Is anyone else addicted to cookbooks?

[Zippidydoodah]

I have hundreds and can’t ignore a new release (sad).

The thing is, I get them, read them, think “ooh, I’m going to try that recipe!” I do the shopping and buy the food.

Then I rarely cook anything. I just can’t summon the energy for it. I’ll either use the ingredients for one of my handful of common dishes, my kids or partner will use the ingredients for something, or…..they go to waste 😢

I bought a new cookbook last week and have just remembered there are beef steaks, mince and chicken breasts in the fridge. I don’t know if I’m going to cook the new recipes or not.

Is it just me? It is, isn’t it?

No it isn't! I love recipe books (am currently waiting for 2 new ones from Amazon). I prefer ones which aren't just recipes, e.g. Hugh F-W, Nigel & Nigella
but also enjoy ones with beautiful photos

I also love older recipe books and ones from particular cultures ~ I have quite a few Amish/Mennonite ones

And, yes, I'm always making notes of recipes I want to try, but keep cooking the same old recipes. I get very sucked in to meal plans, order all the ingredients for the week but by day two I'm doing my own thing!

I know quite a few people like me so, no, you're not at all unusual!!!!

I have a whole bookcase full of cookbooks and still want more! But end up cooking the same things over and over again.

I borrow them from the library and flick through as I'm watching TV instead of my phone. Take a couple of screen grabs of anything that looks like I'd give it a go. I've currently got the Dishoom and Ottolengi on loan.

I went through a phase of this for a few years, and ended up with way too many. I had a clearout a couple of years ago and only kept the ones I cook from a lot, as well as some interesting vintage ones (some hand-me-downs) that I like for the anthropological aspect. I still have loads, but I cook a lot. I prefer to cook from books than websites, even when the same recipes are online (e.g. many of Delia and Nigella's), because I can annotate. Plus, I am a messy cook, and get splatter all over my laptop.

I’m the other way around - my attention span is too short to read recipes (let alone cookbooks), and I always jump the gun because I just want to start cooking.

I often end up with not enough or the wrong ingredients, OR not realising that the dinner I was making for that evening needs to marinate overnight 😂

I guess we’d make a great team OP!

THANK CHRIST IT’S NOT JUST ME!

Thank you for making me feel like less of a weirdo! 🤣

I have literally hundreds, many of which I will never actually follow a recipe from. But I do cook every day, and like to think I use the ideas and the understanding from them even if I’m not replicating recipes very often.

I love cookery books but usually get mine from charity shops and have now implemented a one in one out! But I rarely cook from them usually end up googling a recipe

Yes I’m exactly the same and now have far too many and following a slight furniture rearrange have nowhere to store some them. Do I create more shelves or reduce my hoard

I’m on one in one out too, and quite ruthless about charity shopping them as I know I will stumble on them in a couple of years and be able to buy them back again if I want to. I do love browsing them, online isn’t the same for that, although I do use online if I want a specific thing.

I had a clear out and kept the ones I use
but also rip recipes out of weekend newspapers and have a scrapbook I guess of a miss mash of different chefs and recipes

I have learnt curries, dals, Mexican, Greek, some casseroles, every dessert/sweet thing I make, breads, cocktails, a lot from recipes so I can’t say I wouldn’t ever get new ones but the internet does make it a lot less likely

I have more than I can justify, but still get anything occasionally. Just not as often as I did.

Yes, vintage ones. Pre 1950, back to 1840s. I can sit and read them like novels (I very often do).

Definitely not just you. I've streamlined my collection and I buy mostly second hand, these days. I tell myself that a cook book from the charity shop is cheaper than a magazine, so I feel less guilty about my overflowing shelves!

We have just had a huge clear out. Its not me, its my non cooking, addicted to a list and books husband. We are down from piles covering the dining room table to 2 small bookcases not full. The collection is streamlined, organised and usable.
I haven't the heart to tell him I mainly use the internet. But they look good.

Me too. 😳

I only buy them from charity shops, also on the basis that they are cheaper than magazines. I also use the Libby app to look at cooking magazines, though.

No, it’s not just you op 🙈🙈🙈

Yes. I think oh this one will make my life so much easier... And then I make possibly 2 from each book. I'm looking forward to DC leaving home so she and I can eat more interesting food again.

I will rephrase: I'm not looking forward to DC leaving home, but the food will be a consolation!

I borrow them from the library for a month or so. If I make and enjoy enough of the recipes I will buy it. Mostly I end up taking a photo of one or two recipes and returning the book.

I think last count I had about 400-450 maybe ? Vast vast majority secondhand and quite a few out of print ones , like an early Mrs Beeton’s book . Those I tend to read like novels , because of the sense of domestic history behind them .

Then I have about 300 modern ones . Every so often I shuffle them into different bookcases depending on how much use I’m getting out of them . My Tier 1’s are my constant go to’s - Nigella’s Kitchen and How to Eat, Nigel Slaters Fast Food and Kitchen Diary 1, a National Trust cookbook, and a couple of Jamie’s . Oh and Persiana has made this shuffle .

Then come my Tier 2 books , where I dip in and out of, but not the first ones I pick out of - River Cottage, AWT , and Diana Henry are amongst them right now.

And then my tier 3’s. are lovely books but either too high end , or mainly too fiddly for me to do without a load of time and concentration, which tends to be in short supply round here .

Not that I’ve given it any thought !

We used to have loads, but I gave them all to our village fete book stall. We kept just 6 or so favourites. You can access most online now.

I only buy cookery books from charity shops nowadays.

Most of what I cook comes from my books or bbc good food online. Plus a stash of magazine cuttings. My dc are older so I’m trying new recipes but some weeks I fall back on easy tried and tested ones.

When I visit someone’s house, I always gravitate to their cookery book shelf while the kettle is boiling for a quick peruse!

i only have about 12 cookbooks now as given some to charity shops. A few are presents bought by DC or husband that I feel,I should keep. What I do have though is x 4 A 4 folders rammed with recipes that I have torn out of magazines (even in hairdressers waiting rooms I am embarrassed to say). I do sometimes try a new recipe from them but often they are not a keeper. The classics are there for a reason.