Thousands of people are freaking out about the BBC's plan to shut down its recipes website

The BBC announced on Tuesday it plans to scrap its food website and archive the recipes.

The decision is part of a wider plan to save £15 million from the publicly-funded corporation's budget.

However, people are questioning the decision to remove the internet resource, which seemingly has few overhead costs.

Twitter users are calling the decision "terrible" and "half-baked."

A Change.org petition to "Save to BBC's recipe archive" has gained more than 35,000 signatures in just a few hours.

The website holds more than 11,000 recipes, submitted by chefs from around the world.

The head of BBC News, James Harding, said the BBC "cannot be all things to all people."

Last July, UK chancellor George Osborne described the BBC website as becoming "a bit more imperial in its ambitions".

"If you've got a website that's got features and cooking recipes - effectively the BBC website becomes the national newspaper as well as the national broadcaster," he said.

The recipe website closure follows the UK government's raft of proposed changes to how the BBC is governed last Friday.

Many on Twitter said that they rely on BBC recipes for their meals:

The former deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and a BBC journalist also weighed in:

The BBC explained people will still be able to access bookmarked recipes, but new recipes will be tough to find:

BBC GoodFood, which is run separately by BBC Worldwide, will not be affected by the decision.

Also on the chopping block is the BBC's Newsbeat website. Newsbeat is the news service for Radio 1 and Radio 1 Extra, which is targeted at people between the age o 13 and 24.

People are not happy about the demise of Newsbeat's website either: