Alabama Babies

How Do U Organize Your Recipes?

I have alot of mine on my blog and just access them that way, but I have even more that are not on there...pages torn out of magazines, emails from people, printed recipes from websites, papers that I quickly scratched a recipe on...all different sizes and just a mess!  I had them seperated in stacks of appetizers, drinks, main dishes, desserts, sides, etc. and then stuffed into envelopes and placed inside a recipe book, but Caleb got it the other day and threw it on the floor and everything flew everywhere!  What a disaster!  So, I went through them today and threw some out and organized the rest, but I don't know what to do with them now.  Ideally, I'd love to type and save all of them on the computer...espcially onto my blog, but OMG that would take months!  I do not have time to re-write or type all of them so that's really not an option.  Ideas of how to organize this mess?  The only thing I can think of is maybe a large binder with some type of clear pockets that I can seperate everything in to, but y'all are more creative than me so I'm asking here!

Re: How Do U Organize Your Recipes?

  • MissLMSMissLMS member

    I should preface this by saying that I don't cook very often, so I don't use recipes very much.

    But, one of the things that I wanted as a wedding gift was a copy of all of my grandmother's recipes. She's an amazing cook. So, I have a recipe box that is filled with copies of her recipes.

    When I find a recipe online that I like, I print it off in the size of an index card so that I can add it to my box.

    I guess I'm old fashioned, but I like having a recipe on a card that I can pull out and look at while I cook.

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  • kc0721kc0721 member
    I was going to mention a recipe box like Lydia but it sounds like you have a ton of recipes so I"m not sure that would work.  Like you said a large binder with dividers might be your best bet especially if the recipes are on different sized paper.  You might try scanning all the recipes in and uploading them to a folder on your computer.   You could also set up different folders on your computer if you scan them in, divide them up into apps, dinner, drinks,. etc. 
  • I'm in the midst of working on a 3 ring binder w/ all my recipes.  I have tabbed dividers in it that separates my sections - apps, entrees, desserts, beverages, etc.

    Most of the pages are in clear "sleeves".  For smaller magazine cut outs, if they are in good shape I usually just use my glue stick to paste it to a plain sheet of paper. For these there's usually more than one on a page. If it's not in good shape and I know what mag it's from, I go to the website to look for it and print. Otherwise I scan it in and print. Larger pages just go into the sleeve as is. Some reg size pages aren't in sleeves, I just 3 hole punch them and use the little circle hole protectors. I'm liking how it's going so far but it is a work in progress.

    Hope this helps...maybe you can improve upon it and give me so tips!  And I should've prefaced it all by saying that I have several of the recipes from your blog in it!

     

  • My mom bought a photo album that has the pages where you peel back the clear page and stick the pictures down and place the clear sheet back over the top.  It looks like a binder (and you can buy more pages separately to add).

    After looking online, I think it is magnetic pages.

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  • I use a 3 ring binder all the way. If it's a full size page I punch wholes in it and put it in the book. I do have some 4x6 note cards that I found those sleeves for. Yes they make sleeves that hold 4x6 or 5x7 note cards. I also was a complete nut and wrote out an index of all my recipes. I did it in excel organized my recipes into categories. I left plenty of spaces so that I can write in new recipes to my index. Now if I'm looking for a specific or seeing if I have a chocolate chip cookie recipes I just look at the index instead of flipping through a ton of pages. The index is also very helpful when I'm looking for meal ideas. I just have to look at a list and not the whole book. 

    I use rather specific categories too:

    Appetizers, Beef Dinners, Biscuits, Breads, Breakfasts, Chicken Dinners, Chilies, Dips, Ham Dinners, Mexican Dinners, Mix Recipes, Pasta Dinners, Pizza, Pork Dinners, Rice Dishes, Salad, Seafood Dinners, Soups, Sourdough Recipes, Veggie/Fruit Dishes

    I keep all sweet stuff separate (it used to be in another binder because I didn't have a huge one) But those categories are Banana Deserts, Brownies, Cakes, Cheesecakes, Cookies, Pies, Sorbets and Ice Cream, Sweet Breakfasts, Other Deserts (That's for Frostings, Apple Crisps, Fudge, until I have more of those recipes then they can have their own section.)

    I'm an organization nut though, kind of miss the days where I used to get paid to organize other people's files and things. 

  • imagec1kaestner:

    I use a 3 ring binder all the way. If it's a full size page I punch wholes in it and put it in the book. I do have some 4x6 note cards that I found those sleeves for. Yes they make sleeves that hold 4x6 or 5x7 note cards. I also was a complete nut and wrote out an index of all my recipes. I did it in excel organized my recipes into categories. I left plenty of spaces so that I can write in new recipes to my index. Now if I'm looking for a specific or seeing if I have a chocolate chip cookie recipes I just look at the index instead of flipping through a ton of pages. The index is also very helpful when I'm looking for meal ideas. I just have to look at a list and not the whole book. 

    I use rather specific categories too:

    Appetizers, Beef Dinners, Biscuits, Breads, Breakfasts, Chicken Dinners, Chilies, Dips, Ham Dinners, Mexican Dinners, Mix Recipes, Pasta Dinners, Pizza, Pork Dinners, Rice Dishes, Salad, Seafood Dinners, Soups, Sourdough Recipes, Veggie/Fruit Dishes

    I keep all sweet stuff separate (it used to be in another binder because I didn't have a huge one) But those categories are Banana Deserts, Brownies, Cakes, Cheesecakes, Cookies, Pies, Sorbets and Ice Cream, Sweet Breakfasts, Other Deserts (That's for Frostings, Apple Crisps, Fudge, until I have more of those recipes then they can have their own section.)

    I'm an organization nut though, kind of miss the days where I used to get paid to organize other people's files and things. 

    I like the really specific categories! Mental note!

  • I love the categories because if I want to have chicken or beef I don't have to wade through all the other dinners.
  • Wow!  I'm really impressed with you ladies and your organization skills!  That is awesome!  Maybe I'll make myself slowly start to do some of those things...I would love to have everything organized like y'all do.  Not sure when that will actually happen though!  At least, I think I'll start with the binder and clear page protectors.  Thanks!
  • imageFutureMrsWagner:
    Wow!  I'm really impressed with you ladies and your organization skills!  That is awesome!  Maybe I'll make myself slowly start to do some of those things...I would love to have everything organized like y'all do.  Not sure when that will actually happen though!  At least, I think I'll start with the binder and clear page protectors.  Thanks!

    Monica, I have a recipe organizer that you are more than welcome to.  It's like a binder, but with tabs already prepared for recipes.  I've been holding on to it forever for a cousin who will probably never get married (it was supposed to be a shower gift for her, but....).  Anyway, if you're interested, let me know.

  • image12106mrsmun:

    imageFutureMrsWagner:
    Wow!  I'm really impressed with you ladies and your organization skills!  That is awesome!  Maybe I'll make myself slowly start to do some of those things...I would love to have everything organized like y'all do.  Not sure when that will actually happen though!  At least, I think I'll start with the binder and clear page protectors.  Thanks!

    Monica, I have a recipe organizer that you are more than welcome to.  It's like a binder, but with tabs already prepared for recipes.  I've been holding on to it forever for a cousin who will probably never get married (it was supposed to be a shower gift for her, but....).  Anyway, if you're interested, let me know.

    Yeah, definitely!  I'd love to have it if you're sure you don't need it.  Thanks ;-)

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