Don't be afraid of eating the same meal a few times - it makes prep and planning a lot easier if you can do things in bulk and have meals ready to go.