# Drawer full of cook books



## debodun (Jan 21, 2021)

I finally got around to pulling out all the old cook books my mom had. I am never going to cook most of the dishes in them. Too bad nobody wants them anymore - everyone gets their recipes online now.


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## Aunt Marg (Jan 21, 2021)

So true, lots of fantastic recipes online these days, but there's just something special about old family recipes.


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## Murrmurr (Jan 21, 2021)

If you had the energy and time it would be a neat project to compile the oldest recipes and make one book, and all the favorites to make another. My siblings and I are deciding which of my mom's cookbooks we want. She has a whole bookshelf unit full of them, so there will be a lot left over. We hope her church will take them for their annual bazaar except they probably won't have one this year (they didn't have it in 2020).


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## tbeltrans (Jan 21, 2021)

Murrmurr said:


> If you had the energy and time it would be a neat project to compile the oldest recipes and make one book, and all the favorites to make another. My siblings and I are deciding which of my mom's cookbooks we want. She has a whole bookshelf unit full of them, so there will be a lot left over. We hope her church will take them for their annual bazaar except they probably won't have one this year (they didn't have it in 2020).


That is bizarre about the church bazaar.   

Tony


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## Ruth n Jersey (Jan 21, 2021)

@debodun ,I have exactly the same problem only I'm the one who collected them. To make matters worse, my mom saw me copying  recipes from the books. She said that she  made a list containing  the name of the book, page number and name of the recipe from her cookbooks. She did this because once you copy it out you never use the book.
I thought that was a pretty good idea and did the same, but now I have so many books I'd like to get rid of  and I have to copy them down anyway. After 40 years that's quite a job.


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## debodun (Jan 21, 2021)

In the remote happenstance that civic or religious groups ever get around to having fund raisers or rummage sales, I doubt they would even sell there. They'd likely get tossed - what a waste! Some of the ones I did look at are from the 1950s and 60s. I put out some I had already found at my sale last year an no one even looked at them.


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## terry123 (Jan 21, 2021)

I had been collecting the Southern Living annual cookbooks for years.  When I decided to get rid of some of my books I listed them on our local free cycle group and got tons of emails for them.  Got rid of most of them but still have several left that I will keep.

They are such nice cookbooks with the pics and everything.  Since its just me now I don't cook much and don't have a lot of freezer space.  

I will keep them as I like to read them!  I really like Church cookbooks as you get those "old time recipes".  Used to love those Wednesday night potlucks as everybody brought their specialties!  Mine was peach cobbler that everybody loved.  Never had any left so I always made two so we would have some at home.


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## Butterfly (Jan 21, 2021)

terry123 said:


> I had been collecting the Southern Living annual cookbooks for years.  When I decided to get rid of some of my books I listed them on our local free cycle group and got tons of emails for them.  Got rid of most of them but still have several left that I will keep.
> 
> They are such nice cookbooks with the pics and everything.  Since its just me now I don't cook much and don't have a lot of freezer space.
> 
> I will keep them as I like to read them!  I really like Church cookbooks as you get those "old time recipes".  Used to love those Wednesday night potlucks as everybody brought their specialties!  Mine was peach cobbler that everybody loved.  Never had any left so I always made two so we would have some at home.


I collected the Southern Living cookbooks, too.  Like you, I have a slew of them.  I'm keeping mine.  They are lovely books and I like to look through them.  I also have a whole bunch of church cookbooks, ladies' group cookbooks, etc.  I used to especially like those, too.  Some had very old family recipes.

I used to cook a lot and really enjoy cookbooks.  Don't cook much anymore -- it just isn't much fun for only one person.  I mean, I do cook every day for myself, but nothing elaborate or adventurous or fun.

I really loved cooking for family.


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## Jules (Jan 21, 2021)

Deb, it couldn’t hurt to put them in a couple of boxes and offer them for free - the recipient must take all.  Stress the 50s and 60s.


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## terry123 (Jan 22, 2021)

Butterfly said:


> I collected the Southern Living cookbooks, too.  Like you, I have a slew of them.  I'm keeping mine.  They are lovely books and I like to look through them.  I also have a whole bunch of church cookbooks, ladies' group cookbooks, etc.  I used to especially like those, too.  Some had very old family recipes.
> 
> I used to cook a lot and really enjoy cookbooks.  Don't cook much anymore -- it just isn't much fun for only one person.  I mean, I do cook every day for myself, but nothing elaborate or adventurous or fun.
> 
> I really loved cooking for family.


The only time I really cook is at Holidays if they are coming to my house. These days my oldest daughter and I  cook or she will order a whole meal from Lubys or the local gumbo place.  Pick up some Patti LaBell(sic) desserts, make sweet tea and we are set.


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## Lee (Jan 22, 2021)

I have eight general cookbooks and a set of Time Life cookbooks. We all get those times when we need a little inspiration so I will pull one off the shelf with eyes closed, open it to a random page and that's the inspiration.


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## debodun (Jan 22, 2021)

This little 5 x 7 inch, 32 page pamphlet was in amongst the books. Published in 1908. Cute! I couldn't find anything about the Olney Canning Co.  online. Probably went OOB decades ago.


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## Aunt Bea (Jan 22, 2021)

Burt Olney canned vegetables and also bottled ketchup.

There is still a market for collectibles relating to his operations on eBay, Etsy, Bonanza, etc...


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## debodun (Jan 23, 2021)

Thanks for all the interesting info, Aunt Bea.


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## debodun (Jan 23, 2021)

I sold two cookbooks right off the bat to the local librarian. She was only interested in the local ones. Haven't has even a nibble on any of the others I put on FB Marketplace.


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## dobielvr (Feb 5, 2021)

tbeltrans said:


> That is bizarre about the church bazaar.
> 
> Tony


We didn't have our annual church bazaar this year either.  
That's good idea abt taking the cookbooks to the bazaar to donate or try to sell.

I have the majority of my mother's cookbooks, and my brother and sister have the others.
I love seeing her handwriting in them, changing the ingredient measurements.


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## tbeltrans (Feb 5, 2021)

dobielvr said:


> We didn't have our annual church bazaar this year either.
> That's good idea abt taking the cookbooks to the bazaar to donate or try to sell.
> 
> I have the majority of my mother's cookbooks, and my brother and sister have the others.
> I love seeing her handwriting in them, changing the ingredient measurements.


In the community room of our condo building, we have an area on the counter for people to put free stuff they want to give away.  Periodically, church cookbooks will show up.  There are some really good and practical recipes in those, so I have grabbed a few for my wife to look through.  She enjoys that kind of stuff.

Tony


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