Cookbook suggestions?

[MisaLady]

I'm looking for some suggestions for cookbooks. What are your favorite ones?

I'm also looking for (and this can be separate from the "favorites") any good cookbooks for frugal cooking, specifically for small amounts of people and/or using very few ingredients (ten or less, with a bonus for any that focus on five or less).

All of my cookbooks are fancy-schmancy and not very frugal.

[steelergal]

I have two that I really like, one is Not Just Beans (it's a frugal cookbook) and the other one isfrom a fundraiser from my dd's school.

[Laurie in Bradenton]

Ohh, thats a hard one as I have dozens I like to use. I'd say the ones that are open the most would be my Annual Cookbooks from Taste of Home. The variety of items is good. The cost of most meals is low and the the ingredients are simple. Everyday items I have in my cabinets.
The only thing is the way its written takes prereading. Alot of the recipes are listed in the index by names that sometimes have very little to do with the item. For example " Aunt Jenny's Casserole." By prereading you know that its made with hambuger not tuna. But the double index does have it listed under Main ingredient Hambuger.
I preread my cookbooks and put a sticky note in the front as to ones I'd like to try. Then if its a hit I note it on the front inside cover.
I like the cost of these books also at different times during the year they sell off back issue for $5.00. Also they do turn up at Thrift stores.

LAurie in Bradenton

[tigo]

Laurel's Kitchen (vegetarian) is one of our favorites. It is the first one that I read that had me thinking about items in my kitchen and how they might go together.
The Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes. Busy people's best friend is a crockpot IMO.
Twelve Months of Monestary Soups. We didn't eat soups very often when I first started this frugal journey. This book breaks it down by what is in season as the monks rely on their garden for the bulk of their food.

[Buc-O-Mama]

I'm a cooking school instructor, so this might be my very favorite subject ever. Favorites would be

Cook with Jamie, by Jamie Oliver - This book is just special, the photos are magic and Jamie's approach is fresh and real, not fussy. Love it.

Talk About Good by the Junior League of Lafayette, Louisiana - This cookbook was originally printed in the '60s but is still available in print across the country. It's full of classic as well as amazing cajun and creole recipes.

The Frugal Gourmet on Our Immigrant Ancestors by Jeff Smith - Can't tell you how amazing this cookbook is. If you have any interest in international recipes you have to get your hands on this book. Recipes and history pertaining to about every Ethnic group that has immigrated here. Not sure if it's still in print, I've had it forever.

Once A Month Cooking by Mimi Wilson and Mary Beth Lagerborg - On the frugal side for sure, includes a monthly plan and step by step methods for cooking for a month. Some of the recipes are really fun, and the chicken packets and freezer calzones are recipes my family still requests.

Enjoy your cookbook hunt! You never know where you'll find your favorite.

[DJ1972]

The Fannie Farmer cookbook is one of my favorites....it was written in 1896 so the recipes have simple ingredients and are very frugal. My other favorite that I go to often is my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, it's got all the basics, definitions, substitutions, and is easy to follow....I use it most often.

[Milly]

We love "The Joy of Cooking" because it tells all about ingredients, substitutes and (should it become necessary) how to field dress game.

You have to look a little harder to find frugal recipes, but they're there.

[Ceashels]

http://www.bartleby.com/87/ The Fanny Farmer Cookbook

I vote for the Fanny Farmer Cookbook 1918. Here it is online which is awesome. There have been several updates of this book with additions and modifications from other people but the online version is the last edition she did.

[Momto2Boyz]

Gooseberry Patch cookbooks are my absolute favorites! They can be pricey when bought from gooseberry patch, but I've collected them over the years (I have about 30 of them) and I've found some great deals!

They all look similiar, so once you know what they look like, you can keep your eyes out at garage sales and find them cheap! You can also watch the clearance section on their website and sometimes find some awesome deals!

My two absolute favorites are "5 ingredients or less" and The Cozy Home cookbook. They are down home, farm kinda cookin' and are usually pretty frugal, easy and tasty!

[Spirit Deer]

My best cookbook suggestion is to go to the library and check out anything that looks interesting. If you're looking for something specific, such as something someone has suggested, get it through inter-library loan and look it over. Then if you find books you're interested in, check www.half.ebay.com to see if you can get them cheap there. IMO, most cookbooks are not worth owning and it's too expensive to buy them without being able to look them over first to make sure you really want them.

I have quite a few I really like. I probably use my Bisquick cookbooks the most. There is a lot of variety in those and Bisquick is easy and cheap to make yourself. Most of them use simple ingredients and aren't too fussy to make.

I like The New Dieter's Cook Book by Better Homes and Gardens. It has things in it you don't think you can ever have again on a healthy eating plan, like mac and cheese.

For frugal stuff, I like Make Your Own Groceries by Daphne Metaxes Hartwig and Make-A-Mix Cookery by three people whose names I forget. There's a sequel called More Make-A-Mix Cookery, and I've copied the recipes I wanted from that into the first one. I recently had a book called Better and Cheaper from the library and copied a lot of recipes from that, too. Now I have Homemade by Reader's Digest and will be copying some stuff from that, too. That one has a ton of non-food items you can make yourself.

As for recipes serving few people, it's easy enough to cut down a recipe, although if you cut it a lot, you may have to experiment a little to make sure it turns out right. I do this a lot because I use regular recipes when I cook with my Dutch ovens over coals, and since there's only the two of us, I use my three baby DO's a lot. They are only six inches and five inches in diameter. A lot of recipes are for things like 9x13 pans so I just reduce the recipes to fit. Not that hard really and it gets easier. A lot of recipes can also be frozen so you can have a 'planned over' meal later that you don't have to cook.

[MoonMommy]

I have this Fanny Farmer Cookbook
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Fannie-Farmer-Cookbook-Marion-Cunningham/dp/0553568817/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235656653&sr=8-2"]Amazon.com: The Fannie Farmer Cookbook: Marion Cunningham: Books[/ame]
My mom got it for me years ago.
I really like it because it has a lot of the basic recipes that you might want to use (meatloaf, pizza dough, different breads) and it is also full of other info about various cooking topics...like what is the difference between different cuts of meat. I have quite a few other books, but I usually look in THIS book first and then if I can't find what I am looking for, I look in one of the other books or on-line.

[mom23boyz]

Betty Crocker Good and Easy Cookbook

Campbells Simply Delicious
these are my 2 favorites!!!

[The Muse]

I have a ton of recipes, but I use Recipezaar far more often than any of my cookbooks. I like that the recipes are reviewed and often have notes as to how people improved or varied the recipe. I have a lot less failures with things I find on Recipezaar, than I do with cookbooks.

[mommy4ever]

I second the library recommendations. When I was looking for a book last week, I notice a fairly large section of cooking for 1 or 2. Didn't notice names, I cook for 6+ so it wasn't what I was looking for.

As to frugal recipes? That can be hard. It's pretty regional. In the US people always comment on their chicken and turkey prices. We pay easily 4 to 5 x that here. So, most US based frugal recipes aren't that frugal for me. KWIM?

Spend some time at the library, best way to do, you can see it hands on and see if the ingredients are something you can get readily.

[nancycg56]

I'm partial to Recipezaar, too, since I'm a host over there (you can also scale a recipe up or down for serving size) but if you want hard copy books, any cookbook put out by Southern Living would have my vote. I have never made a bad recipe from any of them.