A Quick, Easy, Delicious Way to Answer “What’s for Supper?”

Years ago, when I was a new mom, and a working mom, and a basically really busy mom with a really small food budget and more than my own mouth to feed, I was on the lookout for anything to help answer the age old question “What’s for Dinner?” easier.

I had but few requirements.  It had to be inexpensive to make.  It couldn’t include things I had never heard of, or couldn’t find.  It had to be quick and easy to make.  And it had to taste good.

It was then that I stumbled upon Kraft Foods Food & Family magazine.  The magazines are short (less than 70 pages) and full of recipes for the season.  In fact, I have copies of every issue from 2004 thru 2006. There are many reasons I still have my magazines all these years later.

 

 

                 Short easy to follow recipes

I am not a gourmet cook.  I am a single mom of two teenage daughters.  I don’t have a lot of time too cook.  The recipes included in the Food & Family Magazine are all very simple, easy to follow recipes with basic, have-on-hand ingredients.  One thing to note, all recipes feature Kraft Foods – be it salad dressings, mac n cheese, barbecue sauce, Cool Whip.  If you can take the advertisements in stride, the recipes are great.

Full size, full color pictures

Every recipe is accompanied by a full size, full color picture of the finished product.  If you are a mom, then you know part of getting a kid of any age to try something new is making it look good.  If it looks ‘yucky’ or ‘funny’ they are not going to eat it.  Same goes for some adults I know.  It helps when I’m planning menus, if I can discuss options with my girls and have pictures to show them.  I also like that I know what it should look like when it’s done, so I know I did it right.

Everything is right at your fingertips

The Table of contents at the front is laid out in an easy to read style.  Across the bottom, every recipe is listed and sorted by categories such as ‘Appetizers & Snacks”, “Salads & Sides” and “Entrees & Sandwiches”.  Each recipe is also marked Healthy Living, 20 Minutes or Less, or Budget Wise.  A picture of each recipe is included in the table of contents, along with nutritional information.

They also have them listed under the headers Advice, On the Menu and Timesavers.  Throughout the Kraft Foods Food & Family magazine, they group some of the recipes together in a magazine story format.  This isn’t just a cook book, it’s magazine that incorporates family stories, holiday celebrations, traditions, healthy eating, and fun into their sharing recipes with you.

Back when I started getting Kraft Foods Food & Family magazine, it was free. Just sign up on their website and it was delivered in the mail five times a year.  Somewhere in my many moves, they stopped trying to keep up with me and I no longer received them in the mail.  Of course, I could still get the daily Kraft Foods email Newsletter than included recipes with full color photos.  But they weren’t always what I wanted.

I went online to sign up for the magazine again, only to find that the tough economy seems to have hit Kraft Foods as well.  The magazine is no longer delivered to your front door free. Being a single, unemployed mom, I wasn’t sure I wanted to pony up the money for the magazine given I was getting recipes sent to me daily for free.

But I found, on their website that you can see every edition of the magazine they have published.  The older editions, prior to the Holiday 2009 edition, are still listed by category, and have the recipes listed below.  Click on any recipe you want to see and it takes to a page with the recipe and a full size, full color photo.

Starting with the Holiday 2009 Edition, Kraft Foods started adding the digital edition which is the actual magazine using the website Zino.com.  I was so excited to see that I could still get the great recipes, the same quality and simplicity I loved years ago, free, even if it meant I would have to do a little work clicking through to the actual recipe.

So, when you’re stumped with how to answer the never ending inquisition of “What’s for dinner?” check your pantry, and check out Kraft Foods food & family magazine.  You’re sure to find a quick, easy and delicious family pleasing recipe.

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