Instead of going out to dinner, buy good food. Cooking at home shows such affection. In a bad economy, it's more important to make yourself feel good.
Ina Garten
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Maybe you decided to learn how to cook more foods from scratch for your New Year’s Resolution, or you need to make changes to your diet like going gluten-free. By taking advantage of free resources for cookbooks and recipes, you can save your food budget dollars for new ingredients and tools.
Head for the Library
My library system has thousands of cookbooks. Each local library probably has about 100 books on the shelves. If I can’t find the type of cookbook I need or want, I can do a free inter library loan request and borrow the cookbook for 3 to 12 weeks, depending on the loan period. To save even further, I can use the scanner on my HP printer to scan the recipes I like into the computer.
Kindle a Cookbook
Almost on a daily basis, Amazon offers a variety of cookbooks, and other books, for free on the Kindle. Do a search for free Kindle books on Amazon, or better yet, see if your favorite food blogger shares free Kindle books on a regular basis. Don’t forget to check the price before “buying” the book. Amazon may not make the book free for more than a day.
You don’t need to own a Kindle to read a Kindle book. The app is available on PC, Mac, smartphones, and tablets. Check here for downloading the app for your reading device.
Put out the word
Ask around and see if your friends have cookbooks they would be willing to lend you. Offer your library in return. Make sure you don’t lend out that copy of The Joy of Cooking that you use every day.
Search an online recipe site
With so many general recipe sites out there like recipe.com and more specific ones for special topics like gluten free, you can find lots of recipes to download to your computer. If your family likes the recipe and you prefer a printed copy, then go ahead and print it out and put it in a binder. I like to use recycled paper when printing recipes to save on paper. Otherwise, I keep all my recipes in Evernote which now has a cookbook as part of their updated Evernote Food app available for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.
What’s your favorite way to find new recipes?
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Sounds like you are able to keep up better than I. Good job!
Noelle (@singerinkitchen) recently posted..Vegan Cranberry Orange Cornbread
I second the library for cookbooks! I have found some great ones at my little local one, and the county one down the way gives me access to even more. I especially find many theme cookbooks there (food preservation, slow cooker, etc) which is great when I am in the mood to put up turnips or use my slow cooker in a new way (as an example).
I wish I had a better experience with Kindle cookbooks. The format just doesn’t hit all the things I want in a cookbook (I need the visual or tactile too I guess).
The other place I like is thrift stores. I volunteer at one and love to get year-old magazines (Thanksgiving Recipe Round Up, etc) or small local cookbooks super cheap. I love reading old cookbooks.
Great post!
kirsten@FarmFreshFeasts recently posted..Quadruple Roasted Vegetable Mock Florentine Mock Lasagna
I think a lot of the free Kindle books are self-designed which means little thought to how the recipe will appear.
I’ve found several gluten-free recipes thanks to the library. The thrift store is a great resource, too.
I’m a blog girl myself, lol… I have a few blogs that I’ve discovered have reliably delicious recipes, and I pull a lot from there. Thanks for linking up at Healthy 2Day Wednesday
Steph (The Cheapskate Cook) recently posted..Healthy 2Day Wednesday
I recently got a a smart phone. I love having recipes in the kitchen at my finger tips, with all the reviews and modifications right there, AND without printing 100 reams of paper!
Tamara @ Silent Springs recently posted..Door Gym Fitness for all Ages! #GetMoving2013
I love to pin for recipes! Thank you for the great tips!
Oo, I forgot about my Pinterest obsession! I love that I can organize my boards, too.
Great tips, Barb!
This is a great post Barb! One of my goals for 2013 (out of hundreds) is to clean out my cookbook shelves. As much as I hate to do it, with all of the online references, I really only need a few special cookbooks…I am going to have to try some of your ideas out!
Lauryn recently posted..The Start of a Craft List for 2013…The Start
I am resolving to start cooking more this year. Thanks for the great tips on cook books.
Estelle
Estelle Sobel Erasmus recently posted..The Heiress on Broadway- A Review
I work at our local library and wish more people in my village utilized it more often. We have 48 libraries in our system so the supply of cookbooks is many and much fun to see when our inter-library loan order arrives.
I need to try recipes prior to printing out the recipe. I am really bad about that. I print them out and never use them although I am trying to make more different recipes now than in the past.
I do love to cook and bake
Have a beautiful weekend!
This post is a great resource, Barb! I find more and more recipes on the web these days, but I do love a good cookbook. There’s nothing like sitting down with a stack of cookbooks and planning what to make when
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