Posted Apr 26, 3013
Written by Patricia Quinn
There are countless genres of books and magazines out there that are worth spending your time getting into. Science fiction, fantasy, current events, and others all have great value for entertaining, and in some cases even educating. However, when it comes to the reading material that is really worth your time, nothing tops what food magazines can add to your life. This isn’t just advice from a self-styled gourmand, but a truth grounded in cold hard facts.
Food Magazines Make Cooking at Home Easy (and Delicious)
Food magazines come in different styles and varieties. Some are focused on a specific style of cooking, others on global cuisines and travel, and then there’s everything in between. No matter how different the magazines get though, they all have one thing in common: recipes. Collecting the recipes from your favorite food magazine is a great hobby, as well as a great way to make cooking at home fun and easy.
Gone are the days where you head down the grocery aisle with only the next meal in mind. By clipping out recipes and planning your meals days in advance, not only will you train yourself to practice your cooking techniques, you will make grocery shopping easier as well. Once you find a few recipes you like and grow your collection, you can start planning your meals a week at a time; planning ahead allows you to choose meals that share ingredients, making sure you aren’t letting good produce and other perishables go to waste after cooking one meal.
Eat Healthier, Eat Cheaper
It’s no secret that much of the food found in restaurants, fast food joints, and the frozen food aisle at the grocery store isn’t the healthiest for you. In the case of eating out, eateries serve food that tastes good first and foremost, with most considering nutritional value a secondary concern (and for some it’s a distant second or even third). There’s nothing wrong with wanting food to taste good, but in many cases the easiest way to accomplish this is the addition of sugar, butter, or cheese – none of which contribute to a healthy diet.
Although fast food might seem like the cheapest option around when it comes to filling your belly, efficient grocery shopping is not only healthier, but more cost effective as well. The myth that eating healthy is automatically more expensive is only true to the novice shopper. By planning your meals ahead of time and shopping seasonally (a practice food magazines can help you perfect), you will be amazed at the calories and cash you can save.
Develop a Skill Worth Having
Culinary skills are more than just a way to save money and start eating healthier. They are also a great way to impress family, friends, and especially that special someone. It may be that so few people take pride in the kitchen, but cooking, plating, and serving a multi-course meal you’ve whipped up from scratch packs a “wow” factor that few other skills can match. Whether it’s a birthday dinner, or a romantic date with someone new, cooking showcases patience, attention to detail, and as is common knowledge, a little bit of love in order to come together just right.
Most food magazines include helpful explanations of relevant techniques and other tips to help you hone your skills. Make sure to clip these out and keep them. Like a recipe collection, it’s great to have a catalog of lessons to refer back to for years to come. Developing a repertoire of dishes, techniques, and favorite ingredients over time can really transform cooking from a flash-in-the-pan hobby, to a lifelong passion.
Fun for the Whole Family
Aside from helping you develop your culinary character, food magazines are also great catalysts for fun family activities. With the right magazine to engage, kids of all ages can get involved at dinner time (aside from just eating). For younger kids, the colorful pictures can get them excited about eating healthy foods like fruits and vegetables. By letting a young one flip through the magazine and pick tomorrow’s dinner, they’ll be so excited to see the page come to life they may not realize that they’ve chosen a healthy option over traditional childhood favorites packed with cheese, butter, or sugar.
As the kids get older, food magazines and helping in the kitchen can be a great way to tether them to family dinners. It won’t always work, but giving a teenager some say in what’s for dinner, and empowering them to eat good food by showing them a few simple skills and how to use them, can be a fun bonding activity. As kids get older they like to stretch their legs and fly farther from the nest, with various activities pulling them every which way – often leaving home as just the place they eat and sleep. Why not try to share some common ground over one of the two?
What’s More Enjoyable than Food?
Even if you’re not a gourmand and you have no problem eating frozen pizza day in and day out, you can almost certainly still at least appreciate the taste of a fine meal. If nothing else, food magazines are just fun to read. Eating is one of our most basic instincts, and salivating over a picture of a juicy steak, freshly baked baguette, or chocolate cake is bound to get the appetite up. Help that frozen pizza really hit the spot by flipping through your food magazine first... maybe over time you’ll find yourself ready to really explore the wonderful world of food.
Posted May 11, 2013
Written by Patricia Quinn
The words kids and magazines do not usually go together in the same breath in this age where video games, movies and the Internet are grabbing 110% of their attention most of the time. However, you need not consider the money spent on your magazines subscriptions as a waste because there are tons of fun ways to engage kids with magazines after the literary content has been consumed.
To sound a note of warning though, most of the ways to engage kids with magazines is through arts and crafts. The aim is to get your kids immersed in something more active than just blinking eyelids in front of the TV or computer screen. The best part is that you get to spend quality time with your kids while they get to discover the joys of reading and creating through magazines.
Create a collage with your old magazines
One of the fun ways of finding good use for your old magazine is to use them in creating a collage. To create a collage, you will need a poster board and glue stick. Then you can select the pictures or images that you would love to see in your collage; you can also involve your kids in the image selection process. Afterwards, use the glue to affix the pictures on the poster board; it is okay for the pictures to overlap.
Take on scrapbooking
Using clippings from your favorite magazines to make a scrapbook is one of the cheapest means to maintaining a scrapbooking hobby. Interestingly, you need not restrict yourself to the images or pictures alone as with the collage. If you find a word, phrase or expression that intrigues you in a magazine, you can easily add it to you scrapbook in order to have a fuller and richer result.
Decoupage
Decoupage is another great way to maximize the value of your magazines especially the travel, fashion and food magazines. All you need to do is to find a piece of wooden furniture that lacks a fine finish. After you have selected the pictures you want to use to decoupage the furniture, you will need to apply a coat of decoupage on the furniture and then afix the pictures. You will then need to apply another coat of decoupage on top of the pictures in order to achieve a finished surface.
Make Envelopes from Magazines
You can actually employ your old magazines for a more practical use by using them as envelopes for your personal correspondence. To make the envelopes, unfold a ready-made envelope making sure not to tear it. You can then place the envelope on a page of the magazine in order to trace the outline. Finally, cut around the traced outline and then apply glue on the joints to make an envelope.
Make your own magnets
Kids love spelling their favorite words out with magnetic letters. You can interest them by cutting magazines to make your own decorative magnet. To make your magazine magnets, cut out words and letters from the magazines and then stick them on a sticker magnet sheet. You can then trim the sheet into separate items for your kids to play with.
Compose Poetry
One of the creative ways of using old magazines is to use the words to create beautiful poetry. To compose poetry with magazines, you can cut out words from the magazine to form the lines of your poem. You can then glue the words onto a piece cardboard. For a more spectacular result, you can frame the cardboard and have it on a display.
Shred them and use them as filler for shipments
This one is a no-brainer, but you never know how much those old magazines can come in handy the next time you have a shipment to send out. All you need to do is to shred the pages (it helps if you have a shredder that can shred two or three pages at a time) and use them to pad up your shipments before you send them.
Recycle
Despite the clamor from all quarters about making the world a greener place, many people seldom think about the implications of the old magazines that they commit to the trashcan. The fact remains that many at times, those magazines end up in a landfill somewhere, adding to the carbon footprint. To do your own part in making the world greener, locate the local recycling plant closest to you and inquire about their plans for recycling magazines.
As you can see, there is so much more you can do with a magazine once you have finished reading it. Get creative and see what you can do, the sky’s the limit.
Posted May 10, 2013
Written by Patricia Quinn
We cover the latest stories featured in our favorite magazines, as well as the latest developments with the publications themselves in this cycle. Have a seat and enjoy these stories we’ve prepared for you:
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Dharmendra has been making Bollywood proud with his work over the years. He, with his son, unveiled the People Magazine cover photo in Mumbai that features himself together with the two other Deols.
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Joyce Huang may have started her career as a fashion consultant and editor for big magazines and TV shows, but now she’s taken the business path with her latest online shop.
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TIME Magazine’s Most Influential People for the past year is under construction as readers and fans vote for their picks. Who would you choose: Lady Gaga or Aung San Suu Kyi?
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Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar and Food Network Magazine are showing strong gains in terms of their advertisers recently. The digital and online switch seems to have paid off.
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Take a break from all the fancy magazines out there. If you have a teenager, why not spend time and make a magazine yourself? It’ll be lots of fun! Find out how with this wikiHow post.
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Finally, we talk about the format switch battle that almost killed the print publishing industry as we know it. In the end - all is good!
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View Week 1 Blog Summary Part 2
Posted May 9, 2013
Written by Patricia Quinn
Newspapers got hit real hard when we entered the digital age of publishing, which is essentially just the existence of the Internet and the magnitude of real-time information available to anyone with a computer or a phone these days. Why would you bother picking up the paper, much less walk down the corner to get a copy, if you can get your information with a few clicks anyway? The magazine industry feared this very same thing would happen to them, especially with the richness of the blogosphere and online sites these days.
Food Network Magazine, much like all (probably) other publications took this as a blow at first - then slowly, to keep up with the times, made the huge switch to the digital and online format. We thought we’d never see these mags rise up to the challenge and deliver us content and entertainment the way they used to. But we thought wrong. Apparently all it took was testing the waters, a little time and risks taken, and these publications are back in the game - which can only be a good thing, if not for the readers and advertisers, then for the magazines and the staff themselves.
We wish nothing but the best for all print and digital media at this point - that they keep delivering the information and entertainment that we enjoy very much.
Posted May 8, 2013
Written by Patricia Quinn
Magazines for teens are a fun way to engage youth today with what’s happening in society and in the world while entertaining them at the same time. Another great project that they will enjoy is to make their very own magazines. It’s not as tough as it sounds! This wikiHow post is the perfect guide for this fun project.
Posted May 7, 2013
Written by Patricia Quinn
What was first thought as the downfall of all print media, including magazine publication, has now turned out to be the savior of the media. Food Network Magazine, along with Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar and a few others, has scored double digits in terms of their advertising gains. Find out more about this development from Matthew Flamm’s post.
Posted May 6, 2013
Written by Patricia Quinn
TIME Magazine is known for its “most” and “top” lists. This time, its Most Influential list is being battled out as readers vote for their bets. In one of the match-ups, it’s the controversial superstar Lady Gaga versus Aung San Suu Kyi, the legendary freedom fighter from Burma. Learn more about the contenders and where they stand in Ashley Clements’ post.
Posted May 5, 2013
Written by Patricia Quinn
Joyce Huang was once a People Magazine Market Fashion editor. These days, her new online shop “The Alchemy Shop” takes most of her time. People.com, Teen People and InStyle are also in Huang’s portfolio of past editing work, in addition to regular TV show fashion features. Find out more about her new business on Digital Journal.
Posted May 4, 2013
Written by Patricia Quinn
Dharmendra, a Bollywood legend, helps unveil the People Magazine cover page in Mumbai together with his son, Bobby Deol. The cover features the two Deols plus Sunny Deol, which makes three of them. They will be making an on screen comeback this coming June. Apunkachoice.com shows the video and some photos.
Posted May 4, 2013
Written by Patricia Quinn
Even if you consider yourself to be a great cook, there are always new things to learn and ways to improve your culinary skills. There are several different ways you can become an even better cook – you can take a class at your local college or university; you can do some research on the internet; or, you could ask your friends and family for tips and advice. While all of these ideas have merit, some are time consuming, some are expensive, and some may not get you the results you really want. Perhaps a more balanced solution to becoming a better cook is to subscribe to food magazines. Each month, you’ll get tips, guidance, recipes and more. Yes, you could look these up on the internet, but isn’t it better having a resource you can keep handy whenever you need it? Each month, you can take the pages out that interest you the most and create a file that you can keep in your kitchen. This saves on printer ink and hours of time looking up what you need on the internet. These offer many valuable resources and tips each month. Here are five of them:
Food Preparation
From learning to shuck oysters properly to making the best marinades for the BBQ, you’ll learn how to prepare foods for cooking. Handling raw food, especially meat and seafood, can have dire consequences if not done properly, so it’s an important skill to learn.
Recipes
Of course, you’ll get an array of recipes, including low-fat, decadent desserts, kid-friendly and romantic dishes for at-home date nights. Some of the recipes are simple, taking little time to prepare and cook, while others may require a bit more work. No matter what the occasion or your skill level, you’ll find something that will fit your budget and style, not to mention your taste buds.
Terminology
Are you confused by terms like braise, broil, au-gratin, or mince? These magazines will make things clearer for you, so you can follow recipes more closely and understand exactly what is being conveyed in the recipe. You’ll also be able to impress your friends with your culinary knowledge!
Cooking Tips from Great Chefs
Every great chef has a signature dish that has made them famous for their culinary skills. Each month you’ll get a peek at some of their cooking methods and techniques that will enhance every dish you make. You’ll learn about their humble beginnings, how they rose to the top, and how they stay there year after year. These stories are both inspiring and insightful.
Wine Pairings
Have you ever wondered what type of wine would go with your favorite dinner? You’ll be able to pick out which wines go best with whatever dinner you’re cooking. Wine is almost a complete course on its own, and takes some time to master, but it will be well worth it. Not only will you know whether to serve red or white, you’ll be able to pick the best regions, the best year and the right sweetness. Dinner will never be the same again.
Whether you’re trying to impress dinner guests or you just want to get your family to eat better, these are great resources that will make you feel like a professional chef in no time.
If you’re worried about clutter, why not share with your friends? You could swap articles and recipes, and even hold dinner parties where each person brings a new recipe that no one has tried before. There are plenty of ways to be creative with the tips you’re learning, and the info is too valuable not to share!