How's an aspiring culinary mastermind supposed to keep track of all this good food? And just as importantly, how are you supposed to keep a modicum of cleanliness in your kitchen when it's covered in recipe cards??
Well, I haven't exactly figured it out, but this is how I attempt to organize my (ever-growing) recipe collection. There are two parts:
- File Folders - I keep a stack of file folders on the shelf with my cookbooks. Each folder is labeled with a course or type of food (main course: meat, main course: vegetarian, dessert, etc.). When I read a recipe that I just must attempt, I print it from the internet or cut it from the newspaper/magazine I'm reading, and I shove it in the appropriate file folder. Then, it's easy to find what I'm looking for when I'm planning our meals.
- Recipe Box - After I've tried a recipe from the file folder, and the husband and I have declared it delicious, I copy it onto a recipe card, and it's stored in my recipe box (also on the shelf with my cookbooks). That way I know all the recipes in my gorgeous green box are tried-and-true.
That's how I manage my recipes, but I'm wondering, what do you do to keep your recipes organized?
I keep a binder, that I've had for many years. It has dividers for categories and it is stuffed. I use copy paper to glue small recipes I've torn out of magazines on, punch holes for the binder rings into entire pages I've torn out, etc...I also keep a basket with a pile of recent tear outs or notes and from time to time I actually add them to the binder. In fact I desperately need to do that now.
ReplyDeleteFunny you wrote about this - it's on my list of blog ideas!
I'm trying out an online recipe box from one of the recipe sites I frequent. I can save a recipe I want to try, add it to the printable shopping list when I'm planning to shop for the ingredients to actually make it, rate it once I've tried it and delete it if it wasn't a hit or keep it if it's a keeper. I can save weblinks of my foodie friend's blog recipe posts as well! It's a lot of work getting everything set up in it, but hopefully it will work. I like the green aspect of it too. Oh...they have a smart phone ap for it as well, so if I ever join the 21st century & get a smart phone I won't even have to print out the shopping list...
ReplyDeleteI have a binder (labeled similar to you) on my bookshelf with my tried recipes that are good enough to make the book. However... I have files upon files of recipes to try. I recently just filed them all into folders, like yours and put them into a file cabinet that I had just cleaned out of my old Girl Scout files. The books are an issue though... I have tried so many recipes, I write in the book what I think of them, but then I forget which book I used and where the recipe is! My blog is an attempt to put all my favorites in one place for my kids to access someday.
ReplyDeleteI also have a binder but it's for anything I cut out and WANT to try. If it's horrid, I'll put a big X through it...but there hasn't been one that bad yet. heh. For those amazing recipes we always want to save and repeat, they get scribed onto a permanent recipe card in my special recipe box, just like you!
ReplyDeleteI have quite a few printed out and stored in a box. Now, I try to keep them saved in a file on my computer until I try them. If they are a winner I save them to Mastercook and if not then I just hit the delete button. I really do need to look in that box and organize it so thanks for the reminder and some ideas for taming the recipe monster.
ReplyDeleteMy recipes are all downloaded onto files and then backed up on discs when I feel like I'm eating too much space on my laptop. The ones that get used frequently are printed and placed in plastic page protectors, then they go into one of two (for now) binders that we call 'The Family Cookbook". These are the recipes that get passed on to the kids in recipe shares that we do at Christmas time, used for dinners, parties, shared with fam friends, and put in blog posts. I love the page protector thing because I can take the recipe to the kitchen island and get it messy without totally destroying the page.
ReplyDeleteSomehow I still love boxes with beautiful prints.....there is something about boxes and baskets...I don't know. Love your way:)
ReplyDeleteI use my blog! I have a search bar and a recipe index page so that I can use it like a google machine. Also, I write notes in my posts and take pictures. It's like a diary too.
ReplyDeleteI have about 20 binders with plastic sleeves...each with a different category: beef, Thanksgiving, brownies, cakes, cookies, salads. I really need to put more on my computer and save paper!
ReplyDeleteI pretty much organize the same way you do, though I have a stack of recipes minus the folders (I'm going to try the folders!). I only put tried and true recipes into my recipe box too. I also have a binder for my baking recipes because some cakes and desserts require more info than a little recipe card can hold. :)
ReplyDeleteIf I have a recipe I REAALLYY want to try, I tape it to the inside of the cupboard door or the pantry wall...which is also adorned with the kids' height measurements! (I'm not too neat!) For recipe boxes...I always get the BIG ones as friends treat me to recipes on LARGE index cards. To remember cookbook recipes I want to use again, I put a "sticky-note" tab on the page.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteWe're launching an online recipe organizer built on technology has saved over 10,000 recipes for people. You can easily add and share photos, and create cookbooks for recipes you enter or clip from blogs.
You can get a sneak peak at http://keeprecipes.com
Email me at phil @ keepideas.com for early access.
Phil
I used to type and keep it in so many ways I find the best way is blogging
ReplyDeleteI have folders on my shelf with various categories, and now I"m trying to put all of my blog recipes in word files. So far that part is working out, but it'd always a work in progress.
ReplyDeleteI have a binder - I stick the recipes in sheet protectors and then put them into categories...but I have ADD so I also have a 2 piles of recipes that are not filed, a rolodex with some written recipes, and 4 shelves of cookbooks.
ReplyDeleteWow! What awesome ideas, everyone! I'm definitely going to incorporate several of these into my recipe organization. For those of you who store recipes online, would you be willing to share which sites you use? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteWe keep a couple of binders. We have one binder devoted to recipes we haven't tried. That way it's easy to know what we've made before. If we like that recipe, then we transfer it to a binder of recipes we've made.
ReplyDeleteI actually put all my recipes in google docs. I have a horrible tendency in misplacing all of my recipe books and I would rather have electronic versions.
ReplyDeleteI recently just made them all into folders and place them like you, to a file cabinet, I just cleaned up my old files.Now, I try to let them stored in a file on my computer until I Try.
ReplyDeleteKitchen clearance