You probably won’t be surprised to learn that I have a true cookbook addiction.

I love all books in general, especially cozy crime novels, and fun pop culture biographies. Cookbooks are the perfect marriage of my love of books, beautiful photography, and creative recipes. While I’d like to own every cookbook that comes out, (there are over 40,000 cookbook titles in the Library of Congress), regrettably I only have so much room in my library - and of course budget, so I have to pick and choose carefully.

Start at the Library

That’s where your local library comes in. If you’re not a big patron of the library (for shame!) you may not realize that most libraries have significant cookbook sections. They also order most top rated cookbooks and have them on hand for you to check out and peruse for several weeks before handing them back in. It’s like renting but you don’t have to pay any money. 😉

Titles that I’ve checked out and loved over the past month or so include:

Pizza Night by Alexandra Stafford

The Forest Feast by Erin Gleeson

The Forest Feast Mediterranean by Erin Gleeson

What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking by Caroline Chambers

Not So Sweet by Jessica Seinfeld

Delish: Eat Like Everyday is the Weekend

I brought them home, looked them through, tried out a recipe or two.

I saw Not So Sweet at my local bookstore and almost lost my mind over it! I wanted to have it, but told myself to get it from the library first. So I walked across the street (the library was literally across the street) and checked it out. The experience confirmed that I did indeed need to have it - so I bought it and added it to my collection.

The Forest Feast books, which include quite an array of sequels to original, once I got it home from the library was so enlightening and inspiring I had to have the original and the Mediterranean sequel. I purchased both of these used from Amazon for about $4 each plus shipping.

Pizza Night I love, but also enjoy pursuing Alexandra Stafford’s blog so much that I might hold off on buying the book for a bit. It’s almost easier to scroll through her blog and find a recipe that I want to try, then take my phone to the grocery store open to the recipe and buy the ingredients. (I know, I know, I can also take a picture of the page in the book which I also do).

I tried several recipes from Delish which turned out great and I enjoyed, but once again the same recipes are on their website and the book really lives up to it’s name: Eat Like Every Day is the Weekend … which adds up to tons of butter, heavy cream, sugar, cheese ect in every recipe - good for the weekend. Also the cookbook was heavy on background about the brand, Delish, loved it but chose to hold off purchasing.

I look for creativity in cookbooks - my theory is that anyone can make a stick of butter and a cup of sugar taste great - give me some alternatives (like Jessica Seinfeld consistently does).

Other sources of Free Cookbooks

Download Free Ebooks:*

Barnes & Noble offers almost 500 free ebook downloads of cookbooks and books about food and wine.

Apple Books also offers lots of free cookbooks that you can download to your iPad or phone.

*These aren’t usually the newest, most craveworthy cookbooks but it’s fun to browse.

Follow your favorite authors and food writers on Goodreads (which is owned by Amazon btw) - Goodreads often does giveaways of new books and it doesn’t require a lot to enter each one.