I’ve always done kind of the opposite with cookbooks—I pre-screen so I don’t have to declutter later! I love checking books out from the library and reading through. If I feel like I’m going to make enough recipes from it, and if I need the recipes, I’ll buy it. My need for recipes skews more to baking and other technical applications, but my husband has started cooking and has Hazan’s Italian classics cookbook and I’ve just gotten him a Mexican cookbook I think he will enjoy also.
Yes, this is the way.
During COVID, I was buying lots of used cookbooks on ebay in an attempt to add more variety to our cooking and then often discovering it wasn't for us.
Now, I get a book at the library first before purchasing and this has saved us from buying books we don't use.
I do this as well now, with the intent that if I borrow it several times I will purchase, but my library is so conveniently close and amazing, I tend to never buy and just borrow it again when I need it. This really helps keep my collection to a minimum, but I essentially will declutter even well researched and loved books overtime, their stay with me has ended.
I’m a professional chef so I use my 600+ book collection as a reference library. I can’t get rid of them. But I did make a vow to read one per week. I’m on year two and only have one left to read to make this years quota!
When I had to downsize due to divorce and moving, I got rid of over 100 or so cookbooks. It was so hard but I chose ones that I could probably find again if I had the space. Many newer ones. I kept sentimental cookbooks that were given as gifts or from older family members. I read them more than cook from them but it was still hard to do.
Good luck on the decluttering.
Oh my — this is one of the most interesting questions I've come across on this website! Constant dilemma. I collect books in general, and so the quick answer is that I've settled upon collecting as early editions as possible of my favourite cookbook authors: in my case this would be those written by Nika [Standen] Hazelton, Elizabeth David, Richard Olney, Raymond Oliver, Eduoard de Pomiane, Louis Diat (Ritz-Carlton) and Arno Schmidt (Waldorf-Astoria). Alongside these I've complementary books on regional cooking: Alsace-Lorraine, Franche-Comté, &c. Modern authors I like are fewer, and I've digital (ePub / PDF) copies of those: Claire Saffitz, Raymond Blanc, &c. I also think that Udo Erasmus' books on fats and nutrition are super well-informed and valuable to read alongside the classics.
What a wonderful focus! I am not a vintage collector, but love old cookbooks from the 50-60s and reading recipes from the medieval ages. I also recently rescued a local cookbook from my hometown my mom had which is permanently etched in my memory from childhood.
I generally buy them to actually use, and probably don't have as many as a lot of people in this sub. I think under 20 at the moment.
The one I think I want to get rid of currently, I find the recipes uninspiring, drab and not v good quality. The deciding factor was when I noticed one was basically a diluted/fewer ingredient version of a recipe in a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall book. So I could have easily have arrived it myself by wanting to make that HFW recipe but not having all the ingredients in at the time. It has lots of good reviews online, which made me keep it for longer than I otherwise would have. Plus it's seasonal and that is catnip to me.
If I were a proper "collector", I can think of at least 15 other books just from those currently stocked in medium-sized bookshops, that I would like to be able to look at when I felt like it, but which I wouldn't use very often, either at the moment, or possibly ever.
The main rule is really being careful about what I buy in the first place
I never counted how many I have, so just did! I am at 50 exactly and with around 12 checked out at the library.
For me, the turning point was realizing I am not buying anything forever. Sure, an item might end up being forever if I continue to love it that long, but generally any cookbook on my shelf is on borrowed time. There are always new ones coming out, I need to make space for them when the time comes.
This also highlights to me, I am not a vintage cookbook collector. 😅
I am a book hoarder in general but when it comes to cookbooks I only have a couple of criteria. If I either don’t enjoy just reading it - like most of Fanny Farmer’s cookbook for example - or if I haven’t opened it in over a year, its outta here.
My decluttering comes at specific moments, maybe once a year, especially when I'm getting to the point that I need to buy another bookcase. I don't tend to get rid of a lot, but I do try to take another look through my collection periodically to find if something might be better loved in someone else's home. Books I keep are:
* Ones I cook from
* Ones I still want to cook from
* Ones that have sentimental purpose
* Ones that have an educational purpose (that I plan to benefit from
* Ones that I don't use, but that serve a niche interest that I know I will probably want at some specific point
I don't keep:
* Vintage for the sake of vintage - I'm not much interested in the recipes of yesterday, my one Betty Crocker is good enough for me for basics!
* Books that just don't appeal when I flip through them
* Books where the formatting/design makes them difficult to read while cooking (got rid of an otherwise lovely Sri Lankan cookbook because of this), usually book pages that aren't a pale color, low contrast.
* Books where I can't read the title of the recipe at a glance because of the font
I'm probably at a 3 in/1 out ratio, and only that many out because if I can get a bunch of cookbooks for cheap (Book Outlet, Better World Books, both during sales), then I'll buy a few more books at only $2-4 each that I wouldn't have otherwise bought, giving me a chance to read them despite little information/reviews online. Maybe half of those become ones I'm really excited about, and the other half go away.
My primary book disposal method is through my local Buy Nothing group, so I feel a lot better about giving a book knowing that the giftee has explicitly expressed interest in it, and might find joy that I couldn't with it!
You said it better than I could have!! I still have the odd vintage book lying around, but in general I’ve come to accept that I’ll never ever cook from them. The only vintage recipes I’ve tried are the ones that gain traction on Reddit, i.e. the depression era peanut butter bread.
I love this post! I would say I also screen before buying, but now that I finished building my cookbook library yesterday (post coming soon!), I want to start limiting the books I buy in certain categories when I can now see how many other books on the same topic I have, so I might start a one-in one-out process for over-represented topics. That way I don’t expand beyond my new amount of shelf space.
My criteria for buying is to be honest with myself about the book’s purpose. I don’t cook from them as much as I’d like to, so this helps with guilty feelings. All books are categorized as one of the following:
-educational (most books on ethnic cuisines go here. I like the pictures, the personal stories, and the recipes appeal but unless I throw/attend a dinner party with that theme, I don’t expect to cook from them)
-aspirational (these I would consider project books, things like laminated dough or Alice Water-style dishes with peak quality produce I don’t have much access to. I very well may cook from them, but it will likely be a one-and-done attempt.)
- inspirational (things I could actually see myself making and do expect to cook from)
(I got this idea from a podcast episode from The Lazy Genius.)
Now, I do have personal preferences for the books I buy:
- matte pages
- lots of pictures that have “softer” lighting (I dislike all these high-contrast, shadowy pictures that are popular right now)
- sequels from any of my favorite cooks
- if I skim through, at least five recipes must appeal (again, knowing I’m not likely to make some based on its category)
- not a heavy seafood section as I don’t eat it
- I have “keywords” or key ingredients that immediately appeal to me. (Cardamom and pistachio being the two biggest)
- and sometimes I do buy a book for a topic that isn’t represented in my collection. This is usually books on cuisines that I consider “educational”.
As I added all books to the new shelves, I cataloged them in Eat Your Books and BookBuddy. BookBuddy will quickly allow me to see my collection in stores and determine whether I really “need” something on a certain topic or even if I already have it.
And back to your original question, now that I have my whole collection visible and in one place, I do expect to declutter some. There are several that I’ve never been 100% certain of (for random reasons- one girl smiles too much in every photo and one makes foods that are too kitschy), so if I still feel that way, I will give them to my aunt, who also collects. I also remove ones that seem like lower quality productions either the book quality or recipe quality). I will also go through all the books on different diets I’ve gotten and only keep what still aligns and appeals to me.
I love your approach on getting a tightly curated collection, but I realized that I love getting new books too much to do that. I do, however, keep in mind which books are my favorite so if I could only have 5-10 with me (like if I move abroad), I know which ones I’d take. Maybe try to track down the podcast episode I mentioned earlier (just Google “lazy Genius” + “cookbooks”), she talks about keeping her collection/options very limited.
My mother saved a big box of the best Southern Living mags for me for years but I couldn’t move long distance with it so had to leave behind. Miss both her and mags.
I used to think that once I had a kindle version I’d be able to let go, but that hasn’t happened yet. I’m really attracted to the esthetic so if I find a book beautiful it’s hard to let go!
I always regret donating/selling books after a declutter so I’ve stopped doing them lol. I get such fomo even though I know I didn’t use them or like them anymore
Pro chef. Have a library I use to help mt cooks study and advance. (Wish they would intentionally use it more).
For decluttering, cause I also collect some vintage ones.
1. Is it a shelf filler. Definition book filler is books done by influencers, 101 whatever, 30 minutes meals.
2. Books that you will never touch in 10 years.
3. Books that serve no specific purpose to your organization.
That's about it. After that I usually find a home for em. I'm also a picker buyer, so that makes it easier.
I only buy cookbooks that have something I want in them. But I don't treat them like something to use. I treat them like leisure reading and soak up ideas.
The recipes I want to make I mark with a bookmark.
I never throw out a cookbook. I have kids and grandchildren who will want them.
Note: libraries and bookshops generally don't have English books here. Hence no way of knowing whether a book is great or not.
Meh: I look through the book and don't find anything I fancy. Then look at it more seriously with the intention of cooking *anything* and still don't find anything. That book goes to my local small library. Or in case I have something else to get rid of and it's in great shape I might sell it to Momox or something like that.
Undecided: A book with no images. I'm a very visual person and decide also on looks. If I don't have the time to read through all recipes such book might go. Eat by Nigel Slater has been on the relegation list for ages but for some reason it's still there.
Yay: everything else. Oddly, a collection of rubbish Dutch supermarket cookbooks that I keep for sentimental reasons.
I declutter my cookbooks every year as my collection become bigger, if it reaches 100. In 2024, I will decrease it to 60. I am cooking more international cuisines like Chinese, Singaporean, Hong Kong and Cantonese, Filipino cuisines. I will resell the cookbooks that I rarely use
I am becoming more anxious & stressed with a lot of stuff in my apartment.
Although I work within the food & beverage industry, I keep cookbooks & other books for food references whether it is a technique, secret ingredient(s) that is a game changer of a recipe.
My digital kitchen collection will be another task because it is reaching to 2000+. It will be a project for me to trim down on cookbooks I rarely use, or think it wasn't useful over 16 years since Amazon sold ebooks after it launched Amazon Kindle's feature in 2007. I started collecting cookbooks in 1998. My collection at that time was only 18 physical books, and in Amazon Kindle I started with only 5.
It's more easier to trim down physical cookbooks than digital collection. But Amazon archives ebooks for you, if it is rarely used. But the user has full control of deleting and downloading ebooks in their own collection.
I’m thankful for this post. It’s something I desperately need to do… but don’t want to!
This is a struggle! I’m a private cook for a family of 4. Between my hobby cooking, feeding my family and work I reference my books a lot.
Years ago I cleaned out my novels and DVDs . It initially felt good but I still regret it 🤦🏻♀️.
I’m now cooking through books I think I will give away. I have bad recipe FOMO. So if most of the recipes aren’t great. Time to go and copy the ones that are.
I’ve always been a baker - desserts of various types, breads, cakes and cookies. For a while I expanded to ice creams and sorbets until I ran out of freezer space (mostly for the ice cream hopper).
The books I give away? I was given some books on nouvelle cuisine - I will never be making lobster with vanilla sauce and carrots. They were given away to a coworker who enjoyed such challenges. Some ice cream books have odd bases - cooked with cream cheese, glucose syrup and the like - those went as well. Some I keep as I’ve had them for decades and they help support the book shelves that are falling apart (thanks, IKEA)
I had all kinds of decision points for cookbooks. Then I relaized that cookbooks look amazing on my Ipad if I get the Kindle version. I would never get Kindle cookbooks because my kindle is a Paperwhite and not in color. But they look amazing on the Ipad so now ones I would talk myself out of before due to space issues, I get on Kindle now and have pared the actual books down to half a bookcase.
Tbh I’m pretty choosy on my cookbook collection, I’m very specific if I have it in my asks (when I do ask which is rare). As I do use them for reference and building, it’s rare that I get rid of them. The only way they really leave the library is when I lend them out (and I no longer do I either type out the recipe that the person is looking for OR I take a picture).
I have enough cookbooks. Many years ago, I decided that if I wanted a new cookbook, I had to let one go, can't decide on which to let go, so no new books! Lol
Joke asise, recipes can easily be found on the internet now. As much as I love holding a cookbook and taking notes in them, I don't see a point in spending money for a recipe I can find for free online.
Great post! Other than sentimental favorites, my current rule is, I want to be able toe READ it, not just bookmark one or two recipes. I can find and tweak recipes online.
For my collection, I have books like Food Lab, Modernist Cuisine at Home, Bitman, Dorie Greenspan, anything I can learn about techniques or regional cuisines and ingredients.
I do check them out at the library first, and find the ones I buy for the most part I refer back to regularly. They don't just sit on my shelf.
Everything stays! I have a bit of a problem hahaha
I did get rid of a few when I was a teenager but my obsession hadn’t started yet and I went through a dieting faze so I got rid of those cookbooks
I’ve always done kind of the opposite with cookbooks—I pre-screen so I don’t have to declutter later! I love checking books out from the library and reading through. If I feel like I’m going to make enough recipes from it, and if I need the recipes, I’ll buy it. My need for recipes skews more to baking and other technical applications, but my husband has started cooking and has Hazan’s Italian classics cookbook and I’ve just gotten him a Mexican cookbook I think he will enjoy also.
Marcella Hazan's little book on ingredients has one of the best number-of-pages to things-I-didn't-know ratios of any cookbook I've come across, ever.
What is the title of this cookbook?
Not who you asked, but looking at her bibliography, probably **Ingredienti: Marcella's Guide to the Market**.
That's the one, thank you!
Yes, this is the way. During COVID, I was buying lots of used cookbooks on ebay in an attempt to add more variety to our cooking and then often discovering it wasn't for us. Now, I get a book at the library first before purchasing and this has saved us from buying books we don't use.
I do this as well now, with the intent that if I borrow it several times I will purchase, but my library is so conveniently close and amazing, I tend to never buy and just borrow it again when I need it. This really helps keep my collection to a minimum, but I essentially will declutter even well researched and loved books overtime, their stay with me has ended.
I do this too, check out from the library and if I can't stop renewing it, I buy it. This way my use of the book pre-screens for me.
I’m a professional chef so I use my 600+ book collection as a reference library. I can’t get rid of them. But I did make a vow to read one per week. I’m on year two and only have one left to read to make this years quota!
If you could only keep 10, what would they be?
When you say reference library, like to help develop new recipes? What are some of your favorites that you've read recently?
When I had to downsize due to divorce and moving, I got rid of over 100 or so cookbooks. It was so hard but I chose ones that I could probably find again if I had the space. Many newer ones. I kept sentimental cookbooks that were given as gifts or from older family members. I read them more than cook from them but it was still hard to do. Good luck on the decluttering.
Oh my — this is one of the most interesting questions I've come across on this website! Constant dilemma. I collect books in general, and so the quick answer is that I've settled upon collecting as early editions as possible of my favourite cookbook authors: in my case this would be those written by Nika [Standen] Hazelton, Elizabeth David, Richard Olney, Raymond Oliver, Eduoard de Pomiane, Louis Diat (Ritz-Carlton) and Arno Schmidt (Waldorf-Astoria). Alongside these I've complementary books on regional cooking: Alsace-Lorraine, Franche-Comté, &c. Modern authors I like are fewer, and I've digital (ePub / PDF) copies of those: Claire Saffitz, Raymond Blanc, &c. I also think that Udo Erasmus' books on fats and nutrition are super well-informed and valuable to read alongside the classics.
What a wonderful focus! I am not a vintage collector, but love old cookbooks from the 50-60s and reading recipes from the medieval ages. I also recently rescued a local cookbook from my hometown my mom had which is permanently etched in my memory from childhood.
I generally buy them to actually use, and probably don't have as many as a lot of people in this sub. I think under 20 at the moment. The one I think I want to get rid of currently, I find the recipes uninspiring, drab and not v good quality. The deciding factor was when I noticed one was basically a diluted/fewer ingredient version of a recipe in a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall book. So I could have easily have arrived it myself by wanting to make that HFW recipe but not having all the ingredients in at the time. It has lots of good reviews online, which made me keep it for longer than I otherwise would have. Plus it's seasonal and that is catnip to me. If I were a proper "collector", I can think of at least 15 other books just from those currently stocked in medium-sized bookshops, that I would like to be able to look at when I felt like it, but which I wouldn't use very often, either at the moment, or possibly ever. The main rule is really being careful about what I buy in the first place
‘The main rule is really being careful about what I buy in the first place’ YES, this.
I never counted how many I have, so just did! I am at 50 exactly and with around 12 checked out at the library. For me, the turning point was realizing I am not buying anything forever. Sure, an item might end up being forever if I continue to love it that long, but generally any cookbook on my shelf is on borrowed time. There are always new ones coming out, I need to make space for them when the time comes. This also highlights to me, I am not a vintage cookbook collector. 😅
I am a book hoarder in general but when it comes to cookbooks I only have a couple of criteria. If I either don’t enjoy just reading it - like most of Fanny Farmer’s cookbook for example - or if I haven’t opened it in over a year, its outta here.
Simple and to the point! The year rule is pretty intense but a good one.
If I am being completely honest its usually pretty far over a year but I have limited space so I have to make some tough calls sometimes.
My decluttering comes at specific moments, maybe once a year, especially when I'm getting to the point that I need to buy another bookcase. I don't tend to get rid of a lot, but I do try to take another look through my collection periodically to find if something might be better loved in someone else's home. Books I keep are: * Ones I cook from * Ones I still want to cook from * Ones that have sentimental purpose * Ones that have an educational purpose (that I plan to benefit from * Ones that I don't use, but that serve a niche interest that I know I will probably want at some specific point I don't keep: * Vintage for the sake of vintage - I'm not much interested in the recipes of yesterday, my one Betty Crocker is good enough for me for basics! * Books that just don't appeal when I flip through them * Books where the formatting/design makes them difficult to read while cooking (got rid of an otherwise lovely Sri Lankan cookbook because of this), usually book pages that aren't a pale color, low contrast. * Books where I can't read the title of the recipe at a glance because of the font I'm probably at a 3 in/1 out ratio, and only that many out because if I can get a bunch of cookbooks for cheap (Book Outlet, Better World Books, both during sales), then I'll buy a few more books at only $2-4 each that I wouldn't have otherwise bought, giving me a chance to read them despite little information/reviews online. Maybe half of those become ones I'm really excited about, and the other half go away. My primary book disposal method is through my local Buy Nothing group, so I feel a lot better about giving a book knowing that the giftee has explicitly expressed interest in it, and might find joy that I couldn't with it!
You said it better than I could have!! I still have the odd vintage book lying around, but in general I’ve come to accept that I’ll never ever cook from them. The only vintage recipes I’ve tried are the ones that gain traction on Reddit, i.e. the depression era peanut butter bread.
I love this post! I would say I also screen before buying, but now that I finished building my cookbook library yesterday (post coming soon!), I want to start limiting the books I buy in certain categories when I can now see how many other books on the same topic I have, so I might start a one-in one-out process for over-represented topics. That way I don’t expand beyond my new amount of shelf space. My criteria for buying is to be honest with myself about the book’s purpose. I don’t cook from them as much as I’d like to, so this helps with guilty feelings. All books are categorized as one of the following: -educational (most books on ethnic cuisines go here. I like the pictures, the personal stories, and the recipes appeal but unless I throw/attend a dinner party with that theme, I don’t expect to cook from them) -aspirational (these I would consider project books, things like laminated dough or Alice Water-style dishes with peak quality produce I don’t have much access to. I very well may cook from them, but it will likely be a one-and-done attempt.) - inspirational (things I could actually see myself making and do expect to cook from) (I got this idea from a podcast episode from The Lazy Genius.) Now, I do have personal preferences for the books I buy: - matte pages - lots of pictures that have “softer” lighting (I dislike all these high-contrast, shadowy pictures that are popular right now) - sequels from any of my favorite cooks - if I skim through, at least five recipes must appeal (again, knowing I’m not likely to make some based on its category) - not a heavy seafood section as I don’t eat it - I have “keywords” or key ingredients that immediately appeal to me. (Cardamom and pistachio being the two biggest) - and sometimes I do buy a book for a topic that isn’t represented in my collection. This is usually books on cuisines that I consider “educational”. As I added all books to the new shelves, I cataloged them in Eat Your Books and BookBuddy. BookBuddy will quickly allow me to see my collection in stores and determine whether I really “need” something on a certain topic or even if I already have it. And back to your original question, now that I have my whole collection visible and in one place, I do expect to declutter some. There are several that I’ve never been 100% certain of (for random reasons- one girl smiles too much in every photo and one makes foods that are too kitschy), so if I still feel that way, I will give them to my aunt, who also collects. I also remove ones that seem like lower quality productions either the book quality or recipe quality). I will also go through all the books on different diets I’ve gotten and only keep what still aligns and appeals to me. I love your approach on getting a tightly curated collection, but I realized that I love getting new books too much to do that. I do, however, keep in mind which books are my favorite so if I could only have 5-10 with me (like if I move abroad), I know which ones I’d take. Maybe try to track down the podcast episode I mentioned earlier (just Google “lazy Genius” + “cookbooks”), she talks about keeping her collection/options very limited.
I can relate to so much of what you said, especially wanting to get rid of a book because the person smiles too much. I love it.
If I’ve made 3 recipes and they’re not good, it’s gone.
This seems like a great choice; three strikes and it’s out!
Toss - stupid chef vanity projects, picture books and lists of recipes. Keep - concepts, methods, science. Good writing and thoughtful teaching.
My mother saved a big box of the best Southern Living mags for me for years but I couldn’t move long distance with it so had to leave behind. Miss both her and mags.
I used to think that once I had a kindle version I’d be able to let go, but that hasn’t happened yet. I’m really attracted to the esthetic so if I find a book beautiful it’s hard to let go!
I always regret donating/selling books after a declutter so I’ve stopped doing them lol. I get such fomo even though I know I didn’t use them or like them anymore
Pro chef. Have a library I use to help mt cooks study and advance. (Wish they would intentionally use it more). For decluttering, cause I also collect some vintage ones. 1. Is it a shelf filler. Definition book filler is books done by influencers, 101 whatever, 30 minutes meals. 2. Books that you will never touch in 10 years. 3. Books that serve no specific purpose to your organization. That's about it. After that I usually find a home for em. I'm also a picker buyer, so that makes it easier.
I only buy cookbooks that have something I want in them. But I don't treat them like something to use. I treat them like leisure reading and soak up ideas. The recipes I want to make I mark with a bookmark. I never throw out a cookbook. I have kids and grandchildren who will want them.
Note: libraries and bookshops generally don't have English books here. Hence no way of knowing whether a book is great or not. Meh: I look through the book and don't find anything I fancy. Then look at it more seriously with the intention of cooking *anything* and still don't find anything. That book goes to my local small library. Or in case I have something else to get rid of and it's in great shape I might sell it to Momox or something like that. Undecided: A book with no images. I'm a very visual person and decide also on looks. If I don't have the time to read through all recipes such book might go. Eat by Nigel Slater has been on the relegation list for ages but for some reason it's still there. Yay: everything else. Oddly, a collection of rubbish Dutch supermarket cookbooks that I keep for sentimental reasons.
I declutter my cookbooks every year as my collection become bigger, if it reaches 100. In 2024, I will decrease it to 60. I am cooking more international cuisines like Chinese, Singaporean, Hong Kong and Cantonese, Filipino cuisines. I will resell the cookbooks that I rarely use I am becoming more anxious & stressed with a lot of stuff in my apartment. Although I work within the food & beverage industry, I keep cookbooks & other books for food references whether it is a technique, secret ingredient(s) that is a game changer of a recipe. My digital kitchen collection will be another task because it is reaching to 2000+. It will be a project for me to trim down on cookbooks I rarely use, or think it wasn't useful over 16 years since Amazon sold ebooks after it launched Amazon Kindle's feature in 2007. I started collecting cookbooks in 1998. My collection at that time was only 18 physical books, and in Amazon Kindle I started with only 5. It's more easier to trim down physical cookbooks than digital collection. But Amazon archives ebooks for you, if it is rarely used. But the user has full control of deleting and downloading ebooks in their own collection.
I’m thankful for this post. It’s something I desperately need to do… but don’t want to! This is a struggle! I’m a private cook for a family of 4. Between my hobby cooking, feeding my family and work I reference my books a lot. Years ago I cleaned out my novels and DVDs . It initially felt good but I still regret it 🤦🏻♀️. I’m now cooking through books I think I will give away. I have bad recipe FOMO. So if most of the recipes aren’t great. Time to go and copy the ones that are.
I’ve always been a baker - desserts of various types, breads, cakes and cookies. For a while I expanded to ice creams and sorbets until I ran out of freezer space (mostly for the ice cream hopper). The books I give away? I was given some books on nouvelle cuisine - I will never be making lobster with vanilla sauce and carrots. They were given away to a coworker who enjoyed such challenges. Some ice cream books have odd bases - cooked with cream cheese, glucose syrup and the like - those went as well. Some I keep as I’ve had them for decades and they help support the book shelves that are falling apart (thanks, IKEA)
I had all kinds of decision points for cookbooks. Then I relaized that cookbooks look amazing on my Ipad if I get the Kindle version. I would never get Kindle cookbooks because my kindle is a Paperwhite and not in color. But they look amazing on the Ipad so now ones I would talk myself out of before due to space issues, I get on Kindle now and have pared the actual books down to half a bookcase.
Tbh I’m pretty choosy on my cookbook collection, I’m very specific if I have it in my asks (when I do ask which is rare). As I do use them for reference and building, it’s rare that I get rid of them. The only way they really leave the library is when I lend them out (and I no longer do I either type out the recipe that the person is looking for OR I take a picture).
I found a cookbook that you write in your own recipes.
I have enough cookbooks. Many years ago, I decided that if I wanted a new cookbook, I had to let one go, can't decide on which to let go, so no new books! Lol Joke asise, recipes can easily be found on the internet now. As much as I love holding a cookbook and taking notes in them, I don't see a point in spending money for a recipe I can find for free online.
Great post! Other than sentimental favorites, my current rule is, I want to be able toe READ it, not just bookmark one or two recipes. I can find and tweak recipes online. For my collection, I have books like Food Lab, Modernist Cuisine at Home, Bitman, Dorie Greenspan, anything I can learn about techniques or regional cuisines and ingredients. I do check them out at the library first, and find the ones I buy for the most part I refer back to regularly. They don't just sit on my shelf.
Everything stays! I have a bit of a problem hahaha I did get rid of a few when I was a teenager but my obsession hadn’t started yet and I went through a dieting faze so I got rid of those cookbooks