When you need inspiration to not eat out

Sometimes I just need inspiration to actually cook food that I have at home and not give in to the (constant) urge to take the easy and expensive way out and get take out. That’s all. (Also if you have books that fall into this category PLEASE COMMENT — this list is inspo for me too.)

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created by ericareads

last updated September, 2025

12 books

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Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables

Joshua McFadden

The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science

J. Kenji López-Alt

Good Things: Recipes and Rituals to Share with People You Love

Samin Nosrat

Cooking with Italian Grandmothers: Recipes and Stories from Tuscany to Sicily

Jessica Theroux

Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book

Better Homes and Gardens

Everyone's Table: Global Recipes for Modern Health

Gregory Gourdet

Ghana to the World: Recipes and Stories That Look Forward While Honoring the Past

Eric Adjepong

The Joy of Cooking

Irma S. Rombauer

On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen

Harold McGee

The Soul of a Chef: The Journey Toward Perfection

Michael Ruhlman

Taste: My Life Through Food

Stanley Tucci

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking

Samin Nosrat

Comments

leitmotif

Not sure if you watch Top Chef, but a few of time released cookbooks: Ghana to the World: Recipes and Stories That Look Forward While Honoring the Past: Eric Adjepong Everyone's Table: Gregory Gourdet Cook Like a King: Recipes from My California Chinese Kitchen: Melissa King Padma's All American: Tales, Travels, and Recipes from Taste the Nation and Beyond: A Cookbook: Padma Lakshmi

Spud-dragon

Cooking with Italian Grandmothers: Recipes and Stories from Tuscany to Sicily by Jessica Theroux is another good one!