How do you organize your recipes?

Wed, Jul 15 2009, 10:44 am

How do you keep your frequently used recipes organized? I once saw someone who had the following system - she had recipes written on index cards and then put them in a picture album. I thought that was very smart. What's your trick?

im here!

Wed, Jul 15 2009, 10:47 am

I am in the middle of organizing mine as well. I am typing up all my recipes. I want to buy a looseleaf and sheet protectors and I'll have them all handy (and clean) when needed.
As of now I have them on index cards in an index box but dont find it too handy.

Good Luck on finding an idea.

OOTBubby

Wed, Jul 15 2009, 2:36 pm

mamele wrote:

That is basically what I do. They're all typed and in sheet protectors in a big looseleaf binder, with dividers for each section (food type, such as meat & poultry, side dishes, desserts, etc.).

All the recipes are stored in the computer, and when each of my kids gets married, I make them a cookbook with all sibs contributing new recipes of theirs.

ra_mom

Wed, Jul 15 2009, 2:45 pm

I too type up my recipes (keep them saved on my computer as well), print them, and place them in sheet protectors in a 3 ring binder.
I keep them separated by subject dividers.
I'l love to put them in a Hebrew sized 3 ring school binder (smaller and neater), but haven't found an easy way to print them on Hebrew sized school paper.

drumjj

Wed, Jul 15 2009, 2:50 pm

mine are all over the place on pieces of papers, really badly organized I hate organizing things. (that sounds like my house is a tip it isnt but I dont like doing things like recipes)

sky

Wed, Jul 15 2009, 2:54 pm

Mine are right now in a zip lock bag.

My plan is to put them in an album - but not because of the index cards. I like the idea because this way I can stick in my existing recipes, or tear them out of the magazine without having to re-write them.

My MIL uses this method and it is great. She has different albums for each section - like Dairy, Salads, Soups, Meat, Dessert, etc. This way she doesn't have to worry about how much room each section takes up.

Wed, Jul 15 2009, 3:16 pm

mommalah wrote:

Yummysoup

could you elaborate? I just googled it but I don't want to sign up before I know a little bit about it. Thanks!

mummy-bh

Wed, Jul 15 2009, 5:30 pm

I have a gmail account specifically for recipes. I save any that I find online, type in those that are from friends or relations, and scan any that I find in magazines so I have no loose papers.
I also have about 8-10 cookbooks that I use on a regular basis

NativeMom

Wed, Jul 15 2009, 5:57 pm

I have a recipe file on my laptop and I keep them in an Index card filing box. I also have a few cookbooks that I use all the time

lubmommy

Wed, Jul 15 2009, 6:20 pm

drumjj wrote:

mine are all over the place on pieces of papers, really badly organized I hate organizing things. (that sounds like my house is a tip it isnt but I dont like doing things like recipes)

Mine were all in 1 folder and I'd have to look through the whole folder to find one recipe Sad

. I divided them into 5 folders: Menus, Soups and salads, main dishes, side dishes, and desserts. Now I can find a recipe in less than a minute Smile

Mrs Bissli

Wed, Jul 15 2009, 6:38 pm

Unless it's something straight from a cooking book or a loose card from supermarkets, most recipe I get are from either emails or websites (including imamother). So I just "cut and paste" into a big word file.

It's not organised at all, all over the place. BUT I haven't had problem so far since I can search by keywords.

mommalah

Wed, Jul 15 2009, 7:12 pm

SV wrote:

mommalah wrote:

Yummysoup

could you elaborate? I just googled it but I don't want to sign up before I know a little bit about it. Thanks!

Sure. You can basically import recipes from a number of different recipe sites. You then have all your recipes catalogued and organized. You can also add your own recipes. Dh wants me to switch to MacGourmet (which is similar) because he doesn't like the fact that you cannot export your recipes to anywhere else easily.

It's easy to use. You can view recipes in large format.
Macgourmet will automatically resize a recipe if you want to yield more and it also has nutritional content, neither of which are features on YummySoup. You can easily export your recipes from macgourmet to wherever. I don't use it b/c I am so used to YummySoup, and don't want to deal with something new.

mother48

Wed, Jul 15 2009, 7:32 pm

I bought 4 thin plastic cover photo albums-the size of an idex card. I write the receipies on the cards/or paper and put them in. the diff colors if to divide the foods-makes it easier to fine. red=salad, yellow=kugel and sides blue=desserts and soups green=mains and others. truth be told, after all these years, the booklets are a bit yucky...time to take out the index cards and transfer them!

queen

Thu, Jul 16 2009, 12:22 am

I have my recipes written on index cards and filed in an index (recipe) box under catagories.
Soup. Salad. Meat/Main course. Milchig Main Course. Dessert. Vegetables/Side dishes. Kugels. etc. etc.

I like this way as I can easily pull out the recipes I plan on making that cooking "session" and if necessary- pull a card out and discard if I don't like it anymore.... and easily add.

I keep my extra index cards in the box so it's not a big hassle to add recipes when needed.

I also date my recipes as to when I got them as it's fun to see how long I've been making certain dishes plus remembering certain periods of my life when I got specific recipes.... plus whom I got them from.

cookielady

Thu, Jul 16 2009, 1:39 am

I use an index card box and cards. My first section, which is 2/3 of the cards, are cookies, cakes and desserts. I have a few much smaller sections of other foods. Hmm, I wonder what that says about my recipe box?

Pizza

Thu, Jul 16 2009, 2:02 am

you need to find the system that works for you
sometimes its a combination, or you move from system to system as the years progress (me)

mominisrael2

Thu, Jul 16 2009, 11:25 am

I also use a combination of photo albums, email archive folders/website bookmarks and bookmarked regular cookbooks -- my albums are divided into dairy, meat and pareve -- not sure if it's easier or harder than dividing by type of food, but I get overwhelmed at the thought of re-organizing everything again!

Aribenj

Thu, Jul 16 2009, 2:44 pm

Mac Gourmet.

I love it!

My next project is to take all those recipes and put them in a cookbook, like tastebook. But I can't figure out how to download my own recipes to tastebook...