How do you "keep" your recipes?

[bas71873]

I have gone thru all of my recipe magazines and cut out the recipes I like or want to try. Now I don't know what to do with them. I guess I could buy page protectors and tape the recipes to paper and slide them in the protectors and keep them in a 3 ring binder (organized by catagory).

Any other suggestions before I get started? TIA

 

[NMAmy]

I have gone thru all of my recipe magazines and cut out the recipes I like or want to try. Now I don't know what to do with them. I guess I could buy page protectors and tape the recipes to paper and slide them in the protectors and keep them in a 3 ring binder (organized by catagory).

Any other suggestions before I get started? TIA

I keep my recipes as you've listed above but I recently added another binder. My problem was that I had a hard time finding recipes that we really liked because I'd have to sort through all the recipes I'd clipped out to try at some point.

I took all the ones that I'd made before and had been a hit and put them in one book. (Don't use tape--if you want to move them at some point, it can damage the paper and make them difficult to move. I just put one recipe on each side of the page protector with a piece of plain white paper as background and they stay put.) Then I took another binder for recipes I wanted to try later --with one page protector for each kind of recipe or ingredient. ALL the recipes for each category are tucked in one page protector. So, if I want to cook something new with chicken or salmon or a new kind of salad or side dish, I pull all the new recipes out of that category and decide which one to try. If we don't like that recipe, I toss it. If we do like it, it gets upgraded to the regular recipe binder.

It made it easier to find a particular recipe on a hectic work night to separate them this way.

 

[wdwmom2]

I guess I could buy page protectors and tape the recipes to paper and slide them in the protectors and keep them in a 3 ring binder (organized by catagory).

This is exactly what I do

 

[OceanAnnie]

My BF gave me a 4x6 photo book that holds a bunch of her recipes on index cards. I have slipped a few others in the back. I like it.

 

[luvsJack]

My supervisor gave me the neatest thing for Christmas. Its sort of like a cook-book scrapbook.

It has dividers with pockets for each section, printer paper for whole page recipes and recipe card size paper to print on too. And page protectors for both sizes.

I print a lot of recipes from online and I have put them all in the divider pockets. As I try them and decided I want to keep them, I will transfer them to the paper that came with the kit. (either by writing it out or keying it and printing from the computer)

I am really enjoying it and am actually using all those recipes that I am constantly printing.

 

[luvmy3]

Right now I just have my recepies thrown in colored folders. I have a different folder for each category. Its not as easy to find as putting them in a binder would be but I have alot of cookbooks and recepies from magazines but not enough room for a bunch of binders.
I am going to ask dh for this, hopefully it will cme down in price.

http://www.mydemy.com/

 

[disykat]

I have two 4X6 file boxes that I throw clippings, printouts, file cards, etc. in. It works great because I don't have to be too tidy or organized, but can find recipes easily.

The dividers come in large packs because they are alphabetical. I use the back side of the card to write the category and try to divide out into lots of little categories so recipes are easy to find. I started out with one box, but recently moved desserts and baked goods into a separate box because it was getting too stuffed!

I did notice I had to get the most recent box at an office supply store because Target, Walmart etc. no longer carries them.

 

[LindaG4458]

I keep the clipped recipes in the pocket in the front of a three ring binder. After I try one and like it, it is typed onto a single page on the computer in as large a font that will allow it to be on one page (for the nearsighted cook). Then I save it in a recipe folder on the computer, print it out, and put in in the binder in a page protector. The binder is in alphabetical order rather than categories.

 

[clovergirl5]

Right now I just have my recepies thrown in colored folders. I have a different folder for each category. Its not as easy to find as putting them in a binder would be but I have alot of cookbooks and recepies from magazines but not enough room for a bunch of binders.
I am going to ask dh for this, hopefully it will cme down in price.

http://www.mydemy.com/

OMGosh, I want this! I have never heard of this before. I have been toying with ideas for my HUGE collection of magazine recipebooks. I have a huge amount that are taking up 2 drawers in my kitchen. I would love this thing. A little $ though.

Thanks for the recommedation! Great thread op!

 

[Carly_Roach]

I guess I could buy page protectors and tape the recipes to paper and slide them in the protectors and keep them in a 3 ring binder (organized by catagory).

This is exactly what I do

Me too! But without the tape part. If I have a small sized piece of paper, I tape it to an 8x11 and slide that paper into the page protector.

Mine also has those 8x11 hard paper tabs you can buy at Staples. I bought the blank ones and labeled them things like Main Dish, Deserts, Breads, Fun Stuff, etc.

I love how I can have a recipe out while I'm cooking and if I get water or flour on it, it just wipes off the page protector. Most times I use a clip on a cupboard door to hold the recipe at eye level, though. This way I can see it better and it's not so prone to getting milk, oil or other liquids on it.

 

[PaulaSue]

I love tearing out recipes out of my million magazines that I get a month. My way is messy but works for me.

I took a few 3 ring binders, a few packs of organizer tabs and packs of 3 ring hole punched paper. After many hours I sorted and stapled them to the paper and organized them I have them easy to get to. I also used a sharpy marker to label the outside of each 3 ring binder like cakes/pies, Main dishes, etc...

It may not be the neatest (I throw away the ones my family doesn't care for) but it works.

 

[Cinerbelle]

I have all of my recipes typed into Word. Then they are all printed and put into page protectors into a binder. Any new recipes I try have to pass the taste test before I type them into Word and put them into binder!!

 

[Cinerbelle]

I keep the clipped recipes in the pocket in the front of a three ring binder. After I try one and like it, it is typed onto a single page on the computer in as large a font that will allow it to be on one page (for the nearsighted cook). Then I save it in a recipe folder on the computer, print it out, and put in in the binder in a page protector. The binder is in alphabetical order rather than categories.

LOL... this is exactly what I do! I should have read your post before posting my own.

 

[suejai]

I write the recipes I want to keep in a journal. That way when I modify them I can add what worked or make comments about how people liked it or what was served with it, etc.

 

[Robinrs]

Like almost ALL my files I keep them in my computer. I favorite the ones I really like, MOST recipes in magazine are on the magazine's website also, and can find them in a second.

I'm completely out of the paper generation!

 

[kimblebee]

Wow, I feel so out of date. I have all my recipies on recipe cards in a box. If I print one off the internet or take one out of a magazine I will try it out and if it is a keeper I write it out and into the box it goes.

 

[AKL_Megs]

Wow, I feel so out of date. I have all my recipies on recipe cards in a box. If I print one off the internet or take one out of a magazine I will try it out and if it is a keeper I write it out and into the box it goes.

Recipe cards here as well, only I keep mine in an old coupon organizer...

 

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

recipes clipped from magazines are in a binder. Recipes I have tried and use are in a 4x6 box. I received a 4x6 Christmas recipe box from Hallmark this year also.

For Xmas, DH got me a Pandigital Kitchen Center, so I will have to get going typing in the recipes from the 4X6 boxes - then I will put the binder recipes in the boxes. Many of the originals I will keep because they are my grandmothers and written down by her.

 

[lattemomof3]

I use recipe cards also, and put them in my recipe box. It is getting pretty full, so I will possibly put them in a binder, slipped into the pages that fit into a photo album, with 4x6 spaces to slip them into. I love handwriting my recipes, I think someday my kids and grandkids will enjoy seeing my writing on a recipe. I have just a few recipes handwriten from my dad - he passed away this year and they are precious now. A recipe has to be what my family refers to as a "top tenner" to get a place in the recipe box. If it tastes great, I handwrite it on a recipe card, and I always add the date and a small blurb- something that happened that day, to the top. I have been doing this for 10 years and it is fun to pull out a recipe and see "DS lost a tooth today on the bus", or "DD learned to walk today", "DB and his family were here for dinner", etc - small things we've already forgotten - really adds a personal touch - I'm hoping my kids will all want copies of "the box" someday.

 

[bas71873]

WOW. Some really great ideas. Thanks to all! I like the idea of passing down handwritten recipes, but my handwriting is horrendous and I too keep everything else on the computer. I may have to find some sort of in between compromise