San Francisco Restaurant Blog

As we are currently experiencing one of the deepest recessions of the past 100 years more people than ever are turning to home cooked meals rather than eating out or ordering pizzas. Many families are now cooking meals at home three times a day seven days a week. This requires a greater variety in the types of meals offered a number of recipes needed for this level of cooking. Yes you could get by by cooking the same couple of meals everyday regardless of what the meals were people would soon lose interest as their pallets would become dull and bored. So what is required is a good number of different kinds of cooking books.

Now at Williams-Sonoma or other fine specialty and cooking stores you will find that these cooking books can be rather expensive and can range anywhere from $25 on up to $100 or more per book. Some, like the Betty Crocker cookbook are practically a required stable for any kitchen. Some books will delve more into types of meats, soups, desserts, etc. while others will delve more into different nationalities and the general types of foods preferred or served in those countries or regions. For instance Thailand and Thai cooking tends to place an emphasis on hot and spicy foods, whereas other countries may specialize in all kinds of different kinds of cooking and flavors. All of these countries have interesting dishes and recipes that are definitely worth your time to check out.

The problem is that these books are not exactly cheap and if you wanted one from every country in the world you could spend several thousand dollars easily or more. Now as an alternative to the expensive cooking stores you can also go to places like Wal-Mart to get the same books for a little bit cheaper. A better alternative is to go to your local Marshall’s, Ross or T.J. Maxx as they usually have a very good selection of cooking books where the average price is one fourth of the original cost or less. So at these stores you could basically buy about four great cooking books for the price of one at Williams-Sonoma.

Then there is another avenue that should definitely not be overlooked. That avenue would be your local Craigslist and Freecycle. Both Craigslist and Freecycle are websites that are free to use the differences On Craigslist you sell items and someone else buys them and Freecycle is where they are given away for free. You cannot sell items on Freecycle. Generally things are harder to get on Freecycle do this free nature. As soon as something of value is posted as available on free cycle it is almost always gone. So you will definitely be better off searching your local Craigslist.

I have found many local church cookbooks for sale at fire sale prices on Craigslist. These books are usually sold as a part of church fundraisers for between $10 and $30. Usually on Craigslist I can pick these same books up there barely used for a dollar or two each. So for $20 and the gas to go and get them I can get 10 or more great cooking books loaded with awesome recipes that I know that my family and kids will love. Some of these have more of a holiday tint to them and others may specialize in desserts, but all are full of great recipes and ideas and I have never been disappointed picking up any of these ever. The secret is the little church ladies that over the years have picked up some amazing cooking skills and some would even rival or put the cooking chefs and stars on TV to shame.

So if you want to save some money on some great cooking books and take your cooking skills, recipes and meals to the next level or even if you just want to try something new, do not pass by Craigslist without giving it a try. It has definitely been worth my time and then some.

Melissa Maillie is a long time gourmet Italian cook with her own website loaded full of great, free recipes and cooking tips. For more great tips like this and free recipes be sure and visit – Great free cooking recipes and tips. Article provided courtesy of Hotcookingrecipes.com. A great example of the amazing recipes you will find at Hotcookingrecipes.com: heavenly 6 ingredient salad Be sure and check it out – you’ll be glad you did!