6 Super Ideas for How to Organize Recipes: From Paper to Electronic
Learn how to organize recipes to maximize your time and make your cooking more awesome.
Both of my grandmother’s were amazing cooks. They made everything from scratch and with lots of love. They also had extensive cookbook collections as well as copious clippings, handwritten recipe cards, typed recipes and even recipes written in shorthand (my grandmother Milly was a secretary for 30+ years).
I’ve been lucky enough to have their part of their collections pass down to me and I’ve added them to my own extensive recipe and cookbook collection. I must admit that things are in quite a state of disarray though and I am wondering just how to organize recipes. Is there a best way? That’s why I’ve gone in search of some tools to help me get organized. It’s such a waste to have all these great recipes and not be able to easily find the one recipe I need to cook dinner!
Part of the problem is that we are in a period of flux. In my grandmother’s day, all she had to worry about was paper, but we have to deal with paper and digital recipes we want to archive and that adds a bit more challenge for how to organize recipes.
While there’s no one easy fix for archiving all of your recipes, here are some suggestions for how to organize recipes more efficiently–from digital solutions to old-fashioned recipe cards.
- Binder System – One tried and true solution is to create a binder system of all your magazine tear sheets and recipes you’ve printed out. You can start with one binder and expand as your collection grows.
- Cloud Storage – Tools like Google Drive, Evernote, OneNote and other document and note applications allow for easier document saving and creation. Use them to create your own recipe and save online recipes as well. If I find a recipe I like online, I save it as a pdf and save it to my Google Drive.
- Recipe Managers – There are several specialized recipe manager programs out there of note–SousChef, Paprika, Big Oven–all have mobile capabilities as well.
- Pinterest – Pinterest is certainly the ultimate tool in saving recipe you find online for future retrieval. Create boards for different categories of cuisine and pin away.
- Recipe Cards – Recipe cards and boxes are still a treasured way to share recipes with family and friends. One of my favorite housewarming or hostess gifts is to gift a few of my favorite recipes on cards tied up with a ribbon.
- Cooking Blog – A personal cooking blog is another great way to archive and share your recipes. Sites like Blogspot and WordPress make setting up and starting a blog super easy and are free.
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Top Image: Phil Roeder
