Sure cookbooks come with jackets, but more often than not, they really just get in the way or you spend half your time worrying that the bit of flung brownie batter is going to leave a permanent mark. Book jackets have a tendency to crumple and tear, and they just aren't designed to hold up to the rigorous tests we put them through. Instead of worrying about them, give them a little protection — all you need is a paper bag!
All you need is a brown paper bag and scissors. Check out the video above for an easy tutorial to get things covered. The plus side to using paper bags is that they can be recycled when they get wet or dirty and are easy to pick up a new one. If you want, remove the old cover entirely and keep them stored safely out of the way of flying flour — though we prefer to just place the new cover over the old.
You can tell in the photo above that this book has been through the ringer, but it's always reassuring to know that when stains or marking show up on it, that the book inside is still safe and sound.
How do you keep your cookbooks clean? Let us know below!
• Related: How Many Cookbooks is Too Many?
(Image: Sarah Rae Trover)
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Comments (17)
Oh my! This brings back memories! We had to cover all of our books in gradeschool. And after the first day of school, my mom and I would sit on the kitchen floor and cover all of my books. Some of my best artwork was done on those covers!!
What a blast from the past. I went to Catholic schools, and the nuns taught us to make these covers for all our text books. The covers then became fruitful canvases for doodling all year long.
oh my god, i *am* old, aren't i?
when i was a kid, we always made our school book covers out of paper bags. (i'm not even sure they had ones you could buy back in the 60s!)
I don't think I've ever worried about the cover of my cookbooks, I've always found the covers are pretty durable to wipe things off unless you sort of leave it sitting in a puddle for hours, which probably wouldn't help with paper cover, it's more the pages I fear for, they're forever getting spilled on and stuck together.
Also I'm sort of gobsmacked by the existence of a tutorial video on paper bag book covers, I thought that would be sort of a hive mind thing everyone knew from having to cover every book ever from k-12. Maybe I'm old now.
wow...i did this years ago to my cookbooks. It wasn't necessarily for the protection benefit, but rather for the aesthetic of it all.
Like many others, this post takes me back to elementary school. The first note home in the first week of school was always "please send your child to school with X paper grocery bags, for making book covers", and then one morning was devoted to the making. One year they actually got sponsored covers, pads and pads of printed paper big enough for the biggest textbooks. And half the class used them plain side out anyway. :)
I am I the only one who doesn't care if my cookbook covers have stains? I love looking at old recipes and cookbooks from my Nana Lucia and Grandma because of the old stains - it just adds something.
Yes -- brings me back to St. Agnes elementary school in Dalton, Mass!
But now, I wouldn't do this for a cook book.
Love that rad JoC cover re-do, Sarah Rae!
Wow - Did all of us go to private Catholic schools? Ha! Maybe all the nuns collaborated and gave the same assignment on the first day!
Ah, memories. I did this from elementary through high school. In the upper grades it wasn't required, but at the end of the year we would be fined for any wear on the book, so most of us did it anyway. I don't remember ever doing it in class. Usually, covering your books was homework.
I actually really like it when my cookbooks have stains and spills on them. It's somehow nostalgic and a sign of love.
Yeah, I love it when my cookbooks get a little stained here and there... but I also write in my cookbooks, dog-ear the pages, etc. They're mine, I'm going to mark them up as I see fit! :)
Like everyone else, this brings back memories of elementary school. Within the first couple days of the school year, we had to cover our textbooks with paper bags. I'm not sure it really helped our textbooks after 10 years of use, but it's probably worth a try on my cookbooks.
and if you're not too picky, you can wipe clean an empty bag of cat food. These are plastified on the inside, which I find very useful considering that when I'm cooking the counter is wet from all the produce washing and chopping and there has been the rare ocassion when I forget and I put the recipe book/card/clipping down on the counter :(
Like everyone else, textbooks were the first thing I thought of too. This is a good idea and I think I'll also consider using prettily, patterned papers as well. I'm not exceptionally particular about the condition of the covers. I just like the idea using the paper!
Does anyone else have kids who are required to cover their textbooks in paperbags? None of my children have ever been asked to do so. Hmmmm.
cookbooks are meant to be cooked w/ not stared at. what's the fun of cooking if you aren't willing to get your hands and the books dirty? I love stains, it reminds me of the times I made something or shows that it had been used.