About six months ago – when I first confessed to injecting the ATK Kool Aid into my veins – I explored their website from top to bottom, no nook and cranny (English Muffin reference) went unexplored.
One interesting tab that I found contained information for their cooking school – courses for everything from making their Hearty Chicken Noodle Soup (which, as I recall, included walking me through performing my own taste tests of store-bought chicken stock, how to select fresh ingredients, step-by-step instruction – video and photo/text – and a way to interact with an instructor for feedback) to a full “essentials of cooking” type course.
These courses were fun to dream about, but, frankly, the price kept me away. The information is no longer on the website, but my recollection is a range of $99 for the soup course to $799 for the “essentials” course.
Now….. big changes to the America’s Test Kitchen Cooking School!
Earlier this week I received an email (yes, you might call it an ad or a solicitation) announcing the new ATK Cooking School. I was pleased to see that these lessons (and the groupings of lessons that make up a complete course) are available at $19.95 per month. That means I can give myself five months of Cooking School for about $100 – I can choose from:
- 21 Technique Lessons - they say it takes 30 minutes to 5 hours to complete each technique or recipe lesson
- 73 Recipe Lessons
- 2 In-Depth Courses
America’s Test Kitchen is offering a 14-day free trial through February 1. You have to give a credit card when registering for this (like most trial offers), and a one-month subscription rate ($19.95) will be billed if you don’t cancel within two weeks of the start date. There’s also an instructor-led membership ($39.95) which assigns an instructor to each student, for personalized lesson plans, trouble-shooting, and feedback; this more personalized option is nice for someone who has the budget of time and resources, but isn’t the best fit for me at this time.
I’ve said that this is the year of kitchen equipment upgrades for us (note the kitchen scale, my first Le Creuset French oven, and finally a stand mixer!), so I’ve decided to upgrade the primary cook as well. Yes, I’m registering for America’s Test Kitchen Cooking School and will commit to the free trial plus one additional month before I decide if I’m going to continue. Look for my results here in the next 6-8 weeks.
Want to join me and compare/contrast our experiences? Leave a note in the Comments and we’ll connect.
Oh, in case you’re wondering … ATK didn’t ask me to write about the Cooking School; they didn’t pitch it to me as a blogger/press. I received the email as a consumer, and am excited about the opportunity to try to the program.
Visit more Weekend Cooking posts Beth Fish Reads’ Weekend Cooking. There you’ll find a round-up of fantastic food-themed posts from around the web – cookbook reviews, recipes, photographs, tips and tricks for the busy kitchen, etc. As Beth Fish says, “if it’s remotely foodie, it qualifies!”
What fun!!! I got that email too but haven’t committed to signing up. Which lessons are you going to go for?
My sister-in-law is a big ATK fan, I’ll have to see if she got this email as well. Good luck to you, I’ll look forward to future posts!
yes, as another that has drunk the Koo-Aid (wow, I didn’t think of injecting it…yet) and got the e-mail, I must say I was intrigued. Not enough to give my credit card…yet.
This could be really fun! Thanks for sharing it.
I drink the kool-aid too. I got the email and have been playing with the idea but haven’t committed yet. I have quite a few projects going this year so I’m making myself take a deep breath first. I was very excited when I first got the email. That is so much more affordable. Everything they do is such high quality that I’m sure there will be no cutting corners here.
I will be watching to see what you have to say about this program. It sounds like a great opportunity.
I deleted the email. i really love their specialty magazines that they publish that include one topic at a time,ie: baking. Most of my Christmas baking came from one issue.
Let us know how it goes!
$100 for cooking lessons is a bargain, I tell ye. But I probably wouldn’t be able to stick to the classes right now.
I might want to do this, but didn’t get the email. Perhaps you could fill me in and I could ask my husband. It sounds like a great opportunity!
Now that sounds like fun! I have always wanted to take cooking classes, but didn’t find the time and money. Enjoy!
This offer intrigued me also. I bit the bullet and signed up for the 14-day trial and am looking for some “meat” to the classes; so far all I’ve found in the introductory classes is not filling that. But, after 6 weeks it should be easier to vote go on or quit.