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Is anyone else guilty of buying recipe books and not making anything from them?

57 replies

DustOnTheWind · 04/04/2021 15:57

I usually buy mine in Kindle form and almost always when offer so at least they don't take up much room, but I still keep doing it even when I don't use most of the ones I currently own.

I often like the idea of the recipes but want someone to make it for me or there are too many ingredients.

I'm trying to change this and I'm going through them now but I wondered if anyone else has the same issue?

OP posts:
abstractzebra · 04/04/2021 17:47

Apart from a comprehensive baking book, the rest of my recipe books are purely for show!
I like reading them but as soon as I see the list of ingredients and estimate the cost of buying this, that and the other of which I only need half a teaspoon, I lose interest!
I use Pinterest mostly, even though the tedious blogs (I think that is what they are Hmm), where people tell you their tedious and uninteresting life stories before they actually tell you the ingredients and method, drive me bonkers!

Gubanc · 04/04/2021 17:50

Yupp... Totally inspiring high protein veggie cookbook. No photos. It'll go to the charity shop without having tried a single recipe from it.

GuppytheCat · 04/04/2021 17:50

We are on a family challenge at the moment where we pick a different recipe book each week and only make things out of that for dinner.

It’s been fun (even if DS has had to have a lot of emergency fish fingers on more adventurous days).

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NoLactose · 04/04/2021 17:53

Yep! The big hardbacks. Signed if possible. Love them!

Alannathelioness · 04/04/2021 17:58

Oh this is my favourite hobby! I have so many and am so guilty of cooking the same stuff over and over or googling recipes.
I keep thinking I'll set myself a challenge of once a month picking a cook book blind fold, and flipping to a page. Whatever I land on I have to cook! A bit like picking a destination on a map, but hopefully a bit cheaper...

roguetomato · 04/04/2021 18:03

I have many cooking books and also forever collecting recipes online too. I love looking at them, and sometimes I do put an effort to make them too.

dubyalass · 04/04/2021 18:10

Yep! And have I used any recently? Nope. I tend to default to the Good Food app. I do like looking through them though.

Dilbertian · 04/04/2021 18:14

@Jellycatspyjamas

I love cookery books, but I’m a good cook anyway so I tend to use them for inspiration rather than following particular recipes. I like reading them though and love the food photography - my food never usually looks like that. I have loads of print cookery books and I’m loathe to get rid, I like flicking through them and they bring me pleasure.
Absolutely!

And I'm not 'guilty' of anything. I own my delight in cookery books.

Jellycatspyjamas · 04/04/2021 18:25

Absolutely @Dilbertian, no guilt here whatsoever - a good cook book is a thing of beauty.

ivfbeenbusy · 04/04/2021 18:27

I'll often buy one just for one recipe I've seen in there - don't know why i don't just take a photo with my phone 🤣

junebirthdaygirl · 04/04/2021 20:05

I think, judging by the amount of cookery books in friends houses..and my own..a lot of people do this. My Mum only had two cookery books and each page was written on, spattered on and obviously well used and turned down corners with bits from magazines popping out here and there. She had them since school and always stuck to the exact recipe: her Christmas pudding always tasted exactly the same for 40 years( delicious) .
I think the books are more for reading and browsing through now. I have one of Nigella's and love just reading her little introductions.

IsItADHD · 04/04/2021 20:09

Me too. My shelves are groaning and now people have mentioned a bunch more on this thread which doesn't help!

nongnangning · 04/04/2021 20:15

Yes! I realised a few years ago that buying all these books was like a psychological aspiration - like 'if I had the time, I would be the person who cooked these recipes'. So they sort of exist for a parallel universe me - the one who cooks recipes from Ottolenghi, whereas in real life they are too much faff/take too much time. So now I limit myself to 2 or 3 per year at Xmas and birthdays, use what I've got or look stuff up online

coodawoodashooda · 04/04/2021 20:16

Yip.

Xiaoxiong · 04/04/2021 20:21

I have loads of books and used to just default to online recipes instead, leaving my cookbooks gathering dust, but a few years ago I invested in an account at Eat Your Books - now I use them all the time, because I can basically Google all my books for particular recipes or types of dish. I have yet to find a cookbook I own that isn't indexed on there. It's particularly good for the recipes that I overlook because there isn't a photo!

lothermand · 04/04/2021 20:42

🙋🏼‍♀️😳

PuttingOnMyParts · 04/04/2021 21:03

I seem to end up trying a few recipes from each book but only liking one enough to become a regular to cook. So I have a shelf full of books kept for the sake of one recipe from each!

ElMacchiato · 04/04/2021 21:12

A lot where I only tend to make one or 2 recipes from them. Some recipes I would love to make but the family are fussy and won't eat them, so I don't bother.
I used to the Two Fat Ladies cookbook. It was a brilliantly written eccentric book, all quails eggs and game, but I didn't actually make anything from it.

MNChkn · 04/04/2021 21:23

I could happily live on cheese toasties forever, but I love reading cookbooks. It’s the literary version of Easy Listening music.

Simon Hopkinson, Nigel Slater, Nigella, and Madhur Jaffrey are the modern canon. Such evocative writing alongside failsafe recipes.

Niki Segnit and Nik Sharma are my favourite food writers. So amusing and unpretentious because they’re both self-taught cooks. Sharma is a microbiologist so I love his technical info. I also like Diana Henry.

overthinker1000 · 04/04/2021 21:31

I don't think I've made a single recipe from any of mine

IliveonCoffee · 04/04/2021 22:54

I have way too many. My aunt however gave me a good suggestion, when buying them to have a flick through and be honest with how many you'd actually want to cook. Stops me buying the fancy chef ones, so most of my collection is at least usable.

There is a selection that gets pulled out on the regular; the PON ones, hairy bikers diet ones, when I'm meal planning. I get really bored of cooking the same things (but then hate the effort in trying new things).

Others have sat there ages. I love flicking through and thinking about cooking them, but end up put off, either complex or I don't have the ingredients in.

I do have a hoard selection of good food magazines, but I'm almost overwhelmed by the choice of recipes....so I end up searching on the website. I debate cutting out all the recipes but that's another chore!

Don't even go near all the food pins I got on pinterest. Tornado potatoes look so yummy, but I can't ever see me putting so much effort into essentially a side dish.

I have dreams where I have an amazing kitchen
Where I'm always blending the latest pinterest smoothies, making amazing packed lunch salads with all sorts of add ins, like nuts and balsamic dressings. Dinner is always a special occasion with sides to match, plus pudding. There's always fresh baked goods available and a wide selection of drinks. Oh and despite all this domestic wizardy, I barely put on a pound. Clearly, I think cook books are the way to get there!

badatcrochet1996 · 05/04/2021 10:03

Yes! I specifically requested 3 Jamie ones for Xmas, veg, 5 ingredients and 7 ways and don't fancy very much in them! I think I tried one recipe, was very unimpressed and they've sat on the shelf ever since.

Chrestomanci3 · 05/04/2021 10:11

RagzReturnsRebooted, what app do you use? That sounds really helpful. I do bookmark recipes I've found online, but then when I'm looking for inspiration, I've only got the titles - searching by ingredient would be good.

TheHeathenOfSuburbia · 05/04/2021 10:23

I also recommend Eat Your Books.

I only have the free account, but i have registered my 5 (i think) favourite books so if I type in 'salmon' or whatever, it'll tell me what recipes are lurking in those books that I can't be bothered combing through

dontgobaconmyheart · 05/04/2021 10:49

Actually no, I know I won't actually cook from them based on past experience so never. It's a waste of money (for me). I'm sure they go out of their way to give them attractive covers to make people forget they're paying £20 for something they won't use or will use once.

I realised some years ago that I had/have a habit of buying things for the kind of person i clearly wish i was or fancy being rather than who I am or how my day to day life works, so have tried to stop directing my money at it at least. Even if I do harbour fantasies of wafting about in posh dressing gowns and hosting complex attractive summer sharing dinners looking a million dollars with fresh (even edible) flowers galore, evocative of the Mediterranean with cut figs artfully strewn on the table etc- IRL my slightly damp south facing Victorian terrace and my preference for fleece trousers at home Blush and a quick easy dinner, are more feasible and require less dedication. I am who I am!

I just look a recipe up online if I'm in need of one and prop my phone up.

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