First off -- let me say...if you want to take a challenge to get some things done around your house (and maybe win a prize), be sure to check out this posting!
Okay...so, for YEARS I have had piles of recipes sitting around. I have recipes I pulled out of magazines, recipes I printed from the computer (from recipe sites, blogs, email, etc.), recipe cards, etc. I had mixed piles of recipes we love and recipes we've never tried. And, I would just dig when I wanted to find something.
Then -- I finally did some organizing! I got a large three ring binder and a lot of page protectors. This project, I'm sure, could also be done without page protectors, if you just wanted to hole punch the papers. But, for me, page protectors worked because I have some recipes on cards.
I digress. :)
I sorted recipes first into things we've tried, liked, and want to have again. This includes both old favorites and new things that we just want to have again. The other pile was then recipes I have never tried, but would like to.
I then further sorted into recipe types from within each group, and then put them into the binder. So, for instance, the first "half" of the binder is all recipes we have tried and like -- main dishes, breads, desserts, side dishes, etc. Then, the next portion of the binder is the same categories, but things we haven't tried yet. (In the front of the binder, there is also a "Tips and Techniques" section, as well as a section of recipes that are on our current month's menu plan.)
Oh -- and another quick note, it is important to go through recipes that you have put in the "to try" every so often. I found that there were things that I had in my "to try" sections that I now have absolutely no idea why I would have saved them. And, so I was able to toss them away.
This new system has really helped, and it also makes recipes much easier for my husband to find when he cooks too!
9 comments:
Great tip! How did you handle your cards? Did you staple them to paper and then put them in page protectors?
Chrystal -- I just put the cards in the page protectors as is. It just usually meant that I could put a few cards in each page protector. (I just made sure that I could see them all.)
Great idea, Angie. I also use page protectors. I like how you eliminate some old recipes you know you have no intention of trying.
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I just recently changed over to the binder method as well. Love it! I have typed up all my recipes, each into their own file. That way, when someone asks if they can have the recipe, all I need to do is click "print". I don't have an extensive file of "to-try" recipes, but when I find one I want to try I always copy it by hand into a notebook. That way, I am sure to really only copy the ones I am seriously interested in. TFS!
Great tip. I started a binder, but it is a big, disorganized mess. I also have piles of recipes crammed in my cupboard. I think I will be organizing recipes this week. One thing I do with my cookbooks is I photocopy the recipes that I use regularly and put them in the binder so I don't have to dig them out of the cookbook or remember which book they are in. Thanks for the tip.
One way to remember your 'to try' recipes is to make sure you take out one or two each week when you make up the week's menus. Once I've tried a recipe, it either gets printed onto a card or tossed. I only wish there were more opportunities to try new things...so many recipes, so little time!
My own are in a big metal box (it looks like a shoebox), on 4 x 6 cards. But I think I'm going to 'rework' the box to follow your idea of having two sets of categories. I think that is brilliant!
I do my menu planning monthly and I choose several new things each time. Some are keeps -- some are not. LOL ;)
Angie -- Last summer I took all of my recipes and entered them into a recipe mamagement software. I love it. I print out copies and put them in page protectors like you do, but I know that if I lose one I have it on the computer. It was time consuming, but I used the summer to do it. I highly recommend it. It's also great for making my menu and grocery lists. I also entered the recipes I use most frequently from cookbooks -- so I don't have to remember which book I got it from -- they are all in my BIG binder.
I have been using the binder method for a few years. I got a stack of old cooking magazines at a yard sale this week-end and instead of having all the mags laying around, I scanned off the recipes I thought I would use and put them in a binder. Now I can resale the mags at my yard sale.
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