Creative Cooking with Organized Recipes
Creative Cooking with Organized Recipes
Do you love to cook and try new recipes? I love it! So if you are like me, then you have to find a way to keep your recipes organized.
For years (before digital organizing was possible) I used to cut recipes out of magazines or copy them on my printer. Then, I had a spot in my kitchen where they’d sit until I’d try each recipe. We used to have a ritual at my house. After trying a new recipe, we would vote, was it (recipe) box worthy or not. If yes, then it would be cut and taped onto a 3 x 5 card and filed into my dear Mother-in-Law’s recipe box. Time-consuming – yes, but before going digital it worked.
Don’t worry I didn’t spend all my time doing this. We were brutal when voting a recipe IN or OUT. Also, I use new recipes rather often, so if a magazine clipping spent more than a few months in my kitchen spot waiting for its turn I’d figure that I was never going to try it and it got tossed.
How do you save recipes? I'd love to hear. Click To Tweet
Since then, internet sites specializing in recipe sharing have arrived. I now save everything on the web. I like AllRecipes.com, but there are several – Epicurious.com, FoodNetwork.com, etc. You can register for a free account, so you can save all your favorites to find them later. I also love to read the reviews of other users – something you can’t get from a magazine.
I also use Pinterest to save recipes these days.
People post such great photos, it makes me want to try them. When using Pinterest for this you have to organize your pins yourself, so it’s important to have a system. When I started I didn’t think much about a system and soon I had a lot of recipes pinned on one board. What a mess! So I spent a little time “organizing” my pins onto specific boards. I need to do this again. Just like any other organizing project, it’s not a one-time thing. A few minutes once in a while will maintain order. You can see my boards here.
How do you save recipes? I’d love to hear.
Would you like more info? Here is more on the subject of Managing Recipes. Are you paper-based? Here is How to Make a Recipe Binder Organizer.
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Janet Schiesl
Janet has been organizing since 2005. She is a Certified Professional Organizer and the owner of Basic Organization.
She loves using her background as a space planner to challenge her clients to look at their space differently. She leads the team in large projects and works one-on-one with clients to help the process move quickly and comfortably. Call her crazy, but she loves to work with paper, to purge what is not needed and to create filing systems that work for each individual client.
Janet is a Past Board Member of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals and a Past President of the Washington DC Chapter of NAPO were she has been named Organizer of the Year and Volunteer of the Year.
Janet Schiesl
Janet has been organizing since 2005. She is a Certified Professional Organizer and the owner of Basic Organization.
She loves using her background as a space planner to challenge her clients to look at their space differently. She leads the team in large projects and works one-on-one with clients to help the process move quickly and comfortably. Call her crazy, but she loves to work with paper, to purge what is not needed and to create filing systems that work for each individual client.
Janet is a Past Board Member of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals and a Past President of the Washington DC Chapter of NAPO were she has been named Organizer of the Year and Volunteer of the Year.
I clip them into Evernote. Then I have them handy on my iPad while cooking.
Evernote is a great idea Juli.
I cook, but I don’t use a lot of recipes. Often I make stuff up. But for the recipes I DO use, I have a multi-pronged system. And while it might not seem Oh, So Organized, it works for me. Favorite recipes that I use more frequently have made it to my recipe box with A-Z dividers. Those recipes are on 3″x5″ cards. I rarely enter new ones into that box anymore. On occasion, I find a recipe in a magazine. I tear those out and put them in my single “Recipes” file. Since there very few (thirty at the most,) a single file works just fine. Lastly, I have one recipe book that I sometimes use- more for baking than anything else. I open the book and work the recipe from there. If I were more of a cook with many more stored recipes, I would develop a single system as I have for many of my clients. I like the digital options now available, although many of my clients still prefer working with paper.
Linda –
I tend to save recipes. For me it combines browsing, like a magazine and my love to trying new foods/recipes. With technology is easy to save (probably) too many recipes. I get drawn in by the photos!
I have a mix of physical and digital. My eyes don’t seem to like looking at devices, so I’m not rushing to put them all online. I also love the old cards with my Mom’s original handwriting. I do keep a hidden Pinterest board for recipes. A friend loves the app Paprika, so that is one to check out.
I haven’t heard of Paprika. I’ll check it out. As I said in the post, I save paper recipes in my MIL’s box. It has great meaning for me. She loved to cook for her family. I’ll never get rid of it and also don’t add to it anymore. I tend to save recipes on my Pinterest account these days.
I recently started using Paprika too, and I love it. Before that I was using Pepperplate, but the features were too limited. In Paprika, I can rate recipes as well as indicating how easy or difficult they were to make.
I had a lot of recipes that were family ones, so I created a book for myself and my brother/cousin with the recipes from my mom when she passed. I also like to use the “Tiny Scanner” app, and I scan the recipe and save them as a PDF. Then I upload them into a folder. I make sure the filename relates to the recipe, so it is easily searchable. This cleared up 2 – 3-inch binders. =)
It’s so interesting how everyone organizes their recipes in different ways. Whatever works!
I don’t really cook, though I do bake. I used to buy cookbooks because I loved looking at the photos, but now I borrow them from the library, enjoy the photos as if it were a travel book, and set them free again. However, with my organizing clients, if they are at all tech-y, I encourage them to use Evernote. They can make a separate notebook for each category (appetizers, desserts, breakfast, etc.) and use tags for main ingredients or things like #MomsFave. For those who don’t want to try Evernote, or prefer to save it for business, EatYourBooks.com is a great collaborative database for accessing, keeping, and sharing recipes.
For my non-tech-y clients, the main solution is a 3-ring binder with sheet protectors. No need to punch holes, and for tiny recipes, they can just tape or staple them to a larger piece of paper. Plus, the recipes stay clean because a powdered sugar explosion or a spilled bit of food coloring can be sponged right off the sheet protector.
I loved your use of Lumen5 for the video!
Thanks Julie. I haven’t heard of EatYourBooks.com. I’ll check it out. I have been using Pinterest lately. I love the visuals too. I think of it as thumbing through a magazine. It’s so easy to save was appeals to me.
It sounds like Cena uses the same saving method as you do for you non-techie clients. It’s interesting how each system works differently, but they all work.
I love cooking -and I have a huge 3 ring binder with my recipes by category. Each category has a clear page protector and is filled with small cut-outs. I love to SEE them, and it’s easy to find them. AND when I find a new one on line – I PRINT IT and put it into my binder. (#OldSchoolChef)
Hi Cena. Yes you are old school. I used to do something similar but now have gone digital. Of course I do much less cooking since becoming an empty nester.
I don’t cook often, but I physically print out most of my favorite recipes, and I have them in a folder in my kitchen. I use post-it flags on the pages of my cookbooks to highlight my frequently used recipes. I have bookmarked recipes that I can look at digitally, if I don’t have a physical print-out.
Nancy, it’s interesting how everyone organizes their recipes differently.
Just like you, I used to organize my xeroxed recipes in notebooks and 3 x 5 cards etc. I still know exactly where to go to find a favorite recipe.
What’s easy for me to do today is to take a screenshot and I sort my recipes on my phone into categories. This way, it’s with me without any further work if I’m going grocery shopping or I want to review before I cook.
I like the idea of taking a photo on my phone. I had not considered that. Thanks.