deborah:

I've done exactly the same -- subscribed off and on for years and find that they do, indeed, repeat themselves (or come pretty dang close).

They are on-line and they do have a wonderful show on PBS on Saturdays. I get what I need from those two avenues.

Joe

Deborah - Same here. I subscribed for several years. Found it getting repeititive. That wasn't the only reason I dropped it though. I just found their "our way is the only right way" attitude insufferable after a while. And I seldom agreed with their "best" food pruduct choices. MIl still subscribes. Occasionally I leaf through an issue of hers while I am visiting -- and it's like "deja vu all over again." Not much there that's new.

I do the online subscription so I can have access to all the recipes they have and also so I can look up equiment reveiws, which I find helpful. I also let my magazine sub. lapse, I tired of reading about the 50 ways to make whatever until they got it right.

I get the magazine and I'm on their auto ship program for the books. Because of that, I see no reason I should have to pay to use their web site, that's just too much money for the same thing, over and over. I'm thinking about quitting the cookbooks...too many have the same recipes.

I realize that their revenue is all from subscriptions as there isn't any advertising. But enough is enough.

Nancy

I don't subscribe but buy it now and then. Every recipe I have tried has been a success. In fact, I am munching on a Crisy Oatmeal Cookie from the current issue right now and it is delicious. I also enjoy the free email newsletter from their website. Did anyone receive a trial issue of "Cuisine at Home" ? It looks like a knock-off of CI.

I too find it repetitious but I buy it now and again. I have the current issue and just made the No Knead Bread. Honestly, I can't believe this bread was made by me because I am not a bread maker at all. Have never been able to make any bread that I really wanted to eat when I was finished. However, the loaf I made 2 days ago is gone (only husband and me) and it garnered rave reviews from hard to impress hubby. Not only does it taste delicious, it looks like something from a french bakery it is so beautiful with the dusting of flour and the slit on the top. The recipe couldn't be easier but you do need to mix the dough the day before you actually want it because it has to sit in the bowl for 12-18 hours. The ingredient that makes this so good is the lager beer. I bought one large bottle of Heineken for $2.50 but only needed 1/4 cup. I thought my husband was going to have a heart attack when he saw me pouring that beer into the bread but he got to drink the rest of it. I highly recommend this recipe, you will be so proud of yourself when it is done.

What is it about using beer in bread? I asked my husband for a bottle of his beer the other day and he very reluctantly gave me a bottle of ice house. Then wanted to know if I was going to use the whole bottle.

Here is a promo code for a year subscription( 6 issues) for 19.95. Its normally 24.95

PCW060700

I just got a sample issue. They kept referring to things back in 2001, 2003, and 2004 - so I wondered if this was an old issue, or a hodgepodge of several issues?

I get Taste of Home, so I probably won't get CI. I don't even know how I happened upon this free sample issue! It just dropped into my mailbox last week.

DonnaR/CA

The free sample issue is a hodgepodge of other issues. I've received several of them even though I'm a subscriber.

bumblebeez, probably the carbonation. DH makes waffles with seltzer water and they always come out with a great texture b/c of the carbonation.

In the past I had subscribed to Cook's Illustrated for a few years, but no longer do. I find their attitude a bit on the arrogant side, and just a bit money-hungry when it comes to subscriptions and fees.

I can't disagree with a lot of the criticism above, but I can say I've rarely been disappointed with any of their recipes.

I didn't mention that I've never subscribed to the magazine but I do subscribe to their web site. I just clicked on a recipe on their web site and got the following message:

We're sorry. The content you requested is no longer available on AmericasTestKitchen.com. The full article is available to members of its sister site, CooksCountry.com
Click below to start you FREE 14-day Membership

They want me to pay to use another of their own web sites?????

I feel the same way. I've let my subscriptions to CI and Taste of Home lapse. I can't think of anything I haven't been able to find here on Garden Web. I trust what I read here because it feels like it's being shared by normal folks like me. ***We don't need no stinkin' magazines!***

the same goes for Consumer Reports!

I've gotten better consumer comments by reading GW and other websites, than in CR's magazine. I used to moderate a consumer reports type forum on FidoNet, and loved the comments that I'd get from real people. To me, that's better than the testing any day, in very controlled circumstances.

I get ToH magazine courtesy of my MIL, who has given me a subscription for Christmas for the last two years. (I get Reader's Digest from my mom, and DH gets National Geographic from my parents.)

I don't think I'll subscribe to CI, but had wondered about how I happened upon that sample copy. I didn't realize that America's Test Kitchens (for which I am a registered user and get their emails) was related. Thanks for the clarification.

DonnaR/CA

I subscribe to it and to Country Cooking their sister publication. but what drives me nuts is that every other month I get these things from them saying renew now or else. my end date can be six months or more out and they are trying to get me to renew. Once I did renew early and they kept right on doing it.

I also have subscribed in the past - I bought the Cookbook (New Best Recipe) and it seems to cover most everything. There is a wealth of sources for recipes on the web for whatever I might be missing. From time to time I will pick up a copy at the store because I'm a bit of a geek and I enjoy reading what they tried and why it didn't work.

Mccall,

I've had that happen with Martha's magazine...I paid, didn't think about it, got another bill, I guess my hubby paid. Received an offer of a two for the price of one, took advantage of that for my daughter.
A few weeks ago I got a notice that my daughters subscription was nearing it's end, and for this fantastic price I could re-up it... A week later I get a bill for $39. $39? Well, that's suspicious, because it should have been only $11. I called and was told that price included my subscription too. And how far in advance have I paid? Until the year 2014!!!!
Every bill I'd received appeared as though I hadn't paid. And like an idiot, without looking up my records, I'd paid again.
I was pi$$ed. At them, at myself. At them some more.
I told the operator that I did not want another "offer", or bill to come to my home and that I felt like canceling and having them send ME my money back.
So, in a very sneaky way, I am now receiving a magazine that because of the way that it was handled I can hardly enjoy. I also notified my daughter that I'd planned on continuing her subscription, but for what had occurred, I wouldn't. Her reply? "It's okay Mom, that magazine just isn't what it used to be".

2014. Cripes.

The magazine subscription business is very sneaky... doesn't seem to matter what magazine you are talking about. The publisher probably just turns that part of the business over to an outside company....comment not based on knowledge..just on what I see happening.... :))

Nancy

I subscribed to CooksIllustrated.com last August and I saved nearly every recipe on their site to my hard drive. The recipes on the drive are searchable too.

Here are the details for those that want to get the recipes without keeping an ongoing subscription (this essentially captures web pages for offline viewing):

- Install Firefox web browser (more secure than IE for certain):
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

- Install the ScrapBook add-on for Firefox:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/427

- Visit this page:
http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipehome.asp

- Under the "Browse Our Recipes" label, you'll see links for each category of recipes. Click the category of interest (e.g. Meat) to display all the recipes for that category on a single page

- On the Firefox menu, select Scrapbook -> Capture Page As menu item to display the "Capture Detail" dialog

- Root Folder is the default, but I created a "Cooks Illustrated" folder

- Set the In-Depth Capture Detail to 1 (Scrapbook will capture the main page, plus the contents of every link on the page (each recipe is a separate link)

- Click Capture

- Repeat for remaining recipe pages.

Note: IE 7 (that's what I use) did away with the offline page viewing option. But Firefox and Scrapbook make it easy to save, and search saved pages.

Just sharing...

-Gorilla

Yes, that's how really, most magazine subscription departments make their money. They count on you not remembering when you subscribed or paid what amount.

I've learned to save my subscription/resubscription paperwork and write the date, amount paid, and length of subscription (i.e. 1 year, 2 years). I keep this paperwork filed for reference, which annoyingly I have to refer to quite a bit!

I make a note in my checkbook (does anyone else still use one?) below the check when I make out the check, listing the beg. and end dates of the subscription. It's just real easy to look through it when wanting to see when the subscrip. ends. Often, the expiration date will clearly show on the mag. label, but not always.

arline

I gotta say at 51 ALL magazines, tv shows, fashions etc. have become
repetitive. :)

Most publications outsource their subscription handling to outside companies. In some contracts, the subscription service makes bonuses for meeting or exceeding goals for new and renewal subscriptions. So, yes, they count on your forgetting when your subscription runs out.

I used to subscribe to half a dozen mags. I've cut that down to one food mag (Fine Cooking) and then I share subscriptions with someone for three others (non cooking). When she and I both have read the shared ones (usually within a week or so of getting them) we take them to the senior center for others to read (with the labels removed.)
Either the seniors take them home, or the center then takes them to a local school to be used for art projects or to be recycled. This all started out for financial reasons, but now we do it for environmental ones.

I got a teaser issue in the mail a while back with a recipe for perfect brownies. I made them and they were the best I had ever had.

I have three experience with CI. One is a "Fix it and forget it" cookbook my mom got me--basically casserole meals for the stovetop, oven, and slow cooker. Mostly fattening meat eater fare, so I don't use it much. The recipes I've tried have been OK, not out of this world and their version has never been my definitive one, despite what they claim. I guess mom got it for me so maybe I would make some of those dishes when the 'rents visit, it's really more their style of eating.

I watch their show on PBS and enjoy it, but again, mostly meat stuff so not for me. I recently tracked down their blueberry scones recipe because I like fresh fruit in scones but don't like how they get all mushed up. The America's Test Kitchen show I watched on the scones had a folding technique for incorporating the berries. The recipe had all kinds of other fru fru stuff, like grating the frozen butter, freezing the dough for 5 minutes halfway through, etc. The scones turned out OK, kinda doughy, and not any better than any other recipe I have tried, except the folding part about the fruit.

The third experience I had was having pumpkin cheesecake at a friend's house, and it was absolutely out of this world, by far the best I have ever had. I normally don't even like it!! She gave me a copy of the article she got the recipe from. Their fussy technique of pressing the pumpkin puree between paper towels to remove some of the liquid really did make a difference it that case.

When they review brands, they only review a smattering of the options available.

On the plus side, at least they try to be innovative and helpful, and the recipes are not over shadowed by personalities.

Link for $12.50 online CooksIllustrated website
https://www.cooksillustrated.com/cds_auth/signup/default/join_step1.asp?Extcode=E8GP1FC0D

I too found it repetitive and can read it for free in the checkout line at the grocery store.