Making Use of Every Cookbook and Recipe - Day 6

I used to read cookbooks like people read books. Call me weird, but it is true. Problem is, cookbooks take up a lot of space in an area that usually doesn’t have enough: THE KITCHEN.

I had a specific shelf at our old house where I kept all of our cookbooks. Over time, it started to overflow, which I knew was the breaking point. It took quite some time, but I finally am happy with the number of cookbooks I have and feel I use them all in some way.

Even though I am happy with the number of cookbooks I have, The problem I have is all of the loose recipes I have, that I have torn out from magazines. Recipes that I copied down from a website. Recipes that I received from others.

Do you have hardcopies of recipes thrown all over the place? Do you have recipes that you probably will never use? Are you even overwhelmed by all the recipes and cookbooks you have? If you find yourself answering “yes” to any of these questions, read on!

How To Declutter Your Cookbooks and Recipes:

1. Find all of your recipes and cookbooks (even the little paper ones, wherever they may be).

2. Think about these questions:

How many do you have?
Are you happy with that number?
Do you strive to be a certain type of cook?
Do you hope to consistently impress your guests with these fabulous recipes?
Do you hope to try cooking with these unheard of ingredients to only say you’ve made the recipe?

The best cook you can be is to:
Just BE YOU.

3. Take a look at each cookbook you own. Ask yourself:

How often do I cook out of it?
Do I only use a few recipes out of the cookbook?
Is there a sentimental value attached to it?
What is the biggest reason why I keep this cookbook?
Is it worth the space that it takes up?

4. After answering those questions about your cookbooks, decide:

Can I just write down the few recipes I use and donate the cookbook?
Can I pass it down to someone who might appreciate it more?
Is it really worth keeping?
Is it considered a family keepsake? Would someone else appreciate it more?

5. Write down those few recipes that you want to keep from each cookbook and donate, recycle, or give it to someone else.

6. Look through all of your recipe cards. Decide:

Have I made this recipe? If so, was it any good? Would I make it again?
Does this recipe use ingredients that I regularly stock in my pantry?
Is it worth the space that it takes up?
What would I make this recipe for?
Is this recipe even “me”?
- It is easy to have dreams of being a certain type of cook. We have big dreams of making these fancy meals or awesome desserts, so we collect and collect recipes, but never make any of them. We end up getting overwhelmed and then get depressed when we see all those recipes we want to make.

7. Recycle all the recipe cards you no longer need.

8. Now time to ORGANIZE.

Buy a recipe album. It is like a picture album, but for recipes. You can typically buy them at your local bookstore. I prefer this method over a recipe box because even in a recipe box, you can’t see what the recipe is until you take it out. In a recipe album, you can see every recipe, make sure it gets filed in the right section, and with the protective sleeve, you don’t have to worry about spilling on the recipe and ruining it.
Here are just a few examples:

9. Cook or bake that recipe you rediscovered! That is what happened to me when I went through ALL of my recipes and cookbooks – I found recipes that I forgot about, but have had fun making them ever since.

Recipes can become an addiction (thank you Pinterest!). An addiction that ends up causing clutter not only in our cupboards, but even more so in our minds. We end up dreaming about someone we will never become – a gourmet chef, a top-notch baker, and maybe appear on the Food Network.

Be YOU. Know that YOU are the only person in this world that cooks like YOU.