Never Buy Another Cookbook
Hi! I'm Mrs. Micah and I blog about all things personal finance at Finance for a Freelance Life. I also run a small blog consulting business and blog on blogging at BlogCrafted. This is my first post at Frugal Hacks and I've decided to dive right in. If you're interested in learning more about me, check out my about page or subscribe to my blog.
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When I was growing up, it seemed like my mother had a recipe for everything. She had a bookcase filled with cookbooks, such an impressive collection that my little sister told her 1st grade class "My Mommy has 800 cookbooks!"
As I was preparing to get married, I built up a mental list of things I "need" to be a proper wife. Plenty of lingerie and cookbooks were at the top of the list. I've already written about how the former turned out. And as for cookbooks, I should have known better.
Since I was 16, I've worked in some kind of library or another. I'm particularly familiar with county libraries and the Dewey Decimal system. Yet for all that, I didn't think of just using the library (and the internet) instead of buying cookbooks. Fortunately, I figured it out pretty quickly and have been using the library ever since.
I took some time after work yesterday to put together a guide to finding the cookbook you want at your county library (or any library using the Dewey Decimal system).
Finding the Cookbook You Want at Your County Library
Start by locating 641.5 in your non-fiction section. Most cookbooks are under subsections of this call number. A few types of cookbook—baking-only or meat-only or tofu-only can be found in subsequent decimals. Because the 641.5s can take up an entire aisle or at least a number of bookcases, I've broken them down into the most popular and most useful subsections:
641.555 — Fast Meals. These are your "Dinner in 30 minutes" cookbooks. (I've noticed that these never quite live up to their billing.)
641.562 — Baby Food. Making your own baby food? If your library has baby food cookbooks, they'll be here.
641.563 — Health. You'll find all kinds of health-related cookbooks here and even more in its subsections.
641.5631 — Cooking for Allergies and Diseases. Cookbooks in 641.5631 and its subsections on food allergies, heart disease, diabetes, as well as sugar-free and salt-free diets.
641.5635 — Weight Loss. This includes general weight-loss cookbooks as well as some specialty cookbooks like Weight Watchers and The Zone Diet.
641.5636 — Vegetarian. Vegetarians and vegans, these are your cookbooks! Ethnic vegetarian cookbooks may be found in the ethnic food area below.
641.5638 — Low Fat, Low Cholesterol, Low Carb. More specialty diet books, all featuring less of something.
641.567 — Kosher. Kosher (and traditional Jewish cooking) gets its own section. It's possible that halal cookbooks may be found here as well, but our library doesn't have any, nor could I find a listing in my Dewey reference.
641.568 — Holiday. Christmas cookbooks (not necessarily cookies, see 641.8) and books on cooking for large groups.
641.578 — Outdoor/BBQ. Any BBQers in the house? Got a hubby who loves to grill? Check out the selection.
641.587-88 — Pressure Cooker, Slow Cooker. Spice up your crockpot dinner.
641.59 — Ethnic. This one is complicated. 641.59 is considered ethnic foods, but it's easier to think of them as foods divided by country. So you'll find "American" cookbooks at 641.5973. And French food cookbooks are at 641.5944. The 9?? actually corresponds to the call number for the country's history—so French history is found in 944.? and American history is 973.?. Of course, unless you're familiar with the history section, you'll just have to browse through the 641.59 section until you run across the country you want.
To give you a head start, here are the continental subsections: .594 and its subsections are European. .595 is Asia and the Middle East. .596 is Africa. .597 is North America (including Mexico and parts of Latin America). .598 is South America.
641.6 — Types of Food. These books may or may not be cookbooks and they center on types of food. So a tofu recipe book would be found here. As would a book about cooking vegetables (but not a book about vegetarian food).
641.8 — Baking and Alcohol. These are your bread recipes, your cookie recipes (!!!), and other baking. Also, the end of the 641.8s contains books on alcoholic beverages, serving and mixing them. I assume it's because most alcohol comes from grain, so they're distantly related to bread.
Also, don't forget to check your library's magazine section for Cooking Light or whatever else they might have.
Want to cook with your kids? The guide applies to books in the children's room as well! (Though the selection is normally much more limited).
Never Buy Another Cookbook
I love the freedom to bring home a cookbook and only use one recipe from it. I'd never do that if I were buying it. In fact, when I was trying to select cookbooks prior to getting married, I found myself paralyzed by the fear that I wouldn't actually use them. That was probably a good thing, since I have a few standards (More With Less, Joy of Cooking) but don't feel like I have a duty to use the ones I paid for.
I write down any recipes I particularly like and give back the book. It's possible that someday I'll discover a cookbook with so many great recipes that I'll end up buying it anyway, but this way I can find out first.
Want to see what I've already found? Check out my recipe bookmarks on delicious and the recipes I've posted on my own site.
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8 Responses to “Never Buy Another Cookbook”
October 4th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Unfortunately my little local library’s cookbook collection is pretty old and dusty. I no longer buy cookbooks because of the inexhaustable and easily searchable supply available on the Internet. I’ve not been able to part with the cookbooks I already have but I find I seldom use them. When I’m ready, maybe I should donate them to my library!
October 4th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Also, many magazines have posted their recipes online for FREE. Taste of Home is my favorite- most of their recipes (for all their magazines) are free. The only ones that require you have a subscription are the contest-winning recipes. Cooking Light/Southern Living are also free. Cooks Illustrated you pay a website subscription which is significantly cheaper than a magazine subscription– and you get all of their archives for free. (Many magazines have annual recipe books you can get through the library as well.)So why even subscribe?
October 4th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
@Mary, there are some libraries like that in our county as well. Still, if you’re interested, the reference librarians may be able to find you relevant cookbooks from another county branch and have them sent over.
Next to the library, the internet is my #1 recipe source. But since I work at the library, I always see the interesting cookbooks as they’re returned.
October 5th, 2008 at 12:20 am
Oh, excellent! My library doesn’t post or publish a good Dewey Decimal guide any more, so it’s good to know about the sub-categories so that I don’t have to stare my way down all the shelves to find the sort of thing I want!
I also make a practice (almost always) of checking a book out from the library before buying.
I use the internet for recipes, too, but sometimes I just want to browse through a cookbook, you know?
October 5th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
The library has a wealth of info. You can learn most anything from a library. I rent movies, how-to books and movies, fiction, non-fiction, music magazines etc. from the library. When I find a recipe in a magazine that I just cant live without, I go to the magazines website and search it then save it to my computer. Most Library (king County/ WA) have a data base that you can go thru to access the magazine, if it requires a subscription to view recipes.
October 5th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
[...] Mrs. Micah at Finance for a Freelance Life has a post at Frugal Hacks: Never buy another cookbook. [...]
October 6th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Well, admittedly, I have a love affair with cookbooks, and I’ve outgrown my space for them. However, I’m very big on checking out cookbooks at the library. If for no other reason, it often resparks my desire to cook whenever it’s waning. Right now I have several cookbooks from the library on Creole/Cajun cooking. Feeling reminiscent for my childhood, apparently.
If I check out a cookbook often enough, I’ll eventually just buy my own copy. This has been a good system for me in deciding what to buy and what not to buy. Getting to try a book out before buying is great!
October 23rd, 2008 at 9:39 am
[...] Never Buy Another Cookbook (like THAT’s gonna happen–but this has great info on how to find them in the library) (@ Frugal Hacks) [...]
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