Lately, I’ve gotten several requests to show how I organize my recipes. And I think it’s probably the perfect time of year to talk about organizing recipes since the busy back-to-school season is almost here… and then before you know it, you’ll be cooking and baking for the holidays!
In my opinion, it’s really important to have some sort of method to organize your recipes as it makes meal planning just that much easier. And I stress the “some sort of method” because, like any organizing project, there are always 101 ways to do it. You should choose the best method for you, your family, and your cooking needs.
Here’s how I organize my paper recipes:
First of all, let me just warn you that my method for organizing recipes is really NOT fancy!! I use the recipe box and dividers you see below {all of which I purchased for $1.00 from the Salvation Army thrift store when I was in college!}
The recipes in my recipe box are a mix of hand-writtenrecipes from family and friends, recipes I’ve torn out of magazines or newspapers, and our favorite recipes that I’ve printed off the Internet {I only print online recipes after I try them and know that we like them}.
Also, I should mention that whenever I get amagazine {which is not that often} I quickly flip through it and rip out anything that looks interesting to me. The recipes go straight into my recipe box, house project and decorating ideas go into my “Ideas Book”, and any articles I want to read go on the coffee table. Then the rest of themagazine{about 90%} is recycled… right away!
OK, back to my recipe box…
Here’s a close-up look at the different categories. I obviously did not choose the categories since they came with the box; however, they seem to work pretty well {at least well enough that I haven’t felt the need to change them myself!}
Every few months, I take my recipe box over to the couch and flip through all the recipes while I’m watching TV. I’ll weed out any that I know I won’t make any more, pull out a few that I “forgot about” and would like to make, and just do a general decluttering and reorganizing of the box {believe me, it needs it!}
This method has worked wonderfully for me for the past 5 years and the box fits perfectly on a little shelf in my kitchen.
How I Organize my Online Recipes:
I do a HUGE amount of my recipes “shopping” online. I love using online recipes tools like AllRecipes.com, PlantoEat.com, and a variety of food blogs to find and organize my online recipes. And now that I have a good amount of recipes right here on my own blog, I find myself searching my recipe archives to find the recipe I want to make!
When I find a recipe I want to try, I either email it to myself, pin it to my Pinterest account, or store it in my online recipe box at AllRecipes.com. If we really loved the recipe, then I’ll print it off and put it in my paper recipe box.
I like to try new recipes all the time, so the Internet is by far my favorite “recipe box” because I can find hundreds of different recipes that match my search criteria within seconds… amazing!
I simply search for the recipes I want to make {either by type, by season, by ingredients, etc} brows through the different options, and then bring my laptop to the kitchen and start cooking. If you don’t have a laptop, you could print the recipes off — but I like to eliminate as much paper as possible so I just use my laptop.
Other methods to organize recipes:
1. A 3-ring Binder:
I know several people who put all the recipes in a 3-ring binder with clear plastic page protectors. This method is great because your recipes stay protected from food spills, but it’s also a little bulky for my taste. Plus, if I’m looking for a cookie recipe or a beef recipe, I likegrabbingthe entire category andflippingthrough it one by one — or doing an online search.
2. Recipe Books:
Recipe books are a valuable resource in the kitchen {I know people who have hundreds of recipe books} but for me, they simply take up too much space! I have a few school and church cookbooks with recipes for “normal” cooking, and every now and then I like to get a few fancier cookbooks from the library just to look at the pictures and drool over the delicious foods!
Recipe books are a great source of recipes, however, I personally think it’s much easier to look at one category of a recipe box {or online} than to page through book after book to find the recipe I want to make.
3. Online:
I mentioned that I find a large number of my recipes online — and I know there are tons of other people who do the same. Two of the websites I mentioned above —AllRecipes.com and PlantoEat.com — offer great ways to store and organize your recipes online. If you haven’t looked into either option before, I would highly recommend it!
I’m sure there are many, many different ways to store and organize recipes — and now that you know how I organize mine, I’d love to know…
How do YOU organized yourrecipes?
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