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The Conscious Kitchen: A Beginner's Guide to Creating a Sustainable, No-Waste Kitchen for a Healthier Home and Planet
- GenresCookbooks
176 pages, Hardcover
Published October 22, 2024
12 people are currently reading
50 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
October 13, 2024
I am an avid environmentalist and founder of a local food surplus scheme, saving huge volumes of food from waste and distributing it to those in need in my local area, so this book had a huge appeal for me.
The thing that came across really strongly to me, and which I feel is really important, is the non-judgemental tone. The author is aware that absolute zero waste is impossible and encourages the reader to simply do their best.
There are some great ideas in terms of reducing waste by using every part of the food, storing and preserving effectively, buying locally and seasonally and composting.
Some simple and delicious recipes are included as well, which look really good!
4 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Immy Lucas and Quarto for an ARC in return for an honest review.
The thing that came across really strongly to me, and which I feel is really important, is the non-judgemental tone. The author is aware that absolute zero waste is impossible and encourages the reader to simply do their best.
There are some great ideas in terms of reducing waste by using every part of the food, storing and preserving effectively, buying locally and seasonally and composting.
Some simple and delicious recipes are included as well, which look really good!
4 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Immy Lucas and Quarto for an ARC in return for an honest review.
October 27, 2024
I really enjoyed this book! It's always good when small changes towards sustainability are accessible. I found the tone of this to be non-judgemental. As someone newer to sustainability, making baby steps by preparing meals with in-season foods is an easy first step.
There are sections for eating seasonally, reducing food waste, storage, and fermentation. I especially liked the explanation in the intro about what each common certification means. Plus, the foods by season include recipes for each time of year, broken down into sections.
While I'm not brave enough to pickle my own vegetables, I liked the straightforward section about it. The storage suggestions are extremely helpful, as someone who is constantly googling how to best store various vegetables to help them last longer. Each produce item is listed in alphabetical order with a storage suggestion printed next to it.
Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for my advanced digital copy!
There are sections for eating seasonally, reducing food waste, storage, and fermentation. I especially liked the explanation in the intro about what each common certification means. Plus, the foods by season include recipes for each time of year, broken down into sections.
While I'm not brave enough to pickle my own vegetables, I liked the straightforward section about it. The storage suggestions are extremely helpful, as someone who is constantly googling how to best store various vegetables to help them last longer. Each produce item is listed in alphabetical order with a storage suggestion printed next to it.
Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for my advanced digital copy!
November 12, 2024
I watch Immy on YouTube and was excited to hear of this book.
What a beautiful book!
I'm so proud!
Congratulations Immy!
What a beautiful book!
I'm so proud!
Congratulations Immy!
October 7, 2024
Immy Lucas of popular YouTube channel Sustainably Vegan empowers you to embrace seasonal, plant-based eating and other low-impact practices to create your own conscious kitchen.
We all want to make a difference in the fight against climate change. We all want to live on a healthier planet, have healthier homes, invest in a healthier future. But going fully zero-waste, living off-grid, or completely abandoning fossil fuels isn’t easy, affordable, or even possible for many people. For the average consumer who just wants to do a little better, where to begin?
For Immy Lucas, the answer is clear. Since our food system is one of the most high-impact, wasteful areas of modern life, the path to a more sustainable future starts in the kitchen. In The Conscious Kitchen, Immy provides you with the starting tools you need to create a more sustainable kitchen in your own home by rethinking the way you source, prepare, cook, store, and dispose of food.
Rooted in a strong foundation of seasonal, plant-based eating, the book is all about how small steps can have a big impact. How switching to a more seasonal way of eating, being a more considerate shopper, investing in traditional skills like pickling and fermenting, and considering alternative uses for food scraps and leftovers can help improve the health of your home and, ultimately, the health of the planet.
In The Conscious Kitchen, you’ll discover:
A guide to year-round seasonal eating with more than 30 plant-based recipes
Food preservation recipes and techniques based on traditional skills like canning, preserving, and fermenting food
Strategies and recipes for cooking with food scraps and leftovers
Ethical shopping and food sourcing guidelines
Easy food storage and organization hacks to help your stores last longer
An overview of composting techniques and how to use compost to start your first kitchen garden
And more!
Eminently practical, approachable, and ideal for beginners, The Conscious Kitchen is the perfect book for climate advocates, vegan cooks, homesteaders, zero-waste warriors, and anyone interested in taking their first steps into the world of more sustainable living.
My Take:
Although I am not familiar with Immy Lucas and am not a vegan, I am keen on reducing food waste, contributing to a healthier planet, and adding more meat-free options to my diet. The "take-aways" from this book caught my attention, and I can envision integrating this knowledge into my lifestyle. The book impressed me with its non-preachy tone, providing historical insights and practical advice for both the US and UK. It's also concise. For those interested in composting or utilizing vegetable and fruit peels, this book could be quite beneficial.
We all want to make a difference in the fight against climate change. We all want to live on a healthier planet, have healthier homes, invest in a healthier future. But going fully zero-waste, living off-grid, or completely abandoning fossil fuels isn’t easy, affordable, or even possible for many people. For the average consumer who just wants to do a little better, where to begin?
For Immy Lucas, the answer is clear. Since our food system is one of the most high-impact, wasteful areas of modern life, the path to a more sustainable future starts in the kitchen. In The Conscious Kitchen, Immy provides you with the starting tools you need to create a more sustainable kitchen in your own home by rethinking the way you source, prepare, cook, store, and dispose of food.
Rooted in a strong foundation of seasonal, plant-based eating, the book is all about how small steps can have a big impact. How switching to a more seasonal way of eating, being a more considerate shopper, investing in traditional skills like pickling and fermenting, and considering alternative uses for food scraps and leftovers can help improve the health of your home and, ultimately, the health of the planet.
In The Conscious Kitchen, you’ll discover:
A guide to year-round seasonal eating with more than 30 plant-based recipes
Food preservation recipes and techniques based on traditional skills like canning, preserving, and fermenting food
Strategies and recipes for cooking with food scraps and leftovers
Ethical shopping and food sourcing guidelines
Easy food storage and organization hacks to help your stores last longer
An overview of composting techniques and how to use compost to start your first kitchen garden
And more!
Eminently practical, approachable, and ideal for beginners, The Conscious Kitchen is the perfect book for climate advocates, vegan cooks, homesteaders, zero-waste warriors, and anyone interested in taking their first steps into the world of more sustainable living.
My Take:
Although I am not familiar with Immy Lucas and am not a vegan, I am keen on reducing food waste, contributing to a healthier planet, and adding more meat-free options to my diet. The "take-aways" from this book caught my attention, and I can envision integrating this knowledge into my lifestyle. The book impressed me with its non-preachy tone, providing historical insights and practical advice for both the US and UK. It's also concise. For those interested in composting or utilizing vegetable and fruit peels, this book could be quite beneficial.
June 19, 2025
I really enjoy Immy's YouTube channel, but this book was disappointing for many reasons, including:
- U.S.-forward spelling, food names and varieties, measurements, and oven temperatures. This is a jarring reading experience from a British author. Yes, U.K. measurements and temperatures are mentioned in brackets, but who really manages to find (or uses) 218 degrees Celcius on their oven?
- The writing felt more suitable to a blog than a book. There was a lot of repetition within paragraphs, inactive sentences, and some questionable spelling choices that trip up the reader (e.g. chiles instead of chilies).
- It needed better editing, there were mistakes (such as calling tomatoes a vegetable, or saying to take an eight of a mixture to make a ball and ending up with 9 to 10 balls), inconsistent headings (e.g. "Note" underneath most recipes but a random "Customisation tips" towards the end instead), and repetitive advice.
- The recipes varied from overly simple (tossing a few ingredients together) to needlessly complex (talking about stretching and folding a bread dough without clear instructions or visuals on how to do this) – with no real middle-ground.
- Not all recipes were accompanied by a photo, a real miss in a recipe-forward book.
2.5 stars.
- U.S.-forward spelling, food names and varieties, measurements, and oven temperatures. This is a jarring reading experience from a British author. Yes, U.K. measurements and temperatures are mentioned in brackets, but who really manages to find (or uses) 218 degrees Celcius on their oven?
- The writing felt more suitable to a blog than a book. There was a lot of repetition within paragraphs, inactive sentences, and some questionable spelling choices that trip up the reader (e.g. chiles instead of chilies).
- It needed better editing, there were mistakes (such as calling tomatoes a vegetable, or saying to take an eight of a mixture to make a ball and ending up with 9 to 10 balls), inconsistent headings (e.g. "Note" underneath most recipes but a random "Customisation tips" towards the end instead), and repetitive advice.
- The recipes varied from overly simple (tossing a few ingredients together) to needlessly complex (talking about stretching and folding a bread dough without clear instructions or visuals on how to do this) – with no real middle-ground.
- Not all recipes were accompanied by a photo, a real miss in a recipe-forward book.
2.5 stars.
October 21, 2024
This is a nice guide for beginners to going more sustainable in your kitchen. The recipes are vegetarian and vegan, and tend towards a little fiddly for me. There are also ways to use scraps, though I was concerned that there was no mention of using organic produce for this. A lot of peels of conventionally grown citrus, garlic, onions, etc are especially coated with harmful pesticides and other toxins.
I also wish she would have touched on foraging, which is one of the most sustainable ways to help feed your family. One study found over a hundred wild edible foods in a city block in San Francisco, with negligible contamination once washed (less than on most conventionally farmed foods). In any neighborhood you can find free, healthy, tasty food like apples, purslane, elderberries, violets, mulberries, acorns, lambs quarters and so on.
This is a great introduction to the concept though, with lots of helpful tips.
I read a temporary digital copy of this book for review.
I also wish she would have touched on foraging, which is one of the most sustainable ways to help feed your family. One study found over a hundred wild edible foods in a city block in San Francisco, with negligible contamination once washed (less than on most conventionally farmed foods). In any neighborhood you can find free, healthy, tasty food like apples, purslane, elderberries, violets, mulberries, acorns, lambs quarters and so on.
This is a great introduction to the concept though, with lots of helpful tips.
I read a temporary digital copy of this book for review.
October 20, 2024
I've been following Immy on YouTube and Instagram for years, and been enjoying her transitioning into more gardening and cooking content.
I enjoyed this book, the information was interesting and easy to digest. The recipes had an interesting mix of easy to make and probably too much effort to do. I made the tomato confit with the last of the tomatoes from my garden and it was delicious.
I wish the chapter on ferments and using the waste/less common parts of food was longer. I found all of them really interesting and then boom the chapter was done and Immy was like "I could write a full other book on this". It would be awesome if she does.
Overall a good book that you can take something from even if you aren't familiar with Immy Lucas' online presence.
Thank you Netgalley for the digital ARC.
I enjoyed this book, the information was interesting and easy to digest. The recipes had an interesting mix of easy to make and probably too much effort to do. I made the tomato confit with the last of the tomatoes from my garden and it was delicious.
I wish the chapter on ferments and using the waste/less common parts of food was longer. I found all of them really interesting and then boom the chapter was done and Immy was like "I could write a full other book on this". It would be awesome if she does.
Overall a good book that you can take something from even if you aren't familiar with Immy Lucas' online presence.
Thank you Netgalley for the digital ARC.
December 27, 2024
3.5 stars
Thank you to NetGalley and Fair Winds Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.
This was a really nice book for anyone interested in being kinder to the planet - I especially loved the non-judgmental tone of the author and her accent on taking things slow and not striving for perfection, which is something I usually find lacking in the zero-waster or vegan communities.
The book has many good parts, especially the knowledge on seasonal fruit and veggies, but I found the recipes lacking a bit and a tad bit too complicated, at times using way too many ingredients.
Definitely a good book to learn from.
Thank you to NetGalley and Fair Winds Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.
This was a really nice book for anyone interested in being kinder to the planet - I especially loved the non-judgmental tone of the author and her accent on taking things slow and not striving for perfection, which is something I usually find lacking in the zero-waster or vegan communities.
The book has many good parts, especially the knowledge on seasonal fruit and veggies, but I found the recipes lacking a bit and a tad bit too complicated, at times using way too many ingredients.
Definitely a good book to learn from.
October 27, 2024
The Conscious Kitchen is packed with information and tips on how to source and eat food more sustainably. Throughout the book, the author emphasises that we should do what works for us. There is no judgement or pressure to do all of the things described in the book to be more sustainable, but there are a lot of options if you do want to try them out.
The recipes in this book are quite varied. Some are very simple and some definitely look more involved. The recipes I have tried so far have been simple and delicious, and I'm excited to try more of them.
The recipes in this book are quite varied. Some are very simple and some definitely look more involved. The recipes I have tried so far have been simple and delicious, and I'm excited to try more of them.
November 9, 2024
The conscious kitchen has chapters on sourcing, seasonality, and sustainability, storing food, fermentation , eating seasonally (spring, summer, autumn, winter), and ways to reduce food waste (through cooking and composting). The book is a very good beginner book for being more sustainable and is incredibly informative. The recipes are vegetarian or vegan.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
December 2, 2024
To be completely honest this book wasn’t for me. Was it esthetically pleasing and a ton of great ideas? absolutely. Will I be making my own sauerkraut and serving my family bbq tempeh burgers for the 4th of July? Absolutely not. Definitely useful for the right person. I’m just not it.
Still rating it a 4 bc the recipes are written well and the ingredients are not hard to source. Plus terrific pictures.
Still rating it a 4 bc the recipes are written well and the ingredients are not hard to source. Plus terrific pictures.
October 17, 2024
Beautiful book with some lovely recipes and also good explanations of foods and diets. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC although it was very difficult to read as a PDF!
October 16, 2024
A very wholesome cook book.
The photos are stunning!
The book is focussed on sustainable ideas to reduce kitchen waste, and the aesthetic for the book was very rustic.
Some of the recipes seemed very complicated - lots of ingredients, and lots of steps. Whereas others were just silly and pointless.
Overall this is a stunning book, and the photos within this cookbook are the star of the show - but in terms of making the recipes, I am not sure how easy or straightforward it would be on a day to day basis.
The photos are stunning!
The book is focussed on sustainable ideas to reduce kitchen waste, and the aesthetic for the book was very rustic.
Some of the recipes seemed very complicated - lots of ingredients, and lots of steps. Whereas others were just silly and pointless.
Overall this is a stunning book, and the photos within this cookbook are the star of the show - but in terms of making the recipes, I am not sure how easy or straightforward it would be on a day to day basis.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews