Are your recipes gathering dust on the shelf? Foodies waste £450 on cookbooks attempting just ONE in 50 dishes from celebrity chefs

  • Survey by SimplyCook asked 2,000 foodies if they actually use cookbooks 
  • But many admitted to trying out only three recipes from each glossy tome
  • This means £450-worth of recipes are gathering dust on the shelves 

By CAROLINE GARNAR FOR MAILONLINE

Published: | Updated:

Sales of cookbooks are soaring but fans of celebrity chefs only ever attempt one in 50 of their recipes, according to new research.

Despite forking out hundreds of pounds on tomes by the likes of Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver, people are thought to try just two per cent of the recipes inside.

The survey of 2,000 foodies by online brand SimplyCook suggests that while cookbooks remain on the top of many people's Christmas lists, we use them less now than ever before.

Sales of cook books are soaring but fans of celebrity chefs only ever attempt one in 50 of their recipes, according to new research. Pictured: Nigella Lawson in her show Simply Nigella: Christmas Special

Sales of cook books are soaring but fans of celebrity chefs only ever attempt one in 50 of their recipes, according to new research. Pictured: Nigella Lawson in her show Simply Nigella: Christmas Special

People only ever try two per cent of the recipes they've bought, according to the research. Pictured: Simply Nigella Feel Good Food
Everyday Super Food cookbook by Jamie Oliver

The study shows that, despite forking out hundreds of pounds on glossy cook books by the likes of Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver, people only ever try two per cent of the recipes they've bought. Pictured: Simply Nigella Feel Good Food cookbook and Everyday Super Food cookbook by Jamie Oliver 

The people polled were found to own more than 20 cookbooks each, inspired by celebrity chefs including Jamie Oliver, pictured

The people polled were found to own more than 20 cookbooks each, inspired by celebrity chefs including Jamie Oliver, pictured

With the increased popularity of cooking programmes - such as MasterChef and the Great British Bake Off - it's perhaps not surprising that nearly half the people polled were found to own more than 20 cookbooks each.

But the research also revealed that the vast majority had only attempted up to three recipes from each of the books they own on average.

That means people are cooking fewer than two per cent of the 3,000-plus recipes they own, meaning £450 worth of meal inspiration is sitting on their shelves, completely unused.

The survey also revealed that consumption of food media is still on the up with eight out of 10 people saying they enjoy watching cooking programmes.

Despite cooking shows like British Bake Off (pictured) increasing in popularity, people appear to be using cookbooks less than ever before

Despite cooking shows like British Bake Off (pictured) increasing in popularity, people appear to be using cookbooks less than ever before

Less than half of the foodies surveyed had ever cooked something they had seen prepared on a food show, such as Celebrity Masterchef, pictured

Less than half of the foodies surveyed had ever cooked something they had seen prepared on a food show, such as Celebrity Masterchef, pictured

However, less than half of them had ever cooked something they had seen prepared on a food show.

Oli Ashness, chief executive of SimplyCook, said: 'Our information has really illuminated a modern-day problem: recipe books, celebrity and our obsession with food is truly inspiring us without a doubt, but many of us are stopping there.

'It's fascinating to think today's food media can entertain and stimulate us without that translating to widespread cultural change in our cooking habits.

'At SimplyCook we're focused on helping people make the leap from feeling inspired to actually cooking and enjoying delicious home-made meals again.' 

 

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