I have recently discovered (those of you who are older than me will laugh) OLDER COOKBOOKS. At least from the early 1980s and back. I bought a 1970s edition of the Joy of Cooking. AMAZING difference from the "updated" and "low fat" barf cookbooks. I'll be raiding my relatives' shelves soon :)
I also got an older Julia Child cookbook. They are SO cheap used from places like Amazon.com...sometimes the shipping is as much as, or more than, the cost of the book...if you are patient, you can probably find them at yard sales and secondhand stores.