What is the best site or program for making a family cookbook with pictures??

I would like to make a cookbook of family recipes for mother's day. I had in mind recipes illustrated with a picture of the family member associated with them "Grandma's apple pie" etc. Can anyone recommend a website that is inexpensive, but produces high quality images? I only want to print 2, but I would like other family members to be able to order one if they choose...

lloreen
  • Posted by: lloreen
  • March 2, 2012
  • 168624 views
  • 46 Comments

46 Comments

drewgeli February 17, 2021
I want to print my own cookbook on some special paper I ordered but need a template to create it. Any suggestions?
 
melissa W. September 27, 2020
I'm interested in creating a recipe book for my sister-in-law. I want to create custom recipe pages but I don't want to book bound, because I want her to be able to remove the pages and add new recipes whenever she wants. Does anyone know where I can create custom recipes to be printed, so that I can put them into my own 3-ring binder?
 
KarenOfWestMichigan November 23, 2020
Melissa, did you ever find a site where you could create customer recipes to be printed to be put into a three-ring binder?

I want to do this as well.
 
melissa W. December 21, 2020
Unfortunately I haven’t yet! Still looking
 
virginie M. February 18, 2021
Hi! We can do a three ring binder for you if you like. Email me at [email protected] and I can get you more details!
 
laura September 2, 2020
This is a great resource! It seems like Heritage Cookbooks, Blurb, Create My Cookbook and Cookbook Create are the best options for a high end fundraising cookbook. Is this correct? Has anyone had a great experience creating a cookbook recently? Any tips?
 
lmbrunsman July 15, 2020
I would like to create a cookbook for a wedding present. I am wanting to have pictures of the actual recipe cards and pictures of people. Maybe a few places that I could type an explanation nest to a recipe. But I will not be typing out the actual recipes. I would also like it to be hardbound with a spiral or binder. What site would you recommend.
 
virginie M. July 15, 2020
You can load scans of recipe cards in heritagecookbook.com! You can also add photos, anecdotes etc... We don't offer hardbound spiral yet, but if you email me from the website, I can send you pricing- it's a product we will be launching in the fall!
 
virginie M. May 29, 2020
Take a look at heritagecookbook.com. Program is easier to use than createmycookbook, with more design and layout options, and competitive pricing and much better paper quality!
 
cridpath May 28, 2020
on createmycookbook, what is better - hardback or hardback wire-o?
 
Michele K. May 28, 2020
Absolutely wire, if you plan to USE the book, as opposed to having it just be a documentation of family recipes. The quality is great. Also, CreateMyCookbook provides links to the digital copy. I didn’t think I would use that, but it turns out it’s my go-to.
 
cridpath May 30, 2020
Thank you!
 
Ariadne I. April 14, 2020
I need to create a cookbook of recipes compiled for a wedding- they have photos and the recipe itself and the person wants a certain color palette. Does Create my Cookbook let you add extra photos to a page and change color backgrounds and possibly add flourishes to the pages?

 
Michele K. April 14, 2020
Yes, I found all of that possible. However, the end result looks far better if you choose a consistent “look” overall.
 
Dave F. March 22, 2020
simplycookbooks.com
 
Jen G. January 29, 2019
I had a great experience using CreateMyCookbook, my family said the quality looked like I bought it at a bookstore! :)) And the pricing was fair. https://createmycookbook.com
 
Dawn T. November 22, 2019
Wow the minimum price for this for one book is 19.95. that seems so pricey! but they all are pricey. i keep thinking of those cool 5X7 church cookbooks we used to buy for $10 a piece is what i wanted to put together.
 
Jennifer C. October 13, 2020
cookbookprinter.com creates the spiral bound books for less than $5
 
Michele J. March 7, 2018
I just wrote both a Family Cookbook, and then an article on the process. Thank you to all on this stream for direction to a lot of sources! After signing up for all and previewing them, I have to say that CreateMyCookbook is a fantastic site and easy to use. Nothing to download and great customer support, too. The process is very streamlined and not overwhelming at all. Blurb definitely offers infinite options, however you can get lost in the details. Heritagecookbook is a wonderful site, however the pay aspect is something I didn't like, unless you (a) think you can complete your project in under 30 days (I couldn't!), or (b) are doing a fundraising or non-profit cookbook. If that's the case, then go with Heritage! Cookbookcafe is an amazing site and I can't wait to get started with it, but it is an on-line platform only; no hard copy cookbooks available if that's what you are looking for. End result: my advice is to go with CreateMyCookbook. I was really happy with their product!
 
Wm C. March 10, 2020
You seriously thought CreateMyCookbook was easy to use? I’m very tech savvy and have tried 4 times to use that site and find it is not user friendly. Perhaps lots of practice and studying all the instructions would ultimately yield results but it is far from intuitive and does not resemble known word processing programs. Just my 2 cents.
 
Michele K. March 10, 2020
Yes, I really did. I’ve tried other sites and found them really difficult. It’s too bad you found CMC otherwise; hopefully you find a platform that works for you.
 
Wm C. March 10, 2020
Thank you for the response!
 
virginie M. May 29, 2020
try heritagecookbook.com
 
sarah May 29, 2020
Hi Wm, what app did you end up using, and were you happy with the results?
 
sarah May 29, 2020
Hi Michele, if it's permitted in the forum, could you share your article?
 
Scott F. January 20, 2018
Do any of the cookbook publishers import from recipe managers, such as Paprika?
 
Deborah D. November 3, 2017
This was posted 5 years ago. Any newer possibilities?
 
Vanessa B. January 9, 2018
Hi Deborah,

Blurb is still good but you can also check out this reference: https://everpresent.com/family-recipes-heirloom-cookbooks/
 
Cupcake007 May 13, 2017
You can make a free cookbook at BakeSpace -- http://www.bakespace.com/cookbooks/cafe/ - here's one we made - http://www.bakespace.com/cookbooks/detail/Brownies%3A-Baking-Outside-the-Box/37/ and so far 1800 people have downloaded it. It's a free cookbook and digital (way easier than printing a cookbook) ... so everyone in your family can see it. You can also sell your cookbook too.
 
Suzanne P. May 13, 2017
I just made a family cookbook using createmybookbook.com. I am a regular Shutterfly user, but I wanted to be able to make a spiral or binder for the cookbook so that it would stand up with use and not lose pages. I am very happy with the cookbook and that I don't have to pay for my it to stay on the site in case I want to alter or reorder it later. Also, they knocked themselves out in response to a concern I had in the shipping of the product. I found their prices to be very good.
 
Sarah April 27, 2016
I love heritage cookbook.com. So easy to use and the quality of the books is amazing!
 
Sarah April 27, 2016
I love heritage cookbook.com. So easy to use and the quality of the books is amazing!
 
Sarah S. December 3, 2015
I like http://copymethat.com/cookbook. For me it was a big plus that I didn't have to download anything. it's all online.
 
Emma L. July 19, 2015
Check out http://CreateMyCookbook.com - I love their software. Super easy to use :)
 
Miafoodie March 8, 2012
My friend gave me a copy of her personalized cookbook done by TasteBook.com. They did an amazing job!!
 
Michelle G. May 1, 2019
I LOVED TasteBook.com. Ten years later, my well-used cookbook still looks fantastic.
Unfortunately, they went by the wayside as did my collection of recipes I was assembling for my 2nd edition. I've never found another of equal quality that contains divider tabs and removable pages like TasteBook. If anyone knows of an equal, please let me know!
 
virginie M. May 2, 2019
Have a look at the website I run, heritagecookbook.com. We have the best quality paper, competitive pricing and unparalleled customer service (if I do say so myself!). We've been around for well over 10 years now, and still growing!
 
Eileen December 21, 2020
Can you help scan the recipes ? That is the most difficult
 
AntoniaJames March 3, 2012
I stumbled on this the other day: http://cookbookcafe.com/ -- "The New Grassroots Way to Publish & Shop for Cookbooks", which is a platform for publishing, and not a print service. It seems quite interesting, though of course I have not tried it so I can't tell you how it works. I do note however that the International Association of Culinary Professionals IACP nominated the tool as “Most Intriguing Use of New Technology” in 2012. I for one am very interested in it. I plan to build some time into my schedule to use it for organizing my vast collection of disparate recipes into my own personal cookbook. I've been taming that paper tiger (to quote an organizing handbook of the same name) over the past month or so, and am just at the point where I'm ready to integrate my hard copy recipe files with my digital files, so the timing of the launch of this product could not have been more perfect. I'll report back as the project advances. ;o)
 
WannabeBaker March 3, 2012
Here's a second for blurb.com. I really liked it.
 
Megan,Tremer March 2, 2012
I used Lulu.com last year to make 10 copies of a 200 pg cookbook. It was spiral bound but black and white. Worked out to $11 each. I was happy with the site and as a bonus they hosted both the book for sale so anyone could buy a copy and a downloadable PDF so I have it on my iPad now. Best of luck!
 
angiegeyser March 2, 2012
I would also recommend Shutterfly.
 
Panfusine March 2, 2012
I've made my recipes into books via the photobooks from Shuterfly..
 
softpunk March 2, 2012
Check out http://blurb.com
 
babytiger March 3, 2012
Blurb is a good option. You have a lots of control over the layout, and good options for choosing book sizes and such. The images are of very high quality. Your book is saved so you can go and add recipes or make changes at a later time if you wish. You can also make it public so other people can order your book through the website. I really do like the flexibility.

We had some issues with using a black background for the books though. There were streaks on some of the pages. We did get replacement copies without much of an issue. If you make your book with a white background, you shouldn't have the same issue we had.
 
softpunk March 8, 2012
Printing a black flooded background is often problematic with digital printing -- particularly if you have white/light text on black or a very dark and saturated background. The fact that Blurb sent replacements instead of just explaining that this is a problem with large areas of dark ink in digital printing says a lot about the company.
 
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