Advertising Through the Years...
General Mills promoted Bisquick with a variety of offers that
included cookbook and recipe booklets, cookware, glassware, cooking
utensils, recipe file boxes, tin canisters and other items.
The first advertising cookbook, 'published in 1933, drew 731,000
consumer requests. Bisquick was heavily promoted in the
1950's, and recipe booklets were offered free in supermarkets,
packed in Bisquick boxes and inserted in national magazines.
The first hardcover Bisquick cookbooks were first published in the
early 1960's. (General
Mills, 1980).
The Bisquick Recipe Club was formed in 1980 and members received newsletters and
cookbooks in the mail until this promotion ended in 1985. An
electronic version of the Recipe Club was reintroduced in early
2002.
Bisquick Advertising Cookbook Pictorial Bibliography
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Betty Crocker's 101 Delicious
Bisquick Creations. General Mills, 1933, Booklet, 32 pages.
6x9 inches. The First Bisquick
Advertising Cookbook. Featured
recipes with photos and testimonials of movie stars and socialites
such as Mary Pickford, Claudette Colbert, and Gloria
Swanson. |
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Let the Stars Show You How to Take a
Trick a Day with Bisquick. General Mills, Minneapolis, 1935,
Booklet, 41 pages. The public is
star-crazed and the food companies used this to their advantage. A
few of the stars shown in this booklet are Dick Powell, Clark
Gable, Joan Crawford, Bing Crosby, Bette Davis, Mae Robson, Jean
Parker, and Warren William. A picture of the early Betty
Crocker is shown on the front.
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Betty
Crocker's Bisquick Cook Book. Minneapolis: General Mills Inc., 1956.
5-1/4 x 7-1/2 inches. Booklet.
26 pages. |
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Betty Crocker's Bisquick Party Book. Minneapolis, MN: General Mills Inc., 1957. Booklet, 25 pages. 4-3/4 x 7 inches. |
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133 Quicker Ways to Homemade... with Bisquick
from Betty Crocker. General Mills, 1959. Booklet, 5-1/4 x
7-1/2 inches.
28 pages. |
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The Bisquick Cookbook General Mills Inc., 1964. Hardcover.
5-3/4 x 8 inches. 112 pages.
First
Bisquick cookbook in HC.
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In 1965 Bisquick was reformulated to produce
biscuits and other baked goods that were fluffier, higher in
volume, richer, and whiter in color. This revised cookbook
featured recipes created especially for the new and improved
Bisquick.
So Quick with New Bisquick
General Mills, Golden Press, Minneapolis, 1967, 120 pages,
7-3/4 x 5-1/2 inches. Hardcover with wire spiral binding. |
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Magazine
Insert Recipe Books
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These booklets were found as magazine inserts in various
women's magazines during the 1970's and early 1980's.
No Time to Cook
series
Others in this format:
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Fresh Summertime Recipes, 1977
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Bisquick Holiday Bakeshop, 1977
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Home for the
Holidays, 1979
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You've Got it Made
with Bisquick, undated
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Betty Crocker's Bisquick Cookbook. Hardcover, looseleaf 3-ring binding with plastic rings. General
Mills, Minneapolis, 1971, 124 pages.
Introduces new, simplified
1-2-3 step method for Bisquick baking.
Seven mini-cookbooks in one. Additional chapters
for this cookbook were packed in boxes of Bisquick.
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The seven mini-cookbooks are:
Chapter 1: Holiday Hospitality
Chapter 2: Strictly Thrifty Menus
Chapter 3: Mobile Meals
Chapter 4: Be-My-Guest Best
Chapter 5: Love & Friendship Foods
Chapter 6: American Favorites
Chapter 7: Foreign Flair
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Chapter 2: Strictly
Thrifty Menus |
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Free
Cookbook Offer - 1978
Bisquick Summer Menu Offer found in a magazine insert recipe
booklet: Send 3 Bisquick box bottoms in to receive a free
copy of Betty Crocker's Bisquick Cookbook, a hardcover with white
background instead of yellow. Offer expired in August 1978.
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3-Step Baking with Bisquick. Minneapolis: General Mills,
Undated, early 70's. Booklet, 16 pages. 5-1/4 x7-1/2 inches.
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Betty Crocker's Creative Recipes with Bisquick. Minneapolis, MN: General Mills, 1980.
Softcover, 96 pages. 5-1/2 x8-1/2 inches.
Collection of recipes to celebrate 50th Anniversary.
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| Pancakes-A-Plenty
made from Bisquick. 3-Step Recipes and Premium
Offer for stainless steel 6-qt. mixing bowl and Imperial
Kitchen Tool Set. Undated fold-out leaflet. |
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The
Original Bisquick
Recipe Club
This version of the 1980 Creative Recipes cookbook came with a Welcome newsletter from the Bisquick
Recipe Club and did not have a price on the cover. The
newsletter was called 'The Bisquick Banner.' This promotion ended around 1985. |
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The Best of Bisquick. Minneapolis, MN: General Mills, 1983.
Softcover. 96 pages. 5-1/2 x8-1/2 inches.
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Cooking
for Today, a new
series of recipe booklets, are introduced in 1984. First
in the new series is Easy Do-ahead Recipes, a 24 page
booklet with a new brighter look--white and turquoise colors
instead of the familiar yellow and blue graphics.
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Cookin' Up Summer Fun with Bisquick. Minneapolis, MN: General Mills, 1985. Booklet. 12 pages. 7-1/4
x 5-1/4 inches.
Giveaway - Says FREE Cookbook on front cover.
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Cool and Easy Cooking for Today with Bisquick
1985, 23 pages.
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You've Got it Made in the Microwave
Cooking for Today with Bisquick
General Mills, Minneapolis, 1986, 23 pages.
Booklet. One recipe per page.
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Creative Recipes with Bisquick Vol. II. Minneapolis: General Mills, 1986.
Softcover. 96 pages. 5-1/4 x 8-1/2 inches.
Order form in rear for Bisquick Recipe Card File. |
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Prizewinning Recipes by You
1985 or 1986, 24 pages. Booklet.
Contains 30 recipes from the 1984-1985 Bisquick Creations
Recipe Contest. |
Since 1980, Betty Crocker has published recipe magazines, usually available at supermarket checkouts or by
subscription. Published monthly, each issue features recipes focusing on a theme or a specific Betty Crocker product. There have been several that featured Bisquick.
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Betty
Crocker
Bisquick
Classic Collection
Softcover. 1988, 96 pages. |
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Bisquick: Cooking for Today's
Lifestyles. General Mills, Minneapolis, 1989, 27
pages. 7-1/4 x 7-1/4 inches. White, brighter graphics,
with the title a slight variation on the Cooking
for Today series. Box changes in this booklet
promote the product as a 'Variety Baking and Pancake
Mix.' and a new thinner pancake recipe has been
developed. A lighter look for lighter eating as this
cookbook is reflecting the trend towards cooking for active, busy
lifestyles. Many of the recipes have a no- or
low-cholesterol variation.
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Make
It Easy with Bisquick.
Softcover, 1989, 94 pages, #38.
Includes 23 No-Cholesterol Recipes |
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Bisquick Family Favorites
60 Years
Softcover, 1991.
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Eating Smart with
Bisquick - Reduced Fat
Booklet, 1992, 23 pages.
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Bisquick Classics & New Favorites -1993, #86.
Booklet, 25 easy main dishes.
Bisquick, Make It Easy - Betty Crocker Creative Recipes, #110, Nov. 1995.
New Bisquick Family Favorites - Betty Crocker, 1996, 87 pages.
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Bisquick Best Recipes
Minneapolis, MN: General Mills Inc., 1996.
Softcover. 96 pages. 5-1/4 x 8-1/4 inches.
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Easy Bisquick Suppers - Betty Crocker, #132. 1997, 90 pages.
Softcover. Reduced Fat Bisquick - Betty Crocker, General Mills, 2000, 80
pages. Softcover. |
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Bisquick. Betty
Crocker. General Mills, Minneapolis, October 2000,
#166. Softcover.
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Bisquick Family Favorites -
2001, 32 pages.
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Bisquick
Breakfast & Brunch
Softcover. 2002. |
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Bisquick Easy & Delicious
2003, 16 pages. |
Check back often for more
additions to the Bisquick Advertising Cookbook Pictorial
Bibliography!
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