Quick Cooking’s parent company Taste of Home has gotten my money and business for about 10 years. I learned of Quick Cooking’s development through my subscription to Taste of Home, and my first thought was “now, that’s a magazine for me.” I love to cook, but am usually running very short on time, so I need a variety of recipes. Some that are challenging for Saturday afternoons and some that are quick and simple for weeknight meals when you come in exhausted after work and T-ball practice. These 2 magazines are the only two that made it on my must-have list while paring down subscriptions in December. They cover all of my cooking needs.

Quick Cooking’s motto is “Rapid Recipes with Homemade Taste” and that epitomizes the magazine. While Taste of Home recipes are longer and typically “from scratch,” Quick Cooking uses convenience foods like canned condensed Soup and boxed mixes. It gives so many helpful hints to give your ho-hum food a burst from these simple pantry items. Quick Cooking, while a little more expensive than its counterparts, has a unique concept. It has no advertising between its pages! So, while the magazine might seem thin for cover price of $3.50, you actually get more bang for your buck since there are recipes on nearly every page.

If you are a kitchen-challenged cook, then you will appreciate the menus that they have put together at the front of the magazine that use recipes from that month’s issue. A typical month might include 2 Breakfast menus, complete with cereal, meat and bread recipes, 4 Lunch menus, that might include a sandwich wrap, fruit and a dessert, 10 Dinner menus that have a main dish, vegetable, bread and dessert. Also included are two special meals.

Each issue features a Busiest Cook in the Country who tells all about here daily life and gives 3-4 recipes that are tried and true by her family. For other busy cooks, like the rest of us who didn’t make the magazine cover, there are many sections dedicated to quick meals with 5 or fewer ingredients, meals on the table in only 10 minutes, microwave cooking, recipes using mixes and other convenience foods and planned leftovers. All recipes are made with ingredients in your pantry or easily found at your local grocery store. It is simple fare that the whole family can enjoy.

Another article I enjoy is the Thinking up a Theme. The January/February 2001 theme was Playful Games. For this party they gave recipes for Dartboard Pizza, Cheese Spread Dice (black olives served as the black dots), Gelatin Poker Chips, and Scrabble Brownies. It was a great idea, and I will be using it for our Friday game nights (that’s a shameless plug for my Pictionary Epinion!).

Do you enjoy making and giving cute mixes in jars? Each issue has a whole page dedicated to mix recipes including preparation instructions for the actual product. For Christmas, it’s nice to whip up a batch of their Hot Cocoa Mix, pour into a nice glass jar and give in a basket with mugs and a card with the recipe. Other mixes include Oatmeal Raisin Cookie mix and Parmesan Macaroni mix.

My son loves to help me in the kitchen, so I especially look forward to the Kids in the Kitchen Section each issue. This month’s recipes include Creamy Center Cupcakes, Bacon Cheeseburger Rice and Broiled Sausage Sandwiches. All are easy and come with instructions to make it simple for your little one to help you make dinner.

Quick Cooking also sponsors recipe contests each month with different themes. This month’s theme is Quick Company Dishes. I have been sending in recipes for every contest for about 5 years now. Though I’ve never won, I have had one of my recipes published in the magazine. When this happens, they give you their hardback book of recipes for the entire year, a value of $30.00 and an excellent resource!

If you’ve never read Quick Cooking, pick one up and give it a try. If you are lucky enough to find their first issue, you’ll see my recipe! Since that’s been a while back, I’ll include it here:


Good Ol’ Macaroni Tuna Casserole

· 1 box macaroni and cheese mix
· 6 ounce can tuna, drained
· 1 can cream of celery soup
· ˝ cup milk
· handful of grated cheese

Prepare macaroni and cheese according to package directions. Add all ingredients except cheese and stir well. Sprinkle cheese on the top and bake at 350ş for 15 minutes.


Recommended: Yes

Recommended For: Anyone