Annuals

[Tiger]

From reading these posts I've gotton the idea that Annuals are a year's worth of cooking light recipes. (?) Can I ask is it worth purchasing this? What's the benefit if you have the year's mags. And how do you remember where the recipes are if they're just printed in monthly foram?
I found it a BJ's. I picked it up, put it down, picked it up, put it down ect....
Do I need this, Do I want this?????

[SHERRY]

Tiger, the annuals are a the previous year's collection of recipes. The benefit is that you can toss the magazines, or like I do, give them to someone that loves to cook, but doesn't subscribe to CL. The 2001 Annual is filled with all of the recipes from 2000 and is organized by month. There are several indexes in the back however, so if you are looking for a chicken recipe, you can get a list of the years worth of chicken recipes. Or, if someone suggests a recipe from April, you can flip to the April chapter and find it. You do lose most of the pictures, and the pages are just plain old black and white type, but it is nice to conserve shelf space and I have found that the magazines I was using most were beginning to lose their covers, pages, etc. The book holds up a bit better. In reality, it is a luxury, just like MasterCook Software, but don't we deserve that every once in a while http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[BethR]

Tiger, I think the annual is well worth the price, especially if you can find it at a place like BJs. I find it much more convenient than the mags (I just gave mine to a friend who's very interested in CL but hasn't subscribed yet). Like Sherry mentioned, there are three indices, so finding a recipe isn't difficult. The monthly format is great if you're browsing for recipes for seasonal ingredients.
Beth

[JeanneL]

As Sherry and Beth said, the annuals are definitely worth the price. CL posts the indeces @ http://www.cookinglight.com/customerservice/annual_indexes.asp

Tip: if you're looking for past year's annuals, check used bookstores. Costco usually has the current year as well.

[lindrusso]

Tiger,

The 2000 annual was the first I purchased and I love it for all the reasons mentioned above. I discovered more recipes browsing through this because I could look through a year's worth at at time.

If you want to look for a bunch of tofu recipes, for instance, it's so much easier to do it with the annual cookbook than searching through the indexes of each month (though I guess you could look it up online - but I like browsing through a book sometimes). I like having my recipes all in one spot and I like conserving shelf space.

I just got the 2001 annual for just over $22 at Sam's Club. Yeah!

[Peggy]

Tiger,

I have the Annuals from 1997 through 2000. I will definately buy the new one. My husband is the "clutter cop" and won't tolerate alot of old magazines around. This year my sister will inherit my old magazines. She says she is in need of cooking inspiration.

Peggy

P.S. Don't buy them direct from Oxmoor House (or whatever their name is). Too expensive. I get mine from amazon.com or buy.com and save a lot of money.

[This message has been edited by Peggy (edited 01-11-2001).]

[kellysuea]

I bought 90 through 97 annuals through Half.com and Powells.com, some were used but in great shape! The only thing is, I don't think that the older years do include every single recipe from that annual's magazines. I have tried to figure out which year they started printing every single recipe but have yet to figure out that answer. I love my annuals and will keep buying them... In fact, I'm completely anal about them and won't let people touch them!

[Peggy]

kellysuea,

The first Annual Cookbook to have all recipes from the previous year was 1997 (1996 recipes).

Peggy

[kellysuea]

Thank you Peggy! I can now safely get rid of the mag's from 96 on, I couldn't do that without knowing that answer.

[SusanL]

Tiger, thank you for this post and everyone else who responded! I was really confused when I saw different CL Annuals-duh, I didn't see the dates on them. I was confused by the 2001, it hadn't started yet, how could they have the recipes already? I really hate to get rid of the magazines,like many of you. Now I am in a quandry, if I get CL 2001 book, how can I give away my magazines? Peggy, please send your husband over to help me http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif

[Tiger]

Thanks everyone- Now I can't wait to get back to BJ's to get it! I hate clutter so this will be eaisier and I can give my Mom my old mags. Althought I have to say I love Pictures!! So I will miss that.