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The Economy and Home-Cooking by Carol Fenster

by info@gfreecuisine.com 24. August 2009 08:21
As the recession prompts more people to cut back on expensive meals and dining out, there is renewed interest in cookbooks and cooking at home. According to NPD, a market research group that surveyed Americans in 2008 about the appliances, cookware, and utensils they own, says that four in ten households uses a recipe once a week to make any kind of dish. A cookbook owned for more than 2 years is the top recipe source.

The number of cookbooks published in 2008 rose to 3,277 new titles, up from 2,836 in 2007 or about a 13% increase, according to the most recent data from Books In Print, published by R.R. Bowker.  A visit to Amazon.com shows that many of these new cookbooks are oriented toward the gluten-free consumer.

A recent Wall Street Journal article “WEB Recipes Cooking With Gas” on May 5, 2009, reports a renewed interest in “freezer cooking” or cooking massive amounts of a single dish and freezing it in meal-size portions. According to the article, visits to gourmet web sites such as Epicurious.com dropped by nearly a million visitors in March, while down-home cooking sites like TasteofHome.com with its decidedly down-home feel saw a 44% percent increase.

To ease the demands of cooking on week nights, many report searching for dishes that are quick to prepare and yet easy on the budget. And, they are looking for sources that are user-friendly, especially for those who are just starting to stay home and cook.  

To those of us on a gluten-free diet, cooking at home is nothing new. We have to prepare many of our meals at home because we can't buy every dish in gluten-free form, and--- even if we could---- it would be prohibitively expensive for most of us. So, like our gluten-devouring friends, we also want dishes that are quick to fix, yet safe and tasty. And I often hear from families who want to prepare their own meals but are daunted by how to plan a well-rounded meal and get it on the table efficiently.

GfreeCuisine is the answer for gluten-free families who want these benefits, but require specialized ingredients to suit their diets. It's a WEB-based, subscription-based service that gives subscribers a set of menu choices each week. Once the menus are selected, it prints a shopping list, organized by food categories,  that identifies gluten-free brands and cuts down on time spent in the store. View a sample menu at http://www.gfreecuisine.com/sample_menu.htm or a sample shopping list at http://www.gfreecuisine.com/sample_grocery.htm

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About the Authors

Ann Bender & Karen Hutcherson
Marketers by profession, both Ann and Karen have a fondness for good food and healthy cooking. They understand the importance of the nightly family dinner and developed Relish! a premier menu-planning service (relishrelish.com). Relish! received hundreds of requests to offer the same type of service but to make it gluten-free. Because of the complexity of the product, they solicited the help of gluten-free cooking expert, Carol Fenster, to provide all of the recipes and many of her famous bread and dessert recipes!