I am a recovering cookbook junkie. My collection wasn't huge, I felt it was reasonable with room to grow, maybe it was excessive to some, maybe small to those with a similar problem. I wasn't aware that I had a problem with cookbooks until I went through a period of lusting after collections I had seen on some blogs. Even though I was deep in decluttering at the time, I found myself painfully envious of the women who received 1000 strong cookbook collection from a friend, or the woman who wrote the cookbook-a-day blog. If she's still blogging her collection, don't tell me. It makes me want to hit all the thrift stores for gems. While holiday shopping in December, I was at a small shop where I spoke with a very charming local author who was selling her recently published cookbook. Of course I had to buy one because that is what I always did if I wanted a cookbook. I never gave buying a new cookbook much thought except that I wanted it and somewhere in the book it had to say that all the recipes were tested. Anyway, that cookbook in December was my turning point. Over the years I have been whittling down my cookbook collection, but more books would find their way into the house again.
I have a binder that is filled with recipes I've copied from the internet or other sources. Each week I meal plan from the recipes in the binder. If it doesn't fall into the "excellent" or "very good" category, it gets tossed. I'd like to do something similar with the cookbooks, like using just one book for a week or two to decide if it's worth keeping or not.
Any other cookbook junkies out there whether in recovery or actively adding to your collection?
