Organizing Your Recipes
 

How do you organize your recipes? I have recipe cards, recipes in a binder, recipes in a book, and I'm not loving any of the ways to organize I have. Thanks for your input.

Well, I have a notebook where I hand wrote recipes from back in the 70s, I have a big 2 gallon zip lock filled with recipes I cut out from some place, and lately I just google. If I make a recipe more than once, it comes up in my google search. I sometimes print out some good ones. Maybe that isn't organized, but, I mostly can find what I want. The least used is the notebook and the 2 gallon zip lock bag.

I have a recipe box with category label cards. Dessert, soup, breads, min dishes, ECT. I go through it every so often and discard recipes I've never made, or have only made once, or maybe DH didn't like it. For over 25 yrs, I have found this works, and I've never outgrown it. I also have a Pinterest page with recipes, but I must say, my recipe box is by far my favorite way to store recipes.

I have a 3 part system that works for me. I have a very large old recipe box with most of my favorite recipes on 5x7" cards. All new, untried recipes go into binders organized by the same categories as my recipe box. At least twice a month I will try one of the new recipes from the binder. If we really like it, it goes into the box, if not, I toss it. I also have a collection of older cookbooks from my mom and mother-in-law. I have the recipes that I use most often marked with tabs so they are easy to find. I know that I should transfer those recipes to my card file and get rid of the cookbooks, but for sentimental reasons, I love using the same cookbooks my mom did and reading her notations in them.

I used to write favorite recipes down in a notebook. Then I printed them out and put them into a big file folder, the kind with sections so I could categorize them. Now I try to copy them into files on the computer. I use all three! And feel a bit disorganized. I did write most of my tried and true ones into a cookbook for my brother, which I add to occasionally. I take the laptop into the kitchen when I use them. I look forward to learning what others do!

I have a Microsoft Word document with all of my recipes in it. It's easy to add recipes, make changes after making the recipe, and search for a recipe to find it instantly. The ones I have printed out is in a three-ring binder, but I usually just print off another copy from the computer. It's faster.

I use a multi pronged approach. I have my best/favorite/sentimental recipes in a special book. I have a whole two shelf, good sized book case of cookbooks. Most of those books have one or two recipes that I use, and can immediately go to the exact page if needed. Mostly, I rely on memory when cooking. All in all, we're pretty basic in our eating. Been making the same stroganoff recipe for years, and know it by heart. Same with banana bread, egg rolls, or home made pizza crust. Pretty much everything is made without referring to recipe. DH finds things on line to try once in awhile, so those go in a folder if we decide it's a keeper. Works for us.

I use an app called Paprika. It's a very affordable one-time purchase and it's awesome. I have the app on my desktop, my iPad, and my phone. They all sync, so the info is there no matter what platform I'm using.

I can input recipes in myself, or I can copy & paste a URL, then download the recipe and directions from that website with the click of a button. I can edit the recipes, add or subtract ingredients, make notes, and scale them up or down with the click of a button to suit my needs. I can plan menus for any length of time (usually I do a week's worth), then add all the ingredients to a shopping list with another click of a button. I go through the list and edit it (don't always need to purchase items such as salt, butter, milk, etc). It will sync automatically to all my devices, so when I go to the grocery store, I can shop from the grocery list on my phone. When I put an item in my cart, I check it off in the app and the item is removed from the list, which makes it very easy to see what remains to be purchased. I use the iPad to access the recipes while I'm cooking in the kitchen. I can easily share recipes with my friends via email. I can refer back to what my meal plans were in the past (very helpful while planning Thanksgiving dinner).

I used to have several binders full of recipes, they took up space and often times it was challenging, trying to remember which book a certain recipe was in, despite my organization. And all my recipes are with me no matter where I am, whether we're at a family member's home, or traveling on vacation, etc, if I need a recipe it's right there.

My favorite recipes I have collected for many, many years are in a large cookbook binder. The rest are in 8 manilla folders according to subject. I gave most of my favorite cookbooks to my niece and sister. They both love to cook/bake and needed a good reference. My sons have asked for and gotten their favorite food recipes from home from me. , I do look up recipes at one of three sites online if I am stumped. I did keep three cookbooks that I love though, and some specialty booklets I use now and then
Last year I began organizing many things. I was sick of over-storing and using up all of my valuable time looking.
This year I started cardmaking and I am so glad I organized last year. I had no idea how much you need to make cool cards. LOL!

I have an old binder with lined paper that I have some heirloom recipes in. I also have a shelf of old cook books. I must admit that I now just Google a recipe I am looking for rather than go through my books. I do collect those old recipe books put out by church groups to raise money for projects. They are usually full of tried and true family favourites. I have one I think I will try this week. It is called Chocolate Peanut Buddy Bars. I think if I leave out the choc. Chips from the bottom part and instead use them all on top, they will be like Reese’s Peanut butter cup squares?

1 cup peanut butter
6 tbs. Butter, softened
1-1/4 c. Sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 c. Flour
1/4 tsp. Salt
One 12 oz. Pkg. choc. Chips, divided……..I am going to try them all on top instead

Preheat oven to 350*. In lg. mixing bowl, beat peanut butter and butter until smooth. Add sugar, eggs, vanilla, beat until creamy. Blend in flour and salt. Stir in 1/2 choc. Chips ( this I am not doing) Spread in increased 13by 9 pan. Bake at 350* for 25-30 minutes. Immediately sprinkle the choc. Chips on top and let stand 5 minutes. When the chips are shiny and soft, spread evenly over the top. Cool and cut into bars. Makes 48 bars.

I think the count of 48 is a bit too high unless you cut them into squares rather then bars.