To get rid of every recipe/ cook book in the house?

[YouBelongWithMe]

We're getting our kitchen re-done - it's being fitted next month.

We're in the process of clearing out drawers, cupboards etc so that we're only putting back items that are useful, pleasing etc.

We don't have a large cookery book collection by any means - maybe 35/40. Lile most, we've accumulated them over the years. There are books we've used to bake with the kids, and some books which contain recipes that have become integral to our meal planning (step up, Jamie Oliver's 30 minute meals).

But all these recipes are either ingrained in our brains or available online. All our most recent additions to meal rotation have come via instagram or YouTube channels.

I'm tempted to get rid of them all. My mum is horrified ('what kitchen has NO COOK BOOKS' 🤣) but I can't help thinking they're just virtue-signalling clutter now.

Does anyone else have no recipe/ cookbooks?

I haven’t owned a cookbook in over 20 years, there’s just no need.

If you think there’s one or two recipes in them that you might not find online, just take a photo.

Keep a few basic ones.

I don’t own any either and I’m someone who used to subscribe to food magazines. I get inspiration online these days

I had a bookcase integrated into my kitchen and it probably holds around 30, so if I buy a new one, one has to go!
Although, I do agree most are ingrained in my brain or available online! I love looking for new ideas though.

I’d like to say go for it, but i had a recipe for Afghan meatball soup which was on a calendar, of all things, and it would appear that I’ve got rid of the calendar. Nothing online compares to that calendar recipe.

So on balance I’d say go for it, but make sure you back up your absolute favourite recipes somewhere.

I've never owned a cookbook.

I thinned mine down to a dozen or so favourites, I love mooching through a cookery book and there are some I point my teens too. I hate following recipes online so books it is.

Nope we did the same when we had ours redone a few years ago and we haven't missed them at all. If you've not used the other recipes in them up to now then realistically you're unlikely to ever do so.

Donate them to a charity shop and enjoy the extra space.

But for what? I'm not being cheeky, am genuinely wondering why that would be worth doing.

I would call that a very large collection.

I have a folder with recipes clipped out of various things, some scribblings from other people I know that cook. one large cookbook that’s a general one. A very old book of European cooking that I love and has measurements like a handful of this and a sprinkling of that with only a few real measurements in and a book of traditional Cantonese cooking that I was given from a relative from HK.

I couldn't imagine having no cook books, but that's because I collect them (vintage/antique ones). If you don't use them, get rid!

I do use online recipes but I love recipe books there is just something nice about flicking through them that you don't get from online recipes. I also have some cookery books that belonged to my mother I think the feeling that she has looked through the book and cooked the same recipes that I am cooking
But that's me. I also have loads of books even though I mainly read on my kindle. You are not being unreasonable to get rid of books if that's what you prefer.

I have ten - my rule is that I only buy second hand and if I don't look in any for over a year then to the charity shop they go.

We have so many lovely ones that we have been given or gifted but the reality is that we don't open them, not even for inspiration.

But we are prolific cooks and both enjoy the process a lot. We just don't use physical books to inspire what we eat anymore.

I think I'd be keeping them for the visual of having their bright spines on a shelf - probably not a great reason!

I love my cookbooks and wouldn’t be without them, I get a kind of comfort out of knowing that they’re there and often look through them - even if I rarely cook from them these days!

Maybe we should try leafing through them this month and see if we feel inspired in a different way. It feels so silly they're literally untouched.

My mum has about 200 :/ She did a subscription where she was sent a new one a month for ages.

They are a thing of beauty, a real spectacular sight all together.

I think my recipe books are decorative and sentimental, really. I very rarely open them. I had a very harsh cull a few years back but I can't quite seem to get rid of the last few. They're old friends. Perhaps I'll use them again one day. I like how they look on the kitchen shelf.

I couldn’t get rid. But I don’t keep
mine in the kitchen.

I have bought all of mine from charity shops and love looking through them for inspiration.

I much prefer following recipes in a book to online.

So I say, donate them to charity so someone else can enjoy them - don’t throw them in the bin/recycling!

Honestly, I re-bought the Floyd on France I’d sent to the charity shop because I just wanted the reassurance that I’d got the tomato salad recipe right. So might be more of an issue to get rid of older books which aren’t online. Elizabeth David for example.

Is nothing safe from the label of 'virtue signalling'?

I've kept just one.

Delia Smith's complete cookery course.

If you don't use them and know you're not likely to then donate them to a charity shop.

I love looking through cookery books, especially some of the ones I've inherited from a family friend and exMIL. Both ladies wrote their own notes against some recipes with their own tweaks or to say if they thought it was good or not. Next to one recipe family friend had just written 'CRAP!' 😂

I currently have 67 cookery books and I'm sure that number will steadily increase. I do have rather a thing about books in general though and don't think there's such a thing as too many!