What to Do With Old Cookbooks

Clean, usable cookbooks are easy to donate: library Friends book sales and thrift stores usually take them, and a few at a time fit nicely in a Little Free Library or a neighborhood Buy Nothing group. Splattered, stained or broken-spined cookbooks are much harder to place, and paper recycling is the usual fallback for those. In the Albuquerque metro, I take cookbooks of every kind and condition free, in the 24/7 drop box or with free pickup, and I note the regionally significant ones for the open New Mexico cookbook record. Most old cookbooks have little resale value, though a few are collectible. Here's how to handle a whole collection, from a parent's kitchen to your own crowded shelf.

Published June 2026 · By Josh Eldred, New Mexico Literacy Project · Free pickup: 505-250-3804

Fastest way to clear them: the 24/7 drop box at 5445 Edith Blvd NE, a covered box outside the gate, by the road, takes whatever fits, any hour, any condition. Too much for the box? Come 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., when someone is there to help unload, or get on a free pickup route. Directions.

The hard truth about cookbook values

Cookbooks are one of the best-selling categories in publishing history, which means most of them are extremely common. Celebrity-chef hardcovers, diet books, appliance manuals disguised as cookbooks and magazine annual recipe collections were printed in enormous numbers and have essentially no resale value today. Thrift stores see so many that their cookbook shelves are often overstuffed.

Which cookbooks actually have value

A real minority do, and they're worth recognizing before you let a box go:

Landmark first editions. A true first edition of a genuinely important cookbook — Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, an early Edna Lewis, an early James Beard — can carry real value, especially in a dust jacket. Signed copies step up further.

Community, church, and regional cookbooks. This is the surprising one. Spiral-bound community cookbooks, church and Junior League collections, and small-town fundraiser books were printed in tiny local runs and often vanished — which makes the ones documenting a specific place genuinely collectible. New Mexico community and Hispano cookbooks are actively collected; I keep a whole reference on this in the guide to collecting New Mexico cookbooks.

Early and antiquarian cookbooks. Pre-1900 cookbooks, early regional Americana, and historically important culinary texts belong in the collectible tier. Everything else is reading-and-cooking copy — still useful, just not valuable.

Why thrift stores stop taking them

Cookbooks are heavy, they're everywhere, and a glutted shelf doesn't sell, so some thrift stores limit how many they'll take. Libraries rarely add donated cookbooks to their collections, though a library Friends sale will usually take clean ones. The hard part is the well-loved cookbook: splattered, stained or coming apart at the spine. Albuquerque's Friends of the Public Library, for one, lists stained and water-damaged books among the things it can't resell, and that's the gap this service fills.

I accept every cookbook

Any kind, any condition: hardcover, paperback, spiral-bound, splattered, water-stained. I take them all, and I'll come pick them up free anywhere in the Albuquerque metro so you don't have to load a single box. Readable cookbooks are resold into new kitchens, which is what keeps the pickup and drop box free (more on where donated books go), and the regionally significant ones get documented. For the ones worth reading rather than clearing, see my list of the best New Mexico cookbooks.

Recycling, as a last resort

Only the truly ruined (moldy, water-destroyed, falling apart) should be recycled, and even then donation is usually better because cookbooks get so much real use. If a shelf got wet, my guide to water-damaged and moldy books covers what can be saved. Paperbacks go in curbside paper; for hardbacks, separate the cover from the text block first. When in doubt, give it to me and I'll make that call.

Frequently asked questions

Are old cookbooks worth anything?

Most aren't. The exceptions are landmark first editions, signed copies, early/antiquarian cookbooks, and scarce community or regional cookbooks printed in small local runs.

Where can I donate old cookbooks?

Library Friends book sales and thrift stores usually take clean, usable cookbooks, and a Little Free Library or Buy Nothing group can absorb a few at a time. Libraries rarely add donated cookbooks to their own shelves, and stained, splattered or broken copies are the hard ones, since most donation sites can't resell them.

Where can I donate old cookbooks in Albuquerque?

I accept them all, any condition, with free pickup — call or text 505-250-3804.

Are community and church cookbooks valuable?

Some are — small local runs documenting a specific town or culture can be collectible, New Mexico community cookbooks especially.