Drowning in magazines!

[phoebe]

HELP! Our house is being overrun by cooking magazines!!! Even The New Yorker doesn't pile up as much because I actually do make the effort to read what interests me and then recycle them. But I honestly don't know what to do with the food mags. I know there was a string awhile back on storage ideas and we do have those cardboard magazine files, but I can't bring myself to put new ones in the files because I fear I might miss something wonderful. Of course I haven't decided what constitutes "new." And, yes, I've tried sitting down and going through them like I do with NYers, but it's not the same. There are recipes or articles that I may not find appealing now, but what about later???? And how much later?

So what do you all do?

[Pete]

I used to be in the same boat. I had stacks and stacks of mags. all over the place. I finally decided that I had had enough, so I quickly went through them all and clipped any recipes that I liked at the time and then threw them away. I also worried about recipes that didn't interest me at the time, but might interest me later. But, the reality of it is, even with the recipes I keep, I rarely ever go back and look through them. Sometimes I do, but not often. I usually end up going to my cookbooks for recipes and inspiration. There are a few mags that I have kept and go back to often, but those are rare (maybe 5 out of the over 150 I threw away). The things with these mags is that there is always a few good recipes in them, but if you tried to keep them all you would quickly drown in a sea of recipes.

[Suzanne]

Me too. The only mags I now keep whole are Food Arts and Vogue Entertaining + Travel (Australia). I try to go through the others soon after they arrive and pull the articles and recipes I want to save, and recycle the rest. And I've got 9 years' worth of Saveur to go through, since I don't want to keep them any more (and have, in fact, not re-upped).

[Jock]

I have the carboard mag files, grocery bags full of back copies in the garage and I can't bring myself to throw them away.
In order to justify getting the magazine in the first place, I make a committment to myself that I will make at leat one recipe from each issue. Some are definate keepers and some are not. Those that are I tend to go back to and the rest just sits there looking impressive or cluttered depending on your point of view.

Jock

[phoebe]

How many different ones does everyone subscribe to? If you count Sunset Magazine I think we currently are taking six:

Saveur--Suzanne, why are you letting this one lapse?
Food and Wine--We've probably used the most recipes from here and it was the first one we subscribed to.
Gourmet--For Ruth R. and her sense of writing
Eating Well--Not sure why
Sunset--travel and gardening along with food.
Gastronomica--no recipes. scholarly hold-over.

We were given a gift sub. to Bon Appetit, but won't re-up.

Of course I've been tempted by Cook's Illustrated. Should I get it?

OK. I am going to go through at least 3 magazines a day and be ruthless about it: tear out the recipes and articles I want and then recycle. Period.







wish me luck.

[Mezzaluna]

I love Cook's. I was sad when they went out of publication some years ago, but was delighted when they returned. I read each issue cover to cover, which I confess is not the case with Gourmet. I'll probably let Gourmet lapse, but will hang onto Cooks and hoard each issue.

Cook's Illustrated is, to me, more of a home cook's magazine. "How to cook the perfect pork chop in 20 minutes" is hardly the kind of article to interest a professional. I share it with my colleague who is the foods teacher. She just had her students use it to help them prepare demonstrations, and a few of the kids used recipes and techniques from Cooks. (She also reported they are watching Food TV, so they were a tad theatrical in their presentations!)

[Nicko]

A while back I actually read that too many magazine subscription can contribute to your daily stress level because you worry about not reading something you have paid for. From time to time I invest in a cooks subscription and that is about it. I have tried cooking lite and gourmet but I just can't stand all of the advertisments. Usually I try recipes in the magazine the appeal to me and if we like it we keep it otherwise I toss them out. It is just so rare that I go back and read them it is not worth the clutter to me.

[kuan]

I send boxes of them to culinary students. I used to have a bunch of subscriptions. About 10 food magazines, two wine mags, and then others like Smithsonian etc. Now I get like three.

Kuan

[kokopuffs]

I really enjoy occasionally buying an issue of that publication when a specific article piques my interest. I'd recommend checking it out to see what any of you think.

[Jock]

Nobody here seems to want to mention the "BA" words - Bon Appetite. I seem to remember a long time ago there was some controversy about it. Do I remeber correctly and if so, what was it all about? I subscribe and enjoy it.

Jock

[kthull]

I'm no professional and, for me, Bon Appetit is and always has been my favorite. I liked Cook's for a while, but got less and less mileage out of it. I want to like Gourmet, and I've given it a second chance, but it still doesn't hold as much value for me as does Bon Appetit. I'm mostly into desserts.

Edit: I have Saveur too and don't care for it. I don't recall subscribing to it either...that's the weird part. Cool articles and interesting savory stuff, but again...I'm a sweets guy.

As for the original post, I always pull articles and toss the original. My intention then is to put the recipes into a database and then kill the ones I've tried and don't like.

Only problem is my stack is going on 10 years old now (I'm young enough for that to be a loooong time) and in that time I've only managed to get a measly 121 recipes entered. I did weed a couple out and a handful are mine. I guess my system needs some tweaking?

[Pete]

kthull, that is exactly the same thing I am talking about. We all have good intentions, to database all these recipes, but for 90% of us, they just sit around taking up space, nor do we ever go back and refer to them.

I have managed to become very selective in what I decide to save. A recipe really has to make me think, salivate, whatever, greatly for me to clip it. Have I missed some wonderful recipes? have I missed one that I really need, now 5 years later? Sure, but there are always more recipes to come along.

[Athenaeus]

I have found as a solution to scan the recipes and articles I am interested in and store them in CDs. In order that this system works you have to know what you have in those discs so the most important thing is to keep a good index. It's time consuming but it works although I have started to think what Pete says; very rare I return to those recipe and now with Internet you can trace almost everything.

But yet I love those piles, they make me feel safe.

[chrose]

I have so many mags I cannot subscribe anymore! My wife has been after me for years to dispose of them, alas I cannot. I tried cutting out the recipes and articles I wanted and pasting them in a book, but all I have so far is a jumble of articles whos pages are separated and would take more time then I feel like sparing to match them up and do something with them. So in the box they stay.
I do love garage sailing in the summer and finding old mags. The only ones I really collect anymore are the old Gourmet mags, they are more of a culinary cultural history lesson and I love the old ads.
This summer though I did land a box of Bon Apetits. 2 years worth for .25¢ . I brought them home and hid them under the bed like they were Playboys and I was 13. My son said I would get caught, "because you know how Mom is" he was right, boy did I have some 'splainin' to do!
So I try and control my addiction, but I tell ya it's difficult!

[Vegetable Man]

I'm a bit new to cooking in general, but I very much enjoy Bon Appetit and Saveur. Bon Appetit packs each issue with a great variety of fantastic recipes, while Saveur just has some very interesting articles interspersed with wonderful recipes. I also like Gourmet, though it is a distant third.

I still have yet to buy an issue of Cook's Illustrated, hafta check it out.