I’m familiar with two versions of Taste of Home the original and last year’s addition Taste of Home Quick Cooking. I received a subscription to the later last Christmas. Each is published six times a year. Current subscription price is about $3. an issue. There are pluses and minuses.
The Pros:
The Taste of Home magazines have no advertising. Each is bundled with a couple of ad inserts and sometimes coupons-but there are no ads within the magazines themselves.
The 85 or so recipes in each issue are presented with large full colorful photos.
The index is arranged into menus. There are several menus for each daily meal as well as some specialty menus. There is a second index in the back by course.
There are, in each issue, recipes using a variety of cooking methods (crock pot, casserole, grill etc) as well as those using a specific ingredient or theme (summer, child friendly, pot luck, ready in under 30 minutes, using few ingredients).
There are also columns with cooking basics, ideas for table settings and decorations and reader letters.
The cons
Only a few recipes have nutritional information. The current issue has 90 recipes but only 15 have nutritional info.
Prepared foods (canned soup, cake mixes, canned items, refrigerated biscuits etc.) are ingredients for a number of recipes. For those who have allergies to additives or those who need to watch amounts of sodium and fat this can be a problem.
The recipes, although most of those we’ve tried are very good, are pretty tame. This is not a publication for people who want to experiment with various cuisines and spices.
Bottom line-for a new cook or someone whose family likes good basic meals these magazines will provide a good source of new recipes. I would also recommend the Quick Cooking version for families who want to put together a decent meal in limited time.