How do you store all your recipes?

[Marie]

I have a library of recipes, hundreds of them.. But it's not so much a library, more a huge pile of bits of papers and magazines cut-outs and recipe books with 1 or 2 recipes that I use, bookmarked.

If I'm looking for a specific recipe, one that I don't use quite as often so is lower down in the heap, it takes me absolutely hours to find it.

I've tried many methods before, I had a ring-binder folder, where I could slot in any recipes, but they always seemed to fall out, and I'd cover them in cake batter before they eventually became un-readable.. I've also tried a box, with laminated recipe "cards" in, where I personally typed up all the recipes I had, and put them into a box in some sort of organisation. This worked for a little while, but every time I got a new recipe, I never bothered to type it up to fit in the box, so the heap of papers returned. Also, when I'd finished with a recipe, I couldn't be bothered putting it back into the right order, so just slotted it in in the middle somewhere, meaning it still took hours to find a recipe.

I was wondering how everyone else stored and organised their recipes? Do you have any better suggestions for me, so I can spend less time searching and more time actually baking!

 

[pittsburghgirlsarethebest]

I just started organizing my recipes, every since I joined Pinterest they seem to be multiplying like crazy! I just started a three ring binder, I hand write them on notebook paper and slide them into the the plastic sheet protectors that have the three holes in them. I like to hand write them since if I make a change or add something I can just write it right on it. The plastic protectors are awesome! They rarely rip out the three metal rings, unless you are very rough with them. You can take it right out so when you are just working with the one recipe. And my favorite thing about them is if you spill something on it you can just wipe it off! If your anything like me when I bake a always have things every where! You can get those page protectors anywhere that sells office supplies. Always keep a few on hand too so when you get a new recipe you can slide it right in! Also, so your not looking forever for a recipe, divided your binder into different sections. Maybe one for the ones you use all the time. I use breakfast, lunch, dinner, desserts for my sections right now.

 

[Marie]

That's a pretty good idea, especially with the different sections. I could have a ringbinder for breakfast/lunch/dinner, and then a separate ringbinder with different dividers - Muffins, Brownies, Cookies... It's genius. Thanks

I'm also an avid Pinterest user; I could just spend every waking moment scrolling through the site. My recipe collection has boomed too, hah! And yes, when I'm baking.. the kitchen tends to look like a hurricane ripped through it..!

I considered getting a small tablet computer for in the kitchen, and putting all my recipes on there, because of the option to search through all the documents and find exactly what I want in seconds. But then.. If you have sticky fingers and a touchscreen.. it could get quite messy! Not my best idea to date..

 

[Happyflowerlady]

I don't even try to store recipes. I have an old church fundraiser cookbook that I have had for about 25 years, and I use that, and have stuck a few extra recipes in that, but most of the ones that I use, I can find online, and I have a file in my favorites, where I save the webpage with the recipe on it.
So, when I want that recipe, I just pull it up online, and then use my iPad to read the recipe.
I am sure this would not work if you had hundreds of recipes, but I only have a few, so it works for me.

 

[pittsburghgirlsarethebest]

I like seperate binder idea! Maybe I'll start doing that instead. I have an iPad I was going to put them in there originally but I just got sick of typing them there. Plus like said, I get it smudged up from when I am cooking. I do use it sometimes still though when I am looking for a recipe online. A tablet is a great thing as long as you are a neat baker/cooker. I myself, am a mess!

 

[jesslane94]

I definitely would do the binder thing! Organize it by ingredient, breakfast, lunch, or dinner, or by alphabet! However you want to do it. Also, If you are more of a technology person, I'm sure there is an easy way to do it online. You could possibly type each recipe in Microsoft Word and then save it to a particular folder... Kind of like an electronic binder!

 

[Marie]

Also, If you are more of a technology person, I'm sure there is an easy way to do it online. You could possibly type each recipe in Microsoft Word and then save it to a particular folder... Kind of like an electronic binder!

That's what I was thinking with a tablet computer, then you could load up the 'Virtual Ringbinder', type "Cookies" or something into the search bar and your recipes would find themselves!

I know a lot of foody- websites have the ability to store your recipes, but I always worry that if the site is taken down, you've lost every last one of them.. :/

 

[jesslane94]

That would be very convenient. Like a custom search that only searches your recipes!

Oh gosh, I never thought about that. That would not be very nice. :/

 

[biscuiteer]

I usually keep the recipes I want to try on Pinterest boards, and if I'm looking to try a certain recipe, I look on my boards for it then quickly write down a summary of what I need and the instructions.

 

[ksims]

I use Pinterest and binders. In binders, I slip each recipe into a page protector first - you can buy them in packs of 50 or so at an office supply store.

 

[BeautifulAngel]

Right now I have a Word document with most of my recipes. However the next time I go to a store I will buy a book so I can write down all of my recipes. I find it easier to keep them all together because for me it is really easy to lose things or misplace them. It's frustrating, so if I have it on Word I know I won't misplace it

 

[stanfordsarah]

I have a library of recipes, hundreds of them.. But it's not so much a library, more a huge pile of bits of papers and magazines cut-outs and recipe books with 1 or 2 recipes that I use, bookmarked.

If I'm looking for a specific recipe, one that I don't use quite as often so is lower down in the heap, it takes me absolutely hours to find it.

I've tried many methods before, I had a ring-binder folder, where I could slot in any recipes, but they always seemed to fall out, and I'd cover them in cake batter before they eventually became un-readable.. I've also tried a box, with laminated recipe "cards" in, where I personally typed up all the recipes I had, and put them into a box in some sort of organisation. This worked for a little while, but every time I got a new recipe, I never bothered to type it up to fit in the box, so the heap of papers returned. Also, when I'd finished with a recipe, I couldn't be bothered putting it back into the right order, so just slotted it in in the middle somewhere, meaning it still took hours to find a recipe.

I was wondering how everyone else stored and organised their recipes? Do you have any better suggestions for me, so I can spend less time searching and more time actually baking!

I wouldn't say that I have "better" suggestions, but here's what I do...especially w stuff I find on internet.
I usually just save a PDF to my laptop and then try it before printing and putting in a binder. I don't want to print ones that I don't plan on keeping. I just made a coffee cake that didn't come out well so I just deleted the file.
But I feel your pain; I have books, binders, and clippings for days! The binder that I like the best is a monogramed one that I received as a gift from William Sonoma. Check their website.

 

[Marie]

That's not a bad idea with the pdf. file.. It's the main reason my recipes don't get typed out or written out properly.. in case they don't go well, and I don't need to keep them..

I've lost count of the times I've asked my mother "Where the XXX Recipe?"
"It's..in..a book, no..magazine.. It's pink, somewhere near the back, I'll know it when I see it"... Like that's going to help me find it how?!?

I have an old Welsh recipe book that I only use for the welshcakes recipe in it.. so if I just drop the book, it falls open to the Welshcakes page.. I wouldn't be able to find it otherwise!

I'll check out their website, thanks for that..

 

[Shellyann36]

I started organizing mine by taking creating a spread sheet for all of the recipes I have that are in the numerous cook books that I own. I divided it by types of recipes. I have pork, chicken, hamburger, beef, sausage, breads, desserts, drinks and alcoholic drink tabs. I went through all of my cook books and plugged in the name of the book, recipe name and page it was on into my excel spreadsheet and I can look through this easily enough. For all of the recipes that I have found online I copy them and keep them organized in my word document recipe folder. I hope to one day print them all off and keep them in a notebook.

 

[Marie]

Shellyann, that's actually really clever. Thanks for the idea!

It's like putting all the recipes onto the computer, but without the arduous long-winded task of typing them up. I can only ever hope to be that organised though. But I'm gonna give this one a go. Do you ever find that you need more ... endless tabs because a certain recipe doesn't fit with one or another, or maybe more than one?
I don't suppose it always matters because you can press Ctrl + F to find keywords in the entire document, and if you use one column to add 'tags', the right recipe should always be easy to find

Thanks again

 

[Karen Watson]

When I find something online that was successful for me I copy it and email it to myself. I made a folder just for recipes and because I have web mail I don't worry about losing it.

 

[Shellyann36]

Shellyann, that's actually really clever. Thanks for the idea!

It's like putting all the recipes onto the computer, but without the arduous long-winded task of typing them up. I can only ever hope to be that organised though. But I'm gonna give this one a go. Do you ever find that you need more ... endless tabs because a certain recipe doesn't fit with one or another, or maybe more than one?
I don't suppose it always matters because you can press Ctrl + F to find keywords in the entire document, and if you use one column to add 'tags', the right recipe should always be easy to find

Thanks again

Right now it is not as organized as I would like it. I would really like to divide it into sections more. Open a seperate spreadsheet for each type of recipe. For all of my baking I would open the baking spreadsheet with the individual tabs for pies, cookies, cakes, breads, sweet breads etc. For the meat I would open a spreadsheet and put the different types of recipes with each meat. pork chops, steaks, hamburger, sausage, chicken, etc. I did leave off that I also have side dishes, salads, dressings, sauces and such as well. I began this task last year when I was pregnant with my twins. I knew I wanted to have menu for the month made up so I went through all of my cook books and used the recipes that we like. That is how my project started.

What I would really like to do is scan my recipes directly from the book, print it and have it available for me right in front of me without having to go and hunt the book down..... at this current moment that is way too much trouble. One of these days is what I keep telling myself. LOL

 

[Marie]

You're still so much more organised than I am, and probably hundreds of others..! I'm really keen on starting meal planning too, as usually, it comes to a last minute decision and I end up cooking something quick that we've already had 4-5 times this month... I'm guessing having all the recipes in front of me, that I can search main ingredients a week, or month ahead of time would be a huge help, and would bring more variation into our diets. My family are all vegetarian / vegan though, so I'd have to come up with some different tabs; Lentils, Beans, Veg, Pasta, though we do use meat substitutes such as Quorn and seitan, so it is possible to have some meat dishes. Variation is no problem when it comes to desserts and cakes, as this is where my passion truly lies; but you wouldn't think so if you took a look at the state of my recipe collection! It is a great idea though, it solves my problem at least, that I can't even find a recipe because I don't even know where it is, in the slightest.

I've considered trying to find my recipe books on-line as e-books in case I could copy them, and have them on the computer, but some of these books are so old you probably can't even find them new any more...! One of these days.. a familiar phrase with us.. ha! I think I need a kick up the backside sometimes with the amount of projects I'd like to start / finish compared to the amount of projects I've actually finished...

 

[Shellyann36]

You're still so much more organised than I am, and probably hundreds of others..! I'm really keen on starting meal planning too, as usually, it comes to a last minute decision and I end up cooking something quick that we've already had 4-5 times this month... I'm guessing having all the recipes in front of me, that I can search main ingredients a week, or month ahead of time would be a huge help, and would bring more variation into our diets. My family are all vegetarian / vegan though, so I'd have to come up with some different tabs; Lentils, Beans, Veg, Pasta, though we do use meat substitutes such as Quorn and seitan, so it is possible to have some meat dishes. Variation is no problem when it comes to desserts and cakes, as this is where my passion truly lies; but you wouldn't think so if you took a look at the state of my recipe collection! It is a great idea though, it solves my problem at least, that I can't even find a recipe because I don't even know where it is, in the slightest.

I've considered trying to find my recipe books on-line as e-books in case I could copy them, and have them on the computer, but some of these books are so old you probably can't even find them new any more...! One of these days.. a familiar phrase with us.. ha! I think I need a kick up the backside sometimes with the amount of projects I'd like to start / finish compared to the amount of projects I've actually finished...

Wow thank you for the compliment. I love to blog hop and find recipes and meal planning menus on blogs. I really envy the authors of those blogs because they have it all together. If only I could get back into that. I use to be into freezer cooking. If you have never heard of this its so simple. Make up a bunch of casseroles, pizza and dishes that can be easily frozen and then taken out the night before you plan to use it and cook it or even the day of. I would spend the weekend getting the ingredients ready for meatloaf, meatballs, pizza's, casseroles and then just freeze them. It was simple for my boys to cook when I was working long hours and of course easier on me too. Another thing I do now is I always bring home chicken and cook it, shred it and bag it up to freeze it. Easy casseroles or chicken enchilidas or tacos from this. I do the same with ground beef. Bring it home and cook it and freeze individual bags of it to use quickly.

Since you like to cook with lots of beans you could go with the concept of mixes in a jar and take the beans and spices that you will be using and put them together in a jar just to have them ready to go into the crock pot or pot when you are ready. I am trying to do this with my baking mixes like cakes, cookies and brownies.

 

[cefmac]

I have a beautiful A4 recipe binder, with dividers for each category of cooking/baking and upholstered in red fabric with white polka-dots, which I got as a birthday present when I was first getting into baking and cooking. I must've been about 10. It's still a bit bare at the moment as I normally use books and Pinterest for recipes nowadays, but I would love to pack it full of recipes and keep it to use when I've got a family of my own some day - it would be a lovely keepsake!