Too many cookbooks

[karmakameleon]

OK, I admit it, I have too many cookbooks. I am overrun with them and yet I never know what to cook. I have so many I daren't count them. Last time I counted I had about a hundred. That was two years ago. Now I have more.

The answer is not to throw them out. I tried that and then ended up buying them back again.

The answer is also not to just stop buying them. I can't. It's an obsession and while DH is still willing to keep building shelves to store them on I can't myself stop.

So what do I do? How do I make myself use them rather than keep cooking the same recipes that I know by heart? And how do I organise them so that when I want to cook something new or need some inspiration, I don't spend hours perusing cookbooks and then not find something suitable and end up coming on mumsnet looking for ideas.

The only thing I can think of is to build some sort of spreadsheet to organise recipes. But I haven't a clue where to start. And it'll take decades with all the books I own.

So please help me find a system. Somebody else must also have a cookbook obsession and a better way of organising them. Please share.

My DP loves his cookery books. We have a whole bookcase in the kitchen with nothing else in it.
If it makes you happy - keep collecting!
We just browse though ours from time to time and try new recipes. One way we do it is to pick a day to try something new and have a go. I've made prune and armagnac tart recently (Gordon Ramsey) and with the in laws visiting have just made Lemon Tart (River Cafe)
Enjoy.

Try "One-in-one-out". You will then have to look through the old ones to find something that you don't mind throwing out. If you find a good recipe or two, cut those out and discard the rest of the book. Pop the cut-out ones in a file.
.....well, it is surely worth a try, isn't it?

I have a whole book case full - I don't see it as a problem. I read them like novels cover-to-cover when I first get them. I do a few recipes from them in the first few weeks and then they go on the shelf. When the shelf is full I shall buy a bigger shelf!

Nigella Express is my latest fav.

I have nearly 400 and still cook from my head most of the time.

Sometimes I just take a book and decide that for that weekend, say, I shall make meals from it. Some sort of rule is necessary!

imo cookbooks are for inspiration and to read for pleasure. If a cookbook has done its job (e.g the Moro one for me) then i don't need to use it as will remember the recipies and techniques.

you don't throw a novel away because you still remember the plot and it still makes you think do you

My Mum has over 1000 cookbooks - she is a very good cook - perhaps there is a correlation/equation we can prove......

My little sis has two cookbooks, both presents from me, and she can only do toast!

Agree with what everyone says about taking pleasure in the books and think that's the problem. I do still enjoy flicking through them all but there are so many, I find it fustrating when I'm actually looking for something to cook. And so the books lose their pleasure.

Example: We had friends round this weekend. Hadn't a clue what to make. Just didn't know where to start looking. Ended up roasting chicken.

Another example: Half a butternut squash to use up last week. Fancied something different. Didn't know where to start looking so made soup for lunch (again).

But then last night, flicking through a old book with lots of lovely recipes (of which I have made absolutely none) I sat there thinking why did I not pull this one out last week? This one would have been just the ticket.

I think I really need some way of organising them. But just don't know where to start and cataloguing several hundred cookery books seems a little extreme.

There must be a better way to do this. Surely. Please. Someone.

I tend to flick through a couple of books the day before shopping and then shop specifically for a few new recipes.

Then when I have tried a new recipe, if it's worth doing again I note it down in a special notebook with which book it comes from, because my problem is when I have made something nice once I can never remember which book it was from and I'm flicking through heaps of books trying to find it.

when I have ingredients to use up I generally go to my 'recipes I have tried' book rather than look for a new recipe.

I'm obviously a bit of an amateur though, I only have about 60 recipe books!

in Karma's first situation (friends coming round, don't know what to make) I would also go back to my 'recipes I have tried' book rather than look for a new recipe.

I go through mine with sticky little coloured tags (or cut up Post-it notes would do) and then 'bookmark' the recipes that I like the look of. If you wanted to take it further you could colour code the tags so you could easily find meat recipes - and then maybe write what meat on the tag so you can see at a glance?

Not ideal but I find it does make me more likely to cook different recipes and it's easier to find things that I'd like to try.

I have had a few cook from a specific cookbook meal plan weeks, iykwim. eg Last month I had a HFW EveryDay week, and tried 4 of his recipes. I spent a while leafing through the book, made a note of which recipes to try, worked out what days/meals they would work for, then did the food order and meal plan accordingly.

When the DC are a bit older I am planning an Ottolenghi week. Need a bit longer for that.

Ahh, stickies. That made me smile. My copy of Domestic Goddess is covered in stickies and that is one of my best used books. I assumed it was because it came early to my cook book collection but maybe it's the stickies telling what to make.

ssm, your notebook sounds like a good idea, but doesn't become to unwieldy as you add more recipes to it? Am thinking that maybe a spreadsheet would be better? [sad accountant emoticon]

Karma - it's in different categories which helps a bit.
It's not unwieldy yet; the fact that everything is (by default) arranged chronologically helps you know where to look as you can usually remember whether you did something recently or a few years ago.
However I've only been doing it since 08 so it may get a bit big in a few more years.

spreadsheet would work if you always have the computer on and accessible.

What I really want is a full index of Jamie Oliver recipes, since I have most of his books and generally can't remember which book recipes are in. Can't believe no-one in his team has realised the money-making potential of this yet - I would pay good money (probably up to a tenner) for it.

going through your books writing down the things you have already enjoyed cooking would be quite pleasurable, unlike going through entering every recipe into a database.
you can score them as well, which makes it even more fun.

Throw them out and buy them in an e-version?

I keep a food/cookery diary - I note each day what I cooked for supper - how long it took - about how much it cost - what book it was from and the page number - how easy/hard it was - and whether we liked it.

OP - you are me!

I have over 350 cookery books but I almost never use them.

The whole 'read-decide-listmake-shop-cook' process somehow totally fails with me. If I'm having someone over (very rare), I get daunted by trying something new and end up making caesar salad or cheese fondue depending on the time of the year.

I love cookery books, and I used to work in a cookery bookshop. But despite know a huge amount about food, I'm only just a reasonable cook. Before I had children I did a lot of cooking but it seems to have gone!

I do adore reading them though. I'm expecting another in the post today or tomorrow.

Hey, look what I just found: the cook book recipe database

had to share

Well, I'm just come back to report that I bought the little sticky tabs and a recipe book from Paperchase, which is beautiful and has seperate sections for me to note all my favourite recipes and even some pockets for ones I cut out of magazines. Tomorrow I will sit in my favourite chair with a mug of tea and read my cookery books at leisure

Ratty, I'm very excited about your recipe database! Off to start entering all my cookbooks now

Glad the sticky tabs was a useful suggestion! I love mine. I have a recipe folder as well that I write all my favourites in, it's great.

How about starting an online cookbook? Might take up less space!!
Try this site and see how it works for you. I find it really useful to store all my online recipes in one place: cookmarkit.com/

I have about 100, I've started to use them a lot more by keeping 10 in the kitchen to browse through, then rotating them every few weeks. It's made a big difference!

Hi Frans. I have the same problem. My food porn cookbook collection causes me a great deal of stress because I feel I should actually be, you know, using them. I do the thing with the sticky tabs but another thing that works is to look up the book on Amazon and read through some of the reviews. Lots of reviews will mention the same recipes from the book over and over and I then go through my book and tab those pages if it sounds like something easy we would like. I can't stop buying cookbooks though; it's my one weakness :) There are also some good blogs/websites of people that have lots of cookbooks and they go through and cook from them (like Julie and Julia) and then post the results. 101 cookbooks is one that I like (it's mostly vegetarian though) and has inspired me to buy more cookbooks make use of the books I already own.
Do you have a favourite one?

Sorry mean to say: Hi KarmaKameleon (don't worry, frans. I'm not retracting my hi to you!)