Throw Away Grandma’s Cookbook!

Relax, Grandma. It’s just a catchy title. 🙂

Clearly I’m not really suggesting you tear up your grandma’s recipe cards or toss out all of your cookbooks, but it struck me recently that the cookbook world is changing. And it’s changing fast.Who hasn’t found themselves with some extra [insert random ingredient here] in the fridge and Googled recipes with that ingredient so you can put it to good use versus just throw it away.

Sure, I added the Epicuroius app to my cell phone years ago, but now there is a whole new crop of exciting tools available to the modern chef… and harried parent trying to get food on table.

Here are just a few I found intriguing:

  • Eat Your Books – Over 2,000 books, magazines and food blogs have been indexed, with 480,000+ recipes that can be searched! They don’t publish recipes, they help you find those you already have.
  • Cookstr.com – Their online recipe library offers thousands of recipes by hundreds of the top chefs and cookbook authors for free. Their mission is to organize the world‘s best cookbooks and recipes.
  • CulinApp.com – This Texas-based company (a shout out for the homeboys) working with the world’s most celebrated chefs and cookbook authors, delivers a personal learning experience to aspiring chefs – of all levels.

How do you use the web in your kitchen?

Any long-time readers know I have a love/hate relationship with technology. I lament the decrease in the number of bookstores, while at the same time I snap up the latest eReader technology.

I have some cookbooks my late father bought me when I was going off to graduate school, and I would never part with them. But that won’t stop me from trying out some of these cool services.

So, gonna toss out those cookbooks?

Note: This is NOT a sponsored post. The opinions concerning these websites and apps are mine alone… unless someone wants to pay me. I do have a price. 😉

16 comments

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  1. I use allrecipes.com on the ipad; take in into the kitchen with me. poor cookbooks and recipes are gathering dust! But no way I am tossing them out, until such time as allrecipes.com has all my favorites from the cookbooks, which is not likely!

    1. Cool, David. allrecipes.com, eh? Wow, they are huge. The iPad would seem a great format for delivering recipes. They say Allrecipes, the #1 digital food brand, receives more than 535 million annual visits from home cooks who share and download recipes, reviews, photos, personal profiles, and meal ideas. For more than 14 years, the Seattle-based site has served as a dynamic, indispensible resource for cooks seeking trusted recipes, entertaining ideas, everyday and holiday meal solutions, practical cooking tips, and food advice. Allrecipes provides more than 44,000 recipes inspiring 20 million monthly unique visitors and a membership base of more than 5 million strong.

    • Mumsy's Refuge on at
    • Reply

    You are right, there are so many options available to us now for resourcing new recipes or “what should I do with this” type moments. I have to admit though we have several cookbooks, I usually just make it up as I go unless I find a really great sounding recipe while blog hopping. (which lately I have). But to answer your question, nope, not throwing out the books.

    1. LOL… I didn’t think many would actually throw out their cookbooks. In our house my wife is the master chef (which is a nice way of saying, daddy is a lazy bastard?). Actually if you visit my wife’s blog there are tons of great recipes: MilkandCuddles.com. My brother is a really good cook, too. He and his wife do as a fun together (and wind-down) activity evenings after work.

  2. It’s awesome how you’re combining technology and parenting; Cooking has never been one of my strong suits (can’t speak for the rest of the CB team, though) but I think if I had the right tools to work with… like an eReader… I’d be more inclined to test out new recipes beyond pasta. ^Derek

    1. Awww… thanks so much, Derek. Don’t let me mislead you, my wife is the gourmet chef in our house. I just do basic stuff. Interestingly, my little brother has turned into a rather amazing chef. He and his wife spend quality time in the evenings cooking together. I’ve bought him a number of cookbooks, but perhaps this year I should get him an eReader loaded up with tools like these?

  3. Making a right choice of foods is one of the factors to live a healthy life. Parents must choose foods that are rich in nutrients for their children and the rest of the family members. There are lot of information online which provides parents a step by step guide on how to cook them in an innovative way.

    1. So true! 🙂

  4. My laptop is in the kitchen sometimes at dinner time as I follow a recipe. 🙂

    I am so glad you shared this solution on my resource meme last week. This was one of the top viewed entries! Check out your feature here: http://www.crystalandcomp.com/2011/11/the-mommy-club-share-your-resources-and-solutions-16/

    1. Thank you, Crystal. Yes, my laptop is in the kitchen as well, but I must confess my wife is the chef in this house. My brother is an excellent cook. Me, I’m can follow a recipe and improvise without serious health risk to my family. 😉

  5. I love SuperCook for when you have random ingredients on hand! Of course, I try to challenge myself toward the end of the week to make up a recipe to use things before we go shopping again. Some are great but there have been a few busts!

    1. That makes a ton of sense to try to use up random ingredients and if SuperCook help you do that, so much the better. Yeah, I suppose they can’t all be great, Kasondra. I certainly know some of the experiments I’ve done have been slightly less than stellar. 😉 Thanks so much for stopping by!

    • Nathaniel Reas on at
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    There are some great sites now with videos showing you how to cook…pretty fail-safe if you aren’t a great cook!

    1. Hey Nathaniel. Great to have a dad comment. So you cook? That’s great. Too many guys (and I’m not better than most) don’t even try it. My brother has gotten into it. He tries out all kinds of cool recipes. He and his wife enjoy doing it in the evening after work as a “together activity”. 🙂

  6. Hello,

    Great blog. I want to learn more about chicken recipes. Hope to hear soon from you.

    Regards,

    Mayjoo

    1. Here are a few chicken focused cookbooks that may get you started:

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