How Many Cookbooks Do You Have?

[PrincessFiona60]

I got my Great grandmother's recipe box.

 

[CWS4322]

I got my grandma's two handwritten "cookbooks," my great-aunt's recipe box, and my paternal grandmother's recipe box. And, 1000+ physical cookbooks and I don't know how many are on my kindle. I have a 4-bedroom house. One bedroom, the smallest one, is my cookbook library.

 

[Bookbrat]

I am still regretting letting it go.

I can imagine how hard that was. What a great story, though!

I confess to 1500 or so if you count a couple of boxes of old cookbooklets and pamphlets. One of my jobs is to evaluate donations to my library and decide what goes into the collection and what gets sent to the Friends of the Library book sale. Right now I have about a 3' stack of cookbooks to go through. It's a hard job but somebody's gotta do it . I started cataloging my collection in Librarything because I was dragging home so many duplicates from the sale.

Addicted? Nahhhhhhh....

 

[Dawgluver]

Well, thanks to this thread, I just got inspired to clean out a 3 foot stack of cookbooks from one of my cupboards. I plan to do similar with a cabinet full of horticulture books. Hopefully the local library will take them!

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

When we moved almost 3000 across the Pacific Ocean,
I whittled down my books in general, significantly... Matson Shipping Line ain't cheap!
I must have taken 10 car loads of books over to our local Library for donation.
Prior to doing so, I went through my cookbooks and scanned my favorite recipes; printed them out and put them into a three ring binder.
Did you know that you can write-off the face value of a book or magazine that you donate on your Income Tax? get a receipt...

 

[CarolPa]

I am planning on purging some of my cookbooks soon, too. When I started my collection I was buying anything. Now I am more discriminating and want to get rid of some of the others. I will donate them to the library as they have book sales every month and said cookbooks are good sellers. My most recent find was cute and I bought it because it was different. It is called The Redneck Grill, subtitle, the most fun you can have with fire, charcoal and dead animals. Written by Jeff Foxworthy. It is more of a conversation piece rather than a real cookbook, with some comical illustrations, but it does have real grilling recipes and tips about choosing sauces, cooking steaks to order and using a meat thermometer. It has a section for Things You Raise, Things You Hunt or Catch, and Things Without A Face, for veggies, desserts etc. I like it.

I also bought a cookbook called PA Hunters Game Cookbook, which I passed on to my step-son who is an avid hunter.

Goodwill gets a wide variety of cookbooks in as people donate what they don't want.

 

[Aunt Bea]

I agree Goodwill is a great place to find cookbooks.

Last week I picked up a copy of "The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook" by Christopher Kimball for $1.99, it originally sold for $37.00. I am enjoying reading it and will pass it along to someone else when I'm done or donate it to a charity shop.

I find it is also a great place to pick up all sorts of odd cooking equipment for a few pennies on the dollar. It amazes me when I see heavy Nordic Ware baking pans, popover pans, pudding basins etc... for a couple of dollars.

 

[Mad Cook]

Just wondering how many?

Well, I did have over 300 but I recently took 4 big bagsful to the charity shop last week.

Now I still have over 300!

 

[roadfix]

I think I just have a couple of books on BBQ'ing. That's it for me.

 

[Steve Kroll]

I have maybe a dozen. I took most of what I had to Half Price Books several years ago because.... well, honestly... I never open them anymore.

I have a few that are favorites, including one that my mother gave to me when I was a little kid. I also have some that I picked up in Europe.

And yes, I do have my grandmother's recipe box, too.

But these days, it seems like when I need a recipe I just go to the internet and get one.

 

[Selkie]

I have more cookbooks than I can use before the end of my life!

 

[Addie]

I have one cookbook that is falling apart. And if the internet can be considered a cookbook, then I am in the possession of a world collection. If I like a recipe, I will copy it, place it in a word document and in my own file of recipes. About once a month I do a backup. Each recipe goes into it own folder. Main dishes, cakes, soups, breads, etc. Saves room on my bookshelf.

 

[CWS4322]

Currently, I have over 1000 hard copy cookbooks and 1400 electronic cookbooks. This does not include the 6 recipe boxes I have or the 2 handwritten cookbooks that were my grandma's. I have 18 cookbooks spread out on the floor right now--researching some common comfort foods and their ingredients, what makes the recipe pop...the irony is that when I cook for myself, I don't use recipes...

 

[CarolPa]

I agree that Goodwill is a great place to get bargains. I have way more cooking utensils etc than I will ever use but I just can't pass up a bargain.

I don't USE my cookbooks, just collect them! It was something to fill up my step-daughter's room so there wouldn't be a way for her to ever move back in! LOL (just kidding!)

 

[RPCookin]

I don't really have that many cookbooks any more. I have "Silver Spoon", "The Way to Cook" by Julia Child, Barbecue Bible Sauces, Rubs and Marinades by Steven Raichlen, and FISH by Mark Bittman. Along with a couple of bread machine books, that's about it. I have Living Cookbook on my computer, and a loose leaf binder with a couple hundred recipes printed from the internet or cut out of magazines and newspapers.

The internet is such an easy and available resource that I just don't see the need to clutter the kitchen with all of those books any more. We probably donated some 50 or more books to Goodwill before we moved to the Bahamas 3 years ago. I've never really missed them. Most of the TNT recipes from them are in my Living Cookbook.

 

[CWS4322]

I don't really have that many cookbooks any more. I have "Silver Spoon", "The Way to Cook" by Julia Child, Barbecue Bible Sauces, Rubs and Marinades by Steven Raichlen, and FISH by Mark Bittman. Along with a couple of bread machine books, that's about it. I have Living Cookbook on my computer, and a loose leaf binder with a couple hundred recipes printed from the internet or cut out of magazines and newspapers.

The internet is such an easy and available resource that I just don't see the need to clutter the kitchen with all of those books any more. We probably donated some 50 or more books to Goodwill before we moved to the Bahamas 3 years ago. I've never really missed them. Most of the TNT recipes from them are in my Living Cookbook.

I agree--the Internet is an easy and available resource. When I worked in the travel industry, I used to pick up a Jr. League cookbook or church cookbook as my souvenir (before that, it was charms, but my charm bracelet got too full). I love going through the handwritten recipe cards in my mom's, grandmas', and great-aunts' recipe boxes. The clippings from newspapers that they saved. It gives me a sense of their tastes, what was popular, and budgeting. I read cookbooks as an extension of understanding culture--the depression era cookbooks give me an insight of how people survived, etc. I guess cooking shows have replaced cookbooks...my rule is that fiction gets donated, non-fiction I keep.

 

[Aunt Bea]

I was out rummaging yesterday and came across a copy of a cook book I had parted with years ago. It was like running into an old friend. If you have a chance pick up a copy of this great book that tells the story of five friends that started a deli in Amagansett, New York back in the 70's. Great read and some great summer recipes.

What's one more cook book, go ahead, spend a penny!

Amazon.com: Buying Choices: The Store Cookbook: Recipes and Recollection from The Store in Amagansett

 

[Wyshiepoo]

I have to admit that I don't know how many cookbooks I have. Lots?

 

[Addie]

And I'd have to find an eye of a newt and wings of a bat...maybe eBay would be the place to start...

An update on the book. Spike found it in the garage in Newton. And it is the 1932 Edition. I told him the possible value of the book and how rare it is. So we both agreed, we would go in together for rental of a safe deposit box in the bank with both our names on it as account holders. The book is going in there. Since Spike is the oldest child of his father, it will go to him automatically. Spike loves to cook. If Pirate outlives him, the book will go to him. Pirate has actually worked on the line in restaurants. Then I will put his name on the account. When I talked to him about it, he told me that his oldest son shows less interest in his grandfather than the youngest boy. So it will go to him. And not his oldest.

When their father died, Spike had to clean out his apartment. He just tossed everything into boxes without really looking at anything. Then he brought it all to Newton and put it in the garage with all his tools and other junk. Right now Spike has the book at home and is looking through it. Every so often, he will call and tell me, "Ma, did you know that to cook ....." "Yes Spike, I learned to cook from that book." Two hours later, "Yes Spike I learned to cook from that book." He is absolutely enthralled with the book. And the fact that it was his father's first cookbook that he bought after he graduated from culinary school, makes it more special to him.

I loved the stories she told in that cookbook. Those stories made me want to learn more about cooking. More so than anything my mother may have taught me. Spike has even discovered handwritten notes that both his father had written and mine. I would hate to see it leave the family.

 

[ardchoille]

I have two cookbooks on my iPad, one of them is the Paprika app for iPhone/iPad. I love both of them, they really help me in my cooking and nutrition education.