How do you organize your recipes?

[Jenn Lynn]

I am trying to figure out a good way to keep track of the recipes that we like.
Do you copy down the recipes from a cookbook that you like? How do you remember all of them? LOL!
Does anyone use a recipe binder vs. a box? I don't really like using a box.
I need an easy way to go through them to plan meals.

Thanks for any tips!

 

[Spinning]

LOVE MY BOX! I like being able to pull the grubby little card out of its slot! LOL! I have it broken down for a-z. It was a pet peeve of mine. My mom stored all of her recipes just crammed in her favorite recipe book. If you wanted to find something you had to search for hours trying to find it!

 

[Meriweather]

I use binders......I have about 5 or 6.
Sorted by categories. That's for the ones that I use regularly.
I also use recipe software.

 

[believe]

If the recipe isn't already in a recipe book then I keep it in a binder. Recipes are typed and then there is an alphabetic index at the back to locate the quickly. A lot of my non-recipe book recipes come from on-line so I just copy and past them into a word document called recipes. Once that document is over 150 pages I print it and put it into the binder. I make notes on the index as to whether I liked the recipe once I tried it or not.

 

[piratesmate]

I have a box of recipes that I rarely use now. I've been typing up (or copy/paste) recipes in Word that I find & think we'll like. I keep them on my hard drive in folders like:
Chicken Recipes
Appetizers
Desserts
Disney Recipes (w/ a sub-folder for each park & resort!)
Mexican
Chinese
etc, etc, etc

When I want to use a recipe for the first time, I jot notes down on an old rolodex card. I make notes on it if I substitute ingredients or especially like/dislike the dish & then I make corrections as needed to the DOC file. I started this when I was making a box of recipes for my new DIL. For her I formatted the recipes 4/page & printed them on cardstock...then I cut them apart with my Fiskars rotary cutter.

I find it much faster to find recipes having them stored this way. I can do a search on the hard drive for ingredients, recipe names, etc. I usually plan my meals from the computer as oppposed to the actual cards.

Oh - I'm still in the process of printing all the recipes out for myself. In the meantime, I'm using those rolodex cards, which I keep in my old recipe box.

For those that use recipe software, what do you use, how do you use it & how pleased with it are you?

 

[Tiggerkeeper]

I have three 2 in binders (4th binder may be necessary soon) divided into Main Dishes and Sides, Sweets, Breads. Main dishes is subdivided by meat and crock-pot meals. Anything new I want to try goes into a pocket folder.

The recipe pages are in clear sheet protectors that I can snap out of the notebook when I am cooking (I tend to spill when I cook so the pages are protected).

I have been using Mastercook software and am very please with it, although I need to spend some more time with it to be able to use it to its full potential.

Having recipes organized sure has been a great time saver!!!

 

[Jenn Lynn]

Great ideas!
I am leaning towards having binders by category like Main dishes, desserts, etc.

Do you type out recipes from your cookbooks also?

I wanted to add that I am "new" to cooking and planning meals. My Mom was never very good at it! LOL! I have started to really enjoy it so I need to figure out the best way to be organized!

 

[piratesmate]

I always type up recipes - even if I have it in a cookbook, Jenn Lynn. Counter space is at a premium here & the book takes up more room than just a card. Also, I tend to get stuff all over the pages. I always put my cards in plastic sleeves I get from Current. To be honest, I really thought about using a binder, but the space problem convinced me otherwise.

 

[Twigs]

I have been rubber cementing the recipes and their pictures that I get out of magazines onto a page in my binder. This way I don't have to retype everything and I can see what the dish is supposed to look like.