Do you really use recipes?

I occasionally use a new recipe but the first thing I look at is the list of ingredients. If it is too long then I don't bother and likewise if it needs for instance a pinch of something that is going to sit in the cupboard forever more then again I don't bother.

I have a Mrs Beetons book my mother gave me when I married husband number 1 back in 1967 and have used and still do recipes out of that.

DH is very conservative although I have managed to stretch him over the years, but he won't eat melted cheese, pasta or curry. Lots of dishes have cheese in them. We have been to Italy a few times and he eats the pasta etc. over there but tells me that is different?

Use recipes either for refreshing my memory or for new ideas. Tend to use my tried and trusted cookbooks for the former, but often say "I fancy doing something with . . ." and use a couple of favourite sites to look up bright new ideas. I do hate American books/sites, cos can't be doing with having to faff around working out measurements. Got a lovely book of bickie recipes, but all measured in cups/sticks etc, so don't use it nearly as often as I would like.

I have a ton of cookery books, I love them. Do you know which one I use the most ? Be-ro !

I love simple cooking and experimenting with different recipes which I have pulled off the internet. I have so many cookery books and one of these days I will bag them up for the charity shop as really there is no use for them anymore.
I don't make cakes as often as I would like because if I did I would eat & eat and then worry about the weight that I would put on. I do not want to be fat. I want to stay healthy so it's mainly dinners that I make.

Like Leonora47 I use the internet, putting in the ingredients I have and seeing what comes up. I also have some favourites like fish pie which I have printed off. For parties may go to my recipe book shelf for inspiration and then back to the internet. On a day to day basis I do not need receipies. I no longer bake as my body mass index is on the slightly high side and I must not get tempted!

We are in Normandy annifrance. Caen market has a bit of stuff but not a lot. On the plus side England is a short hop away so I mostly get spices there. I came back today with lots of za'atar in my suitcase!

I love Mary Berry and have been using her recipes for many years - however I do tend to taste and add things so I seldom make the same thing twice even if I'm using the same recipe. I like reading cookery books and recipes and I really like cooking, possibly because it's the only thing I'm any good at.

Mamie, thanks for the wild boar tips.

If you are in or near SW France there is a large supermarket somewhere on the outskirts of Toulouse that has spices from everywhere East. I do find that the local markets have a very good range of spices. But I am always on the lookout for someone making a trip to India and a small space in their luggage. In UK when I am there I have found a chain called Raj that has an amazing amount of spices etc.

Yes to Mary Berry - my son who is dyslexic, whilst at University, searched out the cookery book he wanted. It was an MB and had lots of pictures which made it easy for him and he turned out to be a very good cook and treated us to some lovely meals in his student lodgings. His wife took years to get into cooking and was turned on by the Great British Bake Off, and now is a great MB fan. her (DiL)cakes are amazing.

I like Delia because she is a cook rather than a chef. If you stick to her recipes you can't go wrong, and if experienced you can change them about and they are still very good.

I generally stick to the old faithfuls. Do lots of Stir Fries and Risottos that are a little bit different each time.

I have lots of cookery books, and if I see something I like I sometimes make it, but hardly ever completely sticking to the printed recipe.

OH says that I could never write a recipe book as I never make anything exactly the same twice running. Things depend on what I have in stock, and what herbs / spices I fancy at the time.

Elrel, my first cookery book was a Mary Berry, an engagement present given in 1978. It, along with school cookery lessons provided by my strict Home Economics teacher, was the basis of everything I know about cooking. Mary Berry's recipes are clear and, though plain, always work. She is reliable on baking, roasting times and sauces - the tricky stuff.

These days, being retired, I have time to spice things up and I often go online to obtain recipes. In my own cooking I adapt and modify and I often write down my own recipes or those of others in a lovely book I bought for the purpose. A kind friend gave me his mother's recipe for an ordinary fruitcake and I have tweaked it until it is now just what the family loves and this too has gone in 'the book'.

I read somewhere that the over fifties are the most confident cooks. We have basic techniques on board and can adapt and rescue a disaster with the confidence we have gained. When making lemon curd for the first time I looked up many recipes and combined about three to get the taste I wanted. I used Nigel Slater's ingredients for a more sour mix and Delia's method which was quicker and easier. I have invented my own strawberry jam recipe which uses the microwave and can be done with just one punnet of strawberries. Still, I am only so-so at making bread. My DH's bread always rises better than mine. You win some and lose some!

Love Mary Berry's recipes and the fact that she always tastes her cookery. Delia Smith never did. I've just bought MB's Foolproof Cooking. She gives 'foolproof tips' with every recipe like cubing hard butter into warm water to soften it for creaming. Works really well as long as you don't leave it too long....

I have not used a recipe book since my younger days many of moons ago.

Everything I have ever made from Mary Berry's recipes has always turned out wonderfully well. Her baking books are the ones for me.

Yes love mary berry recipes. Recommend sticky Chechen and easy lemon meringue pie

Yes love Mary Berry recipes. Particularly recommend sticky chicken and easy lemon meringue pie

i love cooking but my husband doesn't eat anything with rice, pasta or spices so it is quite difficult to ring the changes, 'whats wrong with meat and two veg' is his cry. I do love baking though. Only trouble is when you smell pastry or cakes cooking you just have to eat the finished product and with both of us trying to eat healthy and loose a bit of weight i try not to bake to often. When i bake i do use my cookery books or i have a hunt on the internet to find something i can bake using up what i have in the cupboard. I always use a block of butter and lard when making pastry as i find the pastry crisps up better as well as tasting divine!!

I start off using recipes but then they evolve and, if anyone asks for a recipe, I find that what I actually do bears very little relation to the original.

BBC Good Food is brilliant.

We get given wild boar by the neighbours too. I make paté, any pork dishes, curries and lasagne.
I still use some recipe books, enjoy new ones, use the internet and create my own. I love trying out new cuisines and low-carbing has been a real impetus to trying out new recipes and adapt old ones. Love food, love cooking, love growing our own and sourcing locally.
Plus the odd trip to England to stock up on spices that I can't get in France!

I am always on the lookout for new recipes; in books, newspapers, online etc. Certainly I know the recipes for all the basics, but my recipe card index has at least 100 recipes in it and I cannot remember the ingredients for every recipe. Although the recipe is little more an aide-memoire than something I follow slavishly.

I love food, love eating and I am always ready to try new ingredients and new combinations of familiar ingredients.

Love recipes, love cooking. Really upped my game since living here. Use a lot of tried and tested, many done blindfold. I have endless cookery books, have a large box full of collected recipes and use the internet a lot. But I do change ingredients according to what's available, what I have in stock. I do a lot of seasonal cooking here as we grow so many vegetables. And make up a lot.

At the moment the hens are laying madly so far in the last few days double quantities of cakes, crème caramel, lemon curd, much of it in the freezer, plus hard boiled eggs always in the fridge and we keep having to eat them!

This morning I have made a huge quantity of tomato ketchup from tomatoes from the freezer. And they still keep on coming! Huge quantity of soups from broccoli and carrots still coming on in the veggie garden.

I need the recipes just get new ideas to ring the changes!

Farmer just brought around a lot of wild boar so back to the books and internet.

i do use recipes and can sit down to read a cookery book just for pure enjoyment!

when i cook from a recipe i usually stick mainly to the ingredients but, now and again, slightly alter it. for instance if the recipe calls for celery i omit it as i hate, loathe and detest celery. the same for english mustard - definately something to be missed [and horseradish].

the dishes all end up as tasteful meals but, as i never write down what i'm using, can't be recreated!!

never mind - i've loads of cookery books and loads of inspiration. and my daughter, who lives with me, has inherited my love of cooking.

I cook at least one meal from a new recipe every week- sometimes more. I bake a lot & love to try new things- which is why I am now on 5:2 diet!. Mary Berry Jo Wheatly & Lorraine Pascale are my favourites. I do make up a lot of things too & I buy Delicious magazine every month & scan the recipes I fancy onto my laptop before passing it on to a friend. I'd get bored stiff cooking & eating the same things all the time - DH would get fed up with it too & GC love to try something new-although of course at my age I have loads of dishes I cook without a recipe .
I have no idea how many cook books - 2 cupboards full anyway-I have but I am trying to get rid of them & scan the recipes I want to keep.
To be fair I did teach baking & veggie food for a long time so I have always loved cooking.
Really we don't need cookbooks anymore as you can look anything up online but I do like the look & feel of a favourite cook book.
I think it depends on if you actually enjoy cooking or just do it to survive.

I do nearly all the time now, only because I cannot remember things. Otherwise I forget to put something essential needed in! Spag Bol without mushrooms, bp in cakes and last night a mozzarella and tomatoes recipe without the mozzarella! Luckily I was able to chop it up and sprinkle on the top and put back in the oven for five minutes to melt a bit. Easily distracted, I was talking on the phone at the same time!

Only for cakes, but keep a file of my favourites for my kids to inherit

Mary Berry's Victoria sponge is fail safe and her lemon pots for a dinner party are lovely! Mmmm.
What I am fed up about is all the store cupboard items I have bought for a 'new' recipe and the next time you clear out, they are 2 years out of date and have to go in the bin.